Recs for William and Mary?
 

I have a family friend who was accepted Early Decision to William and Mary for next year, and asked me about their greek life. Although I did attend a school in Virginia, I know next to nothing about William and Mary's policies. Their website states, "Frequently, the Inter-Sorority Council will get questions about reference letters or recommendations. While reference letters are certainly appreciated by the chapters when they receive this information, they are not necessary for participation NOR do the majority of women participating in recruitment have them."

Obviously, this means that she will in no way be hindered if she does not have recs. However, I was wondering if there were any current students on here who can tell me if it would seem unusual or overeager for her to have them? My school had a similar policy stated on their website, but we always thought it was strange when i girl came with 1 or 2 recs to every house...

Any input about this, or the general competitiveness of their recruitment would be great, thanks!

Kate

I'm not familiar with W&M, but I would assume if the word "frequently" was used, PNMs with recs would definitely not be perceived as overeager. The mere mention of recs suggests that they are probably a good idea to have.

This is a guess, so take this with a grain of salt, and anyone correct me if necessary, but despite having a historical southern setting, I don't think the student body is very southern. Though it is public, W&M attracts students from all over the country, not just VA/NC; at schools with a diverse student body (geographically), recs seem to be less important, but they can give you a leg up. Contrast this with large southern state schools (think SEC). Many students are in-state or from a nearby state, each sorority woman knows dozens of people just from her high school going through. Recs are a way to make sure the chapter knows about you. If you don't have a rec for a chapter, why should they keep an unknown when they KNOW hundreds of women from their "feeder" high schools. Recs are vital at such schools. They're not a leg up, just a foot in the door.

Also, how would you know if a PNM had 1-2 recs to every chapter (unless she told you)? Wouldn't you just know if she had a rec for your chapter?

Don't believe websites - they LIE! Many schools (I can't speak to W & M) say they aren't necessary, but in reality, they are.

IMO, if the school even MENTIONS recs, it's not a bad idea to have them and you probably should. The schools where they truly aren't needed at all don't even bring it up.

Though I don't have extensive knowledge about William and Mary, I'll have to second what 33girl says. My university does not require recs, but that said, there is no mention made whatsoever of them on our Panhellenic website. I would tell her to err on the side of caution and get one for each sorority (not just the "popular" ones!)

Are there really chapters where recs would HURT your chances? My chapter didn't get many recs, but when we did, it was like "oh, cool, maybe we can try to pair her up with someone else who played tennis in high school".

I seem to remember some posters giving accounts of collegians (at unspecified schools) having the attitude of "I can choose my own sisters thankyouverymuch" when seeing recs, but it is really just a matter of education, of seeing recs as a "head start" on getting to know a PNM and who she should talk to. Hopefully the chapter's recruitment advisor will see the recs, and should be able to set the record straight.

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't W&M have a deferred rush? It seems like recs would be less important for a deferred rush since the actives have a semester "head start" on recruitment anyway?

thank you all so much for the help! i'll forward your advice on to her. At the very least, showing the GLOs that she put the effort in to secure recs will show she's serious about, and sincerely interested in the whole process!

according to their website, they did not have deferred rush this year. So I don't suppose that would suddenly change for the upcoming year. again, I'm not a student so I don't exactly know.

Thanks, it seems like most of the VA schools have deferred rush.

Also, FWIW, my school didn't really need recs, but no one thought it was weird if a girl sent one in.

LOL I was just talking about this with an alumna of a school that has a large but laid back recruitment. She told me that in the rare occasion that her chapter received a recommendation, they felt obligated to give a bid to the pnm if they liked her.

W&M alum here--recs are definitely not needed or even the norm at W&M, but we certainly appreciated them whenever we received them. We were more likely to give a woman a second chance if she had a good rec from an alum, so I would say definitely send one if you have the opportunity.

My knee jerk reaction was "No we don't!" but then I realized that my Virginia school doesn't have deferred recruitment - lol.

You're right though, a good number of VA schools have deferred recruitment: UVA, Tech, W&L, Longwood, Radford...