Recommendation

On the college application it asked whether to waive rights to view it or not. I checked the " I do not waive my rights" box. People are now telling me that it was a stupid thing to do. I never knew that we had to pick “i waive my rights.” will they not consider the reccomendations?

<p>Oh well, you probably did not realize the implications. Anyway, not the end of the world. It means that you could have read the recommendation letters, and that the authors were not as candid as they could have been.
Of course, they will consider the recommendations.
Btw, did you read them?</p>

<p>No i did not read them. I believe there is proof I didnt read them because the instructor signed the envelope with his signature. Why do they give you this option if its not ok to read them? I thought that if you dont waive rights you can read them when you are older.</p>

<p>yeah.. due to whatever act (it's at the end of the application), once you got accepted to a school and you're enrolled, you have a full right to read your application(of course including rec.) of course if you waive your right, you wont be able to read whatever parts you waived.</p>

<p>it's the Buckley Amendment. Congress did something that now requires colleges to allow applicant's access to all school reports and recommendations concerning them, unless this right is waived in writing. usually it's advisable to waive your rights, so that the colleges know that the reports and recs are written without you being able to see it (more truthful). if you find yourself asking, "but then i won't know if Mr. X will write negatively about me", then that's a sign that Mr. X should not be the person writing your recommendations. </p>

<p>Waiving your right gives the rec writers confidence that you will not see the contents. When colleges see high praises for you in the letters, and you waived your right, it shows them what the school really thinks of you. That is a good sign that the colleges will take highly.</p>

<p>Why does this line not exist on the common app? Does that mean that I can read my recommendations on the common app? I'm 3 for 3 so far, so it doesn't seem to have harmed me all that much at this point...</p>