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

[Hartofsec]

Originally Posted by Titchou

I really find all this chatter about recs sort of odd. Many social organizations require recommendations for membership such as country clubs, mens clubs in NYC, some Mardi Gras Krewes, the Boston Club in NOLA, etc. It isn't a foreign concept. And I would venture to guess that many of our founders thought it was a good idea too - hence the requirement today. It was definitely a requirement of Anna, Eva and Mary for us.

I guess that is part of what I am questioning -- this appeal to antiquity.

Little, if anything, about formal recruitment now would be similar to joining a sorority 140 years ago. A personal recommendation likely meant something different then. Certainly the recommendation system in the history of elite clubs has been used as often to exclude people as it has to include others -- and are we really trying to emulate exclusive men's clubs? Think of how legacy status alone has changed over the years in clubs and in GLOs.

A recommendation based on knowing a PNM’s grandmother, for instance, puts us back to “she’s from a nice family.” It really isn’t a personal recommendation based on knowledge of the PNM.

RFM would not exist if no one questioned the status quo. Pre-RFM, the stronger recruiting chapters at Bama dominated, while the weaker chapters struggled – some were forced to close. It was difficult (if not impossible) for a colonizing chapter to be successful.

RFM helps put chapters on a more equal footing. I’m just wondering if a different perspective on our current rec system might do the same for PNMs (and reduce a lot of paper for the chapters too).

I realize that there must be some basis for retaining and releasing PNMs (and due to the numbers, it will not be additional time during rounds). Would a detailed resume submitted online serve this purpose? Instead of mountains of paper in the form of triplicate resumes on PNMs (arranged in a thousand different formats), every chapter would receive the information on every PNM organized in the same format (sort of like scholarship resumes are submitted to colleges – even med schools and other post-graduate professional programs use an online centralized app process). Some online recruitment registrations already ask for some of this info. A transcript could also be submitted for verification of grades, and a photo could be uploaded as well.

Alums who wish to write a personal letter for a special PNM they know could still do so. I feel like this type of letter might be more likely to actually reflect personal knowledge of the PNM (would be difficult to write otherwise), and that these would be far fewer in number. How these are treated, beyond drawing attention to the alum’s input, would be determined by the chapter.