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Related Discussions
Should I waive the access right to my recommendation letters?
Artorius
Alum Member
Hi everyone,
Should I waive the access right to my recommendation letters?
I am thinking if I waived the right, I won't be able to review those letters to make sure it is the correct one before submiting them, correct?
Thanks.
Comments
Yes, without question. Schools want to know that you haven't seen your LORs, especially if you're applying to competitive schools.
With the way the LSAC does LORs, there's no way to mix them up unless you mislabel them.
Yes, absolutely. It looks weird to the admissions people if you don't, and honestly, it's considered kind of disrespectful to your letter writers. Not waiving implies that you don't trust them.
If you're concerned that a certain letter writer won't produce a strong enough letter of recommendation, don't use them. And if you're just curious (as we all are), go talk to them. If there's something in particular that you really want them to include that they might not remember, tell them! Generally, though, especially for academic letters from professors, they'll be discussing you as a student in their class, so if you want to emphasize your work experience, volunteering, etc., find ways to focus other aspects of your application on those elements.
The letters are clearly labeled so that when you're assigning them to schools, you know exactly what you're doing. That's why it has you write a description for the letters--label them properly to avoid any mishaps. If you have one person writing two letters (one for all schools and one for Stanford, for instance), maybe check in with them after to ensure they had no problems submitting. There's an element of trust in all this. If your recommender makes a mistake, I imagine admissions committees will take sympathy (though obviously you want to avoid it!)
Example: it'll say "Letter 1- Dr. Smarty Pants - for Stanford," "Letter 2- Dr. Smarty Pants - for all schools," "Letter 3- Dr. SuperSmart McGee - for all schools," "Letter 4- Mr. Intern Manager - for Northwestern" on LSAC!
The standard is to waive the right to see it and it's basically also the expectation of Admissions. However, you also want to get a good idea of what it's going to say so definitely have a conversation with them.
Yes. It is better to waive rights to view the LOR because by doing so, you are telling schools (and your professor) that you trust that prof enough to have them write you a LOR and you send it in blindly. Always waive your rights, and if the prof emails you showing you letter then that is a whole other deal between you and them.
Yes. That is standard fare.
Thanks everyone,
I will waive the right when I submit requests.
Y E S
Would it be unethical or weird to ask your recommender to supply you with a copy so you can read it beforehand? I'm not applying until next year so I have no idea how the LOR process works. Are the letters just uploaded to LSAC by the recommender instead of the student doing so?
It varies by prof and institution whether they will consider it unethical and weird. If they offer, I would say there is nothing wrong with reading it.
Asking though might risk weirding them out. I trusted my profs and knew one of them had refused to show his letter to someone else so I didn't ask. Maybe ask around or try to feel it out without directly asking them.
The letters are uploaded by the recommender so I suppose if they were really crafty they could always write two letters show you a nice one and write a mean one. You would never know and that's what ensures that the recommender can be honest with the committee regardless of whether they show you something.
Absolutely waive your right! If it comforts you, just let your recs know they can ask you questions of accuracy if needed
Not unethical, although some might not be comfortable with it. I asked a couple of my recommenders if they wouldn't mind sending me a copy ("for my files, in case I need to send directly anywhere else" etc) and one of them happily supplied it, and one didn't respond to that part of my email so I took it as a polite decline and didn't push it. Nothing unethical about seeing a copy and I think it could be very useful. The one that I did receive a copy of was even more positive and in depth than I was expecting, and it was really helpful to know what I was sending out and be able to target the letters a bit.
It's not unethical, but I think people see it as being rude. The message you send--unintentionally or not--when you ask is that you don't trust them. You could very well want to see them for another reason--you want to make sure things are accurate, you want to see what they emphasize so you don't reiterate, etc. At the end of the day, the ad comms expect you to have NOT seen them, so they won't expect your recommender to know your exact position at a job (unless they're your manager or colleague) or how many years you played piano--if there are discrepancies like that, it's not going to be a big deal at all. Of course, if you claim to be a big public speaker with a passion for communication and your prof writes that you're brilliant but totally silent in class, that's a bit of a red flag. But then again, you'd hopefully not ask that prof, and if you did, they'd hopefully suggest that they can't write you a particularly strong letter
It's also good to know that you should ALWAYS waive your right for things––recommendation letters for jobs, scholarships, etc. Otherwise, employers or scholarship boards may regard the letter as totally useless and not indicative of the truth.
And if you're that worried about what your recommenders are going to write about you, you should find new references or realize there's something wrong with your own behavior.
There is nothing unethical about asking recommender to show you or supply you with a copy of the letter, as long as you are not threatening them to do so
However, depends on your relationship with your recommender, or what kind of person he/she is, you should consider whether to ask for a copy or not.
And after sent couple of requests to my recommenders, I would said unless my recommenders uploaded wrong letters to wrong requests, otherwise everything should be fine.
And yes, the recommender upload the letter, not the student.
Are you able to read the LOR once the recommender uploads it to LSAC or is it forever a mystery unless you ask to read it? I'm just really curious what to except when I have to do this.
If you waive your right to see it (which you definitely should), then no - you won't ever see it unless your recommender also sends you a copy directly. Not sure about how to see it if you do not waive the right to view it, but you really shouldn't do that. Schools will expect you to waive the right, and could look at it negatively if you don't.
@"Leah M B" I will definitely waive the right. I was just curious.
If your waive the right, it is forever a mystery. The LSAC even said once you waived your right, you could not review the letters at your law school even after the admission process is completed.
My mom is a professor (not in the law field), but she's told me how important it is that students waive their right to a see her letters of recommendation and how she wouldn't want to show the student––at least, not during the process. You don't want your recommender to feel in any way pressured (even asking, while not threatening, could be seen as pressure). It seems to me too that a lot of professors take the importance and ethics of writing these letters quite seriously, so if you do decide to ask, proceed with caution. Some professors might get turned off by this request.