I have a professor from this semester Fall 2022, willing to fill out an evaluation form and write me a letter of recommendation for when I apply to Dental School. I plan on applying next year when the ADE AADSAS application opens up in May 2023. What is the best way to keep in touch with your professors and people who are writing your letters until then? I am so nervous that people will say yes now and forget or go M.I.A by the time I need them to write me a letter. Also how does Interfolio work? Does anyone have experience using this to keeping track of early letters of recommendations?
Last edited: Dec 11, 2022 Reactions: 1 userI have a professor from this semester Fall 2022, willing to fill out an evaluation form and write me a letter of recommendation for when I apply to Dental School. I plan on applying next year when the ADE AADSAS application opens up in May 2023. What is the best way to keep in touch with your professors and people who are writing your letters until then? I am so nervous that people will say yes now and forget or go M.I.A by the time I need them to write me a letter. Also how does Interfolio work? Does anyone have experience using this to keeping track of early letters of recommendations?
Honestly, you could see if they would write it now, and then date it, signed, and send it out when the application opens in May. I usually emailed them after the course was over and then periodically sent them updates or confirmation on the due date maybe every couple of months. (Some of my profs asked for a packet of information about me to be sent so they could better understand me as an applicant, which I found very helpful) I don’t think a professor would forget about you purposely, so as long as you keep them in touch with the deadlines you should be okay. They write letters often as it’s part of their job. So they’re usually familiar with the process.
I’m not sure how Interfolio works as I never used it. Hopefully someone else could shed light on that.
Reactions: 1 usersI used Interfolio. You just sign up, give them your professor's email, and they will hold the letter of recommendation in their system until you need it.
Reactions: 2 usersI used Interfolio. You just sign up, give them your professor's email, and they will hold the letter of recommendation in their system until you need it.
OP, use this ^ and get the letter right now while you can. You never know if they’ll move jobs and will no longer be able to use your school’s letter head which is required I believe, if they get sick, forget about you, get busy, no longer feel like it, or whatever. Use Interfolio and get it now. Once your app cycle opens, you just go into interfolio and they’ll generate an email specific for each of your letters (I think this is how it works, it’s been awhile) and you put that email in the LOR slot on aadsas as if you’re sending a request to a prof and then interfolio will upload the letter soon after. This way you can collect the letters along the way and then easily upload them when time comes, rather than waiting til your cycle opens up to then hope you can collect all your LORs on time and if at all
Reactions: 2 usersAfter reading about this, yes, please use it if you can. This sounds like an excellent resource. Thanks guys!
Reactions: 1 userHonestly, you could see if they would write it now, and then date it, signed, and send it out when the application opens in May. I usually emailed them after the course was over and then periodically sent them updates or confirmation on the due date maybe every couple of months. (Some of my profs asked for a packet of information about me to be sent so they could better understand me as an applicant, which I found very helpful) I don’t think a professor would forget about you purposely, so as long as you keep them in touch with the deadlines you should be okay. They write letters often as it’s part of their job. So they’re usually familiar with the process.
I’m not sure how Interfolio works as I never used it. Hopefully someone else could shed light on that.
Based on your assertion that writing lors "is part of their job', would you happen to also know how department heads or presidents of the institution would enforce that clause? Would they be fined x% of the paycheck for not writing, not being timely or ignoring such requests or would they just receive a reprimand for their first offense?
Reactions: 1 userAh okay, I’ll clarify what I meant in that statement, I don’t mean it as a fact of it’s in their contract, but it’s well known in academia that professors write letters of rec. and they usually know how to go about writing them as well as deadlines. How else would they get more PhDs to further their fields, they need letters for their apps too.
When I was worried about asking my letter writers to write me a letter this is what I was told by some folks in the lab I work in who were doing their PhDs or have theirs. It’s somewhat expected by faculty to write them, however they’re still within their right to say no if they think they can’t write you one. But there’s no penalty for them if they don’t, however it’s usually well known by students who will write letters and who doesn’t. I knew which faculty to stay away from and who to potentially ask based on conversations with upperclassmen.
Some faculty at the beginning of courses also told us they wouldn’t write letters, some told us we needed to come to X-amount if office hours if we wanted one, and some said that we just need to shoot them an email. So it varies by profs and their expectations for students who need letters.
But this is based off my experience attending a large R1 university. It could be much different when comparing schools. But generally speaking faculty know that students will ask for letters and they are usually expected to write some. (It’s good to put on a CV as well if their letter got their student accepted)
Reactions: 1 userAh okay, I’ll clarify what I meant in that statement, I don’t mean it as a fact of it’s in their contract, but it’s well known in academia that professors write letters of rec. and they usually know how to go about writing them as well as deadlines. How else would they get more PhDs to further their fields, they need letters for their apps too.
When I was worried about asking my letter writers to write me a letter this is what I was told by some folks in the lab I work in who were doing their PhDs or have theirs. It’s somewhat expected by faculty to write them, however they’re still within their right to say no if they think they can’t write you one. But there’s no penalty for them if they don’t, however it’s usually well known by students who will write letters and who doesn’t. I knew which faculty to stay away from and who to potentially ask based on conversations with upperclassmen.
Some faculty at the beginning of courses also told us they wouldn’t write letters, some told us we needed to come to X-amount if office hours if we wanted one, and some said that we just need to shoot them an email. So it varies by profs and their expectations for students who need letters.
But this is based off my experience attending a large R1 university. It could be much different when comparing schools. But generally speaking faculty know that students will ask for letters and they are usually expected to write some. (It’s good to put on a CV as well if their letter got their student accepted)
An applicant for a faculty position would be grasping for straws if he/she thought the number of students that were accepted to a professional school/grad school would have any bearing on his/her grasp in the his/her area of discipline. Some applicants receive acceptances in spite of lors and not as a result of lors.
