Arkansas Recruitment

[irishpipes]

Originally Posted by 33girl

Just to emphasize, getting into these colonies is going to be very, very, very, very, very, very, VERY competitive. The national volunteers are going to be putting the women who want to join under a microscope. The groups have a lot to lose if these colonies don't go REALLY well and they don't want to make any mistakes.

Sorry if that sounds overdramatic, but I don't want anyone to think for a millisecond that getting into the colonies will be "easier" than going through rush. It will be far harder.

Having participated in this aspect of the last colony at Arkansas, I can attest to the truth of this post. AOII chose to initially colonize with fewer than we were allowed in order to make sure we had the right mix. We were careful not to relax any standards just to get numbers. At a campus like Arkansas, maintaining - no, exceeding - standards is crucial. You simply have to get off on the right foot. PNMs should get recs for the colonizing groups as well as the existing chapters. Each PNM will want to have all her bases covered. Even if a PNM is SURE she will be pledging an existing group, she really has no idea how her recruitment will go, so she should be prepared with recs to Phi Mu and Alpha Chi Omega. Those groups will likely participate in round 1, and she may fall in love with one of them. Recs are extremely helpful to the colonizing sororities.

As for the recs v. letters of support debate, if I were the PNM, I wouldn't assume that anyone has written me a rec. Even if someone promises to write one, life happens. Sometimes they don't get mailed in, despite the best of intentions. If I thought I already had a rec for a group, and someone else asked if I wanted one, I would never decline, and would suggest that if she felt comfortable doing so, would she add a personal letter of support.