<p>I heard from a friend that if your teachers do the common app recommendations online via email, you're asked if you want to see it before it's sent. Is it true, and is there any way to see it before it's sent? Thanks</p>
<p>no, the only way you can see it is if you do not waive your right to your rec letters and if the university keeps them after matriculation (and are even nice to show you them)</p>
<p>I don’t think that happens but I’m not sure since my teacher rec was done on paper.</p>
<p>CultureChic,</p>
<p>Your friend was a bit incorrect. </p>
<p>You should not see your letters of recommendations before they are sent. You should trust your counselor and teachers to represent you well in their letters to your colleges. A dean at UVa - who has been reading recommendations for many years at several different competitive colleges - said this year at an information session that she has only ever read one negative recommendation. Fear not, your counselor and teachers want the best for you. </p>
<p>What your friend was talking about is something related to a law commonly abbreviated as FERPA - the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. The law gives you the right to have access to materials submitted on your behalf during the admissions process. This only applies to the college where you enroll, and only if that college has a policy of keeping admissions documents after the admissions season has ended.</p>
<p>When you invite your teachers or counselor via the Common App Online you are required to answer a question about whether or not you waive your FERPA rights. The decision is yours, but do you really care to see your admission materials at the college where you enroll? Seems to me that, once you get in, it doesn’t really matter what a particular letter of recommendation said. Just my 2 cents.</p>
<p>Hope that helps to clarify things!</p>