When to ask for letters of rec.

[IriePreMed]

Hi, When is a good time to ask a teacher and/or a Dr. you shadowed for the letter of recommendation? Should you ask for it right after you are finished with the class or should you wait till you are applying? For example, i was planing on asking my bio2 teacher from last spring but haven't asked him yet.

ALSO, do you think its good to get a letter from a class u got a C in?


thanks in advance!

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[Compass]

Negative to the C. Ask when you finish the class. Reason is, they KNOW you then. Ask them to write one and save it for when you need it. Otherwise, they'll make stuff up about you or not write a strong one at all.

*ANYWAYS*

Addendum question, when do LORs go in to applications? And...

What's the recommended #? I need to start looking

 

[FlowLimited]

The only rule for timing your LOR request is to make sure you give your recommender enough time to write you a letter.

Regarding the class where you got a "C," do you still think that the professor can say something good about your abilities and attributes even though you didn't do so well in their class? Do you think you can get a great letter out of them?

 

[FlowLimited]

Addendum question, when do LORs go in to applications? And...

What's the recommended #? I need to start looking

LORs are sent to schools after you receive secondary applications.

If you don't have a committee letter from your pre-med advisor, the general rule of thumb is 2 science, 1 non-science, and one from a doctor/employer/PI etc.

 

[Compass]

LORs are sent to schools after you receive secondary applications.

If you don't have a committee letter from your pre-med advisor, the general rule of thumb is 2 science, 1 non-science, and one from a doctor/employer/PI etc.

Thank you.

And, my reasoning at No to the C.

Your professor will probably only remember your grade. Unless you went in and tried as hard as you could, office hours, 24/7 trying, you might get a bad outcome or even an outright refusal.

 

[WHR]

If you only know this prof only in the context of the course that you received the C grade, I wouldn't ask for a recommendation letter.

IMO, I think about May of the application year is early enough. If you submit and get verified by end of June, you'll get the secondaries around mid-late July. So the referees would've had two months to write and send in the letters of recommendation.