My grandmother did not go to college and my family that I have been able to contact hasn't been able to think of anyone. I have told them to keep thinking/looking though. The Greek girls that my cousins knew in college were more of acquaintances and they are no longer in contact with them.
My friends in town have been able to contact Greek girls but the communication is slow since everyone is taking vacations.

Make a list - a written list - of everyone you know who went to college. Male, female, peer, parent of friend, Pastor, daddy's boss, EVERYONE. Then start calling - on the phone. There are only 10 groups at UA. Even if you don't have a student directory or a church directory, I promise you know how to contact at least one teacher - either where they work during the summer, volunteer, etc. Call that person...they will know other people. You are relying on others to do your work for you. I hate to be snarky but you really aren't working this correctly. Don't ask other people to do your work for you. you live in an area with a HUGE employer and many other related businesses. I promise there are a ton of Greeks in town.

If your parents have Facebook accounts, sit beside one of them and have them look up each sorority's national Facebook page. It will show if any of their friends liked that page. If they did, chances are they are a member. Make a note of the person and the sorority. Do the same through your Facebook page. If I was the one that was friends with them, I could then either call them or message them and say, "My daughter is participating in sorority recruitment at Auburn and I heard that you are in a sorority. Would you mind if I gave her your contact information? Since I was not in a sorority, she would really benefit from any advice you might be able to give her." EVERYONE said yes and then I let her take it from there. My daughter found 11 people to write recs that way.

Walk around the block. Knock on the doors of your neighbors( just like when you were selling school fundraiser items or girl scout cookies). These people know you or at least know your famiky lives on their block. Say the following, " hi, I am tpiazza. I live down the street in the white house. I am going through recruitment this fall. Are you, by any chance an alumni of any of the groups represented at the UA? I would love some advice, help, etc with the process. Do you have some time to visit?"

The neighbor is not in a sorority? Drat? Keep talking! Is her married daughter? Her sister? Her best friend who lives across town? This technique requires conversation- asking questions, chatting about college, etc. If you can have a good convo, chances are they will suddenly remember someone who can help. Follow up if they give the suggestion that they need to think on it.

This is a decent step but very passive aggressive. Call your frat friend back. Ask him for the names and numbers of the women he knows. He has had time to think. It is not that hard. Then YOU call and introduce yourself, explain you are Frat Boy's friend, and ask for help with recruitment. Offer to meet for ice crem so the women can get to know you, etc.

Now, after all of the help, advice you have gotten over two days, I really hope your next post is one where you tell us that you followed at least one of the very specific suggestions that have been given here. Not trying to be ugly, but we have literally given you a step by step process and I don't think you have followed any of it- in the way we told you to do so.

I think this one feels like if she comes back with enough excuses then some kindly Greek Chat members will take pity on her life that's devoid of anyone Greek and provide her with recommendations.

NOT!

If anything, the attempts to help on here should demonstrate for her that in real life sorority women are usually more than willing to help/ guide other women.

But we're making it toooooo haaaaaaarrrrrrrdddddd!

Can we have a rousing chorus of the Eurythmics "Sisters are doing it for themselves?"

Thank goodness I am not the only one feeling this way! I was just wondering if I was getting cranky :)

To the OP you have been given some great advice here, go forth and use it!

When oh when will we have the opportunity to "like" or post a smiley face on posts?:)

This is one of those threads that really emphasizes the differences between North and South...lol. But, given the OPs location, I agree with y'all. If she was from up here, I would think you were all nuts.

I can see that in the North it would be seen as crazy lol..
However it is no more crazy then this girl coming to an internet forum and ask for people to get her recs.

Yeah, but...one of my chapter sisters who is now a high school teacher was recently talking about writing a rec for 'bama. How do women find her during the summer, and know she is a Phi Mu alumna? Obviously, some of them are doing the things listed here. It's not as extreme as knocking on doors, but somewhere along the way, someone had to randomly be like "hey, mrs. such-and-such, were you in a sorority?"

Each women's fraternity/sorority has a web site. All of the sites have a "locate chapter" function. Use it to locate the nearest Alumnae Chapters near you and contact the President and/or Secretary of each one. Everyone before me on this thread is right, you are late, late, late for a very important date!

I know. But I've been an alumna member for 25 years now. I'm one who is open and talkative about my sorority involvement and I have only met 5 or 6 women in that entire time who are in other NPC groups. There are definitely geographic differences.

Oh, absolutely. I just meant that PNM's still have to do the leg work.

I agree with this, except it's just passive. There's nothing aggressive about it! ;) The OP needs to be assertive, what with the clock ticking!

We have the Director of Career Services speak to our student teachers every semester about the job search process, and one thing she emphasizes very strongly is this (this is her direct advice, not my interpretation): network, network, network about possible openings, but do NOT rely on others/mutual friends to make the contacts. Let's say you run into someone you know who tells you, "my friend is the principal at X Elementary and they have a 4th grade opening." Don't ask the friend to put in a word for you...now you're putting the ball in the 3rd party's court and you've lost control of the situation. Instead, ask if you can use the friend's name as an icebreaker when YOU make the call, stop by the school with your resume, etc.

It's just not a priority for these friends and many will not follow through. It's not intentional; it's just not on their front burner and you're asking them to go out of their way. In this case, you're expecting your fraternity friend to make multiple contacts for you...and then get back to you? I don't see that happening, plus you'll still have to make a follow up contact on your own anyway, to get these women your packet. Time is wasting! Ask if YOU can use his name when YOU make the contact.

Plus, I'd be much more impressed by a friendly, direct contact from a young woman than by a "I'm calling for my friend" contact.

True but she's in Arkansas..either the NW area - think WalMart home offices - or Little Rock - depending on which of her posts you pay the most attention to. A high school of 1000 students. Come on, she knows people and she only needs 10 recs. Any one of us could do that in one weekend and she's been willy-nillying around for 4 days now.

And, just to be clear for others looking for advice: this is Arkansas. She needs a minimum of ten recs (10 groups on campus) but could actually be better off with more.

PNM's Perspective :)
 

Hi! I've been reading these forums for a while, but I finally have to put in my 2 cents.

I will be rushing this fall at an SEC school. It's not as competitive as Ole Miss and Bama, but an SEC school none the less.

I had a lot working against me. I will be the first in my family to go Greek, and no one close to me/my family is in a sorority. I am also a minority. I don't know anyone at the school I will be attending. This is why it was very important to me to get recommendation letters.

I began the process just like you. I felt as though I had exhausted my options. I needed 15 recs and had no idea where to get them.

First, I began by e-mailing to all of my teachers. (I didn't do this until the summer. BIG MISTAKE. If I could go back, I would have spoken to them in person before school let out.) I was able to get one really strong rec.

Next, I asked my parents to ask their co-workers if they were alums. My parents both work in male dominated industries (government), so that didn't work. Luckily I got a lot of "Well, my sister's brother-in-law's cousin was" type of thing. I asked my parents to provide them my e-mail if they were not comfortable giving a stranger their phone number. I got a couple of recs this way.

I still needed about 10 rec letters. This is when I began contacting alumnae chapters. I found the contact info for alumnae chapters in my state and in the state where I will be attending school. I come from a relatively small town so I expanded my search to the whole state (The worst they can say is no!).

It took a lot of time and effort, but through this process I got recs for every sorority. I did get several rejections, but for the most part everyone I spoke to went out of their way to help. I have pretty good grades and an impressive resume, but the comment I got most was that it was impressing that I was being proactive in my situation.

My advice, from PNM to PNM, is..
1. Call the alums, if at all possible. At first I felt awkward doing so, but if they've listed their contact info online it is for a reason.
2. If you e-mail, be very gracious and acknowledge that they are doing you a favor, not the other way around. Offer to set up a phone call, coffee date, or Skype session. Show that you are making an effort!
3. Have a resume ready. If they are offering to help, you don't want to keep them waiting while you throw one together.
4. Ask if they want your resume and photo via email or mail. Make it as easy for them as possible.
5. Send a hand written thank you note (or email) ASAP. Make sure you send them an update after recruitment, too!


Sorry for rambling! I just wanted to share that what these ladies are saying is very true. It is possible. Best of luck:)

YOU ROCK!!! This is what we expect PNMs to do. Thank you for posting and best of luck to you in recruitment.

Tiggerly, you are a go-getter! I predict you will do well adjusting to college life...kudos to your parents on raising a proactive, goals-driven daughter!

Tiggerly, I am so impressed with you! I love how you set a goal and kept after it!

I wish you the best of luck in recruitment!!! Please come back and share your story with us after recruitment. I would love to hear how it turns out for you.

Thank you ladies! I will be sure to come back and share my recruitment story with y'all. :)