Questions about GPA Requirements and PNMs

[AnchorAlumna]

Our little local alumnae panhellenic never used to ask for transcripts, and we also never used to ask for the parents' employers. Every sorority had somebody who was a high school teacher in one of the two high schools and could check for grades, and the city directory at the library would tell you where daddies worked.

Then some of the sororities started wanting transcripts, and city directories disappeared.

So, we started putting on our requested info sheets a line for mommy and daddy's employers and a line requesting a transcript.

And our PNMs have eagerly complied! It kinda amazes me what people will do when you ask.

AOPiAngel, I hear ya about the difficulty in getting PNMs to request recs and for alumnae from certain areas to even know what they are when asked. I once worked with a chapter at a Southern school whose students mostly came from the mid-Atlantic and Northern states. They boggled at the idea of PNMs needing to have a recommendation before being invited to pref, and their solution was just to sign one themselves. We worked with them and they began getting the idea when I left office.

Even at Alabama, there are some PNMs for whom we simply cannot find a rec. Sometimes you just have to make the best judgment you can and if you really like her, use one of those back-door ways of getting a rec. But it does make me a little uncomfortable to not have at least an idea of what we're getting into.