question for actives!

i want to know this too!

In almost all sororities here, a recommendation is required before a bid can be offered. It is a national rule for these houses. So if a house really, really, really wants a girl without a rec, they have to get an alumna to write one. This involves the alumna reaching out to contacts on the PNM's resume/application and verifying the information and then writing a second-hand rec just to fulfill the requirement. This has to happen with only a day to get it done and is a lot of trouble to go through, so it is only done for a very, very few PNM's who a house wants badly enough. So almost all of the PNM's without recs will be released from these houses to focus on the many other great girls who do get their recs. So the answer is, yes, there are girls who get a bid without supplying a rec, but they are few and far between in the more desired houses and PNM's who don't have them are automatically limiting their choices. If you would reach out to local alumnae chapters they will help you get your recs.

I did get a letter for the chapter I am in, and they do help. However, there are a lot of different aspects taken into consideration before you actually get a bid. Honestly, my piece of advice to you is don't stress, be yourself, and you will end up where you're supposed to! :)

I was OOS and had some trouble finding all of the chapters, but I found my local alumnae panhel group on facebook and they were able to help me get some more. Even though it wasn't from someone I had known for a while it filled in some of the chapters for me.

Keep asking around. If you have talked to some sorority alumnae, contact them and tell them the groups you lack - maybe they have some friends who are in those groups.
Honestly you should be able to find alumnae for 80% of the sororities.
Too many PNMs ask this thinking that it won't matter and they can skip recs.
DO. NOT. SKIP. GETTING. RECS.
It just makes you look lazy.
Even if a sorority loves you, they don't have time to get recs for every single girl. It could come down to "here's a girl with a rec, and one without. We gotta cut somebody." Don't be the one they cut because you lacked a rec.

I did not have a rec for my current sorority! I only had recs for 4 or 5 houses which pretty much all dropped me throughout the week but I still had 8 houses on sisterhood (and recs for none of them).