As a former rush advisor and other various duties of rush detail, I can say personally that I think a rec letter is very appropriate. We view them as a commitment to the fraternity because a sister has written to let us know that her legacy or close friend is coming to our school. The only way for me to explain it is to say imagine this:
Jane Doe comes through recruitment and marks on the recruitment form that she is a legacy of XYZ (NPC has this on the recruitment info sheet - its not the individual sorority that does this). When we check our information, her sister Susie Doe hasn't sent a letter. That kind of makes us wonder....hmmm...wonder why Susie didn't send us a rec letter?
And maybe Jane didn't want her to, or maybe Susie wanted her to feel independent, whatever, it just kind of makes us wonder what the deal is. I know when I've had close friends going through rush that I've sent rec letters. One girl I did this for said that she was so glad that I talked to her about rush and that even though she was a legacy of another group, her aunt hadn't even mentioned it to her (and the aunt knew she was going). When the AXO chapter there got my rec letter and found out she was another soro's legacy, they called to ask me about why she didn't get a rec from her aunt.
Even though it will not guarantee him a bid, it shows that you are still interested in your fraternity as a whole.
|