I’ve seen a few posts on Nextdoor.com from people soliciting recommendation letters for their daughters who want to join sororities. I haven’t asked about this there because I don’t want to start trouble with my neighbors but what is the point of this? Why would you want strangers to write recommendation letters? There are quite a few people who volunteer to do it. The point of a recommendation is to shed light on someone’s character. If it doesn’t serve that purpose, then why is it part of the process? Does everyone involved know it is meaningless? It just doesn’t make sense to me. I’d think that if you lie about that, you wouldn’t have any problem lying about everything else on the application. Can anyone shed light on this?
There are some sororities and fraternities that are academically based, not socially based. So the reason for letters of recommendation. As for who they get to write them, I guess they need them from someone as that would be better then no one.
Do the requests mention a specific sorority? Some sororities request letters of recommendation from women who are alumnae of that sorority. If you don’t know anyone who’s a Gamma Gamma Delta (or whatever), it’d make sense to ask strangers who might be alumnae.
Letters of recommendation? I hear that tossing the chapter president a half-million bucks works well, too.
The one up right now just says her daughter is going to MS State in the fall and needs rec letters. The women answering are mentioning their sorority. But even if they are looking for specific alumnae, people are still recommending someone they don’t know. That’s really not giving the sorority any useful information and seems pointless to the process of evaluating the candidate. Of course, it looks like no one cares about the subterfuge. I’m guessing recommendations are still done because “tradition” and they probably aren’t even read, just counted.
Wait, the parents are asking for these letters? So it’s not even a case of “This girl got ten people in her neighborhood to write letters for her. That shows initiative.”…
And add me to the list of people baffled by strangers writing letters on behalf of a kid they don’t know.
What self-respecting mom or dad (or any college-bound kid with a BS meter) wouldn’t think “Well, here’s Reason Number One to not bother with a sorority. What a bunch of phonies.”
Can’t wait til one of these requests pop up in our 'hood, so I can call/email the parents and see just how much they want me to stretch the truth for their little Buffy.
Yeah, we get a couple requests every summer and it’s always the moms.
Contrast this with a post from a kid who is going to college in the fall and wants to get a head start on becoming an “entrepreneur”. He is asking to cut lawns, wash cars, run errands. And he already has some recommendations from satisfied customers. That’s initiative.
That kind of tactic will get you into the college, but the Greeks have higher standards.
That would be so much effort. Just ask them to write the letter, send you a copy (in an envelope with cash, if you wish), and you’ll sign it.