This, one thousand times over.

Yes, the SEC is competitive. No question, no debate. However, there are many, many, many other schools out there that are also quite competitive and in which you will be promptly dropped after first round without a rec. I understand the PC/NPC (ha!) aspect of saying that they aren't required but sheesh. It is SO misleading to those who are not in the know.

And again, FSUZeta comes through with sage advice. I would extend this to university Panhellenic pages as well. I have seen several schools where the infamous line of "not required" is immediately followed up with addresses for every single sorority on campus.

OP- glad to hear that you have heeded your mother's and GC's advice. Best of luck to you this fall.

Blondie93, your post is exactly why it's a little confusing for PNMs. School website says you don't need it but if you get it send it with no hard deadline. Recruitment book says you can get them and each chapter's website says send recs "here". All a little confusing especially for newbies with no family history. Google and GC are my friends (along with mom).

Regarding recs: I thought I only knew 2 alumnae. They both gladly helped me with the first two recs. Then I reached out to my local Alumnae Panhellenic. They were very nice and helpful, even reviewed and helped me edit my resume. They sent out my edited resume and headshot to their group. Unfortunately I wasn't able to track who did or didn't do a rec so I felt that was up in the air. So I did more googling, found contacts for the local alumnae chapters and started sending out emails. I didn't know what to expect and WOW WOW WOW. These women were fantastic. They all responded within a few days and were extremely kind, generous, and helpful. One even responded while she was at the Natl Convention to let me know she'd help me when she got back and she did (rec has already been sent). I had a few in-person and telephone interviews and recs have been sent on my behalf. I have all my letters but 2 and I'm doing interviews this weekend for those. Once that's done on to shopping. YES!

Not that I'm an expert at all, because I'm definitely not, but be polite when you ask for a rec especially from a complete stranger. Thank them when they say "yes" and thank them again when they say they sent it. Even thank them when they're considering it because they don't have to do anything for you. If you're meeting for an interview, dress nice (not wedding dressy) but not beach dress either. Get to the meeting early, offer to buy a drink (although mine bought me a drink instead which was nice). Followup the meeting with a thank you. I guess I'm trying to say be polite and appreciative. My mom said it best "these are complete strangers doing you a favor, you accomodate them, you make it easy for them".

Thank you for your good wishes.

P.S. Thank you to greekdee who helped me with a rec for Phi Mu. I told my mom she can close her FB account now.

^^ You are kind and gracious, which makes it a pleasure to continue to write recs year after year. I always tell my PNMs that some (unseen and unknown to me) alumna took the time years ago to do my recs, and thus it is my turn to repay them. I do appreciate the values that you mother has instilled in you, and your insight that we often can't just drop everything at a moment's notice and do a rec. For Bama. When recruitment starts in 5 days. (yep, it's happened). You also give great advice when meeting an alumna for the first time. If only every PNM could read your post and take it to heart...

Again, best of luck. Hopefully the only ice cream and chocolate to be eaten will be done so with brand new pledge sisters. Please come back and let us know how things go for you!

It's because NPC as an entity doesn't honestly know what each sorority/chapter requires for membership and they can't say "you need recs or you will be cut." It's kind of like a mall's management can't enforce a mall-wide sale because the corporate HQ of Forever 21 or whoever might not be down with it.

A friend and I were talking about recruitment. She's going to a different school so we were comparing notes about the different recruitment books, houses, GPAs, etc. On GPAs, if a chapter lists a minimum and you don't meet it does that mean you're an automatic cut? Is it set in stone or is it a gray area decided individually?

From what I've read cuts are easiest based on GPA and recs (or lack of) in the first round. We were wondering how black and white that is. I'm ok but she misses a few at her school (PAC-12).

That is part of membership selection and private to the sororities. :) The only "set in stone" that can be discussed is the minimum that Panhellenic and/or the college gives for women to participate.

Thank you. I emailed my friend this link so she can read it directly.

Agreed. That definitely treads far into membership selection. However, it is important to note that a minimum GPA is just that, the bare minimum. You will be rushing with many women who will far exceed that minimum. You need to be realistic about your chances of being cut early on if you don't meet minimum criteria. There are many other PNMs who are just as likeable who do meet all the minimum requirements.

But there's a lot of ground between reality and what was stated on that original memo. Didn't we read here about one school that said something along the lines of "recommendations are not required but we do recommend you get them for each chapter." That is not telling you you have to and it's not saying you will automatically be cut without it, but does state it in a fashion that is both accurate "legally" and in practice. The statement mentioned above seems to have gone out of their way to say the opposite of reality. Unless the chapters there have gotten together and said as a group that they are not going to require recs. Somehow I think if this were true it would be ALL OVER this site already, and therefore not true.

Haven't been on here in awhile and found a thread on the front page concerning my school's recruitment! Though that was kinda neat. Anywho, I'm a sophomore member of a GLO and can't believe this time last year I was prepping for recruitment! I thought I'd share some tips unique to OSU recruitment.

-Bring an Ethernet cord! While this seems random, it is incredibly helpful! The campus wi-fi isn't fully up and running during recruitment (or it was really weak in my dorm building). Your phone is taken up in the morning and usually not given back until dinner time, so your communication is cut off. You do have some downtime in the afternoon, after attending all your parties for the day. During that time I know a lot of girls who skyped their mom/sisters/etc back home. I'd much rather get to talk to my mom at 2 pm rather than wait until 6 pm. Communication windows are a small inconvenience, but understandably placed for the right reasons. But, definitely bring an ethernet cord! Mindless pinning on Pinterest could calm some recruitment nerves, right? :)

-I did have a rec for each chapter on campus. Some were from very close family friends, others from distant acquaintances. Every Panhellenic woman I have met was very willing to write a rec; all you have to do is ask respectfully and be sure to send them a nice thank you note as well. As stated many times in this thread, recs aren't absolutely-completely-positively necessary, but providing a foundation for your already stellar or not-so-stellar resume never hurt anyone. While I haven't been on the other side of recruitment yet (will be very soon!), it's safe to say that recs are highly recommended at OSU

-Be emotional! It's a roller-coaster of a week, with just about every emotion in between. While you might not experience every emotion, there is guaranteed someone in your rush group who will. Embrace it! It's okay if there's are times when you're disappointed; you'll end up at the chapter you're meant to call home by the end of the week. There will be tears of happiness and tears of joy. In the end, you'll more than likely only have this experience once, so give it all you've got!

-Get to know your rush group. You don't have to become BFFs with all of the girls, but it'll be nice to have friends in different chapters right off the bat. If you are in your permanent dorm for the school year, you will see these people all the time as well. It's also nice to thank the girl down the hall by name when she holds the door open for you in March... Try to avoid making things sour/awkward before classes even start.

-I came in without knowing any of the 'reputations/stereotypes' of each chapter because I was an out of state PNM from far-away. Honestly, had I'd known, I probably would have pursued chapters I didn't have any interest in or turn the other cheek to chapters I genuinely enjoyed. So if you come in with a blank slate, that's awesome! If you enter recruitment with any prior knowledge, try to clean your slate as much as possible. Try to ignore any gossipy-chatter from other PNMs as it can poison your experience. Your Gamma Chi's also hear all the chatter going around, so be respectful; they could easily be in the chapter that you are speaking negatively about!

-I'm not sure if all groups did this, but my Gamma Chis provided this for us. A 'warning' system of sorts, we could privately leave our name, cell number and the name of a chapter with a Gamma Chi at our nightly meeting. This way they could call you in the morning, before we would meet up as a group, to inform you if you would not be revisiting that chapter. If you didn't get the call, that chapter would be on your schedule for parties that day. Your schedule is passed out at a morning meeting with your group; they call your name and you receive your schedule in front of the group (tiny piece of paper no one can read from afar). Sometimes you could see the victory or disappointment on a girl's face as soon as she got her schedule. If your Gamma Chi's provide this, definitely take advantage of it if there is a chapter you particularly like.

I'm willing to give more advice if anyone has a PNM going through this fall! :)

850 girls started recruitment today, Aug 5th, visiting 4 houses. The remaining 8 houses tomorrow.

A few notes on yesterday from a parental point of view:

Check in was quick and painless. Greeted warmly throughout the arena, given directions, checked in, got today's shirt, visited the vendors, done. No long lines, no frustrations.

Parent meeting prior to the girls starting. Panhellenic shared this with the parents which was helpful.

http://union.okstate.edu/panhellenic...PowerPoint.pdf

Panhellenic also has this blog during recruitment:

http://osupanhellenic.wordpress.com/

A few of the groups have their own twitter handle too which gives us parents another way to follow from long-distance.

@Group_22OSU
@OSUGreek5
@group12_FFR12
@G1_ONEandOnly
@G6_TeamUSA
@sassystinch16
@OKSUPanhellenic

Received an email from Panhellenic last night too giving feedback on Day 1 and ways we parents could help our daughters, i.e. questions to ask, etc.

Overall, very impressed with OSU Panhellenic and their communication.

We have a couple of friends going through recruitment this year at OSU and know some from years past..I have always been so impressed with how they handle parents during the process. The also have wonderful bid day festivities and most chapters have informational meetings for parents on bid day. Good Luck to the OSU PNM's and thier moms..lol

I am surprised that the power point says that chapters can choose to COB up to average chapter size rather than total.

I was reading the blog and wondered what this was?

" Bring items to support the recruitment philanthropy. See the recruitment booklet for suggested items"

Do the pnm's have to bring things with them for the chapters???


I really like all the outlets for information that they have set up!

Doesn't this pretty much mean that total isn't set correctly?

　
"This year, the OSU Panhellenic Executive Council has chosen to benefit the WONDERtorium for the recruitment philanthropy! The Oklahoma WONDERtorium is a children’s museum located right here in Stillwater and was created to educate the community on science and discovery. The Oklahoma WONDERtorium, also called the museum without walls, is here to show the Stillwater community and surrounding areas that learning can happen everywhere through the 14 different exhibits they share.

If you’d like to support the recruitment philanthropy, please bring any of the following items to recruitment check-in:

1. Office supplies
2. Art supplies
3. Cleaning supplies
4. Disposable kitchenware
5. Batteries
6. Individual snacks
7. Latex gloves
8. Laundry detergent
9. Postage stamps
10. Tissues
11. Toilet paper
12. Ziplock baggies

Monetary donations will also be accepted.

For more information about the Oklahoma WONDERtorium, please visit their website at www.okwondertorium.org. Your support is greatly appreciated!"

On one of our many visits to Wal-Mart this weekend it was easy to pick up a few extra items for a good cause. We dropped the items off when we checked in for registration.

What a great idea! And thank you for clearing that up, I was thinking it meant for the pnm's to bring something for each chapter's philanthropy..

I honestly can't even remember what was said about this to be honest. I was still wrapping my head around preffing, the 12-9-6-3, getting ready to say goodbye to my daughter, etc.

Here's another link Panhellenic has posted on their website which was presented yesterday. (Don't think I'm posting any secrets since these docs are all on the Panhellenic website.)

http://union.okstate.edu/panhellenic...t2012final.pdf

I just wanted to share this info for parents and PNMs (past, especially present and future) because as a newbie I found it very helpful and informative.

COB to average chapter size
 

Many campuses are adjusting total after recruitment to average chapter size. I can't remember the exact stats from last year, but OSU was a campus where total was raised to average chapter size during the fall semester.

For example, if total was 150 prior to recruitment and most chapters had 180 members after recruitment, total would be adjusted up to that 180 average chapter size range.

So, if a chapter made quota and had 154 members after recruitment, they could pick up an additional 26 members through COB. Gives the smaller chapters a chance to catch up to the larger chapters in size....

You are making my point. They adjust total to avg chapter size and then COB to that, which happens to be avg chapter size. As DeltaBetaBaby understood, total can be whatever Panhellenic wants it to be, so set it where you want the COB limit and use the terminology correctly.

AOII at OSU...
 

Anyone know how and where AOII will recruit at OSU.
Where will they live?
What are their housing plans?

AOII is part of formal recruitment. I think they're using the Sigma Chi house during recruitment. I saw it somewhere on a map. My daughter visited them today and said they'll have a house next year. Not sure where it'll be.

On a side note the Farmhouse house is almost complete on Greek Row. It is huge, 38000 sq ft I've heard.

I have heard that AOII actually had a great start last spring! I hope they do well this recruitment!

Today is the first round of cuts, and the waiting to hear how it went is so difficult! Good luck to all the girls - hope they are happy with today's invites.

Okla State has a wonderful greek system. Beautiful houses, nice girls, lots of opportunities. I loved every minute of my time there...back in the Jurassic period. Good luck to all. What is the news?

The weather has been hot, low 100s or high 90s. But at least its a dry heat.

Skit round is almost complete. Pref tomorrow and bid day Saturday. Almost done.

My daughter hasn't given me as many details as I'd like. She did throw me a bone and has said everyday that the girls at every house she's been too have been very nice.

How is your girl holding up? Hope she is having a great time. The weather can be positively mummifying.

This campus passed a resolution, automatically setting total at average chapter size following bid day. Hopefully that number will be announced more quickly this year so that any chapters who need to/would like to COB, can gain parity quickly!

I think she's having the typical range of emotions: excitement, nervousness, happiness, disappointment, confusion, fun. Will post more once recruitment is over.

Wishing your D a wonderful pref night! Just think you are in the home stretch

At the bolded, I take it that: Chapter Size = Actives + PNMs.

One of the young ladies that I advised with Sigma Gamma is an ELC that has been there this week! :) She was really excited to help this week!

Ok Greek Chat Recruitment Addicts (of which I am one)....they are having Bid Day at OSU right now!!!!!

I have heard that quota was 61.

we would love details.

Alpha Omicron Pi took 59.

On FB they said 60.

One of the chapter members gave me the 59. Very possible she was off by one. I know they are tired.

I bet they are! I cant even imagine putting on recruitment the first year with no experience. It was hard enough with 35 years of experience when I was in school.

I hear via fb that Kappa Delta has 63 new members.