<p>I waived my right to see my teachers' recs. However, one teacher told me he wanted to show me what he said. Am I allowed to see it?</p>
<p>Yes.</p>
<p>You just waive the right to demand to see it/screen it.</p>
<p>But you can still see it if the teacher wants to show.</p>
<p>When you waive your rights, you are simply waiving your rights to inspect any letters of recommendation contained in the applicant file of the school you ultimately decide to attend (what you are waiving is your rights to go to go to the admissions office at the college you are attending and demanding to see your recommendation letters in their files) . </p>
<p>Waiving your rights does not prohibit you from seeing drafts or final copies of your recommendation letters should your recommenders want to share them with you. In this case, if your teacher is willing to share them with you, you can see them (but they are not obligated to let you see them).</p>
<p>Is it okay NOT to waive your right -- I mean, it doesn't really matter, right? Because I didn't waive my right, as I was under the impression my teacher would not be able to show me the letter...</p>
<p>If you didn't waive your rights, colleges which receive the recommendation may consider them less honest because your teachers may be less inclined to include negative comments if you can demand to see them.</p>
<p>So it does matter?! Ooops, I hope it's not too late to fix them...</p>
<p>Hmm, I also have this concern about thr right-waiving thing</p>
<p>In the teacher evaluation forms and the school couselor form, this year there is a part for applicants to decide whether to waive their right to access the forms and this part also requires the students to sign if they do agree. However, if I print it out and sign it, my teachers and school counselor would have to fill the remaining spaces of the forms BY HAND. It would be more convenient for them to download the forms I send them and fill those forms directly on their computer, especially when we-students usually apply to many schools at the same time. Just imagine! Having your teachers hand-write everything? On the other hand, if I send them my forms so that they could finish the forms on computer, I would no be able to sign the waiving part.</p>
<p>I'm puzzzzzzzzzzled!!</p>
<p>The vast majority of your teachers will have to print the forms anyway, since they're PDFs and most people don't have the software to convert PDFs into writable forms.</p>
<p>Actually the pdf forms I got from the common app page are editable, I mean, I can not edit the questions themselves but I CAN fill in the spaces. :D</p>
<p>I stand corrected. Thanks, trangham - I'll have to try that.</p>
<p>The "waive your right" is due to laws in some states that would allow you to see the letters of recommendation. It's technically "optional", but when I did my apps, I didn't think for more than a second to sign it. It almost seemed expected that you waive your right.</p>
<p>For the most part teachers don't handwrite the entire recommendation form. They simply attached a printed recommendation letter to the form as suggested on the form itself.
So, for best results, sign to waive your right and give the forms to teachers and counselor along with stamped envelopes.</p>