Recs for Western Carolina?

[fbn]

Hello all... My daughter is going to go through recruitment at WCU. When she contacted the Greek Life Office she was told letters/recs were not required and not really important at Western. We do not know any alum (that I am aware of) for any of the 5 sororities on campus. We do know a couple of college actives for a few. Anyone here have any information on recruitment at Western? We have read a lot of information on this site (THANK YOU!) but in reading and reading, haven't seen particulars for Western. She wants to understand how recruitment works there etc. The Greek Office told her there were not "specific" numbers or something to the effect. She was asking if there were quotas or limits for recruitment and bids or something along those lines.

[Titchou]

Not sure where to start. First of all, schools do not require recs....the individual groups make that determination. I know very little about this campus and hope someone will chime in who does. That being said, recs won't hurt. Not sure how much networking you have done but the appropriate way to locate alums is to make a list of every woman you know who may have attended college. Keep in mind that all her teachers did! Include parents of friends, friends of YOURS, SS teachers, employers, athletic coaches, etc. Then ask them if they are Greek. If they don't belong to one of the needed groups or even if they do, ask if they know someone in the needed groups. Greek women know other Greek women. Then make a list of men you know - their mothers,sisters, wives,daughters may also be good contacts. In other words,network like a crazy woman. With only those five, it shouldn't be that difficult.

As for numbers, I'm not sure what you mean exactly but they due utilize what we call RFM (release figures methodology) and so will have a quota and total. It's designed to find a place for every woman who meets the membership qualifications of the groups. So, if your daughter "maximizes her options" (attends every party for which she has a time in her schedule), keeps an OPEN MIND, then she will match to a group at the end. Remember, they all have GPA requirements as well as civic involvement and other criteria so she should have an excellent GPA and a well rounded resume.

[Griffins&Quills]

Also, keep in mind that not all groups require alumnae to submit recommendations. For Alpha Xi Delta, we allow collegians to submit recommendations, though I believe if you are an active collegian you cannot submit a rec for a girl going through at your campus. I.e. A WCU Alpha Xi can submit a rec for Suzy PNM at Ohio State, but cannot submit a rec for Patty PNM coming to WCU. If the writer is an alumna, she can write a rec for her campus.

To expand a little bit on 'maximizing options' that means writing down all houses to which you were invited to pref on your pref card. If she is invited to two houses for pref, she writes down both houses, if she is invited to one house for pref, she writes that house down, and is guaranteed a bid, barring any extreme circumstances.

[33girl]

How many women each group can take depends on how many women rush. For example, if 100 women go through, each group takes 20. If 300 women go through, each group takes 60. This is waaaay oversimplified, but just pointing out that the quota numbers are not preset without regard to how many are rushing.

[Titchou]

Quota is calculated using the number of women who sign and submit a bid card after pref.There will be a spot for each woman at that point who has- as previously mentioned - maximized her options.

[fbn]

Thank you all so much for the information! We appreciate how helpful people on this site are. She does know Western has deferred recruitment in the Spring but was told incoming Freshmen with at least 12 credit hours "might" be able to do informal during the Fall. Apparently they do some type of average at the beginning of fall semester and the houses that don't have that total number are allowed to pick up to meet that number. But this year that was only 2 of the houses and they were each allowed to take only 1 new member. I had never heard of anything like that before.
**edit** - She will be entering Fall 2016. Sorry, realized I was not clear about the in the first post.

[33girl]

If she is new to the school, I would advise against her doing informal rush in the fall, even if her credits would permit her to do so. It's in her best interest to go through formal rush in spring and meet all the chapters. The informal is more geared to sophomores and upperclassmen.

[DubaiSis]

One consequence of getting recs from real women is the conversation that happens as the rec writer gets information on the rushee. It builds conversation skills and might help your daughter learn how to talk about herself. While I am NOT a fan of the rec process, that is one helpful byproduct.

My best advice to you is start preparing her now for the inevitable fact that she will get cut by chapters. She needs to be prepared for that and understand that she needs to stick with the process, regardless how hurt she is or certain that she has no chance at happiness at the horrendous chapters she has left. Because trust me, they're all just fine. Caught up in the moment, she will have a ranking of 1 to 5 and she will be certain her life will be over if she gets "stuck" with #5. It's all but impossible to escape that feeling but after rush is over virtually all of that goes away. Poof! It's just the bubble that is rush.

[true_blue]

The system used at many campuses that are deferred is called "two tier total". Total is set for the fall semester and then again after deferred recruitment. This keeps most chapters on the campus from having yo recruit twice a year and encourages women to participate in formal recruitment. This is used on the campus where I am an advisor.