Quote:
Originally Posted by LionTamer
Yikes! Being a true blue Yankee, I don't have any connections or reasons to follow the Southern rush threads, but this year, and friend who moved down South asked me to help her find recs for her daughter, who is rushing at Bama - she was able to get all the rest herself, and just needed help on those last two
As someone from a family where no one went to college before my generation, and as someone whose mom's friends hadn't gone to college, much less participated in Greek life, I am firmly opposed to the idea of recs. Rationalize away, but in the end, they are nothing but a way of keeping girls from families that didn't go to college OUT of the system. Yes, an enterprising girl from a non-college family can solicit teachers, etc, to help, but the deck is totally stacked in favor of girls with moms who were Greek know how to work the system (like my friend). I was lucky that I went to Penn State, and that most of the girls my sorority were first generation Greeks, so it wasn't an issue for me.
But when asked to help, I bit my tongue, and lined up my girlfriends to write those recs. Her daughter is going where she's going, recs are required, and me being pissy about them won't change the system. When in Rome, I guess.
But the concept is still elitist, and still sucks.
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I am a Yankee by birth (born in Newport, Rhode Island, with TONS of family scattered throughout Mass and my great uncle x 11 came over on the Mayflower!) but having lived in the south for almost two decades, well, I feel compelled to respond to your statement, LionTamer, that the concept of recs is elitest and sucks. I must respectfully disagree.
I am not going to rationalize anything to you but I will say that I think you are not being as open-minded as most Yankees are (or think they are).
Recs are actually NOTHING more than letters of introduction. You know, like letters of introduction that happen in business every day. Those are not eltiest. Or like what your friends daughter undoubtedly had to get from her high school teachers, counselors, principal, administrators etc to accompany college applications or scholarship appplications. Those are not elitest.
I don't know where you live or, more importantly, where your friend and her daughter live, but there are groups called Alumnae Panhellenic Associations that help with recs regardless of whether the girls seeking them are first-time college-goers or not. You do have to go to the NPC website to find where the groups are if you are not already familiar with them in your community.
That all said, even though recs do help immensely, if a there is a mutual connnection between a sorority and a rec-less PNM, a bid will likely materialize.
I hope your friends daughter is having a successful/satisfying recruitment at Bama - today is prefs!
