Recommendation letters

I am curious to know how many rec letters are written by someone who doesn’t actually know the PNM personally? They are written by a parents’ friend’s daughter or a cousin’s friend. I would think a first cut by grades would be a better representation of a PNM then a Rec letter. Most girls show they care about the process just by completing the application and video which required more time then actually applying to Alabama. If two girls make it to the end then I would think the final decision wouldn’t be off of a rec letter but some other quality one PNM posses that the other doesn’t. I know Phi Mu doesn’t require them and PI Phi nationals were voting at the end of June whether or not to keep or get rid of the rec letters.

For real I had letters for almost every house and luckily got into my fav house that I did have a letter for. I had never even spoken to the woman who wrote my letter of rec for my house and I know that it is one of the reasons I was not cut there

@Curious, the first cuts at desired houses are large, brutal, and def happen for grades but also for recs when a girl is nothing special. As I stated, easy. And in your scenario about two girls making it to the 'end' and decisions made by "some other quality one PNM posses that the other doesn’t," it is rarely that pronounced a difference at that point when all the PNM's coming back are equally stellar. @Mo speaks truth about a house getting a rec for someone, but she's got to be a one-of-a-kind PNM for that to happen. This will be the first year in the history of recruitment for any national to not require a rec. In your "I would think" mindset, if you reason that's actually going to make a difference at Alabama and a rec won't give a PNM an edge at Phi Mu, you are mistaken.

I thought Mary Cole’s was a top pnm

I agree that there’s nothing that can be done about it, but I just think that recommendations found the way you described (which I did myself, too, so not like putting you down or anything!) just genuinely are not that helpful or meaningful because the recommender doesn’t actually know the PNM either at all or very well.

Every house is different. My house will cut you first round, no questions asked if you don’t have a rec. Doesn’t matter how perfect everything else about you is. Not having a rec shows us that you don’t care enough to get one. Alums of every house are everywhere. Ask your friends’ moms, your neighbors, teachers, coaches, etc. have your mom ask her FB friends. It’s not hard to find them for 90% of our houses.

I know too many girls who got (way) past first round without recs in EVERY house.

You’re just wrong.

I’ll add if they want you - they’ll GET you a rec.

Yes everyone needs a rec letter, but not necessarily before recruitment.

You have to “have all the right things” without them before recruitment: be from a known/good area; grades; looks; personality. But it’s possible to get through without recs before hand.

Not sure what house you’re in, but my house will NOT get a rec for a girl. If you don’t make the effort to get it yourself, you might get an invite back for Philanthropy, but certainly not for Sisterhood. There are NO exceptions to this. Stop telling girls recs don’t matter. They might not matter at bottom houses, but they certainly do at top ones.