The fallacy of Sorority Recs?

[DGMarie]

Originally posted by valkyrie
Question: it's the night of day 1, and the sorority must have a rec to invite Suzie back for day 2, so they're going to get one. Let's say that Suzie doesn't know any members aside from the ones she met at day 1. Who writes a rec for Suzie?

Take a look at the link and the subsequent links I posted above regarding how it works for DG (and probably most other GLOs). Behind the scenes of rush is an entire, coordinated alumnae machine. There are people designated in every alumn chapter everwhere as sponsorship chairs. There are citywide sponsorship coordinators, too. They are aware of the last minute nature of this.

If Suzie knows no one other than those she met on day one, the member she met in conjunction with the alum advisor meet, and work with the alumnae machine to get her a rec. Given that a rec could be written in a matter of minutes based on the conversations they had with her that day and the information she turned in on her recruitment form, this is not that hard to do. Worst case scenario they met Suzie at the last party of the day and had a few hours to get one written.

[33girl]

Everyone who is thinking "I'm so glad I went to a school where no one knew what recs were, let alone used them," throw your hands in the air.

[DGMarie]

Originally posted by 33girl
Everyone who is thinking "I'm so glad I went to a school where no one knew what recs were, let alone used them," throw your hands in the air.

all this rigamarole we've discussed is for those situations where you need a rec to get past X party. To become a member of DG, it is in our constitution that you MUST have a sponsor. A rec and a letter of sponsorship are the SAME thing.

Do other orgs not have a similar national policy? Curious.

[AUDeltaGam]

Here's proof that if a sorority wants you, they WILL get a rec for you.

I joined the colonization of the Delta Gamma chapter at Auburn. I went in with no recommendations at all, even though I know they are important. I didn't know any DGs at the time, so I couldn't ask for one.

I know some girls did come in with recs. And you know what? The colonization team went and found recs for EVERY SINGLE GIRL going through the colony rush. And this was almost 200 girls. My recommendation was done by the colonization team.

I know many people think that southern schools are just out to release girls without recs, but it's not true. If ABC wants a girl, they WILL get a recommendation for her. And I know of some sororities that get recommendations for EVERY girl that will be going through recruitment beforehand. And that can be over 1200 girls!

[33girl]

Originally posted by DGMarie
Do other orgs not have a similar national policy?

Some do, but all NPCs? Absolutely not.

[valkyrie]

Here is the question I would really like answered:

What is the value of a rec written by someone who has never met Suzie?!

It sounds to me like it's a pointless formality. A rec written by an alumna who has never met Suzie and who is writing it based on what she is told by the collegiate members who met her during rush is meaningless. IMHO, the point of a rec is for an alumna who knows Suzie well to have the chance to tell the collegiate members about her. I guess if your organization requires it, you have to get it, but can we just call it what it is -- a formality, and stop pretending that there is any value to it (in this situation) whatsoever?

[DGMarie]

Valkyrie:

This topic of recs obviously has you really upset and I'm sorry if I have contributed to this. Perhaps we should just all drop this and move on to something else.

Marie

[valkyrie]

Originally posted by DGMarie
Valkyrie:

This topic of recs obviously has you really upset and I'm sorry if I have contributed to this. Perhaps we should just all drop this and move on to something else.

Marie

What? I'm not upset at all. Can you answer my question? If not, maybe someone else can.

ETA: I looked at the link you provided, but it didn't answer the question. If someone who does not know Suzie is filling out a Delta Gamma sponsorship form, at best, she would be able to fill out the name and address, high school grades, check off the "I do not know potential member" and "I hereby endorse this potential member." She wouldn't be able to describe any qualifications with respect to Delta Gamma's five point consideration.

[FSUZeta]

written by someone who doesn't personally know the pnm can be quite high. an alumna of abc sorority may personally know a pnm who will be participating in formal recruitment. the college the pnm is attending has both abc and def(among others) sororities. abc alumna's best friend is an alumna of def sorority, and she passed the appropriate information about the pnm to the def alumna. because def alumna trusts the opinion of her friend, the alumna of abc, she feels comfortable writing a rec. ,based on the information she receives from abc alumna. of course the best thing would be to meet the pnm in person, but why deprive her of a rec. if this cannot be arranged?

[valkyrie]

Thanks, FSUZeta, that makes sense. But what if the PNM doesn't know ANY sorority alumnae? Then don't we end up with a collegiate member calling an alumna and saying, "We met this awesome girl at rush and need a rec. Can you fill out the form? Here's her information..." That's the part I don't get, but maybe I'm misunderstanding -- does that not ever happen?

[carnation]

As we said, it does happen. At a big Southern school, it's unlikely that that will happen during rush because if a PNM sounds super on paper but has no rec, a sorority will have likely contacted alums before rush started.

As I said, I have seen it happen *during* rush but it's infrequent--that time I mentioned at Mississippi State and once before when the Orange Bowl Queen suddenly decided to rush are the only times I can remember.

Once more:if a sorority wants a girl badly, they will find her a rec--whatever it takes. No girl ever lost out on a bid solely because of not having a rec. If she didn't get a bid, the group didn't really want her that much.

[AUDeltaGam]

Originally posted by carnation
Once more:if a sorority wants a girl badly, they will find her a rec--whatever it takes. No girl ever lost out on a bid solely because of not having a rec. If she didn't get a bid, the group didn't really want her that much.

AMEN!

[GeekyPenguin]

Originally posted by 33girl
Everyone who is thinking "I'm so glad I went to a school where no one knew what recs were, let alone used them," throw your hands in the air.

There are lots and lots and lots of sororities that do not require recs even at Southern State U or College of The Saint of Virtues.

[DGMarie]

That much has never been in question as far as I've read. The discussion has been on when they are required.

[ISUKappa]

originally posted by sugar and spice
Unless you know the alum doing the recommending very well, you don't have a clue whether or not you can trust what she says.

You put your trust in them as a sister. Vice versa when an alumnae writes a Rec for a girl that the chapter wants her to. Sure there may be vindictive people and extinuating circumstances out there, but that's the chance you take. You take a lot of chances during Recruitment. Will this girl be a good sister? Will she be able to make grades? Will she even pick us?

What works at one school may and probably won't work at another. What works at one very large, very liberal Midwestern school may not work at a large, conservative Southern school. If a chapter wants a PNM bad enough, they will find a way to get her. That can include finding extinuating circumstances for a low GPA, a PNM having to miss a day of recruitment, not having a rec, whatever. . .