LOR advice please!

[lemonade123]

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I'm currently a third year undergrad and wont be applying until I graduate, June 2013. However I asked my stats professor last week if he would write me a strong LOR (a supplementary LOR for my app) since I knew him pretty well since freshman year, and I had continually bumped into him and chatted with him since then. However, do you think it was too early to ask, considering I'm not applying until a year and a half? Should I ask him to possibly wait on writing it? Or am I worrying too much and should this be OK if my other letters are more recent once I apply? Thanks in advance!

Edit: And would less recent LORs hold less weight?

 

[Midwestern Blot]

Just have your professor upload it to interfolio and hang on to it for a while.

 

[lemonade123]

Right, I'm planning on doing that, but I'm not sure if a letter dated 2 years old will be a problem for med schools or wont carry as much weight as more recent ones

 

[Midwestern Blot]

Right, I'm planning on doing that, but I'm not sure if a letter dated 2 years old will be a problem for med schools or wont carry as much weight as more recent ones

I don't see why it wouldn't carry as much weight. I thought it was common practice to do this.

 

[mauberley]

I don't see why it wouldn't carry as much weight. I thought it was common practice to do this.

I don't know about "common practice," but I would say that it's not unheard of.

I wouldn't speculate as to a hard and fast rule that relates age of letter to weight given by reviewers. Letters of recommendation generally speak to one's potential to succeed in med school, so the more recent, the better. That having been said, two years isn't a big deal (in my opinion), as it's not likely that in the intervening year you've suddenly become a terrible candidate (although if you have, there will probably be indicators of this elsewhere in your application).

In your case, OP, if you think you're not going to be getting a better letter from someone else later on, by all means go for it.

 

[turkeybean]

I think some schools specify current (not more than 1 year old) letters. If I recall correctly, Baylor is one of them.

 

[littlemisspiggy]

haha i think its safer to just get it before they forget you :O