<p>Are you supposed to?</p>
<p>Students generally waive their right to see the review. If a student doesn’t it calls into question the LOR, since the teacher may not have felt comfortable giving and honest assessment of the students abilities. However, of the 4 letters that my DS received, 3 gave him copies of the letters. Many teachers will, if only because they want to show the student to ease fears.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>bump!</p>
<p>Yeah its common for a student to wave their rights to see them</p>
<p>But why would a teacher not feel comfortable giving an honest recommendation of a student just because they’re going to see it? Wouldn’t you WANT the student you’re recommending to see all of the great things you’ve said about them?</p>
<p>The problem is not every student receives good recommendations! If you like to curse your teachers out…then teachers would like to express that in recommendations without worrying about you seeing it.</p>
<p>What if I establish a wonderful rapport with my teachers? As in, they really have nothing negative to say about me?</p>
<p>You can never be 100% certain that someone will NOT say anything negative about you. If you try your hardest to please them then they may say “She/he tries too much to earn the approval of others rather than being his/herself”.</p>
<p>If a teacher felt that in order to be honest and fair they could only muster a dis-recommendation, I’d think the teacher should have the decency to tell the student to look elsewhere for a recommendation. But maybe that’s’ only me.</p>
<p>It doesn’t make a difference, it’s a privacy/candor thing. You’ll learn this with work references - people will write or speak of someone differently if they knew the information went around the grapevine. And it doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll just exclude negative stuff, sometimes people will “compensate” by mentioning less good stuff as well.</p>
<p>What do you mean by “compensating”?</p>
<p>bump diez characters?</p>
<p>If you waive your rights, then you will never be able to see your recommendations.</p>
<p>If you do not waive your rights, then you will be able to see your recommendations AFTER you marticulate from that school, meaning after you graduate from the college to where the letters were sent.</p>
<p>However, if you want to see what your teachers said, you can ask them to send you a copy of the letter before they submit it to common app.</p>
<p>Really? That’s what “not waiving” means? Why do people waive their rights then? If they already got into the school then the teacher wouldn’t have to feel uncomfortable about giving a bad rec.</p>
<p>I have no idea why it’s an option. But I’m 100% sure that that’s what it means.</p>
<p>Ok then. I don’t I’m gonna waive my rights then haha.</p>
<p>ANOTHER QUESTION:</p>
<p>Do your recommendation letters have to be sent in an official envelope of the school? Or could it be sent in an ordinary envelope?</p>
<p>If you’re using the common app, it’s best to have your teachers have them sent in electronically through the website.</p>
<p>But if they can’t, then would you have to use an official envelope of the school?</p>
<p>Pretty sure it has to be an official envelope, but I could be wrong.
Check the common app FAQ</p>