How early should I obtain Rec Letters?

[sarahmass94]

Hello! I'm going to (hopefully) be going through recruitment this fall, assuming everything goes according to plan, and was wondering how early I should be asking around for recommendation letters. I've already got some people who I know will write some for me, and they've also said that they would help me get some from people of other GLOs, but I'm not sure when I should be asking for them to write them. The school that I will be transferring to doesn't say anything about recommendation letters on the recruitment section of their website, so they aren't of any help, either. They also haven't released the dates for recruitment yet, they'll be posting those sometime this month, though I think it will probably be in September. Thanks in advance!

[Sciencewoman]

Now is the time to be asking. I would call the Greek Life office to ask them what they recommend for your campus. Even if recruitment isn't until September, the chapters may like to get the recs early.

[Titchou]

Yes, you should have your resume already done and the women lined up. You can get copies of your transcript now unless you want to wait for a grade to be raised by the end of finals. you don't say when your school ends for the term. Many are ending now and some not till June.

[sarahmass94]

Oops! My finals are this upcoming week, and then grades come out on 5/15. I don't know enough about rec letters to know what kind of resume I need (didn't even know I needed one). Just about all I know regarding rec letters is that it is good to have them! Lol

[Sciencewoman]

For anyone to complete their sorority's recommendation form (which is really what is meant by a letter of rec), they need to have detailed information about you. A resume and transcript help provide that information, particularly for the women who don't know you personally.

I saw your post on another thread telling another PNM that you've been on Greekchat and have been preparing for recruitment for a long time. This is pretty basic information about rec letters/forms, which is heavily discussed in many recruitment threads. You may not want to offer yourself as a source of recruitment knowledge -- I'm not saying that to be snarky, but just that it appears you still have some homework to do in preparation for recruitment.

[AZTheta]

Originally Posted by sarahmass94

Oops! My finals are this upcoming week, and then grades come out on 5/15. I don't know enough about rec letters to know what kind of resume I need (didn't even know I needed one). Just about all I know regarding rec letters is that it is good to have them! Lol

You've been at this since what? 2010? or something like that? Get it together, girl! Your school isn't super competitive, by all accounts, but you are a junior transfer, so that is a concern.

Please tell us that you significantly improved your GPA from high school. That will make you more attractive to the sororities.

[sarahmass94]

Originally Posted by Sciencewoman

For anyone to complete their sorority's recommendation form (which is really what is meant by a letter of rec), they need to have detailed information about you. A resume and transcript help provide that information, particularly for the women who don't know you personally.

I saw your post on another thread telling another PNM that you've been on Greekchat and have been preparing for recruitment for a long time. This is pretty basic information about rec letters/forms, which is heavily discussed in many recruitment threads. You may not want to offer yourself as a source of recruitment knowledge -- I'm not saying that to be snarky, but just that it appears you still have some homework to do in preparation for recruitment.

Oh.. sorry, maybe I should go in and clear that up.. I wasn't offering myself as source of recruitment knowledge, I just meant that I had been asking questions about the Greek system since 2010.. I wrote a paper on it in high school is all. I didn't actually mean it like I was a source of information, and the information I did give her was all straight from other people, who are involved in Greek life from the school she will be attending. As for being on Greekchat, yes I have been looking here for a while, but when I said I've been asking questions, I was referring more to the questions I've been asking an advisor at CSULB, than anything else, as well as the interviews I conducted for the paper I did in high school.. I do know that for recommendations, they need my grades and activities that I've been involved in, I just didn't know what else they needed. I've not actually been on a lot of recruitment threads her, and the ones I have been on have only mentioned the letters in passing as like an "oh yeah, and you might want to get a few of these" type of thing. I've never known which ones went more in depth on them, or what keywords to search to find the ones that are more in depth. And yes, I know I still have to look into stuff about recruitment a bit more...

[sarahmass94]

Originally Posted by AZTheta

You've been at this since what? 2010? or something like that? Get it together, girl! Your school isn't super competitive, by all accounts, but you are a junior transfer, so that is a concern.

Please tell us that you significantly improved your GPA from high school. That will make you more attractive to the sororities.

Lol I wrote a paper on Greek life in 2010.. I've had an interest in it for a while, and if I've had a question about it, there's a woman who I ask, but for some reason, I've never thought much about rec letters until recently. I don't know why that is.. I know they need my grades and what activities I've been involved in, but I don't know what else is needed. As for my GPA, yes, it's better than high school, and my GPA gets better each semester, because for some reason, my each of my semester GPA's have been getting higher than the last here at my community college. My cumulative GPA is not as high as it could be, unfortunately though, because during my very first semester, my home was flooded, and we were moving from hotel to hotel for 2 months waiting for our home to be finished, and between the constant moving and never knowing where we were going to be, and all the work being done on our house, I was super stressed, and I didn't have steady internet, making my grades suffer, due to the fact that my classes that semester were all online. My GPA will be above the required minimum though..

[Sciencewoman]

Check out the stickied General Advice thread started by adpiucf, which appears near the top in the Sorority Recruitment forum. It offers detailed advice on recs, being an upperclassman, etc.

[sarahmass94]

Originally Posted by Sciencewoman

Check out the stickied General Advice thread started by adpiucf, which appears near the top in the Sorority Recruitment forum. It offers detailed advice on recs, being an upperclassman, etc.

Awesome, thanks! Hope I didn't come off as being rude stand off-ish in my reply to you! I've learned that sometimes what the way I mean things doesn't necessarily translate over well via words on a screen.

[AZTheta]

^^^ you're doing fine! Good to know your GPA is showing improvement, just don't make tons of excuses. I have my fingers crossed that you'll find a home, you've been waiting a long time for this.

[Titchou]

You can find many examples of a recruitment resume. it is basically the same as one for work but it will be more focused on activities than employment. be sure to indicate any leadership roles you may have held in any organizations.

[sarahmass94]

Originally Posted by AZTheta

^^^ you're doing fine! Good to know your GPA is showing improvement, just don't make tons of excuses. I have my fingers crossed that you'll find a home, you've been waiting a long time for this.

Yes ma'am, no excuses. I fully own up to everything. Even though my grades did suffer in when we had our flood, I'm sure there are things that I could have done differently, so that they wouldn't have suffered as much. It was a definite learning experience. I'm expecting to pull at least a 3.0 this semester, possibly a little bit higher which will definitely help pull my GPA up, not to mention my GPA for summer semester, when that happens. And thank you!

[sarahmass94]

Originally Posted by Titchou

You can find many examples of a recruitment resume. it is basically the same as one for work but it will be more focused on activities than employment. be sure to indicate any leadership roles you may have held in any organizations.

Awesome! Thank you! I appreciate the help.

[33girl]

I'm really confused. Are you transferring from CSULB to another school?