Recommendation Letters, When?

[Hopeful20]

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I will be a sophomore next month and I'm wondering when I should have all my recommendation letters and/or when I should start asking for letters.

Would it be too early to ask for recommendations the end of my sophomore year? If possible, I would like to get at least one this year and just keep it in an envelope until application time comes.

Also, my school has a Pre-Health committee. I'm not sure if this will affect when I should have all my letters.

Thanks.

 

[hattrack04]

I will be a sophomore next month and I'm wondering when I should have all my recommendation letters and/or when I should start asking for letters.

Would it be too early to ask for recommendations the end of my sophomore year? If possible, I would like to get at least one this year and just keep it in an envelope until application time comes.

Also, my school has a Pre-Health committee. I'm not sure if this will affect when I should have all my letters.

Thanks.

It's never too early to get letters. I asked professors during my junior year and had all of the letters by app. time........and your school probably has some type of reference letter file where you can submit them

 

[sddat]

Hopeful20--when you asked for your LORs your junior year, did you have your professors send them directly to the schools, AADSAS, or did you hold on to them yourself? I want to ask for the letters now, but I don't know where to ask my professors to send them since I haven't applied yet.

 

[cherr1pop]

I'd say let your profs know you want a letter from them. i think some prefer to write them right when they finish teaching you so they have fresh ideas and some will want to write them when you need them..
They usually save LORs on their computers so I think even if you ask them to write it before, they can send out additional copies to AADSAS/dental schools when you ask.. Like I had my profs send the letters to my school's file service but I contacted them again and they sent another copy over internet to AADSAS.
hope this helps 🙂

 

[laundry]

Hopeful, you still have plenty of time. Use it to figure out which professors you want the rec letters from and develop a relationship with them. By relationship I mean allow them to know you better than just another of their students in a class. Find out what their area of research interest is, which you can use as a conversation starter. This shouldn't be viewed as a method of sucking up. Instead, it is a great opportunity to know your faculty and let them know you. Plus, you might learn something along the way...😉