Sophomore Recruitment at Texas A&M

[tamu19]

Hi ya'll! My first thread here! I am transferring from Blinn into A&M and will be going through recruitment in August! I have a couple of questions for those of you who are familiar with A&M recruitment!
First, I don't have any connections with actives in any of the houses. Will this hurt my chances as a sophomore? I have heard that as a non-freshman that it is easier to get a bid when you have friends in the houses! I am a legacy for one sorority, however I know that only takes you so far!
Also, my sister is in a sorority (at a different, private school and I know they work differently!) but she told me that sororities tend to have higher GPA cutoffs for sophomores. My GPA is good and I worked very hard my freshman year but it's not a 4.0. Should I be worried about this?
Last question I promise! I got accepted into A&M in the second week of June. I registered for recruitment that day and started rounding up letters of recommendation the day after. I read on another thread on here that it is late to still be getting letters! Is that another thing that could possibly hurt me? I have been going as fast I can getting everything together, but I'm afraid I'm late in the game! I didn't want to start asking alumna for letters before I had gotten admitted!
Sorry for the massive wall of text Ya'll can probably tell I'm very nervous/excited for this! I have been wanting to join a sorority since I was little so I just want everything to go well!

[FSUZeta]

In my experience, sororities have higher GPA expectations for incoming freshmen. In other words, HS girls gpas are typically higher than, and expected to be, than girls who have a college GPA. That being said, you still need a good GPA.

[TXDG]

1. If your Blinn GPA is over 3.5, you'll have the most options grade-wise. If you're under 3.0, your options will be very limited. In between 3-3.5, some house might consider you a grade risk. However, your GPA is your GPA. You worked hard and there's nothing you can do about it now so don't waste energy stressing over it.

2. Connections certainly help, but many PNMs go through rush each year without connections and still get bids. Contrary to what you may have heard, every house does not have every spot on the bid list chosen before recruitment begins!

3. Get those recs lined up ASAP! You definitely want them sent to the houses by mid-July (so about 2-3 weeks from now) so the recruitment teams will have time to learn about you prior to recruitment. Also, if your sister's sorority is at A&M, make sure she sends in a "legacy introduction form" to her chapter so they will know you are a legacy.