Confidentiality of LORs

[Notzfall]

Is refusing to waive your right to see the LORs detrimental to acceptance? Do schools see it as filtering? LORs are so important to the application process. I had a GI surgeon, who sat on an acceptance committee, tell me that if there's anything negative, or neurtral for that matter, in the LORs, then the application is just tossed aside.

Who's going to read their letters before submitting them?

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[Adapt]

You should definitely make your LORs confidential. This allows the writers to truly write what they want. Sometimes, the LOR writers won't mind and will give you a copy of the letter.

As far as the content, definitely it should not have anything bad. If it is neutral I really don't think all schools would toss it. I got two generic letters because the professors didn't know me prior to writing it and it wasn't a problem for me.

 

[FiveForFighting]

IT's not too hard to waive your right, then see the letter.

All my LOR writers basically said the same thing, "If I were to say something bad in the LOR I wouldn't have offered to write you one."

I waived my right to all my letters, but was given a copy of each one after the wrote it.

 

[docjolly]

I would certainly suggest that you WAIVE YOUR RIGHT to view all of your LORs..

According to my premedical advisor, if you do not waive your right, then medical school committee's may assume that you had some direct influence over what was written in the letter (i.e. you either wrote the letter yourself or told the author what to write)..

As a rule of thumb, only ask people who can write STRONG (glowing) letters on your behalf. Neutral/Negative letters can paint a misguided picture of who you are. Hence, they can be detrimental

I, like FiveForFighting, waived my right to read all of my letters..I am certain that, without having read the letters, all of the recommendations were great!

The premed. committee at your school will review the letters. When the time comes, they will either use the letters to write a committee based LOR for you to send to the medical schools, or they will send all of the letters to the admissions committees..

 

[Gleevec]

Definitely definitely waive your right to view the letters. If you don't you might as well not send them at all, its a huge red flag.

So yeah, waive your right to view the LORs.

 

[Yobot]

I would certainly suggest that you WAIVE YOUR RIGHT to view all of your LORs..

Absolutely. You want your recommenders to be able to write truthfully about you. Just make sure you've established a good relationship with whoever you may ask and there will be no worries (in terms of potential negative remarks in the LOR).

 

[Notzfall]

Yeah, I assumed that it was the right decision to waive my right to see the letters. My concern was due to one of my professors (the one that knows me the best) mentioning something about the confidentiality of the letters every time we talk about it. Maybe it's just paranoia, or maybe she just wants to know she can, as you say, write freely.

Thanks for the advice.