I’ve been sharing an ongoing sorority recruitment series here on Hannah With a Camera. Click here to read more posts about recruitment and sorority life, or comment below if you want to see a specific post on the blog!
Recommendation letters. Most likely, if you’re going through sorority recruitment, you’ve heard all about them and how you just have to have them in order to even make it through the first day. This all depends on your school–some schools require them, some schools suggest them, and some schools won’t even mention them at all. You can find out which type of school yours is by searching “[insert school] panhellenic” and look it up on your Panhellenic organization’s website. (Tip: Panhellenic is the governing body over all sororities, so you’ll hear this word a lot.)
Step one: Just ask
My mom was in a sorority, so I posted on her Facebook page back in June last year to search for recommendation letters. My post went something like this: “Hi everyone! This is Hannah posting. I’m going through sorority recruitment at the University of Kansas in the fall and I’m looking for recommendation letters for [insert all 12 sorority names]. If you’d be willing to write one for me, please let me know and I can send you all the information. Thank you!” This was the easiest way for me to get recommendation letters–you’d be surprised at how many women were in a sorority in college. (If you’re having trouble finding certain sororities, ask women who are already writing you one if they have any friends in that sorority. It never hurts to ask around!)
You could also post this on your own Facebook page and you might have friends of yours telling you that their mom was in a sorority. Usually, a girl who is currently in the sorority can’t write you a recommendation letter for her own chapter, but she can for a chapter at a different school. Keep that in mind if you’re planning on asking girls you know who are at your college and in a sorority already.
Step two: prepare the packet
Make it easy for the woman that’s volunteered to write your recommendation letter and put everything together for her. This packet should include four things: a picture of you, your resume, a pre-addressed and stamped envelope, and a cover letter.
PRINT: The photo that you include will be sent to that sorority, so make it a nice headshot or senior photo, not just a photo that you cropped your friends out of. Be sure you print this on photo paper, not printer paper. Your resume should include all the activities you were involved in during high school, your GPA (weighted and unweighted), class rank, leadership positions, test scores (ACT/SAT) but only if they’re ‘good’ – I would say 24 and above for ACT, and community service. This is an easy sample resume you can use that I had during high school. (A lot of my information is redacted, so be sure to fill in the parts with the x or [ ].). Make sure you put how many years you were involved in everything!
The cover letter isn’t like a professional letter, instead, it should be more like a thank-you note to the woman writing your letter. Here’s a sample cover letter to refer to. Finally, include a 11×14 envelope that is pre-addressed and stamped to each sorority’s recruitment/reference chair. Be sure not to mix these up! To find these addresses, go to your university’s Panhellenic website and you should be able to find a listing of all the chairs under the recruitment page. Women aren’t living in their sorority houses during the summer, so don’t send the envelopes to the chapter houses.
DIGITAL: Some recommendation letters are done digitally now, which makes it easier on both you and the woman writing your letter! But you should still include all the information above when sending to the woman writing your letter.
Step three: follow up
Always, always, always be sure to follow up with the women who are writing your letters. It’s likely that your letter isn’t their top priority, so follow up with them to make sure that they got your packet in the first place and that they sent it out on time. Don’t forget to thank them for taking the time to write your letter. I would send out these packets at least a month before you move in so you can have time to resend an envelope and sort things out if it gets mailed back to you.
Are there any other posts you’d like to see about going through recruitment?
xo, Hannah
4 Comments
Hi Hannah,
What if you’re an international student who unfortunately doesn’t know of any women that is or has been in a sorority?
Thank you
hi Caroline! typically when you register for recruitment, you can put any special notes. I would definitely include this! also, I would email your university’s panhellenic organization and make a note of this so they can notify each chapter. I wouldn’t worry about this at all, this is a situation they’d totally understand!
good luck with recruitment!
Hi Hannah,
I appreciate your work to demystify the process of going through recruitment. One thing that you may want to suggest is that young women who are considering going through recruitment need to register with their local alumnae panhellenic association. Registering with a local panhellenic is a great way for a PNM to announce their intentions to the alumnae of all the sororities in her hometown that perhaps their family does not know. Many alumnae groups will even provide contact information of their members who are willing to write recommendations for young women following a brief interview. Furthermore, registering with a hometown/local panhellenic alumnae group before going through recruitment often helps make an active member eligible for scholarship money awarded annually by that group.
There are a couple of things that you may want to consider revising. While announcing on Facebook is effective in some parts of the country, in others it would definitely be viewed as poor form and could even be detrimental to a PNM’s chances. I would suggest that if that sort of announcement works in your area, great! But please also ask parents of friends, teachers, women from church or any other groups that the candidate and their mother cross paths with. Also, please be careful representing that some universities do not require that a candidate have a reference to participate in recruitment. The university panhellenic will often take this position despite the fact that it is usually a requirement of most sororities that they have a reference on file to be able to offer a PNM an invitation to pledge their sorority.
Congratulations, on your efforts to help! Please keep up the good work. Much of what I have shared with you is information that I would have never known when I was a collegian; it is the result of 30+ years as a sorority alum, university panhellenic advisor, alumnae group recruitment chairman and panhellenic officer. Your chapter and your sorority are both lucky to have you! My last suggestion is that you consider working on either your chapter recruitment committee or serve as your chapter panhellenic representative. You have much to contribute!
Best regards!
Susan Mallios