Chapter Acknowledgements to Rec Writers

[alum]

All you actives who are Rush Chairs etc:

PLEASE send a postcard or something to your alumnae who write recs. Women representing 2 different NPC GLOs who wrote recs for my D never never received a courtesy response or acknowlegement from their GLO when the recs were sent. My friends assumed the chapters received the recs but were afraid to ask because they didn't want to be nagging helicopter-alums who would have a detrimental affect on my D's recruitment. Now that recruitment is over, they are complaining to their directors of actives.

We all know that recruitment is a very busy time. However, actives need to remember that rec-writers are taking time out of their busy schedules to interview girls, analyze resumes, and actually write the recommendations. They are fellow members of YOUR fraternity/sorority and deserve at least a postcard saying that the rec. arrived.

[kddani]

Postcards cost 24 cents apiece to mail, not to mention the cost of the postcard itself and the large amount of time involved to address them and write them. That can add up to be a lot, particularly for chapters who don't have a big budget. And time-wise, it's THE busiest time of the year. That's a lot of time and money.

I've heard of people asking for some sort of notification of where a girl went after rush. But you want a postcard acknowledging that it was received?

[UGAalum94]

I understand that things are really busy during rush, but if the rec. was not received by the chapter, the person writing the rec. could really be of more help if she knew that the rec. didn't get there so that she could send another.

If you have contacted the chapter and they know they can ask you for recs for certain town or whatever, you don't have to worry too much. If they needed one, they would call. But when you've written one for a girl to a chapter at which you don't know anyone, you do kind of wonder if they got it.

I can see that at big rush, acknowledging each rec. as it was received (as opposed to after rush, when it's nice but not useful if it turns out there was a problem), would be very time consuming.

But it seems like there'd be a way to make notification possible. Maybe a master list could be posted on the chapter website? Of course, I don't mean anything about the content of the recs, but maybe PNM names, checks by the ones with recs, and columns with name of rec. writer.

At some point the rush or membership chair looks at the recs anyway, so it wouldn't take that much additional time to enter that small amount information. It's possible that such a spreadsheet already exists at a lot of chapters, and all a person would have to do is add or delete certain info, and make it public.

If you were worried about confidentiality, it could be protected by password somehow.

[AZ-AlphaXi]

Not sure how this would work ... but how about including a self address and stamped post card? Then all the chapter has to do is drop it in the mail.

or include your email address and ask that the chapter just drop you an email saying they got the rec.

Neither of these would be costly or time consuming.

[aephi alum]

Like kddani said, postcards cost 24 cents each. If you have 1000 PNMs who arrange for recs, that's $240.00. That money could be better spent on, say, decorations for recruitment or a fun bid day activity.

If the alum really wants to know if the rec arrived, a SASE or an email address is a good idea. It doesn't cost the chapter anything to pop an SASE in the mail or fire off a quick email.

[FSUZeta]

i don't agree-if an alum. took the time to write a recommendation, the chapter should take the time to acknowledge receipt of said rec. a chapter that would receive 1000 recs. would certainly have the funds to have a pre-printed postcard that states, ________ chapter of ABC sorority acknowledges receipt of your recommendation for ___________. We thank you for your information and look forward to meeting ________.-or something to that effect. also, recs. are received thru out the summer,not all at once. if acknowledgement was made when the rec. was received, the task would be much more managable.

this past summer,i wrote recs. for 5 girls to three different chapters. two of the chapters acknowledged receipt of the recs. and even followed up after recruitment with another postcard telling me where the girls had pledged. it took someone maybe 10 seconds to check the appropriate box and place the stamp on the postcard.

[carnation]

Same here, FSUZeta--my daughters and I all heard from the Florida State chapters we recced those girls for! We also heard from the chapters at Auburn that we recced the local girls for.

[UGAalum94]

It seems to me that if you do this notification well, it's a chance to build solid alumnae relationships and potentially get more long term support for your chapter.

Maybe rather that having the rush chair or membership chair, who probably are overwhelmed, a person could be chosen just to notify.

It really does make you think more of the chapter when they acknowledge your rec.

I'm sort of kidding about this, but maybe GLOs could sell recommendation stationary kits including any forms they might use, envelopes, and response cards that rec. writers could fill out, stamp if that's an issue, and send to the chapter. I'd buy them and use it.

Little highjack: If you write recs, does your group have a form? Do you use only the form or do you also compose a letter?

[FSUZeta]

we have a form-it is in our spring magazine or can be downloaded from our website.

i usually include a letter, to give more information about the pnm, however, my cousin, a member of a different npc sorority, wrote a rec. for my daughter and included a letter . the receiving chapter wrote back a note which she took as scathing, thanking her for the rec. but not for the letter! they basically said that they do not take letters into consideration and do not like to receive them. it was very undiplomatically worded and she took offense.

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by FSUZeta

we have a form-it is in our spring magazine or can be downloaded from our website.

i usually include a letter, to give more information about the pnm, however, my cousin, a member of a different npc sorority, wrote a rec. for my daughter and included a letter . the receiving chapter wrote back a note which she took as scathing, thanking her for the rec. but not for the letter! they basically said that they do not take letters into consideration and do not like to receive them. it was very undiplomatically worded and she took offense.

How tacky! I'm sorry that happened.

[GeekyPenguin]

I've written recs to chapters for sisters quite a bit and all but one (which I wrote very recently) has been acknowledged by a postcard, letter, or thank you. I think it's a nice thing to do.

[KSUViolet06]

Recs aren't something we see alot of at my school, so when we get them, we always send the alumna a little "Thank You" note for writing it. For those of you at schools with larger recruitments where chapters receive hundreds of recs, I can totally see how doing something like this would be pretty difficult.

[UGAalum94]

I think Georgia has more than 1000 go through every year, and that's why I understand that the membership or rush chair would have a hard time sending out acknowledgements as the recommendations came in.

It's certainly something that the chapter could do after rush since it would be fewer than 10 notes per member using the fill in the blank cards. I think that post-rush thank yous with information about where the young woman pledged are appreciated, but seem to be more common on certain campuses than others.

But it seems that there are two issues here: one, the element of thanking alumnae for their time, and two, letting people know that the rec. got there okay.

At very competitive recruitments, a good recommendation might matter, and both the PNM and the alumna who sent it would be put a little at ease knowing the chapter received it.

How could this be done better? What do chapters do? Should the PNM and alums just get over it an assume the USPS and campus mail did their jobs?

[GeekyPenguin]

Originally Posted by Alphagamuga

I think Georgia has more than 1000 go through every year, and that's why I understand that the membership or rush chair would have a hard time sending out acknowledgements as the recommendations came in.

It's certainly something that the chapter could do after rush since it would be fewer than 10 notes per member using the fill in the blank cards. I think that post-rush thank yous with information about where the young woman pledged are appreciated, but seem to be more common on certain campuses than others.

But it seems that there are two issues here: one, the element of thanking alumnae for their time, and two, letting people know that the rec. got there okay.

At very competitive recruitments, a good recommendation might matter, and both the PNM and the alumna who sent it would be put a little at ease knowing the chapter received it.

How could this be done better? What do chapters do? Should the PNM and alums just get over it an assume the USPS and campus mail did their jobs?

One chapter I have written a rec for sent me an email saying something like "Thank you for your recommendation for Sally PNM. We appreciate you helping ensure we get the best pledge class this fall!" and then sent me a notecard after recruitment that was a fill-in-the-blank saying thanks for your rec for Sally, she pledged Pi Phi.

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by GeekyPenguin

One chapter I have written a rec for sent me an email saying something like "Thank you for your recommendation for Sally PNM. We appreciate you helping ensure we get the best pledge class this fall!" and then sent me a notecard after recruitment that was a fill-in-the-blank saying thanks for your rec for Sally, she pledged Pi Phi.

That sounds perfect to me. Both tasks taken care of.

Maybe rather than the SASE that we were discussing earlier, email is the way to do the acknowledgement part.

When you mailed the rec, you'd send a email too. When the group got the rec, they'd reply.