Why are recs absolutely necessary at some schools, while not expected at others?

[DeltaBetaBaby]

Originally Posted by amIblue?

I'd love to hear from some actives regarding how important they think recs are.

I just want to point out that there are schools (like my alma mater, though I know the SEC has dwarfed us since my day) that have huge numbers and very few recs sent in advance. Certainly we managed to figure out how to get from 1200 women to around half that after the first round.

I'm not going to get into MS details, but it's not as though you have NO information on a woman before she walks in the door. Everyone fills out a rush application with high school activities, awards, honors, etc...the same stuff you'd probably find on a rec from an alumna who just met the PNM. You obviously have GPA's and class standing, as well.

(NB: I still maintain that, once chapters are 100+, you could do a random draw of names and everyone would be just fine.)

So what is the rec really doing?

1) Showing that the PNM did her homework in advance. Are women who haven't done this more likely to drop out? Will they be surprised by the financial or time commitments? I have no idea; it would be an interesting thing to find out, though I can think of almost no way to do so.

2) Making sure she doesn't have an arrest record or anything. This is a good thing, I think, but again, I don't think that getting a rec from an alumna of every group is necessarily necessary to accomplish this.

At the same time, I see some major downsides. For starters, it perpetuates a class eliteness that I personally find to be one of the most objectionable things about the Greek system. Obviously, that's inherent in recruitment anyway, but let's be honest that women from less-privileged backgrounds are going to have a very difficult time finding recs.

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by DeltaBetaBaby

I just want to point out that there are schools (like my alma mater, though I know the SEC has dwarfed us since my day) that have huge numbers and very few recs sent in advance. Certainly we managed to figure out how to get from 1200 women to around half that after the first round.

I'm not going to get into MS details, but it's not as though you have NO information on a woman before she walks in the door. Everyone fills out a rush application with high school activities, awards, honors, etc...the same stuff you'd probably find on a rec from an alumna who just met the PNM. You obviously have GPA's and class standing, as well.

(NB: I still maintain that, once chapters are 100+, you could do a random draw of names and everyone would be just fine.)

So what is the rec really doing?

1) Showing that the PNM did her homework in advance. Are women who haven't done this more likely to drop out? Will they be surprised by the financial or time commitments? I have no idea; it would be an interesting thing to find out, though I can think of almost no way to do so.

2) Making sure she doesn't have an arrest record or anything. This is a good thing, I think, but again, I don't think that getting a rec from an alumna of every group is necessarily necessary to accomplish this.

At the same time, I see some major downsides. For starters, it perpetuates a class eliteness that I personally find to be one of the most objectionable things about the Greek system. Obviously, that's inherent in recruitment anyway, but let's be honest that women from less-privileged backgrounds are going to have a very difficult time finding recs.

This. It's just tradition now and changing to a system without recs would be as likely as SEC chapters giving up their tailgating spots on gameday.

[amIblue?]

Originally Posted by AOII Angel

This. It's just tradition now and changing to a system without recs would be as likely as SEC chapters giving up their tailgating spots on gameday.

Well, now you're just talking crazy.

[Hartofsec]

Originally Posted by DeltaBetaBaby

So what is the rec really doing?

[. . .]

2) Making sure she doesn't have an arrest record or anything. This is a good thing, I think, but again, I don't think that getting a rec from an alumna of every group is necessarily necessary to accomplish this.

Well, not even that, necessarily. A few summers ago (about 6 weeks prior to recruitment at Bama) some girls from this area were arrested on a fairly minor charge, and taken to a nearby county jail. I’m not sure that this would have become common knowledge, except that their bedraggled and tearful mug shots were posted on the county jail’s website for 30 days, along with every other thug who might actually be a menace to society. I felt kinda bad for them (and their parents). I understand that these girls were otherwise regarded as strong PNMs.

Imagine how fast this flew via phone to every kid their high school. And those kids' moms, and their mom’s friends, and alums . . .

And if this nightmare could possibly be any more awkward – it was – one of the girls had an older sister who was rush chair at one of the Bama chapters.

I’m sure there was a lot of pearl-clutching all around, but amazingly, in the end, all three girls pledged really strong chapters (with recs) – two pledged where the sis was rush chair.

I don’t really know how alums in general would know of existing criminal records other than in a case like this. Aren’t some charges expunged for minors anyway?