Recommendations
 

Hi Chatters. I have a question with a disclaimer :)

I am a first generation collegian who is trying to take in all of your advise to be as well prepared for rush in the fall as possible. I've been told recs are basically essential with UCF being fairly competitive and my being a sophomore in the fall. However, I literally have NO greek connections. I've checked with family, friends families, and high school teachers. There is NO ONE.

After realizing this I took to ADPiUCF's thread that had GreekChatters listed by sorority who would be willing to write informational recs or help make connections with alum. associations in my area. I've tried going through the list and have contacted some.. however I have realized many of them are no longer active, and some women are upset about being contacted by someone they don't know.

Therefore I am hoping any women who would be willing to help me whether in writing an informational rec or making a connection would PM me or reply. I am willing to put in any amount of time you would like in order to make this work through emails, phone calls, or personal meetings if able. And I DO have a social resume ready.

I truly hope I do not offend anyone. I am not trying to be disrespectful or ruin the prestige you hold for your chapter. I would just like to be offer the most of myself I am to these chapters as they will be doing for me in the fall. I am not seeking specific chapter help, any represented at UCF (listed below) are helpful. I want to find my true home and therefore will shun no one. Again I am sorry if this bothers you, and if it bothers anyone to the point of needing to be pulled down I will do so. Thank you to all who have read. :D

Sororities at UCF
Alpha Delta Pi
Alpha Epsilon Phi
Alpha Xi Delta
Chi Omega
Delta Delta Delta
Kappa Alpha Theta
Kappa Delta
Kappa Kappa Gamma
Pi Beta Phi
Zeta Tau Alpha

Check out the Orlando Panhellenic association at http://winterpark-orlando.tripod.com...icassociation/.

Their Secretary/Recruitment or their College Nights coordinator will likely have contacts in your area to help you with recommendations.

Have you tried contacting your local Alumna Panhellenic? (My sister is currently going through the same process as you, so I feel your pain. Granted, she has some Greek family members to help her out... ) This is your best bet.

I have been trying to contact alum. associations. However with everything being online all you see is a list of names, and being non greek im not sure which titles are in charge of what. That's more what I'm hoping to find, a more specific point in the right direction. Thank you all. :)

Again, thank you so much! This is all really helpful :)

Can I hop in with a related question? I plan on going through formal recruitment this fall and have diligently been looking for people who can help me find alumnae willing to write recommendations for me. Like the OP I have virtually no connections and am having a lot of trouble. I contacted my local alumnae organization but never heard back; the only listed contact for anyone there is e-mail.

By mid-May, if I was still having no luck, I had planned to go through the list of GCers who are listed as willing to help with recs, find one recently active poster among each group I needed help with, and ask that person for help finding a contact. As I understand,, this is what the OP did and she mentioned that some people were upset at being contacted.

Is it not considered okay even to contact those who are listed, if I run out of options? If so, do you have any recommendations if my local group doesn't ever reply to attempts to contact them? Is it okay to go to the next closest alumnae group and ask for help?

I would try to contact the next closest alum group before going through the GC list.

That GC list, to my knowledge has not been updated in a long time -- and someone who might be considered an "active poster" may have changed their feelings about being asked to write recs for someone they don't know. Some may help point you in the right direction. Or some may give you a response you won't want to hear. Be prepared for the latter just in case.

ETA: I'd like to point out to all GCers that this thread should either be updated. If you want your name edited to add something or even removed from the list, now's probably a good time to let one of the mods know. It'd save PNMs soliciting for recs from getting a disappointing answer when they don't know better. A lot of the names I see on that list have not posted on GC for a while.

If it were up to me, that list would be gone. My personal feeling is that PNMs shouldn't be shopping for rec writers on GC anyway. It's one thing to point them in the right direction, but how can you write a rec for someone you don't know? And PNMs, how do you know that you can trust someone on GC? What if they write you a no-rec? It's a big risk.

Check your local newspaper. Mine regularly lists meetings (along with contact numbers) for our area Panhellenic Alumnae Association and many individual sorority alumnae associations as well.

Also, keep searching among the people whom you already know. If you've already tried all of your female teachers, try your guidance counselor, school nurse, etc. Ask your male teachers if their wives were sorority members. Try to extend the range of people whom you can contact.

another possible source would be girls you know from high school who you are friends with and who have joined sororities.

also, don't give up on recruitment even if you don't secure any recs. it may limit your options, and it may not work out at all, but then again, it may.

You could also contact the headquarters for the sororities at your school, and ask for contact information for sponsorship chairmen in your area.

I know me saying thank you is getting repetitive, but again, thanks. There are a lot of great people on this forum who have gave a lot of great private or public advise. I truly have no connections except three friends who have rushed. They are all in seperate chapters but I thought alum. recs would carry more weight. I am contacting more local alum associations.