To Waive or Not Waive, That is the Question...

[GhostsBeforeBreakfast]

I feel like it has been quieter here this application year. Does this mean less competition for me? Good! All jokes aside, now that I've locked in three wonderful LORs, I wanted to know if it was more common to waive your rights to read these recommendations or not? Of course, I really want to read them but it seems fishy. All graduate applications ask for this and I wonder if it could look bad if you don't waive such rights? I remember waiving my rights for undergrad.

What did you guys do when you applied? What are you thinking of doing if you are applying this year?

[iphi]

Waive the rights. Adcoms can see the rec letter as not being 100% accurate if you haven't.

[GeoDUDE!]

Waive them, I have never seen my LORs since HS

[peachypie]

Waive them.  Never thought twice about, haven't seen any of them ever.  Be confident that what they are writing is indicative of you as a candidate.  

[GhostsBeforeBreakfast]

I'm confident in what they'll write. I spent a lot of time with these professors, to the point where I was told by one that they'd be insulted if I didn't ask. I guess the act of reading them is just an exercise in ego-masturbation and I should get over it  . I'm glad I asked because I probably wouldn't have waived them; now I definitely will.

[Applemiu]

Yep, waive!

[TakeruK]

I'm confident in what they'll write. I spent a lot of time with these professors, to the point where I was told by one that they'd be insulted if I didn't ask. I guess the act of reading them is just an exercise in ego-masturbation and I should get over it  . I'm glad I asked because I probably wouldn't have waived them; now I definitely will.

 

Note: Even if you did not waive your rights to view them under FERPA, you might not even get to see them. You can only access your student records after you have enrolled as a student so if you don't get into a school, you may never be able to view your LORs because they will not have created a student record for you. Similarly, some schools destroy all application files after they make their decision so even if you enroll in the school, they can't show you what's in your file. Your FERPA rights are to know what's in your student record/file at all times, not specific to your LORs, so if the LORs are not in your student record/file, then you can't view them. When you waive your FERPA rights with respect to the LOR, you are saying that if you ever ask to view your student file, the school is allowed to hide your LORs from you.

 

The corollary is that even if you waive your rights, you are still able to view your LORs if the school chooses to share them with you. Again, you are not waiving your rights to ever see them, you are just saying that the school is allowed to choose to withhold your LORs if you ask to see your student record via your FERPA rights. For example, when my colleague graduated, the school gave him all the contents of his student file (I guess that way, he's responsible for them instead of the school) and the file contained his LORs from when he started, despite waiving his rights like everyone else. Also, if your letter writers choose to show you their LOR, you can still waive your rights and it's okay.