Some questions about Recs
 

I rushed once before in formal rush and did not receive a bid. I had no idea about recs and only found out such a thing existed after I had rushed. I'm going to rush again and can get a rec from one of my friends (who offered, I didn't ask) at another school. But that's only one rec.

So, my question is, how do you typically obtain recs? From friends in current houses? Strangers in current houses? I'm asking because I don't know who/how to ask and what the courtesies/customs are.

typically, recs. are secured by asking alumnae sorority members who might have been your teachers, your neighbors, parents of your friends, friends or co-workers of your parents, members of your church, friends of friends. it is all about networking.

if you discover your kindergarten teacher was a member of "ABC" sorority, and she is willing to write a rec. for you for the ABC chapter at your university, you might ask if she may knows alumnae from other sororities that have chapters on your campus, and she might send your information to them, and they might write a rec. for you. it is all about networking.

an alumnae of a sorority can write a rec. for you as long as there is a chapter of their sorority on your campus. she does not have had to be a member of that particular chapter, only a member of the national sorority.

some sororities do allow their collegiate members to write recs., but not all allow this. however, if you have friends that are members of sororities on your campus, they might be able to ask their chapter advisors to meet you and write a rec. for you.

I don't like the whole "let's meet so I can write you a rec" thing. Recs are about vouching for someone's character. You can't do that via a 30-minute meeting.

Thanks FSUZeta! That's really helpful.

AnchorAlumna, I kind of agree, but don't have many connections to greek life other than friends currently in chapters and my brother. lol


Also, I thought of another question. Typically, how many recs per chapter is acceptable/recommended?

I was asked to do a meet and greet rec this year for a young lady going out of state. I met with her and then when I wrote the rec, I specifically stated, "This recommendation is based on my meeting with the young lady for 30 minutes." The chapter then knew that I did not have much to go on and they could do as they wished with the rec.

DaffyKD

Is your school a school with a large formal rush (1000+ girls)?

Sometimes the reasons you did not receive a bid or were cut have nothing to do with having or not having recs.

I believe there were over 700 rushing last year at formal rush. (We have 11 chapters and about 45 per pledge class.) So, I know there were just way too many girls for everyone to get a bid, but I think recs would've helped.

I'm not sure I agree. Most of the houses on campus can house 35-45 girls per pledge class. Many houses gave bids to 55+ girls last year. A new sorority is colonizing this year, so that will give a lot more girls the chance to be involved in greek life. I understand how quota works, but the amount of girls not receiving bids in the last two years made the council realize that it was time to expand.

Sure, but that does NOT change the fact that quota is still adjusted to fit as many girls as they can into chapters. It doesn't matter if 10 women or 1000 women go through. Large numbers of women who don't match are usually mostly made up of people who dropped out, not people who are completely released from recruitment. Panhellenic is expanding because the chapters are getting to big, not because too many girls dropped out and didn't get bids. The existing chapters would like to manage their sizes by adding extra groups to help with demand.

By saying that you're going to say it in the nicest way way possible, kind of made it seem not nice. :/

And they just can't fit anymore. Multiple news articles about rush at my school have stated that the number of girls not receiving bids (and that doesn't include dropping out) was a major factor in deciding to expand to another chapter. So, that's why I said what I did. Perhaps I am missing something and I understand about quota, but it's just what I read about rush at my school. *shrug*

I know at least one of the articles was written by a member of the council (although I don't know about the other authors) and I took my information from quotes of council members from the articles.

the only school we know that still has a bed rush(where they pledge only the number of girls that they have available bedrooms for) is indiana university. if you go to IU then what you are saying is true, otherwise, you are probably not understanding the process at your school.

i am not trying to out you, just want to make sure you understand how recruitment usually works.

I'm also not trying to out you or your campus, but it would be helpful to read some of these articles you cite.

"The sorority chapters are getting too big" does NOT mean "we're going to take fewer girls and throw the concept of quota out the window" unless:

• you are at a school with all local groups that make their own rules
  
• you are at a school where the administration (who did this? was it Ohio or Ohio State?) imposes an arbitrary cap on the maximum number of members each chapter can have. Usually this is an attempt by the administration to de-emphasize Greek life, and usually it goes over like a lead balloon (i.e. the interest in Greek life increases, not decreases).

ETA: We discussed the articles I believe you are citing on here previously and all agreed that the Panhel officers were either horribly misquoted or didn't know what they were talking about. If women CHOSE to drop out of rush because they didn't like the choices they had left, or CHOSE to drop out because they didn't want to be in a big pledge class, then THEY are the ones who ultimately lowered quota (and the amount of women the sororities could take) for all the groups at the end of rush. Women are not arbitrarily cut because the sororities are too big. NPC doesn't work that way. If chapters at your school were actually doing that, their charters would be in serious jeopardy because I can't think of any national group that would be down with this concept.

Yes - Ohio State - I mean - THE Ohio State - had the arbitrary cap.

So, Red, unless you go to Ohio State, Nebraska, or Indiana, PNMs did not "not recieve bids" due to too few spots. Of course I am assuming you are talking about NPC sororities.

For example, at Arkansas there are only 8 NPC sororities and quota last year was 101. As in 101 NEW MEMBERS for EACH sorority! So, as you can see, quota is always determined (except at those 3 exceptions) by the number of PNMs. It doesn't matter how ginormous the number of PNMs is. Now of course, no sorority WANTS that many new members, so a panhellenic is very likely to consider expansion in that case, but it doesn't change the fact that PNMs were not excluded due to too few spots being available. It just doesn't work that way.

I vaguely remember reading that Ohio State dropped that and is using a normal quota now. Am I wrong?

Okay, I think I'm being misunderstood. But I'm not trying to find information on quota and why I didn't receive a bid. I'm just looking for information on recs. So, can we get back to that? That is really what I need help with at the moment. lol

this is what you need to do. good luck.

thank you :)

1. You are not misunderstood, you are misunderstanding. There's a difference.

2. Every question raised in this thead has been discussed AD NAUSEUM elsewhere. Do some research.

I'm thrilled to confirm that you are both correct.

Believe me, that was nice.

In a sense, that can be true. When all chapters are making quota, and quota is increasing, CPHs generally consider one of two options: raising total or extension. One of the things to consider which is right for your campus is how big chapters would like to be, if they have space to continue to grow if total is raised. If the chapters' housing/facilities are not meant to accomodate larger chapters, a campus will look to extension.

However, every chapter gets an equal piece of the "pie", whether that "pie" is 50 women, or 1000 women. That is quota. If after making quota, a sorority has open spaces by being below total (a maximum size for each chapter), they may offer more bids. If chapters are all well above total after formal recruitment, CPHs will look to raising total or extension.