Credentials

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Credentials
By Steve

I don't know what university you went to, but apparently they go by the "closed file" credentials. Did anyone mention anything to you about open vs. closed credential files? The university I went to offered a choice of
which type of credential file you kept - if it was open, you could view the contents; if closed, you could not, ever. The theory behind a closed credential file is that the writers of the recommendations will be more honest in their evaluations if you can't see what they wrote about you (yeah, like people are going to ask for recommendations from people who are going to bad mouth them...).

Some administrators (not all that many, as I understand it, and generally the "old school" ones) will only look at people with closed files, or will give their files more weight in their hiring decisions.

Hope this sheds some light on the credential file question - it sounds to me like your university either only does closed files, or they offer both options but no one ever explained that to you along the way. That's probably why they won't send you a copy.