The fallacy of Sorority Recs?

[Cluey]

I was cruising around the net, like I am prone to do and found this website, which just cracked me up!

Chi Omega at Samford University

I am pulling this quote from that page...

Please DO NOT submit more than 5 recommendations!

Now, obviously, someone has tried to submit more than 5 recommendations in the past. Pick your recommenders carefully, because, after all, you only get 5. You better make them count

[AEPhiSierra]

my school definitely isn't big on recs - i haven't heard of or seen one in my 3 years as active. And if someone came to us with more than 1 rec we would think they were a little too eager.

[exlurker]

Originally posted by AXiD670
. . . . I had never heard of having to have a recommendation for a sorority before coming here to GC. This obviously isn't a national requirement, because it's not required at all schools (or I wouldn't be asking such a silly question! ). What I want to know is, how exactly do recommendations work? How popular are they? Does your school require the PNMs to have recs? Is it a Southern/Northern/Eastern/Western thing? Is it mainly some GLOs and not others? Is it larger schools? Smaller schools? What? I need more details!

Thanks!

AXiD670:

Some partial answers:

A recommendation (or Potential Member Profile, as Alpha Xi calls it in the "Recruitment" section of your Nationals' web site) is sent by an initiated member to a chapter to make the chapter aware of someone who might make a good member. Some GLOs only allow alumnae to write recs; others allow collegiate members -- especially from other chapters -- to do so, too.

Usually, at a minimum, the chapter will make an extra effort (ranging from a little to a lot) to get to know any recommended woman during recruitment.

"Schools" themselves, or even school Panhellenics, do not require recommendations. Chapters or national organizations may do so. At some schools all or nearly all the chapters require them.

For the most part, the schools where recs are virtually required are those with a highly competitve NPC recruitment environment. These can be large or small schools, and can be anywhere. Some of the best known are larger Southern schools.

From what I've read on GC, I'd say Ole Miss, LSU, U of Georgia, Auburn, Alabama, Arkansas, and similar schools are places where not having a rec is very likely to get a woman cut by many chapters. Texas-Austin, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, and Southern Methodist are other examples.

I'll bet there are some smaller and/or non-Southern schools where recs are vital or pretty important, but I'm just not aware of examples.

[DeltaBetaAGD]

Originally posted by AXiD670
Okay, so please forgive me for being naive, and I have searched on this topic and haven't quite found the answers I'm looking for. I guess I just need someone to go a little more in-depth on the topic for me.

I had never heard of having to have a recommendation for a sorority before coming here to GC. This obviously isn't a national requirement, because it's not required at all schools (or I wouldn't be asking such a silly question! ). What I want to know is, how exactly do recommendations work? How popular are they? Does your school require the PNMs to have recs? Is it a Southern/Northern/Eastern/Western thing? Is it mainly some GLOs and not others? Is it larger schools? Smaller schools? What? I need more details!

Thanks!

I am not sure you are going to get the answers you would like on here. It is important to recognize that each GLO has a membership selection process and recommendations may or may not play a role in the groups's process. Since membership selection is not something to be discussed in a public setting, it is going to be difficult to get your answers. I am sure they play a role in EVERY NPC group BUT the way the individual chapter may handle the recs may depend on if they are following their selection process. I am sure it varies by school as well since there are more PNMs at certain schools but all in all it boils down to each GLO and their selection process.

[OleMissGlitter]

At Ole Miss, it is highly ADVISED that each PNM have at least one rec sent to the houses. I know of some sororities at Ole Miss that will not consider a PNM if they do not have a rec for invites after first round.

A rec is important in my view because it usually has transcripts included, a recent picture, and whether or not the PNM is able to be financially responsible to the chapter. They also include a sorority resume.

When I went through recruitment in 1996 at Ole Miss I had at least two recs to every house. I had my mothers' friends write them for me. This year during recruitment there was one girl who had 13 recs for AOII. They were all from different AOIIs in her area. She really went to work and one of them was from a past international president of AOII as well. I found that to be very impressive. And of course, she did pledge AOII!

I know at Ole Miss every sorority makes posters of PNMs that we hang up in our dorm sections of our houses. This way each day when the actives walk by they can look at the pictures and the names and their hometowns to get to know each girl. We would not have had almost 800 pictures this year if it weren't for recs. I find them very useful. And then we send out cards to the alumnae who wrote the recs to thank them and to tell them what house their girl pledged. I would recommend them and if a PNM cannot find a member of a GLO in their area I would recommend contacting that GLO's international headquarters and they can find someone in that area to write the rec. I also recommend the PNM to find their local Panhellenic Office and participate in teas and turn their information into the Panhellenic database for alumnae to write recs for them.

[Tippiechick]

Anyone calling the HQ of a GLO should be wary. I was told by three different GLOs that if they wanted me, they would have someone write a rec for me at the school. One in particular was quite hateful when I called.

So, my advice to anyone needing recs is to try and find someone in the community. Although, if you are like me and come from an area where there are NO other sorority girls except for another ZTA and a DZ that are the same age as I am, it's pretty impossible to get recs for a lot of the sororities. I managed to get 3 recs for rush out of 9 (Katherine, is this correct?) sororities on campus when I rushed.

Now, at the other school I affilliated with, (20K+ students) recs were simply a way to make a woman stand out to us.

I know it is an excellent way to gain some information on PNM. But, I firmly believe that the rec system usually favors those near a population of Greeks. Thus, it seems that those areas would get bigger while the "white spaces" never develop a good size Greek population.

[carnation]

Originally posted by Cluey
up!

Chi Omega at Samford University

Please DO NOT submit more than 5 recommendations!

Now, obviously, someone has tried to submit more than 5 recommendations in the past. Pick your recommenders carefully, because, after all, you only get 5. You better make them count

And 5 Chi O recs=10 Chi Os involved! When we got Ballerina's and BlazerCheer's Chi O recs, the alums made sure we knew that 2 Chi Os have to sign each rec.

[OleMissGlitter]

Originally posted by Tippiechick
Anyone calling the HQ of a GLO should be wary. I was told by three different GLOs that if they wanted me, they would have someone write a rec for me at the school. One in particular was quite hateful when I called.

So, my advice to anyone needing recs is to try and find someone in the community. Although, if you are like me and come from an area where there are NO other sorority girls except for another ZTA and a DZ that are the same age as I am, it's pretty impossible to get recs for a lot of the sororities. I managed to get 3 recs for rush out of 9 (Katherine, is this correct?) sororities on campus when I rushed.

Well, when you went through there were ten GLO's and now we are down to 9. But I didn't think about how that some HQ's might not want a PNM calling them up. Good point. I'm glad someone is thinking around here!

[GeekyPenguin]

RE: where recs are important - there's really no answer, like "You must always have them for Chi O, only for Gamma Phi Beta if the chapter is larger than 72, only for Pi Beta Phi in the south, etc."

Recs are predominately used at larger schools with a competitive rush, or smaller schools with a competitive rush. There's schools where chapters won't know what to do with one, and there's schools where chapters won't want to talk to you if you don't have one.

[valkyrie]

Getting back to the point I think James was originally trying to make -- aren't recs really stupid most of the time?

Bear with me -- I can understand the value of a rec written by an alumna who knows the PNM really well. However, when a PNM is going around asking for recs from women in the community -- these alumnae can't possibly know this PNM very well, even if they meet for lunch to talk about what sorority membership means to the PNM and the alumna looks over her resume. What is the point of that? I don't see how this is meaningful at all, nor do I see how it's meaningful for a group to require recs, but the collegiates can find one if they really need one (which is basically saying that we have a rule that recs are required, but if you're really awesome we can sneak around it). It seems like it's another silly hoop for PNMs to jump through, at schools where there is already more than enough drama as far as rush is concerned. Women who come from the south where Mama has 900 sorority friends have a huge advantage in this case over women from the north who may know one woman who was in a sorority. The bottom line, IMHO, is that the woman with no recs may make a far better sister, but nobody will ever find out because they're too concerned with silly pieces of paper.

[James]

Yup thats right Valkyrie.

In places where sorority recs are mandatory and have to be pursued . . . and lets face it . . where arrangements can be made to get one from people that barely know you . . .

They become merely a Barrier to Entry. So the question is, why use a barrier to entry at all?

Is it to give advantage, as others have said, to members that come from large Greek areas?

Or is it just a way to winnow down some numbers? If so then it may eliminate some awesome girls from even being considered.

The question would be why use recs in this way?

Originally posted by valkyrie
Getting back to the point I think James was originally trying to make -- aren't recs really stupid most of the time?

[valkyrie]

I think when it comes down to it, it's just perpetuating the "old girls network" -- if your "people" are sorority members or know sorority members, we're going to give you a better chance than we would some girl off the street (even if she's awesome). The whole mess should just be tossed out the window as yet another example of how sororities are becoming outdated.

I think it's awful to justify it by saying that there are too many women going through rush and sorority members need recs to reduce the numbers a bit. That's disrespectful -- if sorority members can't give equal attention to every woman who comes through their house during rush, I think they need to brush up on their people skills. I don't care if it's overwhelming. Deal with it!

[carnation]

On the one hand, it's evil to tell PNMs they don't need recs when they actually do. We should tell the truth in those rush booklets.

On the other hand, there is just no way to select members from hundreds of PNMs in one week if you don't use recs. Been there, done that at 3 SEC schools and if you haven't been involved with recruitment at a big Greek school, don't tell me how it should be run.

Let's say you don't have any members from Mobile but you do have 25 PNMs from there. Thank God, you also have recs from your alums there on all or most of those girls because otherwise, how on earth would you choose? The alums often know, for instance, which of those girls are most likely to stick with Greek life and who would bail out in case of problems....based on past experience. They know who the hard workers were in high school and who the lazy ones were.

No-recs are also very valuable. I have only used them twice...once for a very strange girl I worked with in Scouting, the other for a girl my oldest and I worked with. (My daughter gave her a no-rec too and although the girl didn't get into either of our sororities, she tore apart the one she pledged and was luckily kicked out before initiation.)

I wouldn't presume to judge the way Greek life is run outside of the South and I'd expect the same courtesy from people outside of the South.

[valkyrie]

Originally posted by carnation
On the other hand, there is just no way to select members from hundreds of PNMs in one week if you don't use recs. Been there, done that at 3 SEC schools and if you haven't been involved with recruitment at a big Greek school, don't tell me how it should be run.

Okay, I'm perfectly happy to admit that I am too radical for the sorority world, but I have a question. During rush at SEC schools, how much time is spent on skits and songs during the parties?

[carnation]

We learn the songs during the year so not much practice time is needed for singing. The only people who practice skits are those who act in them and everyone else is usually involved in either decorating or working on membership selection. Mostly the latter.