just curious

Not looked at that closely. At least 3/4 of you probably submitted rec letters to at least one house if not all of them. Some even manage to send 2 or 3 recs in per house. We have one week to prepare for you. We don't have time to read all possibly 2000+ of the recs you send us AND prepare the house and members for what is to come during rush week. We will note that you have it, but your recs are not your saving grace most of the time. It's your grades, your involvement, your looks and your persona. That's it. There's no secret formula like having lots of recs or being a legacy or knowing a bunch of girls in the house. Those things will only help to an extent.

Tbh if you don't have a rec you're not like automatically cut. If you do have recs you're also not given special consideration. There's just too many of you and if we gave everyone with a rec special consideration then rush would be a month long process. Your grades will get you furthest, then your personality, then your appearance, then your extracurriculars, then legacies, then girls that know you in the house, then rec letters, then everyone else.

They matter a lot. We are among the more selective houses and we look for things that will set girls apart, and those things might not come across on the official rush form or in relatively few minutes of conversation. Plus, no one wants a conversation where a PNM is just talking about herself and her accomplishments anyway. A nicely written rec that offers personal insight about a girl from a respected alum goes a long way. As for the person who says we have one week to prepare for rush, well, that my be true in her house, but we have been studying those recs all summer long, or at least for those who got them to us nice and early. So, the answer to the question of how much do recs matter, I would say it depends on the house. But in my house they can help a lot.