Quote:
Originally Posted by Nacre
My daughter was in this boat. She quit rush this year after her one preference party. She felt like it wasn't right for her.
She has a 3.5 GPA, good activities and was a competitive dancer on a national level. Her down side - she is from out-of-state and doesn't know a single person at Bama. We had a very hard time getting recs.
In April, she went to an LSU Panhellenic tea. She was told the group couldn't write her recs because she was going to an out-of-state school. So we asked friends, teachers and neighbors. (Hours of work!!!) I was told by everyone I asked that it is the Chapter's responsibility to secure recs for the PNMs. I was informed over and over that if a house likes a girl and they don't have a rec of file, during rush they will put the girl in a room to meet an alumna. The alumna will interview the girl and then write a rec. Impression is that this is the best way to get a rec. Most friends and neighbors felt like it was a waste of time to write her one.
I'm a Kappa and this spring's issue of The Key had an article about membership. The article stressed that it is the Kappa's responsibility to secure a reference of a girl. Foolish me, I figured Kappa's philosophy was probably the norm.
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FWIW, I can speak to what my home chapter does that is obvious to anyone who is an alum - I can't speak for what they do during recruitment (and, fwiw, this is at another SEC school). Prior to recruitment, all alums that they have email address for are sent a list of women going through recruitment so that if anyone knows anyone, they can submit a recommendation.
If one thinks about the sheer volume of women going through recruitment at these flagship state schools, plus the work that the collegiate women go through putting on recruitment.... the work that goes into securing recommendations has to go elsewhere. I think that many NPC groups have the same stance as what you say with Kappa above, but when push comes to shove - this is a much easier task for a collegiate chapter when there are 150 women or less going through recruitment compared to 1200+.
And with the way recruitment is structured, what is most important in my mind is that the PNMs are meeting current collegiate women, not alumnae. I can't imagine the scenario you suggested above being the case where PNMs are put in a room with alumnae to get the recommendation. But that's just me.
I personally have never had that experience with an alumnae panhellenic group - I seem to remember that the group I was affiliated with when I lived south of Atlanta wrote recs for lots of women who were going to lots of schools, not just those in state. GPhBLtColonel can speak to that better than I.
Hugs to you and your daughter.