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

[Titchou]

Originally Posted by WCsweet<3

To preface: I come from a campus where recs are not rare, but not common. Less than 10% of PNMs had a rec my senior year.

Let's pretend a girl who I know fairly well is going through recruitment at [insert favorite SEC school]. I may not have stories about her, but know her fairly well, well enough that I would recruit her heavily for my chapter. However the chapter at SEC University don't know me from any other alumnae. What does the bold part say about my rec?

This is the key - do you really know how to write a "proper SEC rec?" Without asking for private MS information, do you know what YOUR group considers a proper rec? I know how to write a lot of different kinds of recs:
one for a top girl coming out of a top HS, one for an average to above average girl who may not look all that great on paper but would really be an asset, one for the girl who is average or below (for whatever reasons) but who does look good on paper and, of course, the "no" rec no matter if she is Ms Dog Hollow. It's not just filling out the form and checking boxes. It's the added info...stellar academic and supportive, involved Greek family or very average student according to her HS counselor, always had concerns about her academics, will be taking remedial classes, and then the "I do not support this woman for membership in AAA. An adviser may contact me for details" which, at big SEC school, she probably will. At that point you tell about the arrest record, whatever and the adviser handles it. I would imagine that the recruitment team for each NPC group at big SEC school can tell a perfunctory rec from a well written one a mile away.

And while we're at it, I would venture most NPC groups began with the requirement that all new members be sponsored/recommended by another - like most organizations/clubs who restrict membership do. The members would consider a woman who was sort of nominated and then decide whether to ask her to perform certain tasks to see if she was someone who could fit into the membership. Did you know that many groups required their potential members to write an academic paper on a particular topic and then present it to the membership? And that the membership researched her family? (people didn't travel far for college back int hose days - particularly women).

You just can't go sign up for most private country clubs, dinner clubs, men's clubs, etc. Someone has to put your name forward. This is a holdover from that era. Some groups still strictly hold to it, some not so much.