Waiving the right

[tlb22]

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I am a little confused about waiving my right to see letters...how is this done? Is there something I should have filled out or are letter writers supposed to include this in their letter? I don't remember it on AMCAS or my secondaries. Can anyone please fill me in?

 

[deleted128562]

If you use Interfolio, you'll be given the option as I recall (and you always choose for them to be confidential of course). Which is why I'd also recommend asking prof's if they feel comfortable writing you a "strong, positive" letter. That way if they say yes, you know you're getting a good letter unless they're a lying scumbag.

 

[tlb22]

I actually chose 3 individuals to send letters by mail. I have not seen the letters and do not want to...should I contact the schools to let them know they are confidential?

 

[ar2388]

my school submits via virtual evals, and they know i waived my right. do you think its something that will be mentioned in the committee letter?

 

[tlb22]

My school doesn't have a committee, so I just had each person send the letter to schools I am applying for.

 

[LossForWords]

My school doesn't have a committee, so I just had each person send the letter to schools I am applying for.

If the letters are already sent, you could try to have the writers send an update e-mail telling the schools they were unseen by you. Or maybe the writers already knew to include a note to that effect. Maybe you could ask them if they did.

 

[SarsMO]

Hmmm...all of my letter-writers waited to write me letters until I had signed a contract saying I wouldn't look at them. The form was provided by my pre-med committee, but I would have had to do it without them, too. I thought all professors were this anal.

 

[student1799]

You are definitely supposed to sign and date an official form stating that you are waiving your right to see the letter. My postbacc program told us to give these to all our recommenders at the time we asked for the letters, and they were supposed to send the waiver back with the letter.

These waivers are VERY IMPORTANT. It's not really fair, but med schools assume that if you have the right to see the letter [which you DO have, by law, unless you waive it], the recommender won't be honest in their assessment. So waiving your rights is the norm--it would be unusual not to.

If you have sent in letters already to Interfolio or another service without waivers, you MUST send them in before your med schools get the letters. I'm sure Interfolio has a waiver form for you to sign, or maybe you can ask your premed office. I don't think an email would be legally binding, so don't rely on that.

 

[Bacchus]

Can we generate our own letter and include that we have waived our right to the letter and then have the person mail it sign the letter?