Asking for Letters of Recommendation

In the last post, I talked about what types of people you should, and shouldn’t, ask for letters of recommendation. Let’s talk about other things you need to know about asking for letters. 

First, you should discuss with your pre-med advisor how your school’s pre-health committee handles letters of recommendation. For example, will all of your letters be received by the committee to go into one packet to send to medical schools or are you responsible for having your writers send the letters directly to AMCAS? This may alter your timeline, so you really need to ask your advisor early. You should also ask if your college provides a letter storage service so you can ask a professor, for example, soon after you’ve completed their class instead of a year or more later when you’re ready to apply. 

AMCAS generally starts accepting applications in May and sends the first batch of completed applications to medical schools late June/early July. As we’ll talk about later, you want to get your application completed and submitted as early as possible (no need in slowing around and leaving yourself to be considered when there are only a few spots left). AMCAS begins accepting letters of recommendation on the same day that the AMCAS application opens, so the earlier you ask your writers, the better. 

Approaching the potential writer

If at all possible, you want to avoid asking via email, that’s so impersonal but may be forced on you by Covid this year! Start by sending a kind email reminding them who you are, how they know you, and ask if they are able to meet, either virtually or in-person. Most professors who are asked to write letters all the time will likely already know why you want to meet if they know you’re pre-med (and they should, we’re not asking strangers, right?!?), but it really is a nice added touch to meet with them. Pre-Covid, I would’ve said you should definitely meet in person to ask for the letter; this may still be an option, but may not be. They need to be able to put a face with your request, so I would consider asking to meet virtually if in-person is just not an option. When meeting with them to ask for the letter, tell them of your interest in medical school, discuss with them where you are in the application process, remind them of the impact they’ve had on you, and ask if they’d be willing to write a strong letter of recommendation for you. Be sure to ask for a strong letter. If they don’t have the time to do so or don’t believe they know you well enough to do so, or have any hesitation at all, they’re not the one and you need to kindly thank them and move on to the next!

Ask well in advance

You need to ask in advance, do not wait until the last minute! Keep in mind that your professors, physicians, and other people you may ask to write your letters are busy! You want the best letter possible from them so you need to be sure to give them ample time to write it. If you are going to apply straight from college (not considering taking a gap year) and your school doesn’t have a storage service, then in the Spring semester of your Junior year, you need to have locked in your plans of who you want to ask and ask them by March, at the latest. This gives them enough time to write the letter and get it submitted to AMCAS or to your pre-health committee for your packet. Four weeks really is the minimum amount of time you should be giving anyone to write a letter. Starting early also gives you a cushion in case you misjudged and someone says no; you’ll have time to re-group and ask someone else and give them enough notice as well.

Provide a CV and statement to the writer

When they say yes, you need to provide them with a bit of information to help them in writing the letter. This should include your up-to-date CV, your application personal statement (if it’s done, if not, that’s okay) and also a personalized statement to them that reminds them of your time with them, recounts a memorable experience (project/patient/assignment/etc.) with them, and talks about why you are applying to medical school and why you really want to be a physician. Include a date by which you would like to have your application completed and everything submitted (feel free to pad this by a week or two from when you really want everything in!). You should also include what you are hoping they will be able to bring to your application in their letter. Be courteous, but ask them for what you need! You need medical schools to know that you can handle the science in medical school, that you are a team player, that you are warm and caring, etc. These people can help you get that point across! After meeting with you and reading this statement personalized to them, they should be fired up and ready to write you a great letter! 

If your writer is someone who knows you well and you think could speak well on your behalf but they have never written a letter or ask you what should be included, here is a link to the AMCAS Guidelines for Writing a Letter of Evaluation that you can provide to them.

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

Send a friendly reminder

About 2-4 weeks (depending on how much lead time you gave them)after you ask them to write the letter, consider sending an email of thanks and ask them to let you know if there is anything else needed from you and to let you know if they have any issues with the process. This is not only considerate, but is also a great reminder to them to start writing the letter if they haven’t already! Unless you just really get in a bind and don’t have their letter by a reasonable date, this friendly reminder is the only follow-up that you need to give them before you send a thank you note when everything is complete. You don’t want to piss them off by repeatedly asking them where they are in the process of writing your letter…don’t pester them! …but if it is not in by the date you asked them, you do have to reach out again to see if they are still willing to provide the letter. That is not unreasonable if they agreed and you gave them plenty of advance notice. Again, this is why we start early and why we ask for more letters than the three that most medical schools will require. 

Send a thank you note afterwards

Don’t forget to send a thank you note when your application is completed and everything has been submitted. It would be even better if this note is something you can deliver in person. You don’t need to, and are certainly not expected to, give them anything of monetary value; you’re a student and they have a job, keep your coins. Also, at the end of the entire process, you need to follow up with them again to let them know the outcome. I think this is important because it validates their contribution to your process if (read: when) you get accepted or it allows you to tell them you’ll be applying again next year when you know you’ll have a stronger application and would appreciate if they’d be available for another letter then. [we’re praying for the first scenario!]

Hope this makes sense. If you have questions or other suggestions of things you have found helpful when asking for letters of recommendation, feel free to include them in the comments section below!