Recs aren't [are!] necessary
 

Why do universities have to say recs aren't required even when they are at some schools? Do they have to say recs are not required as in a legal reason?

I've been reading through this board but I can't really find the answer, if there's a thread I'd like to read it. It's been on the brain awhile, although isn't really all that important.

It has been said and am sure someone will take the time to give you some links.

In the meantime, not all 26 NPC groups require - as part of their national policy - recs. The majority do though. However, on some campuses, esp SEC ones, so many women go thru recruitment that the only way to have any sort of competitive edge is to be sure and have them. When cuts are made after first round, the groups will know more about you than they found out in a 30 minute ice water tea. It just isn't feasible for the individual groups who require them to go thru the process of getting them for 1500 women.

That being said, the college PH, as an extension of NPC, cannot tell the PNMs that recs are required as they have to reflect NPC. And since NPC can't say you have to have them - as the individual groups determine what you have to have to join them - the CPH has to follow the parent organization.

Surely there's a way to say "while we say that you do not need recs to have a successful recruitment, those who have them are 100,000 times more likely to have a better recruitment experience."

Well, because they're bound to NPC, and to say what NPC says to say, I'm glad at least the Alumnae Panhellenics and places like GC are around to tell PNMs the truth, that recs are necessary at a lot of these schools.

Unfortunately, PNMs that are not "in-the-know" and don't stumble upon GC are left out of the loop, and their recruitument possibilities are cut because they just don't know.

My rule of thumb is that if the school's greek life or recruitment page mentions recs at all, they're probably pretty common on that campus and a PNM should try to secure them herself, even if they say it's the responsibility of the chapters to get them. This isn't true all the time (some school websites where we KNOW they need them don't mention them at all), but it works in a lot of cases.

I've never seen a non-competitive school mention recs in any way, shape, or form. This was how I ended up being a recruitment counselor for 2 years and didn't know anything about recs, even though I was on GC I wasn't too active a poster until after I finished grad school.

Here's the paragraph in the NPC Manual

Letters of Recommendation (B-1992)
The responsibility for providing letters of recommendation for prospective
new members rests with the members of NPC fraternities, and recruitment
information distributed through College and Alumnae Panhellenics shall
contain nothing that infers that letters of recommendation must be secured
by the potential new member.

Well at my school, you're required to have a rec letter in order to get a bid. If I didn't have older friends, I never would have known that.

The university said that "Letters of Recommendation are encouraged, but not required." I asked if they were necessary at a Greek Q&A and my Gamma/Rho Chi's said they absolutely are. Over half of the girls in my group did not know we needed one, and one half of those girls had no idea what a rec letter is.

Can the university say that and still require them for a bid?

It's not your school that requires them, it's individual organizations, and it could be that all the organizations on your campus happen to require them.

Hopefully the Recruitment Counselors will be able to step in and let PNM's know they need recs.

Thanks...just didn't want to take the time to look it up.

recruitment counselors spout the party line, plus at schools where recommendations are a must, by the time you meet your r.c. it is too late to send in a rec.

Okay, obviously not my bailiwick, but I'm just trying to understand, especially since this is so often a topic of discussion here.

Reading the paragraph above, it seems to me that it's saying that providing/secruring recommendations is a responsibility of collegiate members and/or alumnae, not of PNMs, and that PNMs can't be told it's their responsibility. That seems to be a little different from saying that PNMs can't be told recs are necessary. Am I missing something?

And if I am, what's the reason behind a blanket rule that PNMs can't be told that recs are needed when some organizations require them? Why wouldn't the rule be that PNMs should be told that rules about the necessity of recs vary from organization to organization?

Alumiyum and FSUZeta, what do girls who didn't get recs do about bids? I know there are out of state (or even in state) girls who have no connections in a house and therefore, do not know to they have to get rec letters.
What if a chapter absolutely loves a girl, but she didn't get any rec letters. Does she still get a bid?
I cannot imagine not being granted a bid because of something I wasn't informed of! Is there a way around them?

Maybe I'll get flack for this but I'm just going to say it. AbbeyDae, after reading your posts on this and other threads I think you might be bordering on becoming a classic "overconfident PNM".

You haven't even been through recruitment yet and definitely aren't in a sorority so you don't need to be saying how "your university requires them for a bid" because that simply is not true.

It's great that you have friends in chapters and are apparently Southern and it's good that you have recs too, but none of these things guarantee you a bid.

My advice? Stop posting things that aren't recruitment-related questions and read the stickies. Good luck.

Ultimately, a sorority that truly wants you in their org will find you a rec IF you don't have one. I have witnessed this numerous times.

BUT, BUT, BUT...with the competition out there and the well prepared young ladies why would you even chance it? It just might be they have an equally qualified girl they also love that comes with a rec that could easily be offered your bid.

It simply comes down to don't take the chance.

Amen!

At my school almost every chapter will drop the pnms without recs after the first round. It's hard to dazzle a sorority into offering you a bid without a rec when you're never even asked back to attend the first invitational round.

First of all, there is no "rule" that PNMs can't be told some groups require recs for a bid. Don't know where you got that. What the CPH can't say is that you have to get them yourself. It violates the NPC rule that was quoted previously from the Manual of Information (aka Green Book). Anything beyond that is private MS information and no one here is going to give that out.

Can you get a bid at an SEC school without securing recs for yourself? Sure. But do you really, really want to leave it to chance that you are going to be that 1 person a year out of 1500 women who does when this is your probably your only chance at recruitment? If you are that great, don't you really want a letter of introduction (a rec) sent to the chapter ahead of time so they can be ready for Your Highness's visit???? (Yes, that's tacky but I'm going to leave it in)