I would have your mother write the legacy intro form and another of her sister's write the recommendation. Of course, your mother would recommend you, so having another person write the recommendation would mean more.

I would have one alumna be designated to collect the letters of support. You can have them do it all separately, it's just easier on the chapter when all your info is in one place.

Weighing in as an Auburn person - you will need a rec (which is the formal form that each sorority has and has to be signed by an alumni of that soriority). Letters of recommendation help keep your name in front of the group (we usually knew if a rushee had a couple of recommendation letters) but you do not want to go overboard as that will also make you stand out. Good luck at Auburn - will be keeping my fingers crossed for you and would love to hear back on your experience.

Especially considering this is Auburn, mom should send in BOTH the legacy intro and a Rec in addition to the friend's Rec. This way the PNM has 2 Recs, not just 1.

At least for my GLO, the 2 forms are very different and are treated differently by the chapters. The purpose of the Intro form is merely to confirm someone is in fact a legacy. It doesn't ask anything about activities, GPA, or whatnot. That's what a Rec form is for. Granted one assumes a legacy mom or grandma would recommend their PNM, but we can't give someone credit without the proper form.

So you'd prefer the mom send a rec than having her get two sisters to send recs?

Kentucky isn't quite as competitive as other SEC schools (don't get me wrong it is very competitive, but Bama, Auburn, Ole Miss, and LSU's recruitments are competitive on steriods) but I think it would be best to have the mom do the legacy introduction and the rec if she wants BUT have another sister (preferably someone who knows the PNM well) to write another rec. Obviously someone's mother is going to recommend them but it would mean more to have another alumna rec. Just my 2 cents anyway.

Also, if your recruitment is in the fall get your recs in ASAP.

If your school has deferred, I'd still have them in maybe within the first two weeks of fall semester because I know some deferred schools will have PNMs over to lunch or dinner and having a rec will probably put on the list for them to call you!

That's what I was thinking, too, Sydney. Though, if you could only get mom for a rec, I'm sure it would do.

Oh yeah absolutely. Obviously it's better to have more (well, don't go overboard) but at ultra-competitive schools having 3-5 wouldn't be uncommon. I remember last year we had a few PNMs with that many recs and like I said, we're competitive, but Bama/LSU/Ole Miss/Auburn deserve a whole 'nother adjective to describe their recruitment.

I always wonder when we only get a rec from the mom....in fact, I'll personally check the woman out. I also double check out legacies who don't have a rec! (I'm a snoopy, suspicious person by nature)

When I was going to go through recruitment at LSU, I was told to have 2 recs for every chapter at LSU, no exceptions. I would like to know from any LSU GCers (I know we don't have many) if that is still true.

It is overwhleming for the pnm to worry about who is sending the rec, who is sending letters, etc. And, truthfully, at competitive schools, this is not really a pnm's job. You just need the recommended amount.

If someone wants to write a rec for you, great. She will probably ask you if someone is writing your official rec form. If you know someone who is, you can have the next alum write a letter of recommendation. But, it is not important that you keep that straight. If more than one official form shows up at the house, no big deal. Just smile and be gracious toward whomever offers to write you a rec. This will result in either an official form showing up at the chapter or a letter. Either will be helpful and counts toward the rec count we are always talking about on here.

Also, if someone is willing to organize all of your recs, and send everything in together, great. But that is not important either. Each alum can send in her own rec to the chapter (provide everyone with SASE to the chapter). In some cities, the alumnae organizations are very organized and they coordinate a packet of info on each pnm for the chapter, but that is not up to you.

DO register with your local alum panhellenic org in your town(if there is one) These women help with OOS recruitment and will help you find recs if needed.

So, bottom line - recs and rec letters are both good and can be interchangeable and you should not stress about it (other than making sure you have the amount needed for your school). The women who write them will know what their GLO needs.

^^^Ringing true for my daughter^^^

We had no local panhellinic out here in the sticks to organize recs, so we just asked all of our recommenders to fill out the official form for their sorority and send it along with pictures, resume, and transcript directly to the chapters at the school.

Once the PNM and her family find alumnae for 15 or more sororities, prepare pictures, resumes, transcripts, introductory letters, thank you notes, thank you list for results next fall, SASE to the houses, meeting the alumna the PNM doesn't personally know, etc., she should be stress free until she realizes the importance of summer conduct! :)

What is SASE?

Self-addressed stamped envelope

It seems as long as a pnm puts a little effort out they can get a letter of rec from any chapter.

Recs are important for competitive schools, but what is the use if every pnm gets a letter of rec for each chapter? Then what, do you have to get 2 letters of rec for each chapter to stand out? Once every pnm gets 2 letters of rec then do you need to get 3, so forth and so on?