LOR Questions

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my first chem exams are next week. my professors seem to want to pass off all the office hours to TAs, like we're bothering them to want to see them.
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Take a summer science course that's offered in the evenings. I had a much better time with 40 students than with 300+. The class size is much more intimate and the professor is able to recognize you from the crowd. It's also always good to ask questions.

I also always made it a point to sit in the first 3 rows and keep the same seat every day. I was really close with my 2nd semester orgo teacher and I took that class in the summer evenings. I hated stressing over who I was going to get to write my LoR's. Good luck!
 
I don't mind large classes.

By the time I got to upper level majors-only courses, those were pretty small. (There were probably only like 35 pharmtox majors and for our one lab we were split up into two groups so there was only about 20 in my one class). I asked professors from that class for letters of recommendation. It helped that the class was a lab class and it was one that only a few of us could take.

One of the professors from that course was also the undergraduate director - so I talked to him quite a few times to make sure I fulfilled all requirements for graduation. The majority of students in my major were pharm-rejects (those who didn't get into pharmacy school thorugh early assruance) so he gave me advice on pharmacy school too.
 
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This advice may be too late for those applying now, but for you lurkers who are planning ahead, think about this issue at the beginning of the school year/semester. I only took 2 classes last semester and knew I needed a LOR from one of them because my other coursework is really old. My ochem teacher 1. only writes letters to students who gets As in both semesters of her class and, 2. never bothers to learn names because her classes are so huge. At the beginning of the year, I met with her in her office and let her know that a letter from her was my goal. I went to her office every few weeks with questions/comments. I would make sure she knew I was one of the ones who did well on the most recent test (I would ask questions about the things I got wrong and she would see the grade I had earned) and I'd quiz her (playfully) on my name. By the end of the second semester, she actually remembered my name half the time! When final grades came out, I asked for a letter and we went out for lunch so she could find out more about me. I also sent her a copy of my essays for pharmcas and the supplementals so she could have additional insight into my purpose. Hope this helps someone.
 
Hello,

I'm not sure if this question has been asked, it might have and I didn't see it when I was reading the posts.

I don't have any pharmacy experience and some of the schools require a LOR from a pharmacist. I do have my pharm tech license, just been having a hard time getting a retail job or into the hospitals for that volunteer position.

Would it be alright for me to get one from the pharmacist I get my meds from? Ask her and set up an interview with the pharmacist. Would it seem weird if I got a LOR from her but didnt didn't work with her?

I don't know what else to do.

Thanks for all of your input in advance :oops:
 
It would be hard for a pharmacist to report about you and your abilities if he/she hasn't actually worked with you. If it comes down to it, I guess so, but imo I wouldn't do it...
 
How did you ask your professor to write you a LOR??
im realllyyy nervous about asking..im a bit scared of being rejected by any of my professors...even though im pretty sure they would write me LORs if i asked.
i guess its just that i dont know how to go about asking for one.
and another thing...how much is the maximum amount of LORs??
hopefully ill be getting one from a chem professor and another from a philosophy professor...but should i get one from a bio prof too???
this of coarse, is aside from any LOR i would get from an employer of any sort.
thanks.
 
Alanine,

If you have any pharmacy experience, also ask for the pharmacist for an LOR. I said Pharmacist and professor are priority and you can ask employer if the school allows you to. Most school takes about 2-3 LOR minimum, and you should get them from professor and pharmacist first.

Don't be afraid, most professors are nice. Plus you will not go ask any professor you think is mean for an LOR. I asked my a chem professor I had for gen chem and p-chem for LOR and I never really went to her office hour ever (It's not good). But she said she is happy to write the LOR for me. She just wanted me to provide her with a resume and a cover letter so she knows me better therefore she can write a better LOR instead of just saying this student got an A or so.

First ask them if they will write you a LOR in email nicely and explaining your situation. Then see if they say yes or no, if they do then schedule a time with them. I did that for most of my LOR and it worked out fine. Good luck!:xf:
 
so you only had one face-to-face interaction with them?

Chromatography said:
Alanine,

If you have any pharmacy experience, also ask for the pharmacist for an LOR. I said Pharmacist and professor are priority and you can ask employer if the school allows you to. Most school takes about 2-3 LOR minimum, and you should get them from professor and pharmacist first.

Don't be afraid, most professors are nice. Plus you will not go ask any professor you think is mean for an LOR. I asked my a chem professor I had for gen chem and p-chem for LOR and I never really went to her office hour ever (It's not good). But she said she is happy to write the LOR for me. She just wanted me to provide her with a resume and a cover letter so she knows me better therefore she can write a better LOR instead of just saying this student got an A or so.

First ask them if they will write you a LOR in email nicely and explaining your situation. Then see if they say yes or no, if they do then schedule a time with them. I did that for most of my LOR and it worked out fine. Good luck!:xf:
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is that a neccessary? to go out to lunch?
Most of my professors are old men and I don't thikn I'd be comfortable sitting through lunch with them unless I work wiwth them or something.

sunflower85 said:
This advice may be too late for those applying now, but for you lurkers who are planning ahead, think about this issue at the beginning of the school year/semester. I only took 2 classes last semester and knew I needed a LOR from one of them because my other coursework is really old. My ochem teacher 1. only writes letters to students who gets As in both semesters of her class and, 2. never bothers to learn names because her classes are so huge. At the beginning of the year, I met with her in her office and let her know that a letter from her was my goal. I went to her office every few weeks with questions/comments. I would make sure she knew I was one of the ones who did well on the most recent test (I would ask questions about the things I got wrong and she would see the grade I had earned) and I'd quiz her (playfully) on my name. By the end of the second semester, she actually remembered my name half the time! When final grades came out, I asked for a letter and we went out for lunch so she could find out more about me. I also sent her a copy of my essays for pharmcas and the supplementals so she could have additional insight into my purpose. Hope this helps someone.
Click to expand...
 
apteryx said:
my first chem exams are next week. my professors seem to want to pass off all the office hours to TAs, like we're bothering them to want to see them.
Click to expand...
Exactly! Like at my school they tell us to get to know our professors, but then they pretty much tell us we should go to the TA's office hours first and make our professors office hours our last resort. :-/
 
LMAO @ going out to lunch. Watch out for cougars!...or that creepy old british orgo professor with the snaggletooth.

But seriously, the whole professor passing the buck to the TA pisses me off. If they ever tell me something to the effect of they're "too busy" when I need some help, I'll politely remind them I'm paying $8000 (plus interest) to talk to them, not the foreign TA who, despite the fact she seems to be very nice, barely speaks a word of English. People just don't seem to have any humility anymore; the high and mighty professor is too great to deal with a mere undergraduate student. Gotta work on that 15th research paper on phosphorus reactions.

Academia is such BS that it kills me going to class sometimes.
 
lol unfortunately that was like the second time I had face to face interaction with her, i remember first time was when I asked her a question after class. I am not saying its a good thing, you should talk to ur professor. But at least give it a shot and ask for lor even if u didn't
 
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thanks alot!
i have gone to my professors' office hours when i was taking their classes and i still visit most of them now.
i guess its just nerves.

Chromatography said:
Alanine,

If you have any pharmacy experience, also ask for the pharmacist for an LOR. I said Pharmacist and professor are priority and you can ask employer if the school allows you to. Most school takes about 2-3 LOR minimum, and you should get them from professor and pharmacist first.

Don't be afraid, most professors are nice. Plus you will not go ask any professor you think is mean for an LOR. I asked my a chem professor I had for gen chem and p-chem for LOR and I never really went to her office hour ever (It's not good). But she said she is happy to write the LOR for me. She just wanted me to provide her with a resume and a cover letter so she knows me better therefore she can write a better LOR instead of just saying this student got an A or so.

First ask them if they will write you a LOR in email nicely and explaining your situation. Then see if they say yes or no, if they do then schedule a time with them. I did that for most of my LOR and it worked out fine. Good luck!:xf:
Click to expand...
 
KMIMSM said:
is that a neccessary? to go out to lunch?
Most of my professors are old men and I don't thikn I'd be comfortable sitting through lunch with them unless I work wiwth them or something.
Click to expand...

It's not necessary, but you should at least go their office or meet with them somewhere on or off campus to talk about why you want to attend pharmacy school, what your goals are beyond pharm school, etc. Bring your resume, transcripts, personal statement, and maybe even a short biography if you're concerned they don't know you well enough. Just talk to them. It's not as hard as you think. Good luck.
 
apteryx said:
Horrible, isn't it? I went through this last admissions cycle. After I got the LORs, I ended up not even applying to the schools because of a bunch of stupid garbage that happened in life. Now, I'm in a totally different school, know NONE of my professors, and I'm completely out of touch with my old professors. FML on this one.
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Ughhh same here. LORs are my biggest weakness. My question is this... if I need to get any more LORs (applying to more schools or if I have to apply again next year) how do you do that if you've already graduated college?

I'm in an MBA program now, so what if I need a letter from an undergrad science professor? How could I expect a professor to remember or want to help me after 2-3 years and nearly 1000 other students have passed through? I def. don't want to re-ask the same person if I don't get in. lol

I'm not generally introverted or shy, but for some reason I have this huge anxiety about asking professors to do this for me. I think it is because it is something that's so important (at least to me it is!), and I feel like they're always so busy I don't want to bother them. FML for sure.
 
professorsa that get asked a lot...ie the major scinece classes like biochem, chem, etc. ..will have a template and they just change the names and put yours. they will add personal details such as what you did etc. the hard part is knowing what to check when it comes to specific characteristics such as cmn skills, critical thinking etc, logic etc. in which they would have to remember yo ubut chances are they have too many studentts to rememebr thus if they cant write a good letter theyll say no upfront.

Tinkerbell22 said:
Ughhh same here. LORs are my biggest weakness. My question is this... if I need to get any more LORs (applying to more schools or if I have to apply again next year) how do you do that if you've already graduated college?

I'm in an MBA program now, so what if I need a letter from an undergrad science professor? How could I expect a professor to remember or want to help me after 2-3 years and nearly 1000 other students have passed through? I def. don't want to re-ask the same person if I don't get in. lol

I'm not generally introverted or shy, but for some reason I have this huge anxiety about asking professors to do this for me. I think it is because it is something that's so important (at least to me it is!), and I feel like they're always so busy I don't want to bother them. FML for sure.
Click to expand...
 
KMIMSM said:
professorsa that get asked a lot...ie the major scinece classes like biochem, chem, etc. ..will have a template and they just change the names and put yours.
Click to expand...

I worked for a physics professor who did this. He worked mostly with grad students who were trying to get postdoctoral fellowships. When he got a LOR request, he would tell us (I was the office assistant to the dept secretary) to do the "standard" LOR, or the "walks on water" LOR, depending on the student. We'd set it up, email it to him, he'd tweak it, and then we'd print it out for him to sign and get the LOR envelope (any forms, etc...) ready. I don't know how standard this is but I bet its not too uncommon.
 
Aww shooot. I guess I'm in the same boat as the OP. The only professors I seem to get close and personal with are the professors for my arts courses, my electives. Wa wa wa ... Guess I better go to office hours now and then..

Do math professors count as science professors? :confused:
 
So my recommender asked me for the paper form since he wasn't getting the emails from pharmcas, and I just found out that he actually wrote out the letter by hand and submitted it with the paper request form. He already sent it in and everything so I can't ask him to type it instead. Do you think this is going to be a problem?? anyone have any experience with this?
 
i don't think they require it to be typed.
most people type it just because it's faster and esp professors have too many students ask them so they can't hand write everything.
maybe he didn't write much so it's easier for him to write and he knew exactly what he wanted to say so he didn't have to worry about deleting etc.
 
I'm guessing handwriting won't make a difference. Maybe it'll show that your professor put in more effort and really wanted to personalize the recommendation.
 
That will probably make your file stand out from the rest ...
 
I have all my stuff done with pharmcas, the ONLY thing that is holding me back is 1 letter of rec from a science professor. I have emailed every single one of my science professor for a letter or rec (i asked them to see if they wanted to make an appointment with me so they can get to know me better and show them my personal statement/resume and stuff) and not a SINGLE one has responded....

I am really stressing, is there anything last resort i can do?
 
Yeah, gird your loins and ask them again. Do you really want to waste another year of your life doing applications again because you were too embarrassed to ask a professor again? You've gotta keep everything in perspective here and throw your namby-pamby inhibitions out the window. Those who seek shall find.
 
You know.... email is not the most effective (or most polite) way to ask for a LOR. Best thing to do is ask them face-to-face. It's harder to ignore you in person than in an email. Stop by their office at their office hours or talk to them after class to try to set up an appointment.

If you're not in a position to do this (ie. out of school or whatever), then perhaps think about calling them?
 
So, my supplemental applications are almost finished, with my state school already finished. Now, I just have one little problem and that is that one of my LOR has not submitted the reference letter yet. I reminded him every single week cause I work with the dude and he kept telling me he will send it since he finished it already.........but as of 5 minutes ago, it was not received by pharmcas yet. Now, I don't know how fast pharmcas update the LOR but my other two LORs were received the next day after pharmcas send out the request. I'm worried because the schools I am applying to are on a rolling basis and pharmcas stated that it takes about 5 weeks to mail out things. Does it usually take them about that long just to send out one LOR or is it usually faster? My state school will not look at my application until everything is completed and well, it would be if the guy send in his LOR. I'm sort of disappointed cause he's my pharmacy manager and I've worked with the guy for almost 2 years now. I told him I was applying this cycle since last October and all my other LORs came through in June except him.


:(
 
I agree with the other replies. The best approach would be to visit the professors' office hour. The next best thing is to call them directly. Professors get tons of emails, so they could have easily missed yours. Just email them until you get a response. Make sure your introduction and subject line are informative and direct. Finally, remember that professors are there to serve the students. Good Luck.
 
Can anyone explain to me how this works? Do I give people who reccommend me a letter? How do they send it etc?
 
Every school is different. All of the schools I've dealt with have forms that MUST be filled out by the person writing the LOR. You might consider getting all the forms together for all of your prospective schools and handing the stack to each writer, instead of giving them one school's forms this week, another's next week.
 
I just used a letter service. There was one provided by my university and I know a lot have a similar service. I just had my letter writers submit their letters to the service. The service sent the letters to pharmcas and other schools that I sent more letters than the 3 from pharmcas. All the schools I applied to accepted letters this way. It was great because it was really convenient for me and my writers. Also I have my letters on file for up to 5 years if I need them again and I don't have to bother my writers.

:D
 
I searched through the forums and couldnt find anything that addressed this so if there is I apologize in advance.

I was wondering if anyone knew if it was okay to have my Organic Lab Professor write a letter of recommendation for me. I know it calls for a Science professor but I am not close to any of my science professors. Has anyone done this before?

Thanks in advance for any help!
 
Floridapharm20 said:
I searched through the forums and couldnt find anything that addressed this so if there is I apologize in advance.

I was wondering if anyone knew if it was okay to have my Organic Lab Professor write a letter of recommendation for me. I know it calls for a Science professor but I am not close to any of my science professors. Has anyone done this before?

Thanks in advance for any help!
Click to expand...

I did the exact same thing, and the one school I'm applying to that actually requires a science professor said it is perfectly fine! I wasn't that worried though because the other 3 schools don't have any specific LOR requirements. Your best bet is to check with your specific school though. I also have a letter from a pharmacist and a guidance counselor so I'm not sure if that helps. BTW, I am in Florida too.
 
I tried searching the forums and pharmcas, but didn't see anything. Can a LOR be from a recently retired pharmacist, or do they need to be currently employed? A seemingly stupid question, but one I would hate to make the mistake of committing.
 
apteryx said:
I tried searching the forums and pharmcas, but didn't see anything. Can a LOR be from a recently retired pharmacist, or do they need to be currently employed? A seemingly stupid question, but one I would hate to make the mistake of committing.
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It depends on the school, but if the LOR has to be from a pharmacist, it should be from one that is currently working.
 
Hello everyone,
I have a few questions regarding letters of recommendation that I hope you can help me with.

Most of my application is finished except for the LORs. I currently only have a LOR from a pharmacist I did volunteer work with. Aside from being a remarkable pharmacist (owns a pharmacy chain along with her husband), she's also a long-time family friend so I'm sure her LOR will be a strong one.

I have also asked for a LOR from a science professor that knows me from doing volunteer work for his conservation biology project on the everglades (helicopter trips and all that fancy stuff). I contacted this professor not long ago and he said he'd be happy to write the LOR for me, but he hasn't come through yet.

My question is, can I shoot the application with only one LOR? Will PharmCAS allow the addition of LORs after it has been e-submitted? Will the benefits of applying now with only 1 LOR outweigh the benefits of applying very close to the deadline with 2, maybe 3 LORs or vice versa?

I'm pretty much applying to all of the pharmacy schools in FL, and possibly Mercer.

If it's of any help in assessing my situation, here's my background:

Overall GPA is 3.6
PCAT Composite is 87
Volunteer work in both the major I'm currently working on (Biology BS, senior) and in the pharmacy field.

Thanks in advance for any input.
 
im not positive but I am pretty sure your LOR will just get sent along with the rest of your app when they are submitted. Try to get them in ASAP. I do know that if you dont meet a schools LOR requirements they will put your ass as incomplete until they receive them. Its better to wait IMO cause if you wont have your app looked at without them, then its kind of pointless to submit isnt it?
 
The answer is YES! You can submit and play with LOR's, one of the only things you can adjust after you submit. I know from experience. I applied to 2 schools in January on a limb after taking the PCAT and doing horribly. I wanted to apply to 3 schools, but my boss, a pharmacist, hadn't filled out his LOR yet, so I waited. Bad choice. I missed the deadline to the school I REALLY wanted to apply for. But I knew better this time around, applied early and asked for my LOR's early. The science professor I asked had just had a baby four months prior, and it was like pulling teeth to get her to do it for me. But she was the only prof I knew personally, so I really wanted one from her. I had submitted when I had 3/4 LOR's done. I kept deleting her and sending it to her email again thinking maybe she hadn't gotten it. It took a letter on her door to finally do it, but to end my rant, yes, submit because you can play around with LOR's after you submit :D
 
Will your recommender have access to your PharmCAS information such as GPA, PCAT score, and schools applied?

Also, on PharmCAS, they show you the type of questions they ask your recommender. So, is the LOR just filling out a questionnaire or would my recommender actually write a letter. This is all assuming if it is done electronically.

Thanks, I appreciate the help! :)
 
MRSA Sucks said:
Will your recommender have access to your PharmCAS information such as GPA, PCAT score, and schools applied?

Also, on PharmCAS, they show you the type of questions they ask your recommender. So, is the LOR just filling out a questionnaire or would my recommender actually write a letter. This is all assuming if it is done electronically.

Thanks, I appreciate the help! :)
Click to expand...

They will not be able to see anything. PharmCAS sends out an evaluation form through an email link, which is to be filled out and submitted through PharmCAS. They will have the option to submit their letter on the evaluation form provided by PharmCAS along with other questions.
 
docss26 said:
They will not be able to see anything. PharmCAS sends out an evaluation form through an email link, which is to be filled out and submitted through PharmCAS. They will have the option to submit their letter on the evaluation form provided by PharmCAS along with other questions.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the response! So submitting an actual letter is optional you think? The thing is I don't think my recommender has ever written a LOR for pharmacy school before and I feel like I need to "baby" her through the process without being too pushy. It's sort of an intimidating and delicate thing to do. I don't want her to just skip the letter portion if it's optional. But yeah, thanks for the help.
 
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