Does a legacy need a letter of recommendation?

lake · #1 08-08-2006, 02:22 PM

I'm just curious about this and don't think I've ever seen this addressed before:

If a PNM is a legacy at a house where she's going through recruitment, is she exempt from needing a letter of recommendation for that house? Does she need recommendations ONLY for the other houses? Is being a legacy considered her "recommendation" of sorts?

Just wondering. Thanks!

tunatartare · #2 08-08-2006, 02:24 PM

I imagine it would depend on the school. If there are 80 XYZ legacies rushing, and XYZ can only take 45 girls or so, then I would assume that recs would be needed.

33girl · #3 08-08-2006, 02:31 PM

Yes, she needs a rec.

GeekyPenguin · #4 08-08-2006, 02:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lake

I'm just curious about this and don't think I've ever seen this addressed before:

If a PNM is a legacy at a house where she's going through recruitment, is she exempt from needing a letter of recommendation for that house? Does she need recommendations ONLY for the other houses? Is being a legacy considered her "recommendation" of sorts?

Just wondering. Thanks!

How would they know she's a legacy if she didn't have a rec? That's generally how chapters are notified.

KSUViolet06 · #5 08-08-2006, 02:43 PM

Generally, a rec is how a legacy is identified. So yes, she'd need one. I can tell you it's really annoying to be up half of the night trying to track down someone to verify a girl's legacy status because she mentioned that she's one but we have no rec for her.

_Lisa_ · #6 08-08-2006, 02:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GeekyPenguin

How would they know she's a legacy if she didn't have a rec? That's generally how chapters are notified.

A lot of schools put that question on the registration. When you register for recruitment they ask if you are a legacy of any Org, the relation & the name of the relative.

tunatartare · #7 08-08-2006, 02:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crzychx

A lot of schools put that question on the registration. When you register for recruitment they ask if you are a legacy of any Org, the relation & the name of the relative.

That's how we do it.

AlphaFrog · #8 08-08-2006, 02:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crzychx

A lot of schools put that question on the registration. When you register for recruitment they ask if you are a legacy of any Org, the relation & the name of the relative.

Yes, but I bet it's 100% easier on the sororities when the girl has a rec, because like JC said, who wants to go trying to verify that the girl is actually a legacy.

WCUgirl · #9 08-08-2006, 03:09 PM

ABSOLUTELY she needs a rec.

As an extreme example, there could be a situation where you have many more legacies going through recruitment than there are open spots. If the chapter needs a way to start cutting, they could easily cut the legacy who didn't have a rec over the one who did simply b/c they needed to get rid of an extra girl.

SmartBlondeGPhB · #10 08-08-2006, 03:14 PM

We use a legacy introduction letter (not sure what it's technically called) that I believe is different from a rec. I've only actually seen one in the Crescent.

I would imagine that conceivably a PNM could have a legacy intro and a rec from someone who knew her (but wasn't her mother). For example, the daughter of a Gamma Phi friend of mine will probably have many people willing to write her a rec....

AlphaFrog · #11 08-08-2006, 03:14 PM

I would think that the thought would also cross the mind of the actives: "If she's a legacy, why couldn't she even get her mother/grandmother/sister to write her a rec? Did they not want her to be an XYZ?". Especially at schools where recs are required.

OtterXO · #12 08-08-2006, 04:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ucfpnm

It's possible that she (and other PNMs who claim legacies that turn out to be nonexistent) didn't lie and was simply mistaken.

Example: I've always known that my grandmother was in a sorority, and that it was really important to her, but I never knew which one. She passed away about 15 years ago so I couldn't ask. When I was registering for recruitment (several months ago, before I really knew anything about the process), the form at UCF asks for legacies, and since my dad had no idea, I called my aunt and asked which sorority my grandmother was in. She said XYZ, so I went ahead and put that down. A week or so later, I was talking to her again and mentioned I'd put down XYZ as my grandmother's chapter. She said, "Oh, I'm not sure it was XYZ, it might have been ABC [another chapter with a somewhat similar name]." Of course this information put me in a light panic because I don't want XYZ thinking I'm a liar. I went through all of her old things that we had, hoping to find a badge or picture or something, and came up with nothing (I still hope to find her badge somewhere in case I go XYZ, that would be pretty cool to have my grandmother's badge). Eventually I had to go through the national headquarters (she did turn out to be an XYZ, thankfully

) and find out exactly what I needed to do to ensure my legacy status. Everything was fine, but if my aunt would have told me ABC in the first place, I might have had a problem.

But yeah, if the legacy's relative has passed away, it's possible to get confused. Maybe she was an Alpha Chi Omega legacy?

I see your point. I think in some situations that may be the case, but this girl also told other chapters that she was a legacy through her mom to their chapter. So I'm sure she wasn't THAT confused to think her mom was in 3 different sororities! LOL

lyrica9 · #13 08-08-2006, 04:30 PM

yes, she needs one. i was cut from a sorority i was a double legacy to, and found out later that some sisters were weirded out because i told them i was a legacy because my grandmother, but my grandmother hadn't sent anything in.

xibair · #14 06-28-2015, 01:40 PM

Carnation thank you so much for bumping this thread.
This has been bothering me for me weeks and unsure what to do.

Question to all GCers, should I go ahead and fill out an Alpha Xi Delta recommendation for niece even though she may or may not follow through with sorority rush?

Here is my long winded story. I will not state the school since many of you can figure it out so quickly.

A year ago my niece was accepted to an instate school and I always believed sorority experience would suite her since she was smart, beautiful, but an introvert. She reminded me of myself as an introvert and I grew into my shell because of my sorority experience and holding an executive officer position. I believe this would be a beneficial experience for her. So, I gave her the all the information I read on GC and she showed no interest. I was kind of okay with it but I must admit I was disappointed. On a biased note I was hoping she would participate in rush because there is an Alpha Xi chapter at her university. I never brought it up again unless she asked.

Approximately three weeks ago she came over to my house and informed me she is going to rush this fall and needed help. I fell on the floor and was beyond excited. I asked her what changed her mind and it was because she had some close friends who are Delta Gamma’s . She asked me about how you deal with rejection. So we spent hours of research and I never thought about asking how her GPA was.
OH MY… It’s awful. The reason for the poor grades is because of my BIL. I’m not sure if you read my past posts but he has been in numerous failed rehabs for alcohol and he continues to deteriorate.Both my niece and nephew needs to go to counseling but that is a whole different issue.

So I was blunt. She needs to improve her grades and concentrate on school. I informed her she probably would be dropped by most if not all because of her poor grades. I broke her heart and now she is not sure if she wants to participate in formal rush .

I still feel awful and not sure what to do.

DaffyKD · #15 06-28-2015, 01:47 PM

I sent in a legacy form and my best friend (my daughter's godmother) sent in a recommendation form when my daughter started at a school with a KD chapter. She had told me she had no plans to go through recruitment, but I wanted everything in place in case she changed her mind when she found out friends would be going through. I figured it would only help to have it on file and could not hurt.

When I was at convention the following summer I met several young ladies from her school. I mentioned my daughter attending that school and one of the young ladies asked if I had sent in a rec form for her. When I told her, "yes," she informed me they had no idea what to do with the form as they had never seen one.

Daughter never went through recruitment. She did get involved on campus.

DaffyKD