i would concentrate more on having one recommendation per chapter first, and then try to find a 2nd if you feel the need.

i always think that one official recommendation is sufficient, because it is most often a fill in the blank form. having a letter(s) to compliment the rec. can be more advantageous than multiple recs., because it allows the alumna(e) to expand on your accomplishments and i think in some ways is more valuable than 3 or 4 recs (which give the same info.over and over). for instance, instead of just listing that you were in abc service club, in her letter the alumna can go on and on about the particular service projects you participated in and tell how valuable you were to the organization because you headed up several of the projects. she can highlight your duties in organizing the projects. that helps show the sorority the talents you could bring to the chapter.

jwright25 said,
Mmmmmm. I'm gonna have to disagree with you here. (At least for the chapters I have worked with.) They go ahead and get a jump start on whatever they can and learn as they go rather cram it all in at the very end. Some chapters may wait, but not ALL. Unless I am completely misunderstanding your statement....


I was strictly speaking from my own experience with fall recruitment, which is what I believe the OP is participating in. Since recs are received in the summer, usually by a mid summer deadline, rarely do more than the few girls on the rec committee see them until all actives return to campus for work week. But, I may be mistaken in how UF does this...

Posters and related activities like you are describing are controlled by panhellenic at U of A and are only allowed up during work week when the house is closed to the public. At Gainsville, I wonder if recs are available for scrutiny during the summer or are actives just lobbying for their top pnm's among members...just curious. Are the sorority houses open in the summer?

And you are right, no matter what, it is very intense!

:eek:

In my opinion and interpretation of membership selection, how a chapter wishes to get to know PNMs and review recommendations is a matter of individual chapter policy and shouldn't be regulated by Panhellenic. Now - if the houses are open to incoming students during Orientation sessions, etc., I can understand the expectation that these items would not be on open display. But to tell chapters that they can't make posters, lists, have review sessions, etc. until a certain time just seems a bit too controlling.

What is the reasoning behind this? Again, I might be misunderstanding you as above. I had no idea that Panhellenic would try to control this, as it is not the case on the campuses (including SEC) that I have worked with.... :)

I just checked the campus Pan rules before responding to be sure I was correct and the rule is "no posters may be on display anywhere (including chapter room) at any time except work week and must be taken down by 5:00 before the day of round 1."

I am not really sure why they have a poster rule, except that hearing from an above post that a frat boy was in a sorority house and was able to see who was being recruited and, conversely, who wasn't, could be a real problem...

the local panhellenic has some very rigid and narrow rules...I have posted elsewhere in other threads that one crazy rule is "every sorority woman must touch the door sill plate with her foot as she greets and exits a pnm from the house." I imagine the very competitive nature of U of A recruitment has been the impetus for some of these crazy rules...here's another I just remembered: sororities must hang the same banner (king bed sheet size only) from the house all during recruitment week. No frills can go a little overboad, imo. I don't think that different banners for each round is hard on any of the groups

Rules have really changed.

It was once competitive at UF and that has not changed.

These rules are in place for reasons and just think of what must have gone on to have these rules established in the first place.