Old recommendation letters

I apologize for repeating this question here but I’m in a bit of hurry to make a decision about this issue. So here’s my question:


Could recommendation letters from professors for courses which I took 2-3 yr ago be considered too old?


I took Biology 1 in Summer 2008, Chemistry 1 in Fall 2008, and Chemistry 2 in Spring 2009. I will be getting the recommendation letters from instructors of these classes in February/March and I’m going to apply in June 2011.


I saw a few sources where it says it should be from someone you’ve been working with within the past 2 yrs or less.


I also transferred from a CC to a state university and all of my recommendation letters are from CC. I have 4.0 GPA from both schools. I did not expect that getting recommendation letters only from CC professors would be a problem. But it seems like I need to get at least one letter from the state university.


I just want to know how big of deal this is. If this is a huge issue, I could take Biochem II in the Spring and try to get a letter but I’m taking MCAT in April and do not want to mix Biochem II and MCAT if possible.


I’ve done some searches online and it looks like it’s not a huge issue but just wanted to know what you guys think. Thanks.






Does your 4 year college have available its own premedical committee recommendation service? Will you be using it? If so, in my experience, that will suffice for the most stringent medical school time limit on recommendation letters. On a side note, the medical school I encountered that had the most stringent time limit on recommendation letters demanded that the letter be WRITTEN (not the recommender’s course taken) within the past two years.

  • ihopetobeado2 Said:
Does your 4 year college have available its own premedical committee recommendation service? Will you be using it? If so, in my experience, that will suffice for the most stringent medical school time limit on recommendation letters. On a side note, the medical school I encountered that had the most stringent time limit on recommendation letters demanded that the letter be WRITTEN (not the recommender's course taken) within the past two years.



Thank you for the reply, ihopetobeado2.

No, my school doesn't have a premedical committee recommendation service.

Also, my other concern is that I took 5 courses (Bio 1/2, Chem 1/2, Phys 1) at a CC and took a lot more at the current school. And I don't have any recommendation letters from this school. I barely had time for classes and work, and simply didn't have the time to go see the professors during their office hours.




Drumstick


I understand your situation. LOR are so important that it is worth finding the time.


Besides you have a 4.0 so I believe it won’t be too hard to convince your current professors to write one.


Should you be questioned as to why you don’t have more recent letters, you must be prepared to answer. I am not sure that the “I had no time” will fly. But I might be mistaken.


If I were you I would simply try and go see the professors. You can even offer them some templates (that makes their work easier). Provide them with an envelope, with address and stamps where it is to be sent (like interfolio) to have your letters collected.


I know that the LOR part is the pain in the butt for everybody (applicants and reference), but this is such a crucial part of the application. If your MCAT is just “good” it can make the difference. Do not neglect this part. After MCAT/GPA, this is probably the single most important factor.


My opinion (which in itself is worth less than 2 cents)

Yes, I totally admit that I should have tried to secure a couple of recommendation letters from my current professors. But with 100’s of students in a class, unless I go see them during their office hours on a regular basis, it would have been difficult to get strong recommendation letters. It’s basically not possible for me to ask for letters from more recent professors now since they don’t know me at all. Yes, I got A’s in their classes but that’s it. They don’t know me.


Plus, I am very confident that my recommendation letters from my CC professors would be strong, so I didn’t worry about it until I came across a few sources mentioning this “expiry” on recommendation letters. I thought 2-3 yrs is totally legitimate. I looked at a few schools of my interest before making that assumption when I was asking around for recommendation letters in 2009.


Has anyone run into issues for this same reason?


I’m having a nightmare thinking of taking Biochem II and studying for MCAT at the same time, and working, though not much.



Hi there


well, I can understand. Please note that in my opinion (again worth about 2 cents), I believe that a university professor should write a letter as to your academic ability and not necessarily regarding your person.


In other words, all a professor is expected to say is :‘he can do well in med school’. Saying ‘he can be a great doctor’ is not his or her role unless they are practicing physicians. That’s why it is good to have letters from both, teachers and physicians.


Teachers are simply to report on your academic performance as, like you say, they don’t know you (and it is not expected that they should, unless you did research or some internship). The doctor you shadow or the clinic you volunteer in, are not supposed to know how fit you are in terms of academic skills, but could certainly talk about (and are in fact expected to) your personal skills and your ability in the setting you hope to enter.


In other words, don’t expect a letter to say what is not supposed to say. Plus I am sure that adcoms are good at spotting this kind of stuff.


Anyhow, you are obviously academically fit given your grades. The only caveat (which is not a caveat, but something that applies to all), is to have a MCAT that will reflect your academic performance. Tricky, because MCAT = one shot on the spot, while the grades are the result of sustained work and while accidents happen, true performance is always better reflected in grades rather in an MCAT score (that’s why an MCAT retake is the norm…). A poor MCAT will most certainly play down the quality of you academic letters.


My opinion, and perhaps, taking Biochem II seem ambitious to me. If I have to choose MCAT 35+ and no Biochem II versus good MCAT (30+) with an A in Biochem II, I’d still pick the 35+ MCAT. But that’s me.


Good luck and keep us posted.


Cheers.

As far as profs in huge classes not knowing you. I was one of six folks in my OChem I class to not have to take the final so that alone got me a letter of rec. from him and I didn’t go to his office until the end of the semester. I would go back to some of the professors that you might have stood out in academically and do some asking.

Generally speaking, you want LORs from faculty and others WHO KNOW YOU WELL. This allows them to address not only your academic abilities, but also your personal qualifications that may make you an appealing applicant.


If an LOR merely says, “XXX received an A+ in my subterranean termite course and I recommend him/her highly for medical school…,” frankly, that is a useless letter to admissions committees.


I hope this helps.


Cheers,


Judy

  • jcolwell Said:
Generally speaking, you want LORs from faculty and others WHO KNOW YOU WELL. This allows them to address not only your academic abilities, but also your personal qualifications that may make you an appealing applicant.

If an LOR merely says, "XXX received an A+ in my subterranean termite course and I recommend him/her highly for medical school...," frankly, that is a useless letter to admissions committees.

I hope this helps.

Cheers,

Judy



That's exactly the reason why I posted this question. I'm very confident that the recommendation letters from my CC professors would be strong. But the drawbacks are that it's been a while since I took their courses and they're from a CC.

I'm leaning towards just going with the 3 "old" letters I got and focusing on MCAT. But I will make the decision by the end of next week.


For what it’s worth, I also did my DIY post-bacc at a huge state school, where I was one of hundreds of faces in the crowd in most classes… or so I thought. I approached five professors, all toward the end of the courses, and all but one were enthusiastic and helpful after I explained what I was doing (the one that wasn’t said I was “too old and needed to get real.” Guess I got the last laugh on that one). My bio II prof even joked he initially thought I was from the accredidation board doing a random audit. So you might not be “blending” as much as you think, and your stellar performance is not going unnoticed. The professors talk among themselves and with their grad assistants who run the labs. It’s worth asking; the worst that could happen is they say no (and someday you will have the last laugh too.)