I dont see how it would look favorably on a PNM actually....

If you are going to contact someone asking to be put in touch with alumnae in your area, please either GIVE your area, or respond to them promptly.

You don't need to tell me you live on 123 Main Street in Anytown, but it would be helpful to say "I live in anytown" or "I live near Grand Forks."

Also, don't tell us you are going to attend UM (Michigan? Minnesota? Miami?) or USC (South Carolina? Southern California?) - be specific!

Hello Ya'll! First I must say I have so enjoyed reading this forum... I laugh and cry - so many touching stories! My question (I didn't see it anywhere - no flames please!) is my daughter has a friend who is willing to write a Recommendation for her. On the Recommendation form it asks for Leadership & Activities - can she just attach my daughters resume - she's done alot :) - or does she have to write in all her activites? My daughter thought that attaching the resume would be ok but I wanted to check for opinions!

A resume should be fine. I've written recs for girls and indicated 'see attached resume' under Leadership and Activities. The way girls get involved these days, there's no way to fit it in 3 lines!

Thank you OTW!

nice
 

nice to meet you all.

I just have a question...would it be wrong to send more than one recommendation letter? would having more letters increase my chances?

ok thanks =)

one more thing...what is the difference between recommendation letters, references and letters of support? which is the most important one? could you send all 3 or will it irritate the sorority?

I believe a rec and a reference are the same. It's just that some sororities call it a rec, and others call it a reference. That's just an official form sent in by an alumna of that sorority that basically lets them know the basics about you and that you are going through recruitment.

A letter of support is something different. It's an actual letter written by an alumna of that sorority on your behalf.

Whether a rec and a letter of support are necessary depends on your school. There are some schools where PNMs often send in 2-3 recs from different alumnae and a couple letters of support. It may be considered "overkill" at less competitive schools.

ok thank you soooo much, you've been extremely helpful =)

I have been trying to get recs but I'm having a hard time trying to find alumni. Both of my parents have asked their co-workers and no one had been in a sorority. Any other ideas of how i can find alumni?
thank youuu :)

teachers
relatives
relatives of friends
neighbors

Seek the help of the nearest Alumnae Panhellenic Chapter. Since you're in VA, I imagine you shouldn't have trouble finding one. Visit www.npcwomen.org for more information.

Ask:

teachers/school staff/activity sponsors
family friends
older sisters of friends
friends of older siblings
friends of friends
girls that went to high school with you that are older than you
women from your place of worship
your co-workers or your boss
families you babysit for/past babysitters
males in any of these categories---they may know of sorority alumnae!

Keep trying and you'll be surprised at who pops out of the woodwork. Also, remember that when you find one alumna, she may know of others, even if she is an alumna of a sorority not at your school. I am from a small town of 6,000 NOT in the South, and if a graduating senior came to me asking to find alumnae for recs, I could probably hook her up with members from 20 of the 26 NPCs that I know personally.

See this post:

http://greekchat.com/gcforums/showpo...8&postcount=91

thank you all so much! i will def try that

beachball
Don't forget to ask your pastor or his wife
Choir members
Church members
even ask the Dean of Women at your school.
Like has been said, you never KNOW WHO will pop out of the woodwork.

Hey
I'm a freshman and I participated in formal recruitment at my school this past fall but I didn't get invited back to the house I really wanted. I was really upset and dropped out of recruitment, which I now realize was a really bad decision on my part. :(
Anyway, joining a sorority is something I've wanted for a long time...but I am transferring to a different college next fall and I don't know if I should go through formal recruitment again. As much as I want to be a part of a chapter I am really scared that I am just going to be depressed again. Any suggestions?
Also, at the school I am transferring to I am a legacy at one of the chapters. Does this mean I will have a better chance of being invited into that sorority??
Oh, also I am wondering is it important to have reccomendations??
Any other information would be really helpful!!!
:D
ThAnKs!!!
Rach<3

At some schools, having recommendations is very important. At other schools, they're not that important. Some schools have members who don't even know what to do with them. Without knowing your campus (and I don't suggest revealing that at all), it's hard to tell. Try and do a search on GreekChat to see if there are any rush threads from your new school.

Being a legacy does not guarantee you a bid. They are extended certain courtesies, however. If you decide to rush, you may want to ask your relative member to fill out a legacy introduction form (if they have one).

If you think you can handle the possibility of rejection once again, go ahead and rush. If you can't, then don't.

ditto was otw said.

you will be at a different school, making a fresh start. as long as you think you can deal with the worse case scenario, why not give formal recruitment a chance?

i always say that it won't hurt to get recs. do you know some girls in sororities at your new school? you could ask them if recs. are common there.

do ask your relative who is a member of a chapter at your new school to write you a rec. there may or may not be a legacy introduction form-she will know.

most of the time, at the least, a legacy will be extended an invitation to the first invitational party. legacies are not guaranteed a bid.

I'm just a junior in high school so I have awhile till I need recs, but I was wondering if I cannot find someone to write all my recs and I need the local Alumnae Panhellenic Chapter to help me out they won't mind writing one if they don't know me? Also when should I start collecting recs? Thanks for the help!

It is not a bad idea to find out now if your friends, family, teachers, etc., are in a sorority. Do not ask for a recommendation now - wait until you have your college acceptance in hand and have signed up with your school Panhellenic. Next year, register with your local Alumnae Panhellenic. They will facilitate getting your information to different alumnae, and odds are you will have recs written for you. Do not, however, count on that. Try to secure at least one rec for each house through networking. Good luck.

Thanks SWTXBelle. Your information was really helpful :)

im really sorry if this has already been asked, but i know i just read this in a thread on this site somewhere but now i cant find it. i am planning on contacting some women in my local panhellenic alumnae group and would like to attach a resume with my email, what do you guys recommend to include in my resume?

Just from what I have sent in to the women who are writing recs for me, I would make sure that you put the names of your mother (+ maiden name) and father...I had no clue that that should have been on there, and many are calling me back to ask for that now.

One of the nicest things I saw this year was a pnm who, as per our AP instructions, filled out a packet of information for each sorority at her campus, to be turned into the AP. She also went to the trouble of including a thank you note addressed to the contact person for each group. GREAT way to stand out from the crowd - I'm just sorry she isn't going to a campus with Gamma Phi!

Hey all! I will be a freshmen at a school with competitive greek life. I have a few questions about recs:

1. Is there such thing as too many recs? If so, how many?

2. If you are a legacy to a chapter at your school is it necessary to have a rec for them?

I have been searching some reccomendation threads and have not been able to find any of this info. Thanks in advance!! :)

1. Depends - if several alumnae know you well, having more than a couple of recs could be good. If they are "information only" recs., there is no sense in having more than one.

2. YES - many NPC groups have a "legacy introduction" form that does not replace a rec., but which does serve to notify the group that you are a legacy and specifically how you are a legacy. If you are a legacy of a living member and she does not send in a rec that could be a red flag.

Thanks for clearing that up for me ladies! I know it's a bit early, but I want to start securing my recs for this fall!

Hi there ladies (and gents perhaps). I have a bit of an oddball question. You may have heard it before, but I couldnt seem to find it listed in the search feature. I have established a meeting with a few of the lovely ladies from my local alumnae organization in the hopes of getting to know a bit more about their GLO and perhaps securing a rec. Is this the kind of meeting where it would be appropriate for me to treat them, or should we each expect to pay for our own coffee? If they offer to treat me, what should my response be? I'm not all that concerned about the cost, I just dont want to make things awkward for anyone.

Thanks so much for all of your lovely advice (both what I have already read, and in anticipation of what y'all will tell me about this one). It is truly inspiring to see how being in a sisterhood (again, or brotherhood) has continued to be a part of your lives in such a delightful way.

Great. Thank so mych KSUViolet06. You seem to have all kinds of great info on all manner of topics. I hope that if I wind up in a GLO I can someday be as helpful to the PNMs as you have been.

Have a glorius day!

Definitely all pay for your own. You never know who's lurking or working there and who might try reporting it as dirty rushing. I think anyone who would do that is a jackass, but better safe than sorry. Some recruitments get crazy vicious with groups calling rush infractions on each other.

Wow. That really is nuts. I cant imagine anyone doing that at my school. My school is pretty small, and our greek scene is even smaller. I'm not actually sure if I want the rec, at my campus it might be weird, but I happen to have good leads on about 2 thirds of the sororities, so I guess I might as well.

Anyone have any thoughts?

P.S. I searched for my school, and nothing on this came up

Thanks!

DEFINITELY get the rec. It won't be weird, and better safe than sorry. As for the previous question, I concur that you should assume that you would pay for your own coffee, and not offer to pay for the alumna's. I wouldn't expect a younger, college woman to pay for mine, even if I were doing a favor for her by writing her a letter. I doubt most alumnae would offer to pay.

Do Alumni associations think it is "tacky" or "awkward" to contact them and ask to meet them? For example, I am considering emailing or calling alumni associations so that I could meet with them and hopefully obtain a rec, since I 'm having difficulty finding women I know that are in NPC sororities.

Sorry for not clarifying, I meant to ask if it was ok to contact a local alumnae chapter.

I am not the one who normally picks up mail from the Post Office, but due to circumstances I did. Wanting to help our Rec Committee I sat and opened all the envelopes and sorted through them. Literally 4+ hours just opening envelopes for less then a week's worth of mail. That's Bama Recruitment for you.

Anyways, my personal tips for PNM resumes based off this:

- DO NOT PUT GLITTER ON YOUR RESUME OR IN THE ENVELOPE! (Did I emphasize that enough?) Yes this will "set you a part" from the crowd, but not in a good way. You have no idea how annoying it was to have to vacuum my couch and carpet because of these creative PNMs.

- Don't bother with putting ribbons or gluing jewels on your resume. For a Chapter that receives massive quantities of Recs, they usually get sorted, placed into things like page protectors and then into 3 ring binders. Those baubles take up a lot of space and make it difficult to flip the pages of your Rec and resume.

- Don't print your resume on vellum paper. It may look very pretty to start with, but it is not durable. Remember you want a lot of people looking at your resume and it needs to hold up. Even newly received resumes didn't look that great with creases when an alumna folded it to fit into a standard mailing envelope.

- If you are going to print your own photos that's fine, but please invest in some photo weight paper. It is not that expensive. Alumnae may fold their Recs, the Post Office may bend your envelope, etc. Photo weight paper holds up far better than regular printer paper. Again remember these need to withstand a lot of manipulation and viewing.

- Make sure your resume is easy to read. Don't print with barely visible light colored ink (light lavender, pink, and yellow are the worst). Don't use super dark paper (crimson red for Alabama seems to be somewhat popular). Don't choose a super swirly script font. Wow, I practically went blind trying to read some of these and finally gave up. It's not good if someone stops reading your resume because it hurts their eyes.

It boils down to this, it is far better to impress the Chapter with the content of your resume than funky creativity.