i did not waive my right for recommendation letters.

hi Diana, I have never come across such a right or a waiver of it. Can you please elaborate on what this waiver is about? Is it waiving your right to present LORs to adcoms?

on the recommendation forms that you submit to your recommendors, federal law states that you have the right to read the recommendations after they are written and submitted. recommendation forms give you the option to waive your right, so that you can never see what recommendors write.

HK, This is something that only US schools ask, as part of some freedom of information act...

Dianars, I believe that this could send a signal that you are being dishonest or hiding something; but if nothing else looks fishy or exaggerated in your application then it won't raise any red flags by itself.

Unfortunately, it is not good to not have waived your right (my apologies for the awkwardly worded sentence!). I am surprised that anyone would tell you otherwise.

Of course, this doesn't mean you won't be admitted, but, conventional wisdom is that a recommender may not be completely honest if he/she knows that you will have the right to read his/her recommendation. It then follows that an Adcom may not take the recommendation as seriously. However, when you waive your right, there is no incentive for the recommender to embelish and the recommendation will seem more credible to the Adcom.

I realize that there is nothing you can do about it now, but, in the future (or for other prospective applicants reading this), you can always ask the recommender to give you a verbal idea of what they intend to write. Some may happily give you a copy anyway. And, you should never ask anyone to recommend you if you are even "curious" what they would say - you should only ask for recommendations from people you are sure will write that you are outstanding.

Best of luck to you!!