Is it possible to read the letters of recommendation written for you?

Parents Forum
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<p>Now that the applications are in and we have some time on our hands, I started to wonder about whether it's possible to read the letters of recommendation written for you. I think someone mentioned that the colleges would send you a copy of your file if you ask, but that doesn't seem likely, considering the number of applications they have and the time pressure they have at this time of year.</p>

<p>In our case, it probably doesn't matter much, as my son has been accepted at his safe school - Tulane - and we're just waiting to hear from the reaches. Still, it would be good to know the whole story once this is all over.</p>

<p>There was one incident which gives me a bit of concern. One of my son's art teachers has been raving about him for years, so we had him write one of the letters. But one school wanted the letters of recommendation to be included in the same envelope with the CD with the art supplement. When the teacher handed my son the letter it was in a sealed school stationery envelope with his signature across the seal. He was clearly sending a message not to mess with it, which of course we didn't. Probably that's how he's been doing it for all students for years, but it does make me curious.</p>

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<p>Sealing/signing it ensures its confidentiality.</p>

<p>I wouldn’t ask the colleges for the LORs. Are you concerned the teacher would be less than glowing? In asking for recs, my d asked her teachers if they would have a problem writing her a great LOC.</p>

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<p>^^ No I think it’s more about having extra time on my hands. I’m so used to thinking about colleges and applications that I keep doing it, even though it serves no useful purpose any more.</p>

<p>I’m a little curious if one of the teachers may not have done what s/he said s/he would do. And I think that looking back it would be interesting to have the whole story.</p>

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<p>Never heard of this from a college at which you did not matriculate.</p>

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<p>Hi bird rock - Actually the signature across the back of a sealed envelope is required by many schools, and so a lot of teachers got in the habit of doing it for all of them. Easier just to do them all the same way. My D had to have a few recs sent in that way. Also, I imagine some teachers do want them to remain confidential, not necessarily because they said anything bad, but probably because they have had bad experiences where they got flack from students and/or parents over a rec the latter didn’t think was good enough while the former actually thought it was very good. You can imagine how that goes I am sure. We have all seen parents like that.</p>

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<p>That’s what CC is for. You can keep the thinking going for years under the guise of “helping others.” ;)</p>

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<p>After all the college applications had been sent off with the letters of recommendations and son had been accepted to several colleges he applied for a scholarship from my husband’s company. The app required letters of recommendation. He asked for copies of the original letters and all the teachers were happy to comply (including the principal’s letter). So, we did get to read them as we mailed them off. As a mom, they brought tears to my eyes and I can see how those recs strengthened his chances @ many schools. Very gratifying as a parent to see how your child is viewed by his teachers.</p>

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<p>Sealing it and then signing across provides additional authenticity to the whole process. It is not that schools will consider a unsigned letter as less authentic (if you have waived your right to see the letters), it just provides some more reassurance.</p>

<p>If you have not waived your rights, then it does not matter if it signed or not signed, the school may just ignore the whole letter. So I would not read anything into the art teacher’s actions. For example, he may not put the letter into a separate envelope, but merely put both the art work and the letter into one envelope, and by signing it was stating that it was sealed by him. Even if he put the letter in a separate envelope, he may have not signed the inner envelope but merely signed the outer one, which essentially has the same connotation. If the art teacher has been raving about him then just trust that he did what he said.</p>

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<p>There’s absolutely no evidence whatsoever that they do this. My d. definitely did not waive rights – both my kids had copies of their letters from their teachers before they were sent. (Well, my daughter missed one, resulting in a teacher telling Boston University that my daughter would be a great asset to Boston College, where she didn’t apply – which suffices to illustrate the point of why its a pretty good idea for students to have an opportunity to review letters before they go out.)</p>

<p>Anyway, my kids are are the offspring of lawyers, and we lawyers teach our kids to never, ever, “waive” anything. Rights are things to be <em>exercised</em>, not “waived”.</p>

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<p>Waiving your rights to access a letter of recommendation assures the colleges that the information is purely confidential and the teacher had no pressure to write a positive letter.</p>

<p>It’s ALWAYS a good idea to waive your right to access your recommendations. Colleges like to see that little box checked on the commonapp.</p>

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<p>Besides, you really don’t have a “right” to see a letter of recommendation. You are just saying that you agree to stay out of it so the information is considered to be given without pressure or concern that it will be viewed by the student or their family in the future. I can just see the potential lawsuits from “bad” recommendations now. I know it has happened with grad schools and employers, wouldn’t be surprised if it has with high schoolers as well.</p>

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<p>Yes, it provides high school teachers with the ability to sabotage the applications of their least-favorite grade grubbers with impunity.</p>

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<p>If there is no “right”, then there would be nothing to waive.</p>

<p>Students DO have a legal right to see their records.</p>

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<p>Yes they do, but I was under the impression that there were specific exclusions (per the US Code) for the parents financial records and letters of recommendation, if these are included in the records of a post-secondary educational institution. If I am misinformed on this then you are right. I am not a lawyer, but this is what I was told (or at least understood) when I asked about this topic a couple of years ago. Maybe there have been changes also.</p>

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<p>Our school does not allow students to waive their rights. We all see our letters to ensure they are correct.
I don’t think it’s ever been an issue. We had kids get into Princeton and Penn last year and they both saw their letters</p>

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<p>I may be mistaken but there are enough forums and posts in college confidential that have mentioned that some colleges or Adcoms may not take a recommendation seriously if they are not waived. Again, I am not a lawyer and do not understand the implications (can for example an school discriminate against an application who does not waive his/her right to see the recommendation?). </p>

<p>The general consensus has been, “waive your right”. When I asked my son’s GC, her answer was “I have no problem sharing my recommendation with students but it is my understanding that the recommendation is considered more credible if the right to see it is waived”. She has been very supportive of my son and we trust her and her views and my son waived his rights. </p>

<p>Now, obviously I do understand a risk associated with that type of approach. On the other hand, I could understand someone (Adcom) being suspicious if say 95% of the candidates waived their right and say just 5% did not waive the right. (These numbers 95% etc. are just made, I do not know how many % actually waive the rights but I assume almost all do, I may be totally wrong)</p>

<p>So, I do not know what the right answer is (waive or not waive) but as I mentioned before, most people I have heard from suggest you waive the right.</p>

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<p>A student CAN see their letter if they waive their rights on the form. The waiver ONLY applies to seeing the letter IN your file IF you attend a particular school!</p>

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<p>psych - sorry, you lost me.</p>

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<p>Yes, but isn’t that because the right under FERPA to see the recommendation (the right that you are waiving) only applies to files kept by a school at which you have matriculated? If you don’t attend a particular college, I don’t think there would be a legal right to see the recommendation in their application files (if they even keep them).</p>

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<p>I find it odd that with elite admissions being as competitive as it is, that any student would take the risk of leaving part of their application unseen. </p>

<p>At my daughter’s school, the practice was that each teacher gave the student multiple signed copies of their LOR, and the GC supplied the student with envelopes with the school’s return address. It was the student’s responsibility to put the LOR’s in the envelope, seal & stamp them and place them in the mail. </p>

<p>One of my d’s teachers was quite eager to write a recommendation letter – but he was a new teacher who had never written a LOR before, and while the letter was very positive, it was not a good LOR. It simply lacked detail or enthusiasm; it was not individualized in way that made my daughter stand out. The teacher certainly deserved a B+ … and an A for effort. I’m sure the letter would have been fine for a safety, but it was not going to give my d. the extra boost that all candidates for highly competitive schools need. Fortunately, the practice of my d’s school left no hurt feelings – my d. did send off that letter to at least one school that specifically asked for a letter from a math or science teacher, but she submitted two other, much stronger letters, with all of her other applications.</p>

<p>Another letter came from a teacher that my daughter had frequently been in conflict with. It seemed to me that a week didn’t go when my d. didn’t come home complaining about something the teacher had said or done. So I was kind of surprised that my daughter asked that teacher for a LOR – but my d. felt that teacher knew her well and respected her. The LOR was absolutely amazing, and I’m pretty sure that letter was a primary factor in my d’s admission to schools that were high reaches for her. So obviously my d’s instincts were right – but it would have been quite risky to ask that particular teacher for a LOR that she couldn’t see.</p>

<p>I have a very hard time believing that colleges would give more credence to letters with the waiver box checked, because there is nothing to stop a teacher from voluntarily giving a student a copy of a letter. Even if the letter itself is in a sealed envelope with a signature across the flap – it’s as likely as not that the teacher also emailed a copy of the letter to the student. So to give “credence” to the waivers would make little sense.</p>

<p>I think the ad coms give more credence to letters that are rich in detail, and give a good portrait of the student that is consistent with other information in the file. That is, the credibility comes from corroboration. I do know that what emerged from the LORs my kids had was a very vivid and consistent sense of their personalities. </p>

<p>Every year when April rolls around, there are always some CC kids who seem great on paper (great grades, test scores, long lists of EC’s, etc.) – who are stunned when they inexplicably are rejected or waitlisted by their reach and match schools. I may be mistaken, but I have been around CC a while and I don’t remember any of those kids or parents having seen the LORs – and certainly that would be the first thing I would suspect when the application process ends in failure. That suspicion may be misplaced – I’ve also seen some pretty bad student essays in my time – but when an applicant hasn’t seen the LOR’s there really is no way of knowing.</p>

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<p>My son had copies of his letters given to him when he mentioned he was applying to more schools. I read the letters and thought they wouldn’t have helped him a lot, but they also wouldn’t have hurt his chances either.</p>