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I do like the idea of recs coming from someone who really does know the PNM, and agree that they should carry some weight...just don't know how much they really do in these mega-massive recruitments. A big crop of PNMs from my community attend UGA, Bama, Ole Miss and Auburn, making them the schools I send the most recs to. There are also a lot of NPC alumnae in my area and we network to help these PNMs get recs. Every year, we send glowing -- and I mean, they radiate with glow -- recs in on girls we know. And every year we see some get dropped by our sororities. We see legacies not make it to pref, and some have legacy connections that hold key positions in alumnae organizations. The SEC can be one rough ride.
I also get rec requests from PNMs I don't know personally. This happens both locally as well as through an online Panhellenic community I and some others are involved with. Because of how our networks are structured, we do have the opportunity to communicate with PNMs, so that helps. Most of us also operate on the "vouched for" system. If someone I know and trust vouches for a PNM she knows, then I'm comfortable giving a rec. Many alumnae I know who do recs are also okay with this. Even with all this vouching, you're still talking about recs from alumnae who don't know the PNM personally, didn't watch her grow up, etc.
Given the size of these SEC recruitments, and that PNMs are advised to get 2-3 recs per chapter, I think there are a lot being sent in by alums who don't know them personally. Yet, some of the PNMs I didn't know personally had smoother recruitments than those I did know. At the end of the day, it comes down to the connection a PNM makes with the sorority and if they can see her as a sister....not a rec from an alum 30 years out of school.
I do think recs are used to learn more about PNMs, but tend to think they are referenced for that later in the process -- as the sorority's interest in a PNM grows. Initially, though, I think they are used to manage the numbers. Good grief, if only half the PNMs in these big recruitments get the suggested number of recs, you're talking an avalanche piling up. A lot of recs arrive in the summer. How is it even possible for sororities to read through all those recs and learn about all those PNMs prior to an early or mid August recruitment?
I think they are initially checked off, then possibly referenced later if the sorority is interested in the PNM.
I honestly don't seeing them being phased out in the SEC. Given the dynamics I described on page one of this thread, I think they (or the lack of them) are part of the early weeding out.
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