letters of recommendation question

[LupaCupcake]

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I am going to give you a little background first so you understand the situation. I know a lot of LOR questions exist, but in doing a search I didn't see any LOR questions fitting my specific scenario unless I missed it.

I am a year away from finishing my bachelors degree. We are also a year away from leaving the military and moving back to the U.S. We currently live in Germany. Due to our situation I do a lot of classes online with my school, but they do offer some face to face classes at our education center on post. A couple schools offer face to face classes here. When we leave here (Nov 2012) I will have my bachelors, BUT I will not have all of the science prereqs completed. This is because not all of the science classes are offered for face to face classes and after I spoke with a few people from different medical schools it seems to be that it will owkay if I have online courses except for the science prereqs. They want those to be in person which I understand so some of these I cannot take here like organic chemistry, that is not offered face to face.

So once we leave the military and I am strapped with a bachelors, I have to enroll at some school in the states simply to take a couple science classes ala carte to finish up my prereqs.

The question is this: I have some professors at my current school that would be good recommendations, but I don't really know if a year after my bachelors degree I turn back around and contact them......they might not remember me. We don't have a medical advisory board or anything like that for recommendation so it would be from multiple professors. I don't know what school I am finishing my prereqs at yet when we leave, but I don't imagine I would get a wonderful recommendation letter since I will only be taking a handful of classes to finish up science requirements.

If you were me....would you try to get recommendations from my current school even though it will be a year after graduating or would you try to get something from the school I will be taking a couple science courses from?

 

[kduck]

Why don't you get them now and have them sent to interfolio?

 

[LupaCupcake]

I suppose I could...I heard some not so wonderful things about interfolio and complications arising etc. Some of those I heard on this site when I did a search for interfolio so I am skeptical.

 

[kduck]

Oh, I don't really know much about it. It just seems like there must be some way for you to get the letters now while you are fresh... maybe you can explain the situation and ask the profs to write letters now and hold onto them until you need them?

 

[aSagacious]

I suppose I could...I heard some not so wonderful things about interfolio and complications arising etc. Some of those I heard on this site when I did a search for interfolio so I am skeptical.

I used Interfolio for two cycles in a row and did not have a single issue arise. As the poster above suggested, dump your letters in Interfolio now so you don't have to worry about them later. Also, grab as many letters as you can and decide later which ones are the most appropriate or the strongest once you are ready to apply.

 

[stsa84]

I think you should get your LOR's from the school you take your post-bacc classes at. The advantages are that they'd have known you more recently, they're very used to writing LOR's, they're professors at the main campus of a US school instead of at an overseas satellite campus (not quite sure whether this would make any difference) , and they'll be the ones teaching you your pre-reqs.

I went back to school a few years after getting my bachelor's to take all my science pre-reqs. I was there 4 semesters (3 regular, 1 summer), and my LOR was from the pre-health board. I chose who was to be on the committee...it was composed of my pre-med adviser, my Cell Bio professor (had 1 semester), and my Orgo professor (had 2 semesters). At my EDP interview, my interviewer commented on being impressed with the strength of my academic LOR.

Do well in your pre-reqs and let your professors get to know you and your story, and they should be able to write you an excellent LOR.

If you decide to go with a LOR from your current school, I second the above advice to have them write them now, not a year from now.

 

[LupaCupcake]

I think you should get your LOR's from the school you take your post-bacc classes at. The advantages are that they'd have known you more recently, they're very used to writing LOR's, they're professors at the main campus of a US school instead of at an overseas satellite campus (not quite sure whether this would make any difference) , and they'll be the ones teaching you your pre-reqs.

I went back to school a few years after getting my bachelor's to take all my science pre-reqs. I was there 4 semesters (3 regular, 1 summer), and my LOR was from the pre-health board. I chose who was to be on the committee...it was composed of my pre-med adviser, my Cell Bio professor (had 1 semester), and my Orgo professor (had 2 semesters). At my EDP interview, my interviewer commented on being impressed with the strength of my academic LOR.

Do well in your pre-reqs and let your professors get to know you and your story, and they should be able to write you an excellent LOR.

If you decide to go with a LOR from your current school, I second the above advice to have them write them now, not a year from now.

makes sense.
I won't need all of the science courses when I leave here, only some of them. The face to face offered here is done by professors with the school that have agreed to live overseas for a certain amount of time to give classes on the military post and I assume they get some special incentive for doing this. It varies by military location what is offered. We have a good amount of biology professors in my area so my post and another one 1hr off are always offering lots of face to face biology w/lab yet I know of some duty stations a few hours from here that barely have any bio, but they have a lot of psych offered.

I do have to add...one of my current professors used to teach at Northwestern. Her bio is pretty impressive all around and she is a very no-nonsense somewhat intimidating woman. I like her 😀 and I know that she understands the importance of a LOR for medical school. I want to get one from her.

 

[Buttermilk]

Definitely get at least one from your current school. Some medical schools want to see a LOR from each school you attended.

 

[stsa84]

makes sense.
I won't need all of the science courses when I leave here, only some of them. The face to face offered here is done by professors with the school that have agreed to live overseas for a certain amount of time to give classes on the military post and I assume they get some special incentive for doing this. It varies by military location what is offered. We have a good amount of biology professors in my area so my post and another one 1hr off are always offering lots of face to face biology w/lab yet I know of some duty stations a few hours from here that barely have any bio, but they have a lot of psych offered.

I do have to add...one of my current professors used to teach at Northwestern. Her bio is pretty impressive all around and she is a very no-nonsense somewhat intimidating woman. I like her 😀 and I know that she understands the importance of a LOR for medical school. I want to get one from her.

Sounds good, better than I would have thought. I should add to my previous post, that while LOR's from your school in the states might possibly (who knows) be preferable, you should for sure get letters from your current school. Hang on to those, get a feel for how your LOR's would be from your stateside school, and then submit whichever ones you think would be stronger.