Letters of Evaluation: Medical School Application Guide 

Thank you for the kind words. My goal is to be helpful or inspiring in at least a small way, so hearing that means a lot.

I hope the MCAT went well and best of luck with the upcoming cycle. I hope I've helped in at least some small way. Let me know if I can ever help more directly.

@@DoctorRex Your videos on the MCAT were really helpful! I also had a one-month study period that I did over the winter break, so getting insight into how others have managed that (as well as your retrospection on how you may have altered your schedule) was incredibly useful to me!

@@VoidObvi1 Really glad to hear they were helpful!

I wouldn't definitively say there is a "supposed to." But ideally when you are asking for a letter of recommendation you can also give them your personal statement and maybe your resume and share a good amount about your premed journey and why you want to be a doctor. This is going to be difficult to do if you want to ask a professor you have your freshman year. In that case, I would say probably try to stay in touch with the professor and build a relationship with them so you can ask them later if you are certain they are someone you want a letter of recommendation from. But broadly speaking, I would say it would be more rare to ask a professor from freshman year because of 1) the logistical time disparity between taking their class and applying is kinda difficult as you brought up but also 2) freshman year classes are generally way bigger and harder to build a relationship with a professor and 3) freshman year classes are more intro classes so it's less easy for a professor to testify to your academic abilities. But on the opposite end, if you are a senior and know you want to apply to medical school, but also know you want to take 3 gap years, it definitely makes sense in that case to ask your professors right after taking the class. You should be able to have a good conversation about your journey etc. and if you are planning to do research in the artic circle for those 3 years, you probably aren't going to be staying in touch with them. Door number 3: just ask them: "Hey, I've loved taking your class and you've made a significant impact on my education that I'm incredibly thankful for. I would appreciate it if you would be willing to write me a letter of recommendation for medical school. However, I won't be applying for years from now, so do you think it would be most convenient for you to write a letter of rec for me soon, or would you prefer for me to reach out to you in the future when I'll be applying." Hopefully if this is someone you want a letter of rec from, you have a good enough relationship that you would feel comfortable asking them if you thought that was best. Hopefully that was helpful.

I got interviews from 2 out of the 6 schools I sent that letter to. Which is similar enough to the overall ratio of 6/15 interviews total that I wouldn't draw any significant conclusions from that.