Schools where you absolutely positively need recs

[irishpipes]

Originally Posted by debann127

So I just went out there looking for recs and got 3 of them which I dont know if those are my top pics as Im trying to keep an open mind about all 16 of the houses at FSU. How does the recommendation help me? Does it guarantee a bid or is it just something that is used to tell a little more about me and possibly get me a bit more noticed.

How can you have top picks yet? Recruitment hasn't even started.

No, a rec in no way guarantees anything. Not having a rec can practically guarantee an automatic cut at some chapters. That is all you are protecting yourself from, and you are giving the chapters more information about you to use when making membership selection decisions. If you only have recs for 3 chapters, you really need to be doing everything you can to get 13 more, and quickly.

[HQWest]

Originally Posted by debann127

So I just went out there looking for recs and got 3 of them which I dont know if those are my top pics as Im trying to keep an open mind about all 16 of the houses at FSU. How does the recommendation help me? Does it guarantee a bid or is it just something that is used to tell a little more about me and possibly get me a bit more noticed.

Think about recruitment like a job interview. At a school where not many people have recs - a rec can be like a letter of introduction to someone you don't know or someone sending you to talk to someone about an unadvertised job opening that might be a good fit for you. It can help your resume get into the "must look at" pile.

At a school where everyone has recs - it can be kind of like a background check - is your resume really as good as you say? Or it can be like a really good letter of reference - she's awesome you should take her! Again, it can help your resume get into the "must look at" pile. (unless you don't make grades....)

In either case, member selection is up to the chapter, so while a really good reference can help, there very likely wouldn't be any decisions made on just that.

[ChioLu]

Originally Posted by HQWest

Think about recruitment like a job interview. At a school where not many people have recs - a rec can be like a letter of introduction to someone you don't know or someone sending you to talk to someone about an unadvertised job opening that might be a good fit for you. It can help your resume get into the "must look at" pile.

At a school where everyone has recs - it can be kind of like a background check - is your resume really as good as you say? Or it can be like a really good letter of reference - she's awesome you should take her! Again, it can help your resume get into the "must look at" pile. (unless you don't make grades....)

In either case, member selection is up to the chapter, so while a really good reference can help, there very likely wouldn't be any decisions made on just that.

Great analogy HQWest. If you want a job at a certain firm and a current or past employee gives you a referral, it can increase your chances of being hired. Granted, that doesn't guarantee you'll get the job, but it's better than sending your resume, blindly, to that company. Would you rather have an employee walk your resume to the hiring manager or you emailing your resume through an internet job website?

Since this thread is now 20 pages about recs/referral letters, let me ask one (crazy) question:
Does anyone know of ANY college, university or GLO where it would be a DISADVANTAGE to HAVE a rec?
(I'd be really fascinated if there is & why.)

If there is NO school or group that is adverse to recommendations, the answer is simple:
GET RECS, get recs, get recs, get recs.

[AnchorAlumna]

Originally Posted by ChioLu

Since this thread is now 20 pages about recs/referral letters, let me ask one (crazy) question:
Does anyone know of ANY college, university or GLO where it would be a DISADVANTAGE to HAVE a rec?
(I'd be really fascinated if there is & why.) If there is NO school or group that is adverse to recommendations, the answer is simple:
GET RECS, get recs, get recs, get recs.

Occasionally I hear of specific chapters that don't like to get recs or ignore them. Usually it's when they feel the alumnae are telling them what to do. But sometimes it's an alumna whose favorite PNM wasn't pledged.

[FSUZeta]

Originally Posted by debann127

So I just went out there looking for recs and got 3 of them which I dont know if those are my top pics as Im trying to keep an open mind about all 16 of the houses at FSU. How does the recommendation help me? Does it guarantee a bid or is it just something that is used to tell a little more about me and possibly get me a bit more noticed.

Good grief, how did I miss this? debann, just like Irishpipes and HQWest told you, you need recs to EVERY sorority at FSU-not just your top three. There is no wiggle room. Get cracking!

Going in with top choices already and recs. only for those three sororities is not good. PNMs are not in the drivers seat-the sororities are.

[carnation]

Originally Posted by debann127

Does it guarantee a bid or is it just something that is used to tell a little more about me and possibly get me a bit more noticed.

PNMs, repeat after me: nothing ever, ever guarantees a bid.

[mizmama]

I have a question about recommendations, and I have searched this forum but cannot find similar discussions. My daughter will be participating in recruitment at a large school with a very active greek life. When we attended orientation earlier this summer, the greek life rep responded to a specific question by saying that recs "aren't needed" and even went so far as to give the impression securing them is a waste of time. Fast forward to a couple of weeks before rush and I learn on this forum that recs are "absolutely necessary" at her school.

Fortunately she was able to secure a few in the short time we had prior to the rec letter deadline, but had we gotten accurate information at orientation, she could have gotten recs to all the chapters. Why would the greek life representative give incorrect information?

[28StGreek]

Originally Posted by mizmama

Why would the greek life representative give incorrect information?

Recs are not required to participate in recruitment.

Beyond that Campus Panhellenic can not make statements regarding the membership selections of individual GLOs. Membership selection is private.

In a school where there are MANY PNMs that it becomes a de facto process that Recs are required as a simple means of cutting PNMs. Even if recs are not necessarily de jure.

Basically if you have to sort out through a lot of PNMs cutting those without recs essentially makes life easier.

An analogy may be resumes in a highly competitive job application process with typos are thrown out even if the applicant may have been the best person for the job.

---

I should have read above, HQWest pretty much answered your questions in the preceding post.

[Greek_or_Geek?]

Originally Posted by mizmama

I have a question about recommendations, and I have searched this forum but cannot find similar discussions. My daughter will be participating in recruitment at a large school with a very active greek life. When we attended orientation earlier this summer, the greek life rep responded to a specific question by saying that recs "aren't needed" and even went so far as to give the impression securing them is a waste of time. Fast forward to a couple of weeks before rush and I learn on this forum that recs are "absolutely necessary" at her school.

Fortunately she was able to secure a few in the short time we had prior to the rec letter deadline, but had we gotten accurate information at orientation, she could have gotten recs to all the chapters. Why would the greek life representative give incorrect information?

Because the offices of Greek life at some schools are much too focused on making students and their parents feel warm and fluffy and wanted than on helping the students have successful recruitments.

[PNM128]

Quick Question:

I contacted my local alumnae group back in early June (I went to their meeting and gave them copies of my resume and picture for each of the sororities that I have on campus). However, I have only been contacted by a couple of ladies that have received my information from the organization. Is it safe to say that I also have recommendations from other ladies that just simply had all the information they needed and didn't need to contact me or should I be worried? I'm assuming there's no way to check and see if someone has actually submitted a recommendation for you is there?

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by mizmama

I have a question about recommendations, and I have searched this forum but cannot find similar discussions. My daughter will be participating in recruitment at a large school with a very active greek life. When we attended orientation earlier this summer, the greek life rep responded to a specific question by saying that recs "aren't needed" and even went so far as to give the impression securing them is a waste of time. Fast forward to a couple of weeks before rush and I learn on this forum that recs are "absolutely necessary" at her school.

Fortunately she was able to secure a few in the short time we had prior to the rec letter deadline, but had we gotten accurate information at orientation, she could have gotten recs to all the chapters. Why would the greek life representative give incorrect information?

She may have just been ignorant.

[FSUZeta]

If the college you are attending says that it is the responsibility of the sororities to secure a recommendation for you, go check this thread. If your college is listed, get to work.

Another clue that you need recommendations is when the individual sorority chapter websites at your college list an address where recommendations should be sent. You can bet that if the sororities provide an address for recommendations, then you need them.

[DeltaBetaBaby]

Originally Posted by FSUZeta

If the college you are attending says that it is the responsibility of the sororities to secure a recommendation for you, go check this thread. If your college is listed, get to work.

Another clue that you need recommendations is when the individual sorority chapter websites at your college list an address where recommendations should be sent. You can bet that if the sororities provide an address for recommendations, then you need them.

But as we saw on another thread, the inverse is NOT true. If the sororities do not provide an address, it does not necessarily mean you don't need recs.

[FSUZeta]

Originally Posted by DeltaBetaBaby

But as we saw on another thread, the inverse is NOT true. If the sororities do not provide an address, it does not necessarily mean you don't need recs.

Too true!!

[MaryPoppins]

We should hang out a shingle and charge for all this advice. People don't value (acknowledge) things they receive for free,