When and how to start collecting LOR's?

if your school has a pre-health committee, you have to ask your professors to send a letter of recommendation on your behalf to the PHC. then the PHC writes a composite letter for you using the LORs. i don't think asking for recs in your 2nd year is too early. just make sure that they know you well and that they'd be able to say more than just "so and so was in my class and got an A."

 

I remember a certain school needed the letters to be less than a year old (which one?). but start early! I sent out my letters last Wednesday, even though I have had my secondaries finished for 2- 3 weeks! So know I just wait, and wait, and it sucks!

 

I think it is a good idea to start collecting letters early. If your school does not have a pre-health office, then it may have a career office that will store your letters for you, and if you don't have either one, then there are services like interfolio.com that store letters for you. I think it is good to get letters while the professor knows you and everything is fresh. Worst case scenario, if you need a more recent letter - have one of the letter services send a copy of the old letter to the professor for him/her to use as a guide for the new letter. That is what I did and professors appreciated me sending them the old draft.