noleschick, you will need recs. at fsu. ask you former teachers, ladies in your neighborhood, ladies at your church, parents friends, relatives, parents co-workers.

as others have said, unfortunately since there is no chapter of your relatives sorority at fsu, she can't write a rec. for you. however, she may have friends who were members of sororities that do have chapters at fsu, and they can write a letter to their sorority chapter-whether they went to fsu or some other school.

your hometown may have an alumnae panhellenic and they might be willing to help you with recs.

you're welcome! good luck in your search. you are giving yourself plenty of time to secure those recs. and (like martha stewart says) that is a good thing. i hope you find the perfect fit at fsu.

I would agree with that statement for most of the big southern schools, but some of the smaller schools, ie under 20,000 students, are not that focused on recs. My school had 5 sororities, and I know many girls that got bids who had no clue what a letter of rec was. This being said, it always helps to have them no matter what school you go to!

wait, so, do Vandy and Emory have competitive recruitment?
You DO need recs at Vandy?
And how much do they matter at Emory?
Anyone know for sure?


I don't really know anyone thats been in a sorority that I keep in contact with, and it seems strange to ask for recs from someone you've never met.

i understand that at vanderbilt, it is very helpful to have recommendations.

Ask your parents' friends, former teachers, neighbors etc - you might be surprised at who is an alumna.

Even if you come up with nothing, the women who are active in alumnae Panhellenic are used to writing these kind of recs. Weird to you but not weird to them. :)

At this point, if you are going through recruitment at Emory or Vandy, it may be too late anyways. Vandy recruitment starts today and Emory next week. Recs at Emory are not a big deal, just a good way to separate yourself, especially as a transfer student. Vanderbilt is much more competitive and recs are more important, but if a chapter really likes you they will find a rec for you. At this point, I wouldn't try to hunt down recs from people you don't know. Just go in and enjoy the process. Good luck and let us know how it goes!

Speaking of Vandy, the January 9, 2008 "Inside Vandy" has an article about the likelihood that new member classes will be larger this year.

http://www.insidevandy.com/drupal/node/6019

It also mentions some of the things Vandy's Panhellenic has done because there are more PNMs. Besides that, the article has a link to a "slide show" of pics from -- apparently -- January 8 '08: a few shots of entrances to and exits from houses, some people on sidewalk, etc.