<p>I'm wondering if I should ask to have them make a template or something then send it out because I have a feeling they arent going to remember me years later.</p>
<p>I plan on asking every teacher I had a personal connection with, I will have one strong one for sure from my math teacher last semester. I have a list of 4 already this is off of one year of school of teachers that actually matter to me. Is this a bad idea to just keep collecting letters of rec and just use the best ones when I apply? </p>
<p>I'm also worried I will not be able to get a non-science letter of rec. I have two non-science classes left. The other non-science classes were taken at CC and I never took the opportunity to connect with the teachers. I didnt even know I wanted to go to medical school at that point.</p>
<p>Your school pre-med department may offer a service where the professors can write a letter and provide it to the school which would send it out when required. Or you can try Interfolio online service which allows professors to submit their letters as they create them and you to send them to schools as you need to do so.</p>
<p>If you are applying in a given June, be sure to ask for letters many months before, do not assume your professor will write it once the semester/quarter is over.</p>
<p>so I should ask for them now and just store them, correct? Im most likely transferring schools so I dont know how much use asking the pre-med req will be.</p>
<p>You should always ask the professor if they can write you a STRONG letter, if not, you don’t want it, if so, even if you are transferring, get it.</p>
<p>pre-med department idk why I wrote req. I guess I’ll ask for it signed and in MS word form as well.</p>
<p>I’d be surprised if it was acceptable for you to have the Word file and then submit your own rec letters. </p>
<p>If you’re worried the profs won’t remember you, then perhaps that wouldn’t be the best prof to ask. You want your rec letters to be remarkably strong, and if you didn’t make a very impressive/memorable impression on a prof, who knows how strong their letter would be.</p>
<p>I think it’s common courtesy to include your resume and personal statement along with your request for the recommendation letter, which could be made in person or in an email. Your school’s premed committee may require you to sign waivers that you agree not to read your individual letters (so the profs will be more candid, or something) and/or they may require that the letters are submitted in an envelope addressed to the committee. If either of those are the case, you should submit the signed forms and an addressed envelope along with your personal statement and resume.</p>
<p>It’s also common courtesy to follow up with a handwritten thank you note (which could be sent at a creative time to remind the writer to actually send the letter to the committee…just saying…).</p>
<p>I personally would be pretty weary of requesting letters so far in advance because I would want the recommenders to include information about the rest of my academic career. You shouldn’t look at letters as something to check off the list; you should look at them as a way for someone who knows you very well to vouch for you and to talk about all the great things you’ve done. Something that says “Scienceguy is a nice student who did well in my freshman math class” is not sufficient.</p>
<p>As far as accumulating a bunch of letters before you transfer, you probably don’t need a bunch of letters. You probably only need a few–3 to 5 max I think. You will probably submit the letters to the premed committee at the school where you’ll graduate from, so you should check to see what their requirements are (eg can you submit letters from professors of other schools?). Focus on quality, not quantity!</p>