Dd graduates college in May and is planning to take two gap years before med school, meaning she would begin applying to med school a year from now.
My understanding is that she needs two letters of recommendation from faculty and one from another source. Should she go ahead and request the letters of recommendation from faculty while she is there on campus?
I am thinking they could draft the letters while she is fresh in their memory and then she would submit the letters with her application next year???
How does this work?
She should talk with the pre-health advising team at her college for their preferred process.
3 Likes
The answer is…it depends. My kid didn’t even decide to apply to medical school until 2 years after graduating undergrad. But she needed LOR anyway, and IIRC, the college had a placement service these could be sent to for use when needed. Still, then the time came, the kid reached out to the same folks, and explained what she needed. It was not a problem.
1 Like
First, she always should ask her HP committee for guidance, assuming her undergrad sends committee letters.
Yes, she should ask for letters now while the rec writers still remember her and have recent interactions.
Your daughter should open an account with a secure 3rd party document storage service–like Interfoliio. Have her letter writers upload her LORs there
The letters are secure and it provides confidentiality since your daughter won’t have access to read them. (Confidentiality is very important for LORs.)
When she is ready to apply, she can ask her letter writers if they will “freshen” her LOR by added an new date (Some med schools won’t accept LORs that are more than a year old) and, if they wish, the writer can update the letter by adding new details your D will supply them with when she asks for the letter update.
Once the letters are updated, she can either send them as individual letters to TMDSAS or if her HP office allows, she can send them to the HP office to be part of her committee letter ( again, assuming her undergrad uses a committee letter). Whichever makes more sense in her situation.
TIP: when your daughter asks a professor for a LOR, have her give them a copy of her CV and activity list. This will help them write a more personal and detailed letter for her.
TMDSAS Letter of Evaluation requirements here: Letters of Evaluation
2 Likes