Help with Rec Letters?

[sarajean94]

Hey everyone, I'm going to be a freshman at a SEC school this upcoming fall. I plan on rushing and becoming a sorority member is one of my college dreams. I know rushing is a very competitive process, especially in the SEC, and to be honest I'm extremely nervous about it.

Greek life is definitely not big in my family - my parents, grandparents, cousins, etc have never participated in it. In fact, I'll be the first person in my family (man or woman) to rush. I live in a very rural area, where most people attend community colleges or small universities where greek life isn't big. Therefore, none of my teachers that I am close with or any of my family friends have ever been in a sorority and I cannot get rec letters from them. For the past couple months, I have been reaching out to everyone I can think of, but greek life just isn't popular around where I live.

I've heard about reaching out to your local panhellic chapter, but I'm not sure how to go about doing that.

Any advice on how to get some recommendation letters? I'm really nervous about rushing without any of them and after doing some research, I'm well aware that, especially at large schools, rec letters are extremely important.

Any advice at all would be extremely appreciated. Thank you

[FSUZeta]

When you spoke with family friends did you ask them if they had any family members or acquaintances that are in sororities? Have you asked men-if they were in fraternities they may know sorority women. What about doctors, lawyers and other people in your town who have professional degrees? Have you asked your friends if they have any relatives that are members of sororities-if they don't know, ask them to find out.

Don't limit yourself to only teachers you are close to. Ask all the teachers at your HS, and then work your way down thru middle school and elementary school,too. Even if they were not sorority members, they may have had a friend who was-you just need to stress that you are trying to find anyone who is a member.

Have any girls from your town gone off to school and joined sororities? If so, they may be able to track down an alumna who would write you a letter. Even if you were not BFFs with those girls, it is worth a shot. BTW, some of them might be members of sororities that allow collegiate members to write recommendations.

If you can find one sorority member, she might know women who are members of other sororities. She might be willing to connect you with them, so that you can get recs. for those sororities.

If you are in a rural area, most likely you will not have an alumnae panhellenic in your town, but there might be one within a reasonable distance in a larger city. You can go to npcwomen.org and look up "alumnae panhellenics". It would be worth contacting the nearest one-they may be willing to help you out and might let you mail your resume' and photo to them.

[sarajean94]

Originally Posted by FSUZeta

When you spoke with family friends did you ask them if they had any family members or acquaintances that are in sororities? Have you asked men-if they were in fraternities they may know sorority women. What about doctors, lawyers and other people in your town who have professional degrees? Have you asked your friends if they have any relatives that are members of sororities-if they don't know, ask them to find out.

Don't limit yourself to only teachers you are close to. Ask all the teachers at your HS, and then work your way down thru middle school and elementary school too.

Have any girls from your town gone off to school and joined sororities? If so, they may be able to track down an alumna who would write you a letter. Even if you were not BFFs with those girls, it is worth a shot. BTW, some of them might be members of sororities that allow collegiate members to write recommendations.

If you can find one sorority member, she might know women who are members of other sororities. She might be willing to connect you with them, so that you can get recs. for those sororities.

If you are in a rural area, most likely you will not have an alumnae panhellenic in your town, but there might be one within a reasonable distance in a larger city. You can go to NPC.org and look up "alumnae panhellenics". It would be worth contacting the nearest one-they may be willing to help you out and might let you mail your resume' and photo to them.

Thank you very much for the advice. However, NPC.org came up as a Petroleum site..? Haha, maybe you made a typo?

[etadrisophila]

npcwomen.org

[FSUZeta]

Originally Posted by etadrisophila

npcwomen.org

Thanks!! I will correct my post.