Letter of recommendation question

[mx41]

Hello

I will be applying in a few years. But can I get a letter of recommendation from my professors during my sophomore years and keep them, then submit them to AADSAS after I complete my Junior year of college, or do I go to my professors when I am a junior and ask them for letter of recommendations?
I'm confused as to how this works. Do you mail the LORs to AADSAS and then AADSAS makes a crapload of copies for all the schools you apply to and they send it to the schools, or what?

Thanks for clarifying!

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[Kokugeka Shiro]

You should probably have them write the letter soon after you took their class. Hopefully you built a relationship with him/her and getting one soon will keep you more fresh in their mind.

Most universities have a letter filing service, where you set up a file and profs can send letters directly to it. I had all my letters sent to there (the service keeps them on file for 25 years), then had the service mail all 4 directly to AADSAS. This is beneficial because it ensures that you never had possesion of or looked at the letters (unless of course you wrote it for them). Check with your school's career center, it will probably have this kind of service available for a small fee.

The benefit of this approach over sending them directly to AADSAS is that AADSAS doesn't hang onto them after the cycle is over, while the career center will (in case you need them for anything else).

Once AADSAS has them, they will make all necessary copies and send them to the schools you designate.

 

[mx41]

Thanks for your reply, it really helped

One more thing,
Does the career center make copies of the original LORs you have and then sends them to the AADSAS, or do they just send the originals?

 

[doc toothache]

Having lors that are outdated is not particularly a good idea. Why not mention to your perspective profs that you are thinking of pursuing a career in dentistry and that you may come on calling in the future for a lor. When the time comes you can update them on the progress that you have made.

 

[Kokugeka Shiro]

Thanks for your reply, it really helped

One more thing,
Does the career center make copies of the original LORs you have and then sends them to the AADSAS, or do they just send the originals?

I believe they will be copies, but there will be indication by the center that the letters were indeed authentic. I would venture to guess that the majority of applicants use something like this because it's convenient, so AADSAS is pretty used to seeing it done this way.

 

[artanis]

The best thing to do, is to get the to write it now, and store it on their HD as a word doc. In the future, when you are about to send in your app, get them to update it and add any additional information they can about you since they last wrote it. That will guarentee you have your LOR and it will be easier for them to remember 2 years ago since information about you is in the LOR already.