When to Ask for a LOR

[capybaracarbonara]

Hello! I'm planning on asking my non-science professor for a LOR, but I wasn't sure if I should wait until after the term ends and I get my grade, or if I should ask them before the final. I'm doing well in the class and would prefer to ask her in person, so I am essentially debating on whether I should ask her while she knows me well (I have been going to all of their office hours), or wait until after the term ends when she may have forgotten me.

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[LizzyM]

You can do this by email. You can explain the reason you need the letter (med school admissions) and by what date and that a unique link to your application will be sent by email so that the instructor can upload the letter which you'll waive your right to see. (Of course, if the letter will be sent to your school's pre-med committee for inclusion in a committee letter, that's a slightly different process).

Your professor won't forget you 5 minutes after you leave campus. To help jog her memory, you can mention something that will jog her memory such as an assignment you did very well in or a concept you grasped after an extended conversation in office hours.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Early is good. No, the professor won't forget you but you need to know early how confident the professor is to write you a strong letter. The professor may also have other requests for letters so it is courts to ask early before grades need to be turned in after finals are done. The professor may want other information from you like a resume applicants draft, and personal statement.

 

[Dr. Anonymouss]

Ask based on your connection with them. I asked each preceptor on my last day rotating with them. Ending up getting 3 LOR during my third year elective rotation

 

[LizzyM]

Please avoid sending a resume and personal statement if you can help it. Do send the info that AAMC has assembled for letter writers. We do not need or want your letter writer to tell us what you've done. You'll do that in your application.

We need your instructor to provide a first person account of things that they've observed. What you have said and how you've said it, what you've written and how well you've done that, how well you've worked as part of a group or in a pair if that was part of your classroom/lab activity.

I wish we could get this across to writers!

 

[capybaracarbonara]

Please avoid sending a resume and personal statement if you can help it. Do send the info that AAMC has assembled for letter writers. We do not need or want your letter writer to tell us what you've done. You'll do that in your application.

We need your instructor to provide a first person account of things that they've observed. What you have said and how you've said it, what you've written and how well you've done that, how well you've worked as part of a group or in a pair if that was part of your classroom/lab activity.

I wish we could get this across to writers!

Wanted to bump this thread. Asked my professor and she wants both a resume and personal statement. I have a resume but do not have a personal statement, as I’m not planning on applying until next year (2024). What should I do?

 

[LizzyM]

https://www.aamc.org/system/files?file=2019-09/lettersguidelinesbrochure.pdf

Send or give your instructor this guidelines brochure from AAMC. Explain that you have not yet written your personal statement and the medical schools are interested in her personal observations of you, not her assessment of your reasons for applying to medical school and that you hope that she can give you a strong recommendation based on her observations of your performance in the classroom and the intellectual curiosity you've demonstrated in office hours, etc.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Presenting the contrary, you can write a draft? Outline? (@LizzyM is not wrong.)