Sorority Recommendations: What, Why, Who and Where

So, you’ve been accepted to your dream college, and now you’re mapping out the next four years. One of the biggest decisions is how and where to get involved on your campus. For many, Greek Life offers a great way to interact with the college community. If you’re considering joining a sorority, you have undoubtedly discussed with family and friends, who have also offered you valuable advice on the recruitment process, from dress to conversation. What they may (or may not) have told you is that it’s possible you will need letters of recommendation.

Two questions come to mind: “What is a recommendation? And why do I need one?”

To answer the first question, a recommendation isn’t an application for sorority membership, but an informational form, filled out by an member of a particular group, for them to know more about you prior to recruitment. These forms, which can be found on each sorority’s national website, require information about your grades, test scores, volunteer work, extracurricular activities and hobbies. They’re usually submitted along with a photograph or two.

As to why you will need a recommendation, the answer is so the chapter can learn more about the women who will go through recruitment, including if she is a legacy (her mother, sister, grandmother or other familiar connection is a member of the same sorority). Much like a college admissions team, sororities want to offer bids to a well-rounded group of young women who will improve the house as a whole. Especially at schools where rush is a competitive process, chapters use recommendations to figure out which girls they want to pay particular attention to when recruitment begins. “Recommendations are important because they put you on the radar,” Tammy Neeb, author of the recruitment advice blog “Sorority Girl 101”.

Not all schools require recommendations. If you’re attending an SEC school, or one with a reputation for having a competitive recruitment process, you will need a letter of recommendation from each of the sororities on campus. If you’re attending a smaller school, one with a couple of sororities or is not known for it’s competitive recruitment, it’s probable you won’t need one. You might think that it can’t hurt to get recommendations, even if it isn’t normal to do so. Yet surprisingly, recommendations can potentially be a waste of time or even detrimental to your rush aspirations, depending on the school and chapter. “At some schools, when recruitment chairs get them, they just throw them away,” says Jessica Williams, CEO of Phired Up and author of I Heart Recruitment. “If they aren’t common, you might stand out in a negative way. You need to know what the culture of the campus is.” Although, it is always beneficial to have a legacy recommendation, if that particular sorority is on campus.

Who should I ask for a recommendation, and how do I find them?

Once you’ve determined you need a recommendation, you need to find women who can write them. As this is a rec specifically for membership in a sorority, you must get them from women who are affiliated with each organization. If you know women who are members of sororities, you can ask them to write a recommendation for you; however, if you don’t know anyone who is Greek, there is are several ways to find women who will write you a recommendation. Neeb suggests several strategies for finding them:

• Use your network: Neeb advises you to ask “…your friends, your parents’ friends, church who are part of the Greek community... I actually had a girl who followed a woman [who looked like she might be Greek] up and down the aisles of a grocery store” (and it worked), she says.

• Find a local Alumnae Panhellenic Chapter: Once you’ve exhausted the family and friend list, you may still need additional recommendations from several sororities. You can also search for your local Panhellenic chapter. The Philadelphia Area Alumnae Panhellenic serves women who reside in and around Philadelphia, with representation of nearly all 26 sororities.

• Find local alumnae chapters: If there is no Panhellenic Conference nearby, look for local alumnae chapters for each of the sororities on your list. You can search for alumnae chapters by going to their national website and searching your area. The list of all 26 sororities may be found here.

The time to obtain recommendations is before going through recruitment, so if you’re on the fence about going through the process, it’s best to be prepared and have the recommendations at the ready. The submission deadlines vary by college, and this important information can be located on your school’s Panhellenic (Greek Life) website. The woman writing the recommendation should be the one mailing it, so you should be sure to send a pre-stamped envelope, addressed to the chapter’s recruitment chair. According to Neeb, “Recommendations are not an entitlement from an alumna. A good rec is time-consuming, and some alumnae are extremely picky.” It’s important to be polite and accommodating, as well as to provide the alumna with the information she needs (information about you, where to send it, etc.).

It sounds like a lot of work, but keep this in mind: your college years are few, but you will be a member of your sorority for your entire life. Doing the advance work, and providing recommendations means that the sororities will know something about you before you attend the first round of recruitment parties, and, in turn, by doing your research, you will know something about each sorority.

It’s a win-win, and the journey only begins on bid day. Good Luck!