Puffed up or "embellished" resumes from PNM

[Cheerio]

In our local panhellenic group there have, through the years, been embellished forms received for a few women going through recruitment a second time.

Usually their second rush is at a different school than their first. At least one of the woman was dropped during her first rush due to grades.

I can only guess these young ladies embellished due to a strong enthusiasm to 'belong' in an NPC group. If memory serves, none of those women were offered NPC bids.

Wish I knew what happened to one young lady who sent us forms and rushed THREE separate times. In her first rush (down south, very competitive) she was dropped for grades; second rush was informal but she was by then a 'known entity' and not eligible for certain NPC groups with the policy "Once Cut, Always Cut"; then she transferred for her junior year where she rushed a third time.

[carnation]

Can you imagine how quickly a woman would be cut if it got around most schools that she made up stuff on her recruitment application? GONE.

[KSUViolet06]

Originally Posted by tootiepie2

I have seen a few recruitment resumes that listed an honor or participation in an activity that, while technically true, seemed a little more grand in the listing than I knew the activity or "honor" to be. I wouldn't have known that, however, if I didn't know the PNM and the high school.

This has happened a few times to me also. When the mention that they are sr. reps on homecoming court, that looks good but I know that at our school all sr. girls who have participated in anyway, cheerleading, pep squad, stats, are eligible for homecoming court. So usually everyone except 1 or 2 are on court. Not such a big honor when you know that.

YES!

For example, Honor Societies in which every kid with a 3.5 and an application fee gets inducted.

[mullingal]

Background: during my first semester of freshman year, I attended a large Midwestern university. I transferred to a smaller, private university in January. I went through recruitment at my current school and joined a chapter that I love.

I just got a PNM resume from one of my suitemates at the first school that is very embellished. She went through recruitment last year and completed the first two rounds, but dropped when she got three houses that she considered to be "bottom tier" for the third round, when PNMs could attend up to six parties. Throughout the semester, a girl who had a decent record in high school slacked off and skipped class enough to be put on academic probation by the university. Ironically, the sorority of which I am a member dropped her on the first day last year (many members in that chapter are from her hometown. She had the grades, but her social reputation was...fairly bad.) She badmouthed that chapter (again, I am now a happy member of that same sorority!) as well as all of the others that had dropped her during recruitment whenever someone mentioned greek life. What's more, she was a pretty disrespectful roommate - always blaming other suitemates for things, playing loud music, demanding that people get out of the shower...etc.
So, last week, I check my email, and there is a virtual "packet". She did not ask me to write a rec letter; instead, she simply emailed me her resume and other files. When I opened it, I noticed glaring errors. Her high school GPA had been notably inflated, among other smaller things.
I am now pondering what to do. Should I send in nothing, and leave her to her own devices during recruitment? Should I send in a letter of non-recommendation? If anyone has any sort of advice on this, I would truly appreciate hearing it.

[Just interested]

Would you want this girl as a member or your chapter? That should answer your question.

[AZ-AlphaXi]

Mullingal .. you might also check to see if current collegiates of your organization are allowed to write recs. Some organizations allow it and some don't.

[clemsongirl]

And even if your organization does not allow collegians to write recs, I would still consider getting in touch with one of that chapter's advisors or the sister who handles recommendations. Like Just Interested said, if you wouldn't want her to be a sister and there won't be any social blowback for you not recommending this girl (and it doesn't sound like there would be), now is the time to say something. It doesn't sound like she'll make it far with this chapter anyways, but if I were in your situation I would rather be safe than sorry.

[AnchorAlumna]

Originally Posted by mullingal

Should I send in nothing, and leave her to her own devices during recruitment?

Are you going to risk your sorority giving this liar a bid? Because it COULD happen.
I hear this often from alumnae.
"Mama said never to say anything bad about anybody; I didn't want to send a 'no' rec on her, bless her heart."
Or they think if they don't send a rec, the girl won't get a bid.
Why risk it? Write a no rec. DON'T write the details. Add a Post-It note: CALL ME. Or go to a member of your recruitment team - the advisor is ideal - and privately detail to her why you would object to this girl becoming a member.
The "no" recs are more important than the yeses.

[Titchou]

Heck -don't put a post it note on it- Write NO REC CALL ME across the top! I've only done it 2-3 times and am about to do a another 2 or 3....

[mullingal]

As usual, GreekChat is very intuitive about these things - she got two invitations out of a possible ten for the second round and immediately dropped.

[AnchorAlumna]

We all dodged a bullet!
Thank you for writing that rec. Or did you?

[BlueCarnation]

Ugh...this reminds me of a pledge sister/roommate who we still refer to as "the embellisher." She lied to us about her high school accomplishments--she said she was captain of her sports team (nope), president of her class (nope), etc. She didn't think we'd find out, but most of her her high school classmates joined the sorority next door to us and we were friendly. Then when she applied to graduate school senior year, she flat out lied on her resume. We lived with her and knew the she spent her free time either with her boyfriend or at with us; her resume said she was a concert pianist, a tutor at 2 elementary schools, and a volunteer at a local crisis center (that one was technically true as it was our philanthropy and she went once a year). We still don't know why she did this. I'm too afraid of getting caught!