Are recs obsolete?

[carnation]

Originally Posted by 33girl

Because when you have 3000 girls going through, there's NWIH you can remember them all.

Also, first parties at some schools are only 20-30 minutes and you go to 16-18 of those parties in 2 days. It's really hard for most girls to remember the sororities and most sororities to remember all the girls.

I hate it that many recruitment booklets tell the girls not to get recs, that the sororities will get them, because at most schools I've worked with--they won't! Not unless you're super super special! It's like the hidden secret is "but they really won't get them and if you're in the know, you know that."

[KSUViolet06]

I've heard recs compared to a college application. Submitting an application is required for the school to consider you, but obviously doesn't guarantee you'll be admitted.

QUESTION:

Why do some Panhellenics say on their sites that recs are the responsibility of the CHAPTER when that clearly isn't the case? I can think of at least 2 SEC school's sites who say that.

[texgal]

Originally Posted by carnation

But see, there are schools where it's so selective to get in--plus their recruitment is competitive--and there are no grade cuts. It's so hard to get into UGa now that there's no way there are any freshman grade cuts! That leaves the sororities with hundreds of girls they must cut in a short period of time and no easy way to choose who to drop. Georgia Tech has no freshman grade cuts either.

What do you mean, they have no grade cuts? As in, there is no minimum GPA set by Panhellenic to go through recruitment, or each individual chapter doesn't have a minimum grade that they will cut for? Because that seems very odd if individual chapters don't have minimums, even if they don't publicize them.

[TSteven]

Originally Posted by texgal

What do you mean, they have no grade cuts? As in, there is no minimum GPA set by Panhellenic to go through recruitment, or each individual chapter doesn't have a minimum grade that they will cut for? Because that seems very odd if individual chapters don't have minimums, even if they don't publicize them.

The chapters and university do have minimum GPA requirements. The issue is that the girls (PNMs) have GPAs that are equal to or above the chapter's GPA minimum requirement. Thus the chapter is not able to base cuts on grades since every PNM is at or above it.

[blueangel]

While I understand the idea behind recs, I do want to point out that they can put girls hailing from certain geographical locations at a supreme disadvantage.

Where I live, sororities and fraternities are just not a big deal. I literally had never met a single Greek until I moved south and arrived on campus at UF. Nobody in my family had ever belonged to a GLO, nor had any of my friends or their families.

I've since moved back to the north-east, and nobody here I know is Greek (other than those I've met in my alumnae chapter).

[kdonline]

Originally Posted by texgal

What do you mean, they have no grade cuts? As in, there is no minimum GPA set by Panhellenic to go through recruitment, or each individual chapter doesn't have a minimum grade that they will cut for? Because that seems very odd if individual chapters don't have minimums, even if they don't publicize them.

No grade cuts means that, in order for the girl to get accepted to the university in the first place (traditionally, let's think of Duke, Northwestern, etc), the student has a high SAT/ACT and a high GPA (over 3.0).

Many state schools (like UGA and UF) now have these higher standards for accepting freshmen. So if a freshman PNM is rushing, she HAS the academic requirements...and you can't cut her for "academic" like you can for a soph or junior who has a university GPA already.

[AlphaFrog]

Originally Posted by kdonline

No grade cuts means that, in order for the girl to get accepted to the university in the first place (traditionally, let's think of Duke, Northwestern, etc), the student has a high SAT/ACT and a high GPA (over 3.0).

Many state schools (like UGA and UF) now have these higher standards for accepting freshmen. So if a freshman PNM is rushing, she HAS the academic requirements...and you can't cut her for "academic" like you can for a soph or junior who has a university GPA already.

I'm surprised that since the bar is so high just for entrance, that some sororities (and I'm sure there are at least a few that do) don't make their GPA Req. even higher. Example: Prestigious U has an entrance requirement of 3.5 so XYZ sets their GPA Req. at 3.75, which seems ridiculously high for someone like me from an IL state school, but might not even cut enough girls for their first round of cuts.