Auburn University Recruitment - Fall 2010

[AuburnDad]

Originally Posted by GPhiBLtColonel

AuDad - would be interested to hear the insight you mentioned above about having a rec or not....

Basically her perception was that for those groups for which she had obtained a rec letter, she was matched with a hostess who "miraculously" had something in common with her - maybe it was her sport, maybe it was the same state, etc. But with the groups which she had not obtained a rec letter for, she seemed to be paired with a hostess who had been picked at random....and as a result there was no common interest. Needless to say those parties didn't go as well. So the rec letters cut both ways - 1) the sororites won't know about you, and you're more likely to get lost in the shuffle and cut; and 2) since they're not as prepared for you, you might not feel a connection and won't like them quite as much and are more likely to cut them.

[AuburnDad]

One more thought on rec letters for Auburn.

I don't know what percentage of PNM's at Auburn obtain rec letters. I was told by the mom of the only AU active we know that the number was around 90%. That sounds kinda high to me. But even if it's only 70%, or even lower, there is going to be a huge competitive disadvantage to not having rec letters at AU.

We started working on ours around May and if I could do it over again I would've started earlier. They take longer to get than you think. Plus, once you find an alumna who will agree to write one, she may go on vacation for a month (this actually happened) or there could be something else that may come up to delay the letter going out (one of our rec letter writers had moved to another state and we sent it to an old address).

One of the reasons that I decided to do this thread was sort of as a thank you to all the GCer's who put all of this useful and important info about sorority recruitment on this site. For someone like me, an old fraternity guy, I really didn't have much of clue about sorority recruitment other than that I knew it was pretty big deal to the girls. Most of what I now know has come from GC.

[GPhiBLtColonel]

Originally Posted by AuburnDad

Basically her perception was that for those groups for which she had obtained a rec letter, she was matched with a hostess who "miraculously" had something in common with her - maybe it was her sport, maybe it was the same state, etc. But with the groups which she had not obtained a rec letter for, she seemed to be paired with a hostess who had been picked at random....and as a result there was no common interest. Needless to say those parties didn't go as well. So the rec letters cut both ways - 1) the sororites won't know about you, and you're more likely to get lost in the shuffle and cut; and 2) since they're not as prepared for you, you might not feel a connection and won't like them quite as much and are more likely to cut them.

...to the girls who attend or are not sure about attending our alum panhel's annual sorority info sessions! They can be helped so much by getting recs. AuburnDad, can I get your permission to use your quote on our power point slides for our May 2011 session?

[OleMissGlitter]

My rec girl at AU has a great party schedule today! She is very excited!

[AuburnDad]

Originally Posted by GPhiBLtColonel

...to the girls who attend or are not sure about attending our alum panhel's annual sorority info sessions! They can be helped so much by getting recs. AuburnDad, can I get your permission to use your quote on our power point slides for our May 2011 session?

Absolutely.

[GPhiBLtColonel]

Originally Posted by AuburnDad

Absolutely.

Thank you!

[AuburnDad]

Originally Posted by GPhiBLtColonel

They can be helped so much by getting recs.

BTW she had a rec letter for every one of the remaining seven.

[GPhiBLtColonel]

Originally Posted by AuburnDad

BTW she had a rec letter for every one of the remaining seven.

...that while I think recs are very important, there isn't necessarily a correlation between getting an invite back to a house and having a rec. In fact, I have been personally contacted at the 12th hour to do last-minute recs on girls chapters were dying to bid...plus I know for a fact that the chapter members can usually run upstairs (or whereever) to get an advisor to sign off on a rec for a girl they want who does not have one. Bottom line - if a chapter wants someone, they will get a rec for her. And just because a girl goes through without a rec doesn't signal the end of the world!