Indiana University

[indiana]

Hello! I will be attending Indiana University this fall. I was wondering if anyone is familiar with the recruitment there and if they would know when to start sending in recs?

Also, I have read here that it is a MUST HAVE RECS type of school...so far I think I'll be able to attain recs for 9 out of the 20 chapters, but it's been difficult to find people in the other 11. I'm from the Indianapolis area, and I have looked at the Indianapolis Alumnae Panhellenic website...but I do not know how to contact them...or if that's the correct thing to do?

If anyone could help, I'd appreciate it so much!!!

[IrishLake]

http://indyalumpanhel.org/officers.html

Start emailing, girl! And since they list the NPC phone number on their site, call them as well and ask for guidance. The Indy area is chock full of sorority women. Have you asked every single man and women you know if they know any sorority alumnae?

[indiana]

Wow, thank you for the quick reply

Now this may be a dumb question..but do I email the president or individual members of the sororities in which i need recs?

And I've been asking around and so has my mom, we've found that a lot of women we know are members of the same sorority!

[IrishLake]

Email the listed officers for the Indy Area Alumnae Panhellenic group. Tell them you got their email from that website. Do not email/contact individual sorority alumnae groups.

Don't be afraid to ask the women who have given you recs if they know any women in the groups you are missing recs from.

[IndianaSigKap]

I went to Indiana and I still have friends who live in the area and work with chapters there on campus. With regard recs, I know this is going to be unpopular and I am going to take some flack from other GCers (yeah, I know)...but it really depends on the chapter quite honestly. I know that about half of the chapters like recs, about half of them look at the recs but it doesn't really play a major role in the decision making process. One of my former students is in a popular chapter on campus, she had never heard of recs and I asked her if they were important in her chapter and she said no. Again, this is not all chapters. So if you can get a letter, great. If you don't get a rec for a particular chapter, don't stress out totally. If you have letters from a majority of the chapters, you are doing well. If you are in the Indy area, start networking. Ask your teachers, parents' friends, etc. I am fairly sure that in a city the size of Indy, you can find every NPC chapter represented.

Also, there are certain chapters that tend to recruit from the same geographic region or high school. For example, one chapter on campus has many women from the Carmel/Zionsville area while another has a large group from the Northern Chicago suburbs.

There are a handful of chapters that have more legacies going through recruitment than their quota, for example Theta was founded in Indiana and has numerous chapters in the state; there are often anywhere from 100-200 Theta legacies who go through recruitment. Each chapter takes a different quota because the quotas are based on how many open beds they will have in the chapter the following school year.

If you have any questions, you can ask me here or via PM. Also, don't listen to the gossip during the first semester, I can tell you that each chapter is full of smart, pretty, great women. Each chapter has something positive to offer young women. I cannot stress that enough.

Work on your grades, the higher the GPA the better. Get involved on campus if you can. Most majors have a club or professional organization you can join. Each dorm has student government opportunities. Good luck to you! I loved every minute at IU, hope you love it as much as I did!

[DubaiSis]

HOW DARE YOU INDIANASIGKAP! HA! I think your information is spot on. Having gone to Iowa (not nearly as competitive, but still Midwestern Big 10), I would say recs are seen the same way. I know of at least one chapter that requires recs, but if they want you, they find an alum who knows someone who knows someone to get it done. My chapter loved getting them so we could have a leg up in preparing to meet them, but not having them didn't hinder a girl's chances with us.

With so many sororities headquartered in Indy, I bet you CAN find a rec-writer for every chapter, but I wouldn't let it make you crazy. And think of it this way: it's a fantastic networking/conversation skills workout. If you make a job of finding all your recs, you are undoubtedly going to reach outside your comfort zone in talking to people you don't already know well and learn how to "make the ask" politely and succinctly. So they may or may not be mandatory, but the process could make you a better PNM when the time comes.

[Hoosierxgirl]

indiana - I was a Rho Gamma (recruitment counselor) last year at IU so PM me if you have questions! Good luck! Get those recs and get them in early!