Letters of Rec...

[Optman87]

Who should you get LOR from?

Who has the most weight if they are strong LOR???

Thanks

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[Monkee2008]

Good LOR's tend to come from faculty or optometrist that know you well. In my opinion, LOR is stronger if it comes from an alumni of that school. Some schools take the opinion of their alumnis very seriously.

 

[Jay12]

Good LOR's tend to come from faculty or optometrist that know you well. In my opinion, LOR is stronger if it comes from an alumni of that school. Some schools take the opinion of their alumnis very seriously.

Just to add to that.....I know that some schools require that you have certain number of LOR's from specific category of individuals (i.e. 1 from an optometrist, two from science professors, etc...), so in those instances, you really don't have much choice.

 

[Pre Opt Student]

Finding people to write you LORS is sooo hard though! I go to a HUGE school my classes are like 800 ppl! Finding profs to write me letters has been the hardest thing to do for applying up until now..im still really struggling..i have an optometrist and opthamologist..but profs at my school hardly ever want to go out of there way..it really sucks

 

[lovelydisaster]

I feel your pain, Pre Opt! Even though some of my classes are 1/4 of your size, it's still pretty hard! I did, however, come across another thread that said that it may help if you go up to a prof after class to see if you can schedule a time to just meet and talk about your goals (or just talk ha!). I'm not sure if this actually works, but in a class size this huge, it's worth a shot right? *sighh.

 

[DrRobs]

Finding people to write you LORS is sooo hard though! I go to a HUGE school my classes are like 800 ppl! Finding profs to write me letters has been the hardest thing to do for applying up until now..im still really struggling..i have an optometrist and opthamologist..but profs at my school hardly ever want to go out of there way..it really sucks

Go to their office hours, even if your excuse is to "fight a question on a test" I went to a huge school too and I got all my recs from my bigger classes by going to office hours. Its the best way for them to know you and you to know them

 

[aireeoz]

does anyone know when does a LOR expire?
I planed to apply last year and gathered all the LORs, but something sudden came up and I wasn't able to complete the process. Can I still use those letters(all sealed and signed)?

 

[alferec]

does anyone know when does a LOR expire?
I planed to apply last year and gathered all the LORs, but something sudden came up and I wasn't able to complete the process. Can I still use those letters(all sealed and signed)?

That question is best answered by the schools you're applying to, since each school may have different requirements.

I have a section on LORs in my website here:
http://www.optstudent.com/ugfocus.html#LORs

Hope this helps, good luck with apps!

 

[mtrlOATgal]

guys, don't worry about it if the prof doesn't know you though I would say this is not the situation you want to find yourself in. But if that happens to be the case, your next best bet is to see the prof in whose class you excelled in, loved and probably did a paper or presentation in and go have an interview with him. Let him see your personality, accomplishments and knowledge and drive for optometry.

 

[iDoc2012]

i talked to a few profs i wanted LOR's from and they told me to write it myself and they would just read it over and sign it. this may be something to suggest if worse comes to worse, and then you can throw in all the little details your prof doesn't really know.

 

[broncos24]

I had two LORs on file at my health professions office that were actually from LAB TA's since they were the ones that were more personable with me shooting frequent emails at each other and stuff. I honestly planned to use their LORS only if i needed a backup... but when I decided to apply a year early just for the heck of it... I had no choice but to use those. They worked out though because I got interviews for the schools I applied to! They were both TA's that were on the process of getting PhD's... so... yeah. they weren't PROFESSORS.. but they were my instructors that I came to know pretty well. Maybe just a backup thought then....

Oh.. and I did have a LOR from an optometrist since all schools require at least one from an OD.

 

[mtrlOATgal]

You want to be careful about using TAs. Some schools will ask you to have the professor in charge of that course co-sign this. Some professors will not do this.