Does a legacy need a letter of recommendation?

lake · #1 08-08-2006, 02:22 PM

I'm just curious about this and don't think I've ever seen this addressed before:

If a PNM is a legacy at a house where she's going through recruitment, is she exempt from needing a letter of recommendation for that house? Does she need recommendations ONLY for the other houses? Is being a legacy considered her "recommendation" of sorts?

Just wondering. Thanks!

tunatartare · #2 08-08-2006, 02:24 PM

I imagine it would depend on the school. If there are 80 XYZ legacies rushing, and XYZ can only take 45 girls or so, then I would assume that recs would be needed.

33girl · #3 08-08-2006, 02:31 PM

Yes, she needs a rec.

GeekyPenguin · #4 08-08-2006, 02:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lake

I'm just curious about this and don't think I've ever seen this addressed before:

If a PNM is a legacy at a house where she's going through recruitment, is she exempt from needing a letter of recommendation for that house? Does she need recommendations ONLY for the other houses? Is being a legacy considered her "recommendation" of sorts?

Just wondering. Thanks!

How would they know she's a legacy if she didn't have a rec? That's generally how chapters are notified.

KSUViolet06 · #5 08-08-2006, 02:43 PM

Generally, a rec is how a legacy is identified. So yes, she'd need one. I can tell you it's really annoying to be up half of the night trying to track down someone to verify a girl's legacy status because she mentioned that she's one but we have no rec for her.

_Lisa_ · #6 08-08-2006, 02:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GeekyPenguin

How would they know she's a legacy if she didn't have a rec? That's generally how chapters are notified.

A lot of schools put that question on the registration. When you register for recruitment they ask if you are a legacy of any Org, the relation & the name of the relative.

tunatartare · #7 08-08-2006, 02:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crzychx

A lot of schools put that question on the registration. When you register for recruitment they ask if you are a legacy of any Org, the relation & the name of the relative.

That's how we do it.

AlphaFrog · #8 08-08-2006, 02:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crzychx

A lot of schools put that question on the registration. When you register for recruitment they ask if you are a legacy of any Org, the relation & the name of the relative.

Yes, but I bet it's 100% easier on the sororities when the girl has a rec, because like JC said, who wants to go trying to verify that the girl is actually a legacy.

WCUgirl · #9 08-08-2006, 03:09 PM

ABSOLUTELY she needs a rec.

As an extreme example, there could be a situation where you have many more legacies going through recruitment than there are open spots. If the chapter needs a way to start cutting, they could easily cut the legacy who didn't have a rec over the one who did simply b/c they needed to get rid of an extra girl.

SmartBlondeGPhB · #10 08-08-2006, 03:14 PM

We use a legacy introduction letter (not sure what it's technically called) that I believe is different from a rec. I've only actually seen one in the Crescent.

I would imagine that conceivably a PNM could have a legacy intro and a rec from someone who knew her (but wasn't her mother). For example, the daughter of a Gamma Phi friend of mine will probably have many people willing to write her a rec....

AlphaFrog · #11 08-08-2006, 03:14 PM

I would think that the thought would also cross the mind of the actives: "If she's a legacy, why couldn't she even get her mother/grandmother/sister to write her a rec? Did they not want her to be an XYZ?". Especially at schools where recs are required.

OtterXO · #12 08-08-2006, 04:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ucfpnm

It's possible that she (and other PNMs who claim legacies that turn out to be nonexistent) didn't lie and was simply mistaken.

Example: I've always known that my grandmother was in a sorority, and that it was really important to her, but I never knew which one. She passed away about 15 years ago so I couldn't ask. When I was registering for recruitment (several months ago, before I really knew anything about the process), the form at UCF asks for legacies, and since my dad had no idea, I called my aunt and asked which sorority my grandmother was in. She said XYZ, so I went ahead and put that down. A week or so later, I was talking to her again and mentioned I'd put down XYZ as my grandmother's chapter. She said, "Oh, I'm not sure it was XYZ, it might have been ABC [another chapter with a somewhat similar name]." Of course this information put me in a light panic because I don't want XYZ thinking I'm a liar. I went through all of her old things that we had, hoping to find a badge or picture or something, and came up with nothing (I still hope to find her badge somewhere in case I go XYZ, that would be pretty cool to have my grandmother's badge). Eventually I had to go through the national headquarters (she did turn out to be an XYZ, thankfully

) and find out exactly what I needed to do to ensure my legacy status. Everything was fine, but if my aunt would have told me ABC in the first place, I might have had a problem.

But yeah, if the legacy's relative has passed away, it's possible to get confused. Maybe she was an Alpha Chi Omega legacy?

I see your point. I think in some situations that may be the case, but this girl also told other chapters that she was a legacy through her mom to their chapter. So I'm sure she wasn't THAT confused to think her mom was in 3 different sororities! LOL

lyrica9 · #13 08-08-2006, 04:30 PM

yes, she needs one. i was cut from a sorority i was a double legacy to, and found out later that some sisters were weirded out because i told them i was a legacy because my grandmother, but my grandmother hadn't sent anything in.

_Lisa_ · #14 08-08-2006, 05:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlphaFrog

I would think that the thought would also cross the mind of the actives: "If she's a legacy, why couldn't she even get her mother/grandmother/sister to write her a rec? Did they not want her to be an XYZ?". Especially at schools where recs are required.

At some schools recs are unheard of, but I think thats a damn good question.

jadis96 · #15 08-08-2006, 05:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crzychx

At some schools recs are unheard of, but I think thats a damn good question.

My college didn't use recs, but we did get letters about legacies from their families or sisters of their mom's. For example we had one letter from an alum telling us "Suzy" was a legacy through her mother, but her mother who had been in her chapter had passed away while "Suzy" was still in middle school.