LoR, waive my right?

[hyo]

I am an international student who applied for Ph.D in the U.S.

In my online application, I said I would not waive my right to review recommendation letters. Does this seriously weaken the truthfulness of my recommendation? (Ahhhhhhhh!!!!!) Since there was no actual warning or comment that this choice might harm my LoR, I just did not care too much about waiving, which I regret now. (I think it is not fair not to mention the risk you have to take, though.)

Well, there would be a variety of differences between programs, but, based on your experience, please help me...

Is there anybody who got accepted even if they did not waive their right?

Recommendation letters are one of the most important factors to make a decision?

Please, HELP ME!!!!!

Edited December 15, 2009 by hyo

[fuzzylogician]

Yes, the consensus is you should waive. But no, you're not automatically rejected because you didn't. Since you really can't do anything about this, the best thing you can do is try to look at it as positively as you can. Some profs might be more suspicious of your letters, others will not be. But for sure you won't be rejected across the board just because you didn't sign the waiver. If it helps, I didn't waive my rights for at least one program that required that I send in a signed form (didn't find out until after I had send off everything else and didn't have time to send that by itself) and I didn't waive my right to see any of the letters I got from a 4th writer who I had to add last minute. I doubt it made any difference to any of my acceptance decisions.

[06aculot]

I did not waive my rights to see the rec letters, only because I had no idea it made a difference. I've been reading around, but some say it actually does matter (the majority). Is it really that bad? It'd be interesting to hear from people who have been involved in the admissions process. Now I'm just freaking out haha.

I know my rec letter writers very well, and I have no doubt in my mind they wrote great letters. It seems normal that out of pure curiosity some would choose not to waive it. None of them ever said anything about it either. Aparently thats not the name of the game though...ouch.

[modernity]

I did not waive my rights to see the rec letters, only because I had no idea it made a difference. I've been reading around, but some say it actually does matter (the majority). Is it really that bad? It'd be interesting to hear from people who have been involved in the admissions process. Now I'm just freaking out haha.

I know my rec letter writers very well, and I have no doubt in my mind they wrote great letters. It seems normal that out of pure curiosity some would choose not to waive it. None of them ever said anything about it either. Aparently thats not the name of the game though...ouch.

We debated this one pretty thoroughly in a couple of other threads. The consensus was that it is customary to waive (for a variety of reasons), but that the professors/administration/your LOR writers should be aware that the law states that you cannot see them unless you are admitted/enrolled in one of the graduate schools you applied to and it is also your right to see those letters if you want to. However, the big deal was that many LOR writers refuse to write letters if people do not waive, and schools may think that the letters weren't as honest as they could have been if your LOR writer knows you will see it. If your LOR writers did not say anything to you, then you've dodged the first possible bullet... the second would only be that the adcomms might raise an eyebrow at it. Waiving your rights is erring on the side of caution, but not doing so isn't a death sentence. You should be fine, I wouldn't stress too much about it.

[ridgey]

Honestly, whether it matters will be determined by the whims of those on committees on the day yours is read. Potentially it may be a prob, but there's no way you can tell. If the applications are submitted, there's probably nothing you can do to waive when you initially declined to. If you have other apps, you know for next time. For now, see if you can channel your stress into something that will help you. Rework your SOP if you have more apps; if not, start a new hobby.

[06aculot]

Yeah. It really doesn't seem like that big of a deal but it seems the adm officers think it is haha. Oh well, I'm gonna try and relax, as your all saying. What's done is done. Just hope for some luck to come my way