When to start thinking about letter of recs

[Skarl]

When should students begin to think about getting LORs from their professors? What actions can students take to ensure a strong LOR other than active participation in lectures and going to office hours to ask questions/talk to the professor? Right now I’m a first year in a lot of large, lower-div science classes full of premeds and it’s fairly difficult to talk to professors as there are often large groups of students at office hours and little opportunity for one-on-one interaction with professors.

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[deleted781806]

Become buddy-buddy with your Junior year professors, if you are aiming to matriculate right out of UG. Upper-division courses are better, imo, to get LoR from, and give you a better shot of having a strong letter due to smaller class sizes and more interaction with the professor in and out of class. Actually make a formal request for LoR around the beginning of your Junior Spring semester, and that will be more than enough time to get a LoR (they mostly write them at the end of the semester anyways, it's just about getting in line with the other students). Your pre-med advisiors (if you have them) would also be a good resource to find out which professors typically write good/strong LoRs on average.

 

[Toutie]

When should students begin to think about getting LORs from their professors? What actions can students take to ensure a strong LOR other than active participation in lectures and going to office hours to ask questions/talk to the professor? Right now I’m a first year in a lot of large, lower-div science classes full of premeds and it’s fairly difficult to talk to professors as there are often large groups of students at office hours and little opportunity for one-on-one interaction with professors.

One thing to try...you're at UCLA, correct? If so, try to take some Fiat Lux courses with profs that teach upper division science courses. That way you are in a small 15-20 person seminar course and will have an easy time establishing a connection with a prof. in a more intimate setting. Then try to take that same prof for an upper div course or possibly for research. Example: I know Arisaka always has a Fiat lux class (typically in the fall), and also teaches Physics 6A and 6B, and also has a research lab (in astro-physics, but still research).

 

[Skarl]

Become buddy-buddy with your Junior year professors, if you are aiming to matriculate right out of UG. Upper-division courses are better, imo, to get LoR from, and give you a better shot of having a strong letter due to smaller class sizes and more interaction with the professor in and out of class. Actually make a formal request for LoR around the beginning of your Junior Spring semester, and that will be more than enough time to get a LoR (they mostly write them at the end of the semester anyways, it's just about getting in line with the other students). Your pre-med advisiors (if you have them) would also be a good resource to find out which professors typically write good/strong LoRs on average.

That's solid advice. Unfortunately I don't think my school has any pre-med advisors. I appreciate the help and info!

One thing to try...you're at UCLA, correct? If so, try to take some Fiat Lux courses with profs that teach upper division science courses. That way you are in a small 15-20 person seminar course and will have an easy time establishing a connection with a prof. in a more intimate setting. Then try to take that same prof for an upper div course or possibly for research. Example: I know Arisaka always has a Fiat lux class (typically in the fall), and also teaches Physics 6A and 6B, and also has a research lab (in astro-physics, but still research).

Yes I'm at UCLA. That's a really good idea I haven't thought of before. Do you know if it counts as a science LOR if I got a letter from my PI for a research position I use for P/NP credits?

 

[deleted781806]

Unfortunately I don't think my school has any pre-med advisors.

Then you will have to rely on the word-of-mouth advice from upperclassmen about which profs are good at LoRs and which aren't the best. However, this is usually overcome by just being upfront with profs you are asking and see if they think they can write you a "strong letter" rather than asking for them to write a letter in general. Good luck with everything moving forward!

 

[Cookiess]

Even though the lower division classes at UCLA have hundreds of students, you could get to know your professor better by going to office hours, scheduling a meeting outside of office hours, or asking to do honors projects with them. Additionally, you can ask to meet with them after the quarter ends to request the LOR and that can be your chance to tell them more about yourself/your interest in medicine.

Do you know if it counts as a science LOR if I got a letter from my PI for a research position I use for P/NP credits?

Some med schools specifically ask for LOR from professors that taught you in a science class so the research LOR wouldn't count for that. I would get a LOR from a science class just to be safe.