[Munchkin03]

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.

On the same token, do you think that college and scholarship recommendations from teachers, headmasters, or coaches are "elitist"? Almost every organization--social and professional--I've joined after college has required some sort of sponsorship or recommendation from an existing member. You call it elitist, I call it the real world.