I’m confused about the whole FERPA thing…what happens if I don’t waive it? Are the colleges not going to read my rec letters? What difference would it make if I read my rec letters?
Colleges will read the recs.
However, the AO may question how honest the letter is since FERPA potentially allows a recommender to write a more candid assessment.
You should also be aware of one huge caveat with FERPA: you can only see your LoRs after you’ve been admitted and choose to attend a college; FERPA does not give you the right to see the recs before they are sent.
@skieurope So is it lowkey mandatory to waive FERPA?
I will not waste my time writing a letter for a kid who doesn’t sign the waiver.
I’m not going to write anything negative-- I want my kids to find success.
But the assumption will be that I tempered my words, knowing that you and your parents could read my letter. No one really wants to deal with the wrath of a parent who assumes he/she knows more about my opinion of a student than I do.
So I’m not going to spend the time it takes to put together a truthful, thoughtful, positive recommendation if you’re not going to trust that I’ll do it correctly.
Bottom line is you really need to waive FERPA.
Basically, yeah. You should waive.
@bjkmom , as an educator, raises an additional valid point - if you don’t waive, your choice teacher(s) may suggest you ask someone else for a rec.
We had an issue at my high school, while I was on staff, many moons ago (15 years+).
The kid asked a history teacher, who was funny and very popular with students, to write a letter.
The teacher, “Mr. Smith”, indicated to the student, “John” that he (Mr. Smith) wouldn’t be the best person to write a letter, because he was swamped with requests and also didn’t know “John” well.
“John” apparently had issues getting teachers to write letters and apparently couldn’t be dissuaded by Mr. Smith and kept pestering Mr. Smith.
The problem was that the teacher did know the student and knew that the student was a loud-mouth, obnoxious, bully, who often picked-on and belittled the good, studious, serious students.
Mr. Smith repeatedly told the student that he couldn’t write the letter, “No, I can’t write your letter”.
To get the parent and kid off of his back, Mr. Smith finally relented, and told Johnny that he would write a short paragraph because he really didn’t have anything to say. This made the student happy.
Mr. Smith then wrote out a three line letter of recommendation and sent it to the counselor. The counselor, in turn, sent it off to the colleges.
The gist of it was:
John comes to class.
John participates in class.
John hopes to attend a good college.
Imagine our surprise ~1 ½ to 2 years later when the teacher was sued by the student and his father.
Apparently, the parent believed that little Johnny was robbed from being admitted to a 4 year college by the “letter” (USC and several privates).
Johnny’s father indicated that Johnny’s mental anguish of not being accepted at a 4 year college resulted in poor grades at the CC. So, they stated they had to sue and wanted to be recompensed what Johnny’s future income would have been had he graduated from his dream colleges.
The judge threw out the case stating that it was the student’s responsibility to find a teacher who would enthusiastically write the letter. Mr. Smith, stated in court, that he kept telling John, “No, I can’t write your letter”. Yet the student and his father kept badgering Mr. Smith. The judge indicated that this should have been a clue to the family, that there was a reason Johnny didn’t have any teachers willing to write the LOR’s for the student.
OP, I hope you have picked teachers who know you really well and like you.
Waive your rights.
Thanks everyone for clarifying!