Should You Waive Your Right to See College Recommendation Letters?

When you add recommenders in the Common App, you are asked whether you waive your right, under FERPA (the federal law governing educational records), to view your recommendation letters. Students often hesitate, unsure whether keeping the right to read the letters protects them. The clear advice is to waive, and understanding why clarifies an easy but important decision. Here is what to know.

What the FERPA waiver is

FERPA gives students the right to access their educational records, which, once you are enrolled, would include recommendation letters submitted on your behalf. In the application, you are asked whether you waive this right with respect to your recommendation letters, meaning you agree not to read them. The choice appears on the Common App when you invite recommenders, and it applies to the letters those recommenders write. Waiving is the standard, expected choice, and the question is whether to waive (the recommended path) or to retain your right to view the letters (which is allowed but advised against). This is a simple decision, but it has real implications for how your letters are received.

The insider view: waiving makes letters credible, not waiving raises a flag

I interview for MIT, and the reason to waive is straightforward: waived letters are more credible to admissions readers, and not waiving can quietly count against you. When you waive your right to see the letters, you signal that the recommendations are candid, written freely without the recommender worrying that you will read and react to them, and that you trust your recommenders enough not to need to monitor what they write. Readers therefore treat waived letters as honest assessments. When you do not waive, you signal the opposite: that you wanted the ability to see (and potentially influence or contest) what was written, which makes the letter read as less candid and can raise a quiet red flag about why you felt the need to retain that right. Confidential, waived letters are the norm and the expectation, so not waiving stands out in an unfavorable way, even though it is your legal right.

There is also a practical effect on the letters themselves. Recommenders generally write more freely and candidly when they know the student has waived the right to read the letter, because they are not constrained by the prospect of the student seeing their words. This candor tends to produce stronger, more genuine letters, the honest, specific endorsement that helps you, rather than a guarded letter written with one eye on the student's reaction. So waiving benefits you twice: it makes your letters more credible to readers and encourages your recommenders to write the candid, strong letters that genuinely help. Retaining the right, by contrast, can make recommenders more guarded and make readers more skeptical, working against you on both fronts.

For all these reasons, the near-universal advice is to waive your FERPA right for recommendation letters, and it is what the overwhelming majority of applicants do. Waiving costs you nothing of value, you have chosen recommenders you trust to advocate for you, so you do not need to read their letters, and it gains you credibility and candor. The only situation in which someone might hesitate is genuine distrust of a recommender, but the right response to that is to choose a different recommender you do trust, not to retain your right to view the letter. Choose recommenders you trust, waive your right, and let the letters do their work as the candid endorsements they are meant to be.

What this means for you

1. Waive your FERPA right to view your recommendation letters.
2. Understand waiving signals candor and trust, boosting credibility.
3. Recognize not waiving can raise a quiet red flag.
4. Know recommenders write more freely when you have waived.
5. If you distrust a recommender, choose another rather than not waiving.

A student I interviewed

A student I interviewed hesitated over the FERPA question, reasoning that keeping the right to read her letters would let her catch any problems. I explained that the opposite was true: not waiving would make her letters read as less candid and could raise a flag, while waiving would make them more credible and encourage her teachers to write freely. The real protection she wanted, ensuring strong letters, came not from retaining the right to read them but from choosing recommenders she trusted. She waived, chose teachers who knew and supported her, and her letters were candid and strong. Understanding the waiver correctly turned a moment of hesitation into the right, easy choice.

Mistakes students make

• Not waiving, which reduces credibility and can raise a flag.
• Believing retaining the right protects them, when it does the opposite.
• Distrusting a recommender but not waiving, instead of choosing another.
• Overthinking a standard, expected choice.
• Not realizing waiving encourages more candid, stronger letters.

What this means for your application

1. Waive the FERPA right for your letters.
2. Choose recommenders you genuinely trust.
3. Let waiving signal candor and confidence.
4. Rely on recommender choice, not the right to view, for protection.
5. Treat waiving as the standard, beneficial choice it is.

Frequently Asked Questions