REC LETTER ANXIETY
 

I am trying to obtain rec letters for my rush this fall. I only have a few so far. I went online to my city's alumni panhellenic association to get rec letters for the sororities that I don't have any for. On the website it said that they would help you obtain them by following some steps. After emailing back and forth the person I was in contact with told me they do not do rec letters anymore the way they used to, so basically what the website said was wrong. Initially, she asked to meet with me to write a rec letter, however, the sorority she alumni for does not exist at my school and I don't think she understood what I had been asking regarding what their website says. So I clarified my question and in the end she told me I could just send her my resume to have on file incase the sororities at my school contact them for records, so I did that.

I have contacted a few teachers from my senior year who are writing some for me, my mom's friend is possibly going to write one and my best friend's mom will also.

I am stuck here though. I would like to get letters for all of the sororities at my school but I do not know anyone else and I already tried to contacts to alumni association. Should I go to the individual chapter associations or is that uncommon? At my school recs are not required and many girls get into their top choices without them but they help you stand out so I would really like to get all of them.

Please help give me suggestions as to what I should try next!!

Thanks! :)

Yes, I would suggest that you try to contact the president of the closest alumnae chapter of each sorority that is on your campus for assistance. If you can find a phone number (probably unlikely, since you would probably find it on the Internet), call them because it is quicker and if you email, and don't hear back, you might wonder if anyone actually read it. Tell them that you are going through recruitment and don't know any XYZ's, but wondered if they might be able to introduce you to someone who could help you. If you can't find a local alumnae chapter or can't get ahold of them, you might consider, as a last resort, contacting their national headquarters to see if they know any alumnae in your area who write recommendations. When I was president of our local alumnae chapter, I received a couple of those requests from our headquarters.

Okay, I actually went to a panhellenic alumni website for another city in my state, and it provided contact information for rec letters unlike the other website did. I emailed the chapters by the emails provided and I will wait to hear back over the next week or so. I already have experience waiting for replies from alumni chairwomen and it totally makes sense considering it's summer. :) I will just have to be patient! If they are not able to help me I will do what KD4Me suggested. It's turning into almost a hassle though! I've been scurrying around for a couple weeks now trying to get this taken care of and considering they are not required I'm almost starting to just give up because I'm wondering if it's even worth it at this point, especially since rush is in a month.

I am curious... why are you just now looking for recommendations? I understand that you are in a rush (no pun intended) because recruitment is next month. That doesn't mean that alumnae can put aside their lives and other demands on their time for you. If this is all becoming more trouble than it is worth to you, it is completely your decision continue or not.

Paging AZTheta....

Obviously things have changed a lot since I was at UA, but I didn't know that rec's were a required sort of thing down there like an SEC school.

I haven't lived in AZ since 2010, but at least 3 years ago having rec's wouldn't make or break your recruitment. You do need to keep at open mind as UA has AMAZING houses.

Hmmm... from the thread "Schools where you absolutely, positively need recs":

You Must Have Recs If You Are Attending Any Of These Schools:
All SEC schools (no exceptions!): Kentucky, Tennessee, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Auburn, Alabama, Ole Miss, Miss State, Arkansas, Vandy, LSU, Texas A&M
Big XII: Texas, Baylor, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Kansas, Missouri, Texas Christian
ACC: Florida State, Clemson
Pac 10: USC, Arizona
Big 10: Indiana
Southern Methodist
Southern Miss

Yeah, AzTheta ALWAYS says you need recs. she's not going to come in here bc she avoids UA threads before recruitment. It's against the rules. Anyway, do your best to get as many recs as you can. Arizona is very competitive. Avoid tent talk. The chapters are all filled with beautiful, accomplished women who live in big beautiful houses. AXO is colonizing this year so that is another option for your, as well.

How do you know that? Did you hear it from sorority members because they would be the only ones who know for sure? Or are you relying on gossip? If you heard it directly from sorority members then you obviously know sorority members so why haven't you already worked those connections?

If you think it is a hassle then welcome to college where you will have to work much harder to achieve your goals. Starting to look for your recommendations a month before for recruitment is pretty late and you are asking total strangers to do a favor for you without much time.

If Arizona Theta says they are required then I definitely believe her! She is a smart lady and knows about this stuff!

Do the best you can. Continue to contact alumnae. You may end up with multiple recs to the same sorority; better safe than sorry. I'm sure it is stressful, and you've learned your lesson about sorority recruitment/procrastination/whatever the lesson is to be learned. Good luck with recruitment. Do what you can and keep asking people. There are lots of threads on Greek Chat about securing recommendations and how to find alumnae. Do a search and read through the stickied threads.

After discussions with my UA experts, there are projected to be around 1300 PNMs coming through recruitment. While the campus Panhellenic is mandated by NPC to say that recs are not "required", they are very much recommended by people in the know. Having recommendations helps you stand out from the field when the easiest cuts are those with low grades and no recs. A PNM could obviously go in without them, but it would be a disadvantage against 1300 other PNMs, many of whom will have them.

Thank you ladies for all of your help. I know it's late in the summer and I should not have waited. I was really trying though earlier in the summer. I am not one to procrastinate. I always do homework assignments when I get them and take care of my responsibilities right away. I was out of town a lot though and not knowing how important they were I wasn't as proactive as I should have been. I had put all my eggs into one basket with someone who I thought could help me but after a lot of messaging back and forth she ended up not being able to. I should have been looking in the meantime as well, but I thought it was going to work out. I had very clear instructions but the website was not updated to say they don't do recs that way anymore. I hope I'm able to get some more recs before rush now that it's so late. I have learned a lesson here. Thanks for your help.

Also, I have asked friends and family and everyone long ago in the summer. Unfortunately, I do not have many people who are a part of or know of anyone in greek life. My mom is a sorority alum but that is it. She doesn't know anyone who she is still in contact with that is in any other sorority other than the one she was in.

I am coming out of lurkdom and commenting on behalf of ALL my Panhellenic sisters who are Arizona actives and alumnae and who are watching this thread, just as I am! Thanks to everyone for looking out for us. We've had issues in the past with recruitment infractions on GC; we are not going there.

You cannot spit in Tucson without hitting an alumna of an NPC chapter. That goes for virtually every NPC chapter that is at the UofA. Not to mention those that aren't currently represented. There are more than 550 known Theta alumnae in the area, for example. And there are many who aren't listed on our records. Just sayin'...

OP, it would help you a lot, if you would read the threads here on how to secure recommendations. Tell EVERYONE you know or encounter that you are going through recruitment, and I mean everyone.

Back to lurkdom. This is my only word on any Arizona thread until after Recruitment is finished!

Thanks AZTheta :)

One suggestion I have for you is online social media. I assume you have a t_witter and facebook, get on either or both and ask if any of your friend are in sororities or have Moms who were Greek. Mention that you are in need of recommendations ASAP. You might be surprised who responds. Possibly one of your guy friends has a sister or mother in a chapter.

Also ask your former teachers. I have written several recs for former students. All of your teachers attended college, so there is a chance that one or more of them is Greek. They also know you, so they can write a better rec than a stranger.

This thread is a very good example of how alumnae panhellenics can vary WIDELY in terms of organization (or disorganization), mission, and membership focus. :)

Keep in mind that most school websites will not say that recs are required, even at the schools where they absolutely are. Recs, while universally known to be needed at some schools in order to receive a bid, are still used on a chapter by chapter basis and are considered part of membership selection. A school/Panhellenic essentially cannot tell you what's required to receive a bid because they simply don't know.

There is a difference between them saying recommendations are not required to go through recruitment vs. them not being required to receive a bid. The former is what's usually stated, and it's true; recs aren't required to participate. However, there's a good chance you won't make it very far without them.

This is why we have a thread here on Greekchat telling PNMs the schools where they'll definitely need recs - because no school's Greek life page is going to do that.

She wasn't talking about the school website, she was talking about an alumnae Panhellenic website.

Would the same apply for them? I would think that any body as a whole couldn't say that recs are required to receive a bid.

Either way, I wouldn't wholly rely on a website to figure out such information. Asking actual people seems the way to go.

I took it to mean that the alum panhel doesn't get together and write recs anymore - not anything about anything any school did or what anyone needed to get a bid.

Ah ok. I see now.

Yes 33girl that is what I meant. But thank you ASTalumna06 for your help!! I figure it is better safe than sorry to have recs because even if they for some reason are or aren't an important factor in receiving a bid, they will help me stand out. I am just so nervous for recruitment! I know that even when you do have rec letters, you don't always receive a bid to where you want to be. I saw a girl on here who had two recs for each sorority at U of A and still did not end up where she wanted! She was happy in the end and had a great attitude about it though. So, I hope I bring enough to the table during rush and get a bid from the sorority I feel most at home! If not, well then I hope I can handle it with as good an attitude as she did!!

I have actually had a lot of luck today since posting this thread regarding people who can write me recs. My mom got a hold of one of her sorority sisters from when she was in her sorority and she said she has some contacts from other chapters who she can explain the friend of a friend situation to and they will probably write them for me. Somebody I emailed also emailed me back! So that is good news. I hoped in the end I am able to get at least one rec for all of the houses! Wish me luck especially since I am doing all of this with such short notice. I will be sure to let the ladies who write me letters know how much I appreciate them, because I really do. I feel so much better now knowing I'm making some progress with this process!