recs

[aye]

hi, i'm pretty new to the whole application process and i was wondering about the recommendations. how do you go about getting them for your profs?? do you just ask for a universal one so that you can keep it and send it to diff schools?? i read somewhere that a person asked for a LOR at the end of his/her sophomore year... so i'm thinking they kept the rec for a year until they applied to med school. it this legit? oh yeah, and how many do you need?? i've heard 3 but some people say 5??? now you can see y i'm so confused. thanks

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[kidsmd]

Well, first it depends on whether or not your school has a pre-med committee or not. If they do, you'll usually get recommendations from your professors and the committee will write you one composite letter based on those recommendations. At my school (UCLA), I don't have a committee but I do have a letter storage service. What I did was to have my professors write the letters and send it off to the career center and they stored the letters for me until it was time for me to send them off.

Usually, medical schools want letters within the last two years. Also, it is usually preferable for you to waive your right to see the letters (although if your professors know you well enough, some times they will let you see the letter before they send it off).
As for the number of letters needed, most schools that I've applied to say 3 (with 2 being from science professors and one from a non-science professor; usually, they require that these professors have taught you in a class). You can send additional letters from people who you've worked for or done research with or something like that.