Too soon to ask?

[lightballsdeep]

Hi!

I'm obsessively working on my applications for December 15/January 15 deadlines.  I know which professors I want to ask for LORs, one has written me a few letters in the past and one will be a 'new ask.' I want to know if asking now is too soon?  Ideally, my plan is to email them the request for a letter and ask for a meeting to talk about it at the same time.  I want to bring them a copy of my rough draft SOP for review, and I also want to have a good amount to revise it given their advice.  Is asking in the next two weeks too soon?

I'm thinking I'll wait until after I've taken the GRE (October 2nd) so that I can give them that information to work with as well. 

I should also mention that I have been out of undergrad for two years, so I can't just pop in while I'm on campus. 

[RCtheSS]

I've already started contacting my professors to give them a heads up about LORs. I'm also out of undergrad, but I flew back down to my undergrad university over Labor Day weekend and met with a professor during office hours to catch up and discuss my career goals.

It's definitely not too soon to ask them.

[lightballsdeep]

I've already started contacting my professors to give them a heads up about LORs. I'm also out of undergrad, but I flew back down to my undergrad university over Labor Day weekend and met with a professor during office hours to catch up and discuss my career goals.

It's definitely not too soon to ask them.

Great! Good to know other people area on the same timeline as me.  Thank you!  I do live in the same town as my undergrad so I can just set up a meeting with them via email.  

[RCtheSS]

You're welcome! Since you have the option, I would definitely arrange to meet in person; I prefer to discuss face-to-face what I've been up to and to explain where I'm trying to go. Best of luck with your applications. 

[arcuatefasciculus]

Hi there!

It's definitely a good idea to start about now. Professors are generally quite busy juggling a million things and very likely have other students asking for LORs as well. So informing them a little in advance will ensure that they have time to write you a good letter. And as mentioned before, it would definitely be a good idea to meet your referees in person if you can before asking for the letter. Hope this helps. Good luck!  

[TakeruK]

This is a good time to give your professors a heads-up that you will be asking them for LORs later this year. From my experience, it is too early to provide materials for the LORs (at this time in my application year, I hadn't even started writing a SOP yet!) but each professor has their own timeline.

My recommendation is to ask to meet with your professors one-on-one if you can. Let them know that you would like to talk to them about graduate school. Use this meeting to let them know where you are thinking of applying, what you are thinking of doing and getting their thoughts and advice. Ask them if they would like to be a reference for you and then ask them what kind of timeline they would like to have all of the materials (as well as which materials they would want). I provided all of my LOR writers with all of my things about 1 month before the first deadline (i.e. early November) and then sent reminders 2 weeks and 2 days before the deadline.