Although the question at hand is whether or not the OP waived her FERPA rights, I thought this would be useful and would clear up the confusion about waiving rights.
From the Common Application website:
“Under the terms of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), you can review letters of recommendation and accompanying forms after you enroll at a postsecondary institution and only if that institution saves the documents post-enrollment.”
The waiver: Yes, I do waive my right to access, and I understand I will never see this form or any other recommendations submitted by me or on my behalf."
Bottom line: If you waive your FERPA rights, you’re waiving the right to see recommendations after your matriculate, because that’s when FERPA applies.
@lanaana NYU said that I can not appeal or get my application re evaluated.
To everyone that asked if I waived my FERPA rights, I did. My teachers also did not show me my letters of recs, so I have no clue what they wrote and that is why I have suspected that my GC might not have written something good.
I visited Irvine today and I did a self-guided tour and I loved the campus and everything that I saw!
I personally like SoCal a lot more then the east. I went on some tours in the east this year and it is too cold for me. I don’t think I would have went to many of the schools in the east, but it is very disappointing to see all the rejection letters.
@coffeelife I do have to say after reading all this that I think you may have applied to too many schools. I still think there’s something going on with your GC rec, but the list of schools you applied to is a little strange. It feels like you were mostly trying to increase your odds, but maybe also looking for a little validation, rather than being genuinely interested in each and every one of the schools. It is possible that some of your apps reflected this (lack of interest in each school individually) and that combined with the possibly negative GC rec accounts for the rejections.
I was genuinely interested in most of the colleges that I applied to. I applied to to a few safety schools that I was not really interested in. I started all of my applications in the summer and I spent a lot of time on every single application and I did a lot of research and I made sure that all of my essays showed interest in the school. My safety school essays were OK, but they did not show the amount of genuine interest, like the schools that I really wanted to go to( Boston U, Brandeis U, NYU, etc).
I was able to book an appointment to talk about the scholarships when I come back from break and I also finished all of my scholarship forms, so I can try to figure out what went wrong. (If it was the GC, I will not start any problems). I’ll keep you guys updated.
I also heard back from everyone, so here are the results:
YES- Sac State, UCR, UCSC, UCI( top choice), Lewis and Clark, Ithaca, Muhlenberg, UOP
WAITLIST- UCD, UCSB, Chapman
REJECTIONS- Cal Poly SLO, UCSD, Purdue, Macalester, Dickinson, UCLA, UCB, USC, Stanford, NYU, Brandeis U, Boston U, Northeastern, Vanderbilt.
One more update about the Scholarship thing, since some people asked me to write an update about it-
I got the envelope, but I decided not to open it. It just feels wrong and I am going to put it behind me. I am going to a nice school in the fall and although it is not my top choice, I am still very happy. Thank you guys for trying to help me find solutions to the strange string of rejections!
@coffeelife after reading several other threads from disappointed students who were bitter, blaming others, etc… your attitude is so refreshing and I’m sure that attitude will take you far in life. Best to you!
Brand New Update to those who are interested and to those who spent a lot of time helping me: I am officially off of the UCD waitlist and I already SIRed, since it was my top 3 college choices!
@Lanaana Thank you!! I am over Cal Poly SLO and those schools. There was a kid at my school who was rejected from Cal Poly SLO and accepted to Johns Hopkins. Also, there was a girl who got rejected from Cal Poly SLO and she got into Stanford. I actually heard a few ridiculous college stories that shocked me this year!
You have great stats!
You worked hard throughout high school and you know it.
Keep working hard – no matter where you go you will do great.
Like people always say, college is what you make of it!
