The school I applied to last year does not take scores from the GRE so they rely very heavily on LOR. The first year I applied to their grad school I chose not to waive my rights so I could read my letters. It's not that I didn't hold confidence in my recommenders. It just doesn't feel right "waiving my rights" to anything that involves my future. I felt I deserved to know what they wrote or didn't write. The two from my professors were quite good and I was very happy with them. However, I later realized that my third letter from my employer (I work in a hospital setting) may have hurt my chances a little. While it was a very good letter they are looking for recommenders who know the field and can vouch for your true potential as an slp. I had known my two instructors quite well through class, clinic and working at a camp for children with autism. Unfortunately for me though, I'm not a very good brown noser and didn't know the rest of my professors very well to ask for my third letter this year. Instead, I job shadowed an SLP in the hospital setting who I had previously known through an acquaintance. It was a good decision and I'm confident she wrote me a nice letter this year. When you shadow for 8 hours a day a few days a week on your own with the SLP I feel like they get to know you more on a personal level (much more so than some of the instructors). I know job shadowing seems like something you do at the beginning of your undergrad, not at the end.. but I think it really helped me with this and there are so many areas of the profession I haven't had the liberty to see yet. Also, it's another extra perk to add to your application.
This is my second year applying and this time I chose to waive my rights. I honestly don't feel like it would have made a difference last year as one instructors on the review committee told me it wouldn't have. However, I'm applying to more schools this year and I can't say all other universities would feel the same way about waiving rights. My two instructors basically informed me they would be using the same letters, so I know they will be very good. I hope changing my recommender on my third letter will make the difference!