Schools where you absolutely positively need recs

[Lupine]

Hello --
I'm a college admissions counselor and I'm confused! I strongly suggest that young women who are interested in Greek Life network to gain recommendation letters for chapters on the campus they will attend.

One of my students at Vandy was told during the recruitment information session early in the fall that recommendations weren't used at Vandy, so she didn't get any. She just (yesterday) received a bid to one of the sororities she was hoping to join. She's thrilled and I'm thrilled for her. As we had discussed, she maximized her options throughout every day of recruitment. Her parents are both immigrants and so she has no family connections with any of the groups.

In the first post on the thread, Vanderbilt is listed as one of the SEC schools where recs were a must. Why would they tell PNM's that they aren't used? Was she just lucky?

TIA.