What's the best website/service for online recommendation letters?

[ButAtYourBest]

I'm preparing to email a professor I had last year while studying abroad. It's already been some time since I last spoke with him, so I feel like I need to contact him before he completely forgets me. Furthermore, I won't even need his letter until next year. However, I figure I could ask him to write a letter now, store it online, and then brush it up/update it next year when he actually sends it.

Let me know what you think the best service for accomplishing this is. If you think the moderators will think we're shilling, you can of course private message me, and I would greatly appreciate it.

Oh, also, do you think it's crazy that I'm asking this guy for a LOR? I haven't had ongoing contact with him, but it was a small class and he liked me, and he agreed to write me a rec letter when I asked last year shortly after the course last year. It's not perfect, but he's a professor in my undergraduate major, and all my other courses were huge lectures with several hundred students.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[DocMcCoy]

I guess I took it for granted and assumed everyone used the same service. Our school uses Interfolio and gives us a 12 month account. Seems pretty user friendly to me but I have no experience with other services.

 

[riverjib]

I'm preparing to email a professor I had last year while studying abroad. It's already been some time since I last spoke with him, so I feel like I need to contact him before he completely forgets me. Furthermore, I won't even need his letter until next year. However, I figure I could ask him to write a letter now, store it online, and then brush it up/update it next year when he actually sends it.

Let me know what you think the best service for accomplishing this is. If you think the moderators will think we're shilling, you can of course private message me, and I would greatly appreciate it.

Oh, also, do you think it's crazy that I'm asking this guy for a LOR? I haven't had ongoing contact with him, but it was a small class and he liked me, and he agreed to write me a rec letter when I asked last year shortly after the course last year. It's not perfect, but he's a professor in my undergraduate major, and all my other courses were huge lectures with several hundred students.

Doesn't your school have a medical school/pre health committee? I know not every school does, but most large schools do. I would definitely get his letter. The more you get, the better.

 

[schrizto]

I thought everyone used Interfolio. I haven't heard of any other services.

 

[Dyingduck]

Doesn't your school have a medical school/pre health committee? I know not every school does, but most large schools do. I would definitely get his letter. The more you get, the better.

Sadly UCLA does not have a pre-health/med committee for undergraduate...

I haven't used Interfolio, don't you just send LoR directly to AMCAS now?

 

[mvenus929]

Sadly UCLA does not have a pre-health/med committee for undergraduate...

I haven't used Interfolio, don't you just send LoR directly to AMCAS now?

You can, but you can also have interfolio send it to AMCAS, which helps for those of us who save letters over the years.

 

[medat101]

My undergrad used VirtualEvals -- functions similarly to Interfolio. Would it be really expensive for an individual student to use these services?? It may be cheaper to wait and just use the AMCAS letter service.

 

[DocMcCoy]

My undergrad used VirtualEvals -- functions similarly to Interfolio. Would it be really expensive for an individual student to use these services?? It may be cheaper to wait and just use the AMCAS letter service.

It does cost money, I'm not sure on how much but I just extended my account for a year. The benefit is that you could potentially store your letters forever and it might come in handy for future events requiring letters of recommendation. Also, if you you start asking for letters of rec early in your undergraduate career you can store them there to prevent the rush to get all of your letters in on time during the application year.