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Hi -


I just submitted my requests for letters of recommendation. I clicked the "I do not waive my right to review these letters" - at the time, because I wanted an additional feedback point. However, less than 24 hours later, I have decided this is probably a bad idea, but cannot un-do the form.

What do you recommend as the best future course of action?


Thanks -

ctimpano wrote:Hi -


I just submitted my requests for letters of recommendation. I clicked the "I do not waive my right to review these letters" - at the time, because I wanted an additional feedback point. However, less than 24 hours later, I have decided this is probably a bad idea, but cannot un-do the form.

What do you recommend as the best future course of action?


Thanks -

Why is this bad? I don't want to waive my right either, but I'm unsure how this will affect the process.

It doesn't impact the process, per se, but by not waiving your right to review your recommendations, your are taking the risk that AdCom thinks your recommendation letters may not be impartial because your manager was worried about giving candid feedback, given that he/she knew you would be reviewing his/her letters.

Ctimpano,

If your recommenders haven't yet submitted their reference letters, I would contact the school and ask them to reset the system and allow you to tick the box to waive your right. In fact, depending on the school, you may be able to delete your recommenders from the system on your own, then start over and add them again - ticking the right boxes this time.

If your recommenders have officially submitted their letters, you may be out of luck - since they would have written them with the knowledge that you have access to their comments in the long-term, and this isn't something that can be changed after the fact.

As to the broader question here, it is NEVER a good idea to skip the waiver option. The moment you do this, the credibility of the recommendation letters drops. The schools want to hear from recommenders who 100% honest, objective and open - and who aren't worried about the applicant coming back to them in six months to complain after viewing the letter.

For more information on recommendation letters, you may want to peruse the relevant posts in our blog or read the Clear Admit Strategy Series Title on recommendations:

https://blog.clearadmit.com/2009/06/admi ... menders-3/
https://blog.clearadmit.com/2008/10/admi ... ilemmas-2/
https://www.clearadmit.com/ss_reco

Best of luck,

Graham

Dear Graham,

i see your point, and i partially agree that in the future i will waive my right in order to reduce such risks.

But on the other hand i see no logic on such a process posing such questions other than the fact that one day one recommender issued the university or the college and from then onwards they decided to include this filter in order to avoid such future events.

In general, i do not see a reason since i will only be able to see them when i am already enrolled.
So the recommendations should be ok anyway.

Furthermore, i find it very unlikely that one will find recommenders who would not be positive against the candidate.

I fully respect your opinion but on the other hand imagine that one AdCom might also think if you waive your right that you already know what the recommender wrote and then again give negative impression.

It is really tricky and i think a little unfair to include such "trap"-question in such an already complex process.

Dear Graham,

i see your point, and i partially agree that in the future i will waive my right in order to reduce such risks.

But on the other hand i see no logic on such a process posing such questions other than the fact that one day one recommender issued the university or the college and from then onwards they decided to include this filter in order to avoid such future events.

In general, i do not see a reason since i will only be able to see them when i am already enrolled.
So the recommendations should be ok anyway.

Furthermore, i find it very unlikely that one will find recommenders who would not be positive against the candidate.

I fully respect your opinion but on the other hand imagine that one AdCom might also think if you waive your right that you already know what the recommender wrote and then again give negative impression.

It is really tricky and i think a little unfair to include such "trap"-question in such an already complex process.

Thanks for your follow-up response! Let me try to restate my point and make it a bit more clear:

1. If you do not waive your right to see the letters that your recommenders submit, this means that you will have access to those letters upon your request after the admissions process is complete (whether you are accepted or rejected from the schools in question).

2. If you do not waive your right to see the letters, your recommenders will know this before they submit and the schools will know this before the application is reviewed.

3. The reason this is not a good thing is because the recommenders, knowing that you might read the letters some day, may not be as fully open or honest as they might be if the letter was confidential. Further, even if the recommenders love you and have nothing but great things to say, the admissions team may find it suspect that you refused to waive your right, since they will know that your recommenders know the letter might be seen by you at some point - and that they may have held back as a result of that....

In short, by not waiving your right to see your recommendation letters, you diminsh the credibility of those letters and therefore their possible impact on your candidacy.

I hope that makes sense.

Thanks agagin for your posts!

Best of luck,

Graham