Schools where you absolutely positively need recs

[ellebud]

In my view a rec is a letter of introduction that a sorority reads prior to recruitment. Some houses require someone to vouch for a new member. That is what my daughter received on bid night. Of course I don't know who had what and in any/every house. What I do know is that a good number of girls who I know went in to recruitment without any recs and they got bids. And this bespeaks some very fine points about USC recruitment: Houses are open to meeting pnms. The houses read the applications and know who they are meeting. And I mean this in a good way. Does it help to have a rec going in? Obviously. Will it paralyze you in the process if you don't? No, not if you are open minded/you click with someone in a house/if the house really wants you.

Yes, really try to get recs for SC. But ultimately, not having them going in, for most houses, is not the ultimate deal breaker.

[crescent&pearls]

Originally Posted by ellebud

Does it help to have a rec going in? Obviously. Will it paralyze you in the process if you don't? No, not if you are open minded/you click with someone in a house/if the house really wants you.

Yes, really try to get recs for SC. But ultimately, not having them going in, for most houses, is not the ultimate deal breaker.

I have to agree with ellebud on those points as applicable at most of the schools in California. The important thing is that women should not be deterred from participating in recruitment because they don't necessarily know NPC alumnae write personal letters of reference. You can try to contact your local area alumnae Panhellenic (if there is one) and they usually try to be helpful as much as they can. IMO a reference written by someone who does not personally know you is not going to contain information that can't be obtained from the recruitment application, so is that a huge help? Probably not.

What pnms can do is try to network to the best of their ability. What is really important is get your recruitment application/registration and any information your campus Panhellenic asks for i.e. transcripts or grade releases IN ON TIME.

[shirley1929]

Hi All...I dug around looking for this one and didn't find it. Apologies if it's been mentioned somewhere else.

A relative is going through rush at Alabama this fall. She's from out of state, and the state where she's from has a very organized alumni/panhellenic system. Typically, you would ask one XYZ person to write a XYZ rec, and then any other XYZ women you knew would write letters of support of that rec. That means you could have as many as 10 letters (or more!) of support for XYZ.

Alabama Panhellenic has (both on their website and at the sorority weekend) stressed that letters of support are absolutely NOT considered, and if you MUST do them, please do not send more than two. This is throwing a wrench in my relative's better sensibilities, since we're of the mindset that more is always better!

There's also the factor here that people will ask (and assume they'll be asked) to write letters. Does she politely tell them "no, we don't need your letter"? Seems wrong on so many levels...

Does anyone know about this or have any input on it? Thanks in advance!