Is 2 months enough time to tell writer for letter of rec?

[lesept2]

I plan to take a course this winter in molecular pharmacology as upper-div and I am considering the prof as a writer for letter of recommendation. Since pharmCAS opens on June 1 is it ok to send an e-mail or go to office hourse on April 1st when my grades are already out and such. I am on a quarter system here at UC Irvine.

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[Spunk3y]

Two months is plenty of time to ask for a reference. But even though Pharmcas will open on June 1st, you wont have all your material in immediately anyway, so you wont be able to send them the request from Pharmcas till then.

When i asked for a letter from my recommenders, i gave about a month to a weeks notice from when i needed it. A couple of them just wrote it the next day. If the person knows you, or has grown to know you (professor), then it takes maybe an hour to sit down and write an appropriate letter. Two months is more than enough time, its so much time you might have to ask them again when they forget 😀

 

[DrDrugs2012]

I plan to take a course this winter in molecular pharmacology as upper-div and I am considering the prof as a writer for letter of recommendation. Since pharmCAS opens on June 1 is it ok to send an e-mail or go to office hourse on April 1st when my grades are already out and such. I am on a quarter system here at UC Irvine.

I would recommend that you ask the professor in advance of the new cycle to write the letter and keep it filed away for the June 1st date and then once pharmcas opens, send the electronic reference request to the professor to quickly fill out and submit. No sense in wasting time right?

 

[pharm B]

I would recommend that you ask the professor in advance of the new cycle to write the letter and keep it filed away for the June 1st date and then once pharmcas opens, send the electronic reference request to the professor to quickly fill out and submit. No sense in wasting time right?

I like this idea. 2 months is plenty of time, but why give yourself such a short window? If you develop a good rapport with the professor while you're actually taking the course, I'd ask then and let him to expect the request after PharmCAS opens.