Letters of recomendation this early on?

[NiteOwl]

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I am a sophmore in college right now and will be a junior after spring of 2005. Do I need to start looking for LORs now? I read on this site that you need to get them in your 2nd year of college and that if you wait until your junior year then it is too late! Right now I am at a community college (please don't bash because of this, its a really good college), should I go ahead and start asking about them? I don't know any of my professors that well, I am pretty sure that if I go to any of my previous ones they would be like "who are you?". Well, maybe not that bad, I see one occasionaly in the hall and we'll say hi, but they only really remember that I was in a class sometime. I am supposing that they don't remeber much else about me. I do have a microbiology teacher this semester that is great. He actually learns all of his students names no matter what, and tries to know stuff about us; so he isn't "who are you?!" when you ask him things. So, even though this is a community college, should I ask him about a LOR? He has a PhD, so I think that he would be credible to other schools. I am doing pretty good in the class and show a good amount of interest in it, so I think I could probably get a good LOR from him. What do you think? This would be the only letter from this college, but I don't know if its okay or not. I will probably have the rest from the university I transfer too.
From the plans I have right now, I probably won't be getting into med school until 2008 (due to the fact I screwed up with how I scheduled my classes for my freshman year). I might could start in 2007, but that will be a miracle! Considering that, do I need to still work on getting LORs yet?
Sorry this is long, but is it okay to not have research experience? Almost all of the opportunities in my area require at least a couple of chem classes, and I havent taken any yet (also due to the screwed schedule). But these possitions were at universitues. There are a few labs and things like that, that aren't university affiliated, that I haven't had a chance to look at. So I will try those too. I am hoping to do that this summer along with some volunteering.
Thanks for any info

 

[sunUCB]

it's good to get LORs from professors you know well, and people usually say to get them early for two reasons : 1. get them while the professor still knows you and can write the best possible letter. 2. get them early because professors are busy and it's a good idea to give them some time to write them, so if you're applying in July after your junior year, don't begin asking for letters in June.

And there's nothing wrong with community colleges. Make an effort to get to know the professor, maybe go to office hours, etc. The better you know the professor, the better the letter will be.

So if you're applying starting June of 2007, just get your letters in by early to mid 2007, preferably before June, so they're ready to go when secondaries come in.

I am a sophmore in college right now and will be a junior after spring of 2005. Do I need to start looking for LORs now? I read on this site that you need to get them in your 2nd year of college and that if you wait until your junior year then it is too late! Right now I am at a community college (please don't bash because of this, its a really good college), should I go ahead and start asking about them? I don't know any of my professors that well, I am pretty sure that if I go to any of my previous ones they would be like "who are you?". Well, maybe not that bad, I see one occasionaly in the hall and we'll say hi, but they only really remember that I was in a class sometime. I am supposing that they don't remeber much else about me. I do have a microbiology teacher this semester that is great. He actually learns all of his students names no matter what, and tries to know stuff about us; so he isn't "who are you?!" when you ask him things. So, even though this is a community college, should I ask him about a LOR? He has a PhD, so I think that he would be credible to other schools. I am doing pretty good in the class and show a good amount of interest in it, so I think I could probably get a good LOR from him. What do you think? This would be the only letter from this college, but I don't know if its okay or not. I will probably have the rest from the university I transfer too.
From the plans I have right now, I probably won't be getting into med school until 2008 (due to the fact I screwed up with how I scheduled my classes for my freshman year). I might could start in 2007, but that will be a miracle! Considering that, do I need to still work on getting LORs yet?
Sorry this is long, but is it okay to not have research experience? Almost all of the opportunities in my area require at least a couple of chem classes, and I havent taken any yet (also due to the screwed schedule). But these possitions were at universitues. There are a few labs and things like that, that aren't university affiliated, that I haven't had a chance to look at. So I will try those too. I am hoping to do that this summer along with some volunteering.
Thanks for any info

 

[sunUCB]

sorry, by "get your letters in" i meant ask for your LORs and save them using your career center's letter service or interfolio until you are ready to send them when you apply.

 

[NiteOwl]

Thanks.
Also, so it won't look odd that I have a LOR from late 2004 if I apply in 2008?
I hope not...because I am guessing that I should probably get the LOR from that professor if I can. I am pretty shy, so its kind of hard for me to get to know people (especially teachers, seeing as I don't see them much except in class/lab) very well. But I think I will know him well enough to ask by the end of the semester.

 

[tinkerbelle]

FutureDrCynthia 🙂

I did what you did... I got a whole bunch of recs early on. None of the schools have commented on the "oldness" of my letters. Some of my professors were nice enough to "update" the letters for me right before I applied...and it was nice... I gave them a copy of the old rec, so they didn't have to remember who I was 🙂

Will your school write a committee letter for you? If so, then the dates on your letters matter even less because schools will mostly pay attention to the committee letter.

Having research experience is a plus, but is not required. So don't worry too much if you don't have any.

You seem like you're on the right track... with getting recs and volunteering during the summer. Keep it up 🙂

- tinkerbelle

 

[NiteOwl]

I know this is probably been asked a lot, but how do I ask for a LOR from my professor? Do I just remind him that I am planning on medical school and ask "I was wondering if you could write a letter of recommendation for me?"? Do I just ask like that or is there a better way?
I havent really ever thought about how I would ask for the letters. It kind of feels strange to picture myself actually doing all this (asking for letters, planning pre-med classes, looking at schools I want to apply to etc...Maybe because not too many people took me seriously at first with my decision to want to go to med school...That and I am realizing how fast college is going by, and I am really realizing that I only have about 6 more years to go-it seems like a lot untill I realized how fast the rest of it been-and then I start to think "wow, I could be a doctor in 6 or 7 years" and I feel a little like this: 😱 ) Sorry about that off topic rambling...I'm I 19 (going to be 20 in Jan), and I think I am "growing up" or sommething-I think that scares the hell out of me even more!
Okay, moving on after my random psychotic blabbing. What's a letter service with the career center? I know my college right now has a career center, the only thing I know about them is that you can go and they help you find jobs, they can give you tests to see what career track is best for you, and they can help you find info about careers you are interested in, and so on. I don't know if they would be who your talking about. Also, what happens with the letters when I transfer?
Thanks for all the help

 

[RustNeverSleeps]

I know this is probably been asked a lot, but how do I ask for a LOR from my professor? Do I just remind him that I am planning on medical school and ask "I was wondering if you could write a letter of recommendation for me?"? Do I just ask like that or is there a better way?
I havent really ever thought about how I would ask for the letters. It kind of feels strange to picture myself actually doing all this (asking for letters, planning pre-med classes, looking at schools I want to apply to etc...Maybe because not too many people took me seriously at first with my decision to want to go to med school...That and I am realizing how fast college is going by, and I am really realizing that I only have about 6 more years to go-it seems like a lot untill I realized how fast the rest of it been-and then I start to think "wow, I could be a doctor in 6 or 7 years" and I feel a little like this: 😱 ) Sorry about that off topic rambling...I'm I 19 (going to be 20 in Jan), and I think I am "growing up" or sommething-I think that scares the hell out of me even more!
Okay, moving on after my random psychotic blabbing. What's a letter service with the career center? I know my college right now has a career center, the only thing I know about them is that you can go and they help you find jobs, they can give you tests to see what career track is best for you, and they can help you find info about careers you are interested in, and so on. I don't know if they would be who your talking about. Also, what happens with the letters when I transfer?
Thanks for all the help

As to how to ask for an LOR: I think it is best to ask professors whom you know very well -- in those cases, it is probably almost expected that they will write you a letter. For instance, two of my LORs were no-brainers. I asked my organic chemistry professor because I did very well in her class; also (and perhaps more importantly), since I served as her TA and she asked me to research in her lab, I thought she liked me and would write nice things about me. 🙂 The other one was even easier: I asked a psychology professer. I had taken and done well in several of her classes, and I had researched in her lab for three years. Since I knew her so well, I didn't even have to ask, really because for years she had been trying to help me become a competitive med school applicant. If you have relationships like those, those people are obviously the ones you should ask. An added benefit is that asking them is generally a very easy process. I sort of lucked out on my last LOR. The professor from whom I took physics for two semesters asked to write me a recommendation. Since he had an amazing memory, I had spoken with him several times, and he was so willing, I decided to have him be my final LOR writer.

I hope this helps you. My advice is not to get stressed out about this. If you have a person or two right now who you think could write you great LORs, ask them -- they will probably be happy to do it, especially if they know you well. The hardest part often is that your letter writers will probably try to convince you to go to graduate school in their area rather than medical school! It's great that you are being proactive, but don't force the issue, looking for all your LORs now. You have several years of school left -- you will probably find many other potential letter writers during that time.

 

[NiteOwl]

Thanks. I'm really only looking into one letter right now. That would be the one from my micro teacher. I've already completed 2 years (if you include the semester I am in now, which ends in about 4 weeks from now). I just saw that you should be looking into letters in your sophmore year. I had never realy thought to start looking now, I was thinking more toward mid-end of junior year (which now I am starting to find out is a bit late). I'm just worried about getting in, becomming a doctor is so important to me, I can't think of anything else that I would want to do. Seriously, I'm not being cheesey, I realy can't think of anything else. I think I have a decent chance, I just worry about that thought "what happens if I don't get accepted anywhere?". My GPA is okay, 3.4 science GPA is probably about the same. I am going to raise that a bit, I have 2 years so thats not a big deal. Havent taken the MCAT so, I don't know about it. I have taken practice ones in study books and did pretty good on verbal reasoning, but I havent taken physics or chem yet so my scores of course, werent very good.
I'm just starting to get a little paranoid about time right now because college is going by in such a blur! I'm feel like I am going to end up in my senior year completely unprepared to apply to med school. I am probably going to be applying a year later than most people anyway, unless everything works out almost perfectly. Right now I am planning both ways, applying later and applying normal.