A Few Recruitment Questions..
 

Alright so I'm a little confused about how recs work. Is it possible to get recs if you have no sorority affiliation at all? In other words do sorority women at your alumni local chapter mind writing a rec for you even if they dont personally know you? If so what steps are to be taken to do this?
And also, I'm looking at Arizona State and I would like to know how competitive is the recruitment there and how vital are recs? Ive read the sticky thread about which schools you absolutely need recs for and ASU was in the up for debate list and i was wondering if it would hurt not to have them there.
And the final question I have is compared to an SEC school how much less stress would be involved at an ASU recruitment and is there a large amount of bidless PNM at either an SEC school or ASU?

Thank you so much in advance and I apologize if I sound like a novice or a dunce or if these are difficult to answer. Thanks

Yes, it is possible to get a rec when you or your family have no sorority affiliation, however, I would bet my last nickel you know several people who are Greek and just don't know it. Start asking your teachers and your friends Mother's. Yes, your local Panhellenic chapter can write a generic type rec, but it is much better for someone to write one that knows you. For example, if I was to write one for you it would say "I do not know this young women personally" type of thing. You can start the ball rolling by sending an email or telephoning the person in charge of recommendations. There is probably a website OR there might be a facebook page. Google your city panhellenic and see what comes up.

Arizona state recruitment is getting more competitive by the year. There is a recruitment story that was just posted on here about ASU http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/sh...d.php?t=122900. Remember that she was a junior and I think she says in the thread her grades were not great. You don't need recs, but if you were asking me about it I would tell you to get as many recommendations as possible. Many, not all, Chapters will invite you back after round 1 with a recommendation letter. The first round is only 20 minutes and unless you have a huge personality or light up the room when you walk through the door you sometimes get lost in the shuffle. With almost 1,000 girls going through you have to stand out to be remembered.

Way less stress then an SEC school, but you will still have stress. Recruitment is stressful I think at almost any big University. There are not a lot of bidless PNM's at ASU. They do a really good job at placing as many PNM's as they can. AS long as you don't single intentional preference you will probably get placed in one of the Chapters. I can not tell you how many go bidless at an SEC school because I have no frame of reference.

I hope this helps you.

Thank you guys so much! I just get worked up about things and if i didnt get these questions answered I wouldve probably began to think negatively.

Anyone who knows you and is a member of any of the groups at ASU can write a rec for you: Parents' friends, teachers, counselors, Sunday School teachers, employers, your friends' mothers, e tc. Make a list of all the groups atASU and start asking around. And when you find someone in one group, ask if she knows anyone in the others.

Ideally recs would all be personal, but the sad but truth is to a certain extent it's just a box checked. Does she have one? Yes. Move on. Start the networking and you'll find a fair number of recs. Then for the ones you don't have a personal connection to, seek out your local alumnae panhellenic. But I'll add to AXOrushadvisor's last nickel that you know quite a few Greek women. START with your teachers. My sorority seemed FULL of education majors, and I think that was common. Teachers and nurses.

Rush is stressful. It just is. But don't let too much information freak you out. To be clear, they're still just PARTIES. It sucks to know you're being judged and you have remarkably little you can do about it, but it's not like they're judging you in front of you! Be as prepared as you can, keep a smile on your face, try to be real, and que sera sera.

Sometimes, it's totally tough to find recs. I completely get it. I am probably the poster child for toughest rec situation. I decided to rush last spring (specifically, the night before I left for a family vacation with tons of relatives). I asked everyone, but the collective group could only point to some AEPhis and DPhiEs, none of whom claimed to have close enough relations with other sorority women who could help. The closest I came to a rec from someone I knew personally beforehand was a teacher whom I approached about a letter for her sorority (but she wasn't particularly interested in helping me out). So I wound up with recs for 5 of 9 houses.*

My advice? If you KNOW at this point in time that you want to rush, start researching. Start with people you know and THEN go to people you don't know (yet**).

Finally, just know that, in every recruitment, girls go bidless. Great girls go bidless. I did not receive a bid during formal, even though I had a very high HS GPA, good SAT scores, tons of extracurriculars, blah blah...I saw it more as "the houses from which I was cut weren't the right places for me" rather than "everyone hates me and I'll never make it at this school!" Truth is, not everyone's going to click at every house. I realize now that my personality and my interests click much better at the house I'm in than they did at any other house.***

Good luck! I think it's great that you're being proactive early on.

*When I got dropped from formal, I was able to secure a SigDelt rec. :)
**Did you know that ellebud and I live, like, 5 minutes from each other? We even went to the same high school, but I had no idea whom she was until I started with recruitment.
***Ok, during recruitment, anytime someone mentioned TV shows, I'd get all excited because Torchwood, my favorite dramatic series, was in its 2nd-to-last week of the season while Hot in Cleveland, my favorite current comedy, was also towards the end of its season. Hey, they asked what shows I like, right? It wasn't until SigDelt that I found people who a) knew what the shows were and b) actually watch[ed] them, too! That's why I see recruitment rejection as a positive outcome with a negative connotation; really, I think we can all agree that recruitment works out the way it should.

Just wanted to interject a clarification after reading this thread:

Remember that the rec does not have to come from someone who was in a sorority and was actually attending school on the campus you are attending. A Kappa Kappa Gamma from U of Missouri can write a rec to the ASU KKG chapter for you.

I know that fact is stated numerous places on Greek Chat, but thought I better insert it here! :)

Even if you find someone in a sorority that's NOT at ASU, ask her if she knows people in any of the other groups you need. I know (not just through GC but personally) members of at least 3 other sororities that were not on my campus.