In the summer after my undergraduate freshman year, I did some research work at an orthopaedic research facility with a doctor for two months. Should I ask for a LOR right now from him or when I apply for med school in my junior year?
LOR Undergraduate Freshman Year Summer
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if you do it junior year he could have forgotten you unless you plan to keep in touch regularly. If your school has a system for collecting and saving LORs, ask for one now and have it saved.
If you are willing to shell out about $50, you can get an account on Interfolio and send all your recommendations there right now. Interfolio will save them and when you apply for med school, you can tell them to send it out.
http://www.interfolio.com/index.cfm
http://www.interfolio.com/index.cfm
In my opinion, you could, but it's not worth $50. If your school has a service, great, you can have him send it there for free. If not, just drop him an e-mail every few months and/or try to do a little something with him next summer, and then get the letter junior year.
$50 bucks is a lot for a letter that two years down the line you may not even want to use anymore (who knows what will come along?).
$50 bucks is a lot for a letter that two years down the line you may not even want to use anymore (who knows what will come along?).
what the he** why would you PAY for a letter of rec??? Do it the NORMAL way and shadow and build a relationship, thats my 2 cents
what the he** why would you PAY for a letter of rec??? Do it the NORMAL way and shadow and build a relationship, thats my 2 cents
It's not paying for the letter of recommendation, it's paying for the storing of those letters.
I advocate getting the letter now and saving it in the best way you can (interfolio, school service, designated thumb drive). Then, if you can, continue to develop your relationship and when it comes med school time request an updated letter and give him a copy of the previous letter to refresh what he originally liked about you and such.
what the he** why would you PAY for a letter of rec??? Do it the NORMAL way and shadow and build a relationship, thats my 2 cents
I don't think the other posters were talking about paying the letter writer for the LOR. The issue is that if the OP asks for a letter now, he/she needs to do something with it for the next couple of years. Some schools would not accept a 2 year old, sealed LOR directly from a student, which is where letter services like Interfolio come into play.
OP, my advice would be to wait until you are about to apply. For all you know, you could end up with a fellowship award or some other experience that will make you put off your application for a few additional years. You may even find that there is something out there better for you than medicine. Why not wait to ask for LORs until you are absolutely certain you will be applying for a given cycle? If you do that, you can look at all of your options and make the best choices for your LORs. As long as you don't burn any bridges with this doctor, you should be fine either way.
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