help a clueless parent!

Try to relax until tomorrow after the first round is over and the PNMs receive invites back. Some sororities require recommendations more than others. It also depends on the information your daughter submitted to panhellenic. Hopefully she included all her awards, honors, etc that may get her noticed.

Mom, its going to be a long week for everyone, regardless! Stay strong and positive for your daughter. Her attitude can take her a long way! Also remind her to talk to her Pi Chi with any concerns, they are there to help.

She will not be cut because of no rec. On the flip side many legacies get cut and end up in a different sorority from their mom. So you see, it is more how she clicks with the girls. If she does get dropped, the Pi Chis are good to help with this. Also, don't listen to all the tier stuff about sororities. Some girls get the sororities of their dreams and are miserable and some get a bid from one they did not want and end up loving it. Auburn is not a school where you have to be Greek to have a great experience.

What you say about recs may be true to some degree I'm sure. They help certainly, but from our family experience straight from the girls mouths, if a sorority wants you they will get you a rec if at all possible. Some I know had alums ready for that purpose...to write recs that week. Maybe they contact alums from the girls area to check her out, I don't know, but they did write recs during recruitment in the past. Now all houses may not do this and maybe things have changed over the past few years, but I have known girls that went to high schools in the supposedly wrong zip code or from small country schools with NO recs at all and pledge top sororities. Now granted, the sorority may have really wanted them, but our most recent experience with recruitment last year was that the ones the girls had recs for cut them and the ones they had no recs for did not, but it all worked out. There is truth in what you say for sure, get all the recs you can, but we have seen too many quirky things go on with recruitment to say with no recs you will be dropped. I just want this mom to know recs are not required. I just want that mom to calm down. Been there.

I'm sorry but the people above are trying to make you feel better but it's just not true. There are only a couple sororities that will do this and they are the ones that local girls typically don't want to pledge so they need the members. They are great groups with great girls and your daughter would absolutely find friends there and enjoy greek life. But under no circumstance should you or her think she can get any bid she wants without recs. She will need to be totally open minded and give any sorority that wants her an honest chance even if she isn't feeling it during rush. It's very stressful and some girls in some sororities just aren't great rushers but that doesn't mean they won't be good friends later. Southern rush is COMPETITIVE so she, and every other girl, will be lucky to get any bid. But not having recs is honestly a huge disadvantage and anyone who tells you differently is trying to soften the blow.

If your daughter had health issues and was able to make it to college this Fall, that alone is great! I know lots of heavily involved happy girls that chose to get involved in other campus organizations that made tons of friends and flourished. Recruitment week is very stressful even for girls from the "right" zip code, plenty of recs and with friends at Auburn. Sometimes girls that are unknown end up doing great in rush. The long hours and slips of paper that they consider as rejection will wear them mentally down. It might sound silly but after all the tears and stress of recruitment week at least 90+ percent of the girls will tell you they love their sorority ( even if it wasn't their first choice). Her health should be the priority . Welcome to the Auburn family, you'll be glad she is here!

I'm going to be straight up with you about this because I went through recruitment thinking the same exact thing, and it's honestly what they tell all the girls. I'm going to start by saying I had above a 4.0 and was very involved in clubs in my high school, but I got dropped after the second round.
There are a couple of things that she might be involved with that sometimes help girls stay in such as being a dancer or a model or playing sports or just being great at talking to total strangers but a lot of sorties at Auburn have a lot of legacies as well as girls with recommendations almost always inviting those girls back for a second round because "sisterhood." So some of the really great girls without recommendations can get dropped.
Now I am in no way saying you're going to get a call from your daughter tom morrow morning saying she got dropped from recruitment, there are always girls that go through without any recommendation letters that receive a bid. Just don't be surprised when she doesn't have a full party list. Auburn panhellenic really should make a bigger deal about the them instead of misleading the PNMs.
If she does get dropped remind her how great an opportunity COB is which starts 24 hours after bid day. Honestly getting dropped doesn't mean a sorority hates you it can be the difference of a girl rating you a 4 instead of a 5 or talking to a girl she doesn't mesh really well with. Formal recruitment is stressful, they have to drop 100+ girls a round.

There are several sororities that if she really clicked with a girl they will FIND HER A REC by the end of the week. Happens so many times. Even if she is cut from houses many houses to continuous ongoing bidding and she could receive a bid as soon as the day after bid day. As long as she made a good first impression she will be completely fine. I promise she will still be considered. Recs are nice but some girls who have them could have been rude or disinterested & she could potentially take their spot the next day.

She only got five invites back, so what you all said was true.

It's not personal! Rush is something that requires preparation. Panhellenic is doing PNMs a big disservice telling them they don't need recs. I think they don't want to seem exclusive or discourage anyone but it is simply not true.

But, with all that said, all is not lost. She still has 5. And you can only pledge one!

How is she doing?