Alumna Here- SEC schools and online recs?
 

Good evening ladies,

I am getting ready to write some recs for a few PNMs going through recruitment at various SEC schools (Alabama, LSU, FSU, etc). My org has an online submission form through its national website that sends the rec and attached photos, resumes, etc., directly to the chapter, and that is the medium I used last summer for all of the Fall 2015 recs I wrote. However, this year two PNMs have specifically asked me to mail a hard copy of everything directly to the chapter, stating that their schools either prefer hard copies or do not accept online submissions of recs.

Are hard-copy recs the standard protocol for SEC schools? I don't want to jeopardize the girls' recruitments at these cutthroat schools because of the way I submitted their recs.

I'm going to try reaching out to some of the individual chapters to see if I can get some clarification, but being that it is summer break and there are fast deadlines looming I was hoping that some of you ladies might have some insight. Thanks in advance.

Last year, my niece went through recruitment at an SEC school, and everyone who we asked to prepare recs did it online.

Not all orgs have an online rec form. Mine doesn't and we are at 12 of the 14 SEC schools. We can write the rec,scan it and email it or send hard copy.

Hard copies will be fine to send to chapters at Bama. You will probably save them the trouble of printing!

Recs and the form in which they are submitted have NOTHING to do with the school. The form used is completely dependent on the specific sorority. Some GLOs use on line submission, some still use hard copy. You use whatever your sorority prefers, not what the PNM thinks is needed!

Last year, I got a request from a PNM headed to Alabama, and in our e-mail correspondence she said that the school had said that material for references should be mailed hard copies. I replied that KD's headquarters state that online references are preferred, as did the website for our chapter there, but she was pretty firm about it. I can't remember what happened--I think I did mail it after all but thought there must have been some misunderstanding on someone's part.

If ALL the groups at Alabama prefer online recs then why does Greek Chic (the UA recruitment handbook available online) give ALL the snail mail addresses for each chapter????????

I meant preferred by Kappa Delta. Doesn't matter what others want.

I was talking to all who've asked about this....not just you. Sorry you took it so personally.

No prob. I wondered if my mention of "preferred" meant that it was for everyone, but it's just the way we want to receive them.

Pi Phi only takes hard copies. With 2400+ PNMs registered at Bama already, I can't even picture the paper piles we must have!

Carnation, I'm sure quite a few file cabinet drawers are filled right now!

On the Alabama moms Facebook page, this question has given rise to untold angst. Non-greeks (AND inactive greeks who either haven't ever written a rec or it's been years) can't seem to understand that every sorority does it differently - actually every chapter of every sorority does it differently. Or accepts both written and online equally.

I've had women insist it HAS to be online. So, I guess the precious 80-year-old ABG who writes a rec for her great-granddaughter is SOL because she can't figure out how to scan and attach to an e-mail and does it old school? Of COURSE her chapter will accept her written rec!! It's just common sense!

Which is missing for a lot of these nervous hovering nellies.

If you know your sorority does it online, do it that way. If you know that chapter prefers written, do it that way. Then you can let the PNM know it's taken care of and she can relax.

I second this.

We just launched our online reference system this summer. This will be the way it's done for all of our chapters, moving forward. As the system rolled out after many recs will have been sent this year, there will be a mix of hard copies and online this year. As of now, though, the only way we can submit is online...there is no "form" available to print and mail.

I'm sure personal letters will still be sent, but we're calling this Gamma Phi Beta's "Reference Revolution."

This should make it easier for the chapters who are inundated with recs, but any transition brings some angst. Universities have done away with paper applications, for the most part. My prediction is every group will be online before long, but there will be confusion during this mixed-bag transition.

Absolutely! And we can send an electronic copy of our sponsor form, we just don't have an online fillable one yet. typically, if I get an electronic packet from a PNM, I'll scan my form and attach her info and email. If I get a hard copy packet, I do a hard copy and snail mail.

You are absolutely right. The more I think about this, the better I feel about it. Phi Mu has an online reference form and it is soooo much more convenient for me to do it this way rather than printing out forms, photos, resumes, etc etc and trying to mail it the old-fashioned way.

A big thanks to everyone else who gave their insight to this thread, too!