resumes and pictures
 

Should I personally send each chapter a resume and pictures? If so, what type of pictures should I send? Professional, senior pictures, random photographs of myself and friends, or what?

At Ole Miss we suggest that each PNM (Regardless if they have a rec from an alumna) should send an unofficial transcript, resume, and a picture to each house. The picture can be a senior picture, prom picture, picture of you with your family, pretty much whatever. As long as you are in it! Most girls send senior pictures. This is a great way to assure that the members in the sororities know who you are and they can get to know you better! I would just send one or two. I hope this helps! Good luck to you during recruitment! It is a wonderful thing to be part of a sorority!

I think a resume and picture (a nice potrait of yourself-i.e. a senior picture would be perfect) only needs to be sent along with a recommendation from an alumna. It depends on the sorority but I believe some of the sororities require the alum writing the rec to send a picture and a resume. If you have a number of sorority alumna who have agreed to write you a recommendation, they should of asked for a resume and/or picture.

Thanks, ya'll! That was really quick. Anyway, I'm finally getting all my resumes, transcripts, and pictures sent in today. Thank God!

Did Bama say what to do in their recruitment booklet? Because some of the big Southern universities now throw out any pictures they get--in response to complaints that they were pre-cutting based on appearance. Yeah, some might have been doing that but those pictures can be very valuable when a sister needs to recognize the PNM she's been assigned for the first day, or when everybody's trying to remember exactly which Ashley you are.

I assume you are going through Recruitment at Bama. I am very familiar with their recruitment process and I recommend that you send a picture and resume to all the sororities that you don’t have recommendations for. If don't have a recommendatioin for the house and the women see you resume and like, they'll try to find someone to write you a recommendation, also some of the houses it is hard to find recommendations for. Also if your grades are border line send official transcripts. Send them directly to the recomendation chairs. You can find those address on their website at www. bama.ua.edu/~npc. Whatever you do don't send them to the Panhellenic office, because they will throw them out.

I was on Panhellenic when I was at Bama, and now I'm serving as a Recruitment advisor.

Good luck during recruitment!

Don't worry about a cover letter.

Oh and do I need a cover letter for my resume? haha sorry if thats a silly question...I'm not used to this.

What a great topic.. I am a transfer student, but had the exact same questions as you did. I am trying to get new pictures taken, and have them printed in time.. So hopefully it will get done.. Should the resume be like a resume I would send to get an internship, or job?

I have been to three schools, should I send in transcripts for each school? I would have to obtain transcripts from each school, as I don't have any on hand.. So, I am unsure they would get them on time.

If you can get unofficial transcripts (online) then that should suffice. Your resume should include any activities, volunteer activities that you have been involved in. It should reflect your interests. Oh, and a nice head shot is all they need for a picture, it doesn’t have to be professional. If you guys have any more questions about rush at Bama I’m more than willing to answer them; I was also on the orientation team so if you have any questions about Bama in general, ask away.

When I went through rush freshman year (2001) we required to send in a picture with our application, that was however the last year that they were allowed to do that. My first time rushing girls I would have killed to have those pictures just b/c on the first day having 16 parties w/ 95 or so PNM's per party (!), it can get confusing during walkout. Having the girls pictures I'd know ahead of time who I should be looking for and I think it'd make things run more smoothly, BUT it's not my desicion to make so whatever...:(

Also, even with writing things down that I'd like to remember about a girl I really loved or something, I have a terrible memory! Pictures would also have helped with that...

Wow that just doesn't make sense to me. I could never imagine having to remember all those girls by name, I would have needed photos. Besides, if a chapter is really going to cut based on someone's looks well then they will still do it as soon as they see them in person. The type of people who make those snappy judgements will still do so, and the pnm probably wouldn't have been happy w/that person in their chapter anyhow.

I would stick to a very classy portrait, something that is favorable to you but not too busy...or did they say you can' send them...hum...anyhow, keep it simple, nothing too overdone.

Some info for Bama and probably other campuses as well.

- Panhellenic used to require each PNM to submit 15 copies of pix to be distributed to each sorority along with your application. They stopped doing this because they didn't want to deal with the paperwork and since registration is now online. Any pix sent to Panhellenic will now get trashed.

- Pix and transcripts are not required, but they are definately appreciated. Pix help the Chapters to identify the PNMs going through. Transcripts are useful especially if you attended a school that has a unique grading system (as opposed to a standard 4.0 or 5.0 scale), was a difficult college prep-type school, or you took alot of honor classes. It helps the Chapters to understand a PNM's GPA. Transcripts don't have to be "official", but it can't be typed list of grades that anyone could create. (I've actually seen this.)

- If you have someone sending a Rec in for you, they can submit these for you. If you don't you can send them yourself.

- When selecting which picture to send, please choose wisely. It should be tasteful and show the PNM in the best light. (no pun intended) A standard head shot style is usually the best. This can be your senior pic but it doesn't have to be. It doesn't even have to be by a professional photographer. A standard wallet size or 4x6 will suffice. Please no 8x10s. Also, don't send group photos and expect the Chapters to figure out which person you are. Some PNMs send in multiple pix which isn't necessary. One is plenty, two is fine, but more than that is pointless and they'll probably end up in the trash.

Where is the local Panhellenics??
 

The Panhellenic at each school should be addressing this! I have worked with a system that had each PNM send in enough pictures of herself with her application for each chapter on campus. Each group received a picture and a copy of the application----it makes it easier to sort out women and remember who you met and talked to.h Any recommendations received to Panhellenic were also sent to each group.

If they don't want to handle all those pictures, then they shouldn't allow any.
Each PNM should be doing the exact same thing to be on equal footing. If individual recommendations go to a specific group, t isn't done by the PMN but by alumnae and isn't the same as a PNM doing something extra.

If we received anything extra from a PNM it went in the trash. We considered it a mark against her for NOT FOLLOWING THE RULES!

Some tips from my panhellenic office.

I have received several copies of pictures for me to distribute to the chapters. We do require pictures, but not only is copying portraits illegal--many times it is not a good copy. Especially some that copy a color picture in black and white and on regular copy paper. YOU CAN"T SEE THE GIRL. What is the point? I would rather have a snapshot of a girl in her backyard than a professional photo that is a bad copy.

An example of a resume is here:
http://www.acadianasororities.com/resume.html

I don't see the point of an unofficial transcript if you are the one typing it. What is stopping anyone from making themselves an honor graduate if they barely graduated. An unofficial one from a school is the same as an official just without the seal.