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

[ASTalumna06]

Originally Posted by gee_ess

And those of you from non competitive recruitments who keep telling us you didn't know what a rec was - we get it. But do not turn your nose up at the process simply because you didn't experience it. Neither the "SEC" nor the others are worse for it. It simply IS part of recruitment in this region, and the chapters find a way to make it work for them.

Who exactly is turning their nose up at the process? As far as I can tell, we're all asking questions and trying to understand why they're necessary and what they do to assist in the recruitment process.

And those that have provided their opinion that they should be eliminated seem to have had some experience with them.

[adpiucf]

Originally Posted by ASTalumna06

Who exactly is turning their nose up at the process? As far as I can tell, we're all asking questions and trying to understand why they're necessary and what they do to assist in the recruitment process.

And those that have provided their opinion that they should be eliminated seem to have had some experience with them.

Plenty of people have posted on GC in other threads, mostly PNMs, "I can't find recs and therefore I won't," or "They aren't common at my school so I won't bother." That's fine. I take issue with sorority members stating that their chapter wouldn't know what to do with a rec if they got one, contending they have no value, and theorizing that a rec could hurt a PNM at such a school where they are not common.

You know what would help? If each sorority providing training materials to all alumnae about recommendations, which includes a discussion on their purpose, how to write a good one, and how the recommendation is considered in membership selection. I think that having a "Recommendation Writing Workshop" as an Alumnae Association workshop would be a tremendous help to alumnae and the chapters who receive recommendations.

It would also help for the collegians to understand the value their sorority places on recs as it pertains to membership selection. I personally did not understand the value of a rec to my sorority until I was a recent graduate and assisted the recruitment information manager behind the scenes. When I was in college, recs were not the norm yet (that has changed a lot at UCF) and it was a big deal when someone with a rec came through! But none of us understood the value; just that a revered alumna had recommended the young lady and that we should take that seriously before we cut her out of respect to the alumna. Then again, we also had a sorority director who acted as a pseudo adviser at our recruitment and who would be very very firm with us about our legacies and rec girls. Not all schools/chapters are like that.

During college, you learn HOW to rush someone and the basics of member selection. You don't necessarily learn how all those moving parts-- the application, the legacy status, the recs, the interviews, the grades, the release figures-- all come together to determine who stays and who gets cut. Or if you do, it goes over your head or we might not be having this conversation. That sort of education would be helpful to collegians because they would take that knowledge with them as alumnae who end up writing recs.

I recall one chapter of my sorority who threw recs out when they received them because they didn't know what to do with them until they got a recruitment adviser who trained them. I was flabbergasted at this because the officers receive training at Districts and have sorority handbooks to guide them in doing their job, but human error or willful ignorance is as human error/wilful ignorance does. In the case of that chapter, the rec didn't help or hurt. The chapter still took the girls they wanted.