Rec. letters / Tracking shadowing

[byurazorhog]

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I am wondering how I should approach getting letters of recommendation from my professors. Obviously I will be using each letter for multiple schools. What should I do when I go ask for a letter of rec? I won't be applying anytime soon but I would like to know whether I should give them a standard form or something of that nature. Normally when letters of recommendation are written, they are sealed and sent by the authors. Also, what if I want to get a letter now when the teacher still remembers me well even though I won't need to use it for a while?

My second question is how you guys track your shadowing time. I can just keep a personal record of how many hours I've done and who I've done my shadowing with but is this enough? I can't imagine med schools would actually contact any of the doctors I follow. When putting this in the AMCAS, will I need to specify the names of the physicians?

Thank you for any feedback.

 

[Mattabet]

See if your school has a letter service; many do. If so, they might have a form, and then your writers can send the letters to the service, which will punt them off to AMCAS. Interfolio is a similar professional service (but it costs money), and AMCAS is pilot testing a letter program this year. If you want to get a letter sooner rather than later, go for it, it's one thing you can get done. But oftentimes later work with a person might influence their letter, so it's probably not a good idea to ask anyone that you're going to keep in contact with.

As long as you keep decent track, it'll be fine. The gain or loss of a few hours of shadowing is going to be pretty inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. You will probably want to put down the names and specialties of the doctors (or other professionals) that you follow.

 

[MDtobe31311]

I typically asked my professors for a rec the semester after I had them - I liked to make sure I did well in the class before I asked for one. Hopefully most would take notes/write a preliminary draft to help them write the rec when the time came. The semester before the summer I applied to medical school, I reminded my professors about the rec they had said they would write for me. Lucky for me my school sends a health professions committee letter, so I didn't have to give my professors any forms or deal with anything beyond giving the biology department secretary their names.

Keeping your own personal record of your shadowing should be fine. And putting in the names of the physicians would be a good idea in my opinion