<p>Is it too early to have sorority recommendations mailed in? I don’t want them to get lost in the shuffle of a school year wrapping up, but I want to make sure that they’re there before the deadline (which I think is July 15?).</p>
<p>We have already mailed most of ours. I’m sure aphimom will chime in with a better response but I don’t think it is too early.</p>
<p>Did you include a transcript with them? No one will have a final transcript until after graduation, so we’ll be putting in one that’s just shy of her final semester. I would assume most everyone will do this, since the final one can be pulled from the admissions office.</p>
<p>Now is not too early to send recs in. The recruitment chairs will be done with finals by May 4th and it may be the case that many will be heading away from Tuscaloosa for the summer. Since the mail is sent to the sorority’s PO Box it will either just sit there over the summer and the girls will pick it up when they come back for work week the firs week of August, a girl will delegated the job of picking up the mail throughout the summer and holding it for work week or be case scenario either the recruitment chair or a delegated member will pick up the mail through out the summer, open it and begin the process of cataloging the recs. It has also happened in some instances where an alum has taken care of this job (this doesn’t happen very often). So…if you are able to get them to the sororities before the end of the semester I think that’s the preferable solution. I just always worry about things getting lost ect. I am working my way through the HUGE pile of resumes ect sitting on my desk right now!<br>
As far as transcripts go…you will need to have a final transcript sent to UA when it becomes available. UA will then share final GPAs with panhellenic who will in turn shre it with the sororities. It’s my thought that putting an unofficial transcript in your rec packet is more for the woman who is writing the rec than for the sorority it’s self. If there are GPA issues those will become apparent when the final GPA list is shared. It’s up to you and the women who are writing your recs.
Hope this helps!</p>
<p>I do know that one sorority requests that a transcript be sent in with the rec, which is what I did when I sent it 2 years ago. I agree, though, that for most it will be for the person writing the rec. My husband shakes his head every time we talk about recruitment and all that has to be done. Guys have it so much easier.</p>
<p>I prefer to get the final transcript with the packet from the PNM before I write the rec, but it’s perfectly OK for sorority members to go ahead and send their recommendations to the chapter. I sure hope they’re not putting off processing them until work week. It takes us all summer to do that!</p>
<p>I have already sent one in, too. I prefer to go ahead and write them pretty soon after the request comes in, and I always notify the PNM when I have mailed it. That means one less rec for her to wonder about and one less thing on my “to do” list.</p>
<p>I have a question about the packets we send to the person giving the rec. It is my understanding that they view the resume, the pictures, the transcript, then write the recommendation. Do they then forward everything to the sorority? Does this mean that if we are asking for two recs for each sorority they will receive two sets of resumes etc? Is there any way of knowing if the sorority actually received them?</p>
<p>What I do is look at everything, fill out my form, attach everything and forward to the sorority chapter (or do the electronic version - scan and send). Yes, if they get recs from 2 different alums they will have two resumes, but you still need to give those to the persons(s) writing the recommendation, because they need to see everything.</p>
<p>No, there is no way that YOU can know if the sorority received them. That’s why we suggest writing a thank-you note to the person you asked to write the rec. If they haven’t actually done it, your note will serve as a reminder. And make sure the student writes the rec, not her mama!</p>
<p>If you are worried about multiple copies, as your kind rec writer if you can e-mail her everything - resume, photo(s), transcript. Then she has the choice of printing it out and snail-mailing, or filling out an online form and electronically zapping everything to the chapter.</p>
<p>I also look at everything, fill out the rec form, attach the resume and pics and mail it away in the stamped and addressed envelope provided by the PNM.
I have suggested that if a PNM wants she can add a self addressed/stamped post card or note card for the alum to pop in the mail when she sends the rec off. You most certainly should send a thank you note as well! In many of the rec packets I receive there is a personal, handwritten thank you but sending another doesn’t hurt.
The year my DD went through (2010) I was sifting through the papers on my desk the week before recruitment and found her legacy form that I had forgotten to mail!!! Needless to say panic set in but a simple phone call and my husband saving the day by scanning it to an email was all that it took to solve the problem. Hey…we alums get really busy as recruitment gets near…a little reminder doesn’t hurt.
Yep…sororities will get multiple copies of resumes. I was sitting at a house at Bama last year and heard an interesting comment by the recruitment chair. she said they actually like getting more than one copy of a PNM’s resume attached to a rec. She said it’s interesting how each alum uses their copy of the resume to fill out the rec form…kind of like seeing the PNM in a different light :).</p>
<p>One more thing. Please read up and make sure that your resume is complete. There is nothing more frustrating for an alum than to have to call a PNM for more information. Probably my fault but last year I received a resume from a PNM hat I had worked with for quite a while. Her resume was STILL missing information that I need to complete my rec (even though we had talked about this before). After calling 3 times for more information I finally just quit and filled out the rec as best I could and where there was missing info I left it blank. Make sure your resume is complete.</p>
<p>One thing I noticed today when looking at chapter websites is that many of them request an official transcript. I hope they mean a final transcript, which could be a copy of an official one, because DD’s school will send out one official one free of charge and others plus a fee. The official one will be sent to the Admissions Office and that one is available to them, isn’t it? We can make as many copies as we want of an unofficial one, so won’t that work?</p>
<p>Yes, this is a final transcript with the final high school GPA. My sorority is OK with an unofficial transcript, but I know at least two that want official ones. What I see in our alumnae panhellenic is copies of the official transcript - ones that the PNM made of the official one she has in hand.</p>
<p>Admissions office does not share transcripts with anyone. I know that the university confirms grades before pledging, but that’s it - just confirmation.
ahphimommy, what say you?</p>
<p>What we have advised girls to do is to have an official sealed transcript sent to UA. They then send a grade list to all of the sororities. The sororities then check each PNM to make sure that they fit the grade requirements for their sosority.
PNMs should then get a second official transcript, open it up and make copies of it. If you have not already sent out your rec packets then put this copy in your rec packet and send it to the alum who is writing the rec. I should note that when you open the official transcript it should be stamped “OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT” and in some cases will have a signature of someone in the counseling office.
If you have already sent or are in the process of sending your rec packets out then go ahead and include the unofficial transcript with a note saying that when you get the official one you will send a copy to the chapter. When your FINAL transcript is available then follow the procedure as stated above.
I have never known a girl not to get a bid because they didn’t have an official sealed transcript but I am not am alum from the two that require a official transcript.
That’s my two cents :).</p>
<p>Did that make sense…sorry am typing and watching the Mizzou/Arkansas softball game…extra innings…tied again…
I think I forgot to say that if the PNM sent an unofficial transcript with her rec packet that she then should then make copies of the official transcript and send a copy to each of the chapters at UA. I really feel in most cases they will accept this.</p>
<p>It makes perfect sense. We’ll get an extra offical one and make copies, and I’ll make a note of those that want official ones and not copies.</p>
<p>I am still confused about transcripts. My daughter’s high school will only send an official transcript to another educational institution or a scholarship selection committee and any transcript that they give us will be stamped “unofficial.” </p>
<p>Moreover, in the area we are from, all of the various sorority rec boards have a May 1st deadline for receiving recs from their alums – which as a practical matter means that all the PNMs get their packets to their rec writers around April 1st. As a result, all the PNMs from our area of Texas are preparing packets with unofficial transcripts wherever they are headed to school. I’ve never heard of anyone sending an official final transcript to anyone other than the University that they ultimately attend and I write a ton of recs (but I only write a couple each year for Alabama). In all honesty, as an alumna, I really wouldn’t want to be inundated with final transcripts to forward to Universities more than a month after all my recs are out the door and in the hands of my local alumnae club rec board.</p>
<p>The Alabama Panhellenic website seems to indicate that all the sororities on campus accept the GPA reported by the admissions office as the official GPA for purposes of recruitment: “All potential members are encouraged to have an official copy of their final high school or college transcript sent to the University of Alabama Admission’s Office prior to July 25th. All 16 sororities participating in fall recruitment will recognize the Grade Point Average (GPA) on file with the University as the OFFICIAL GPA for all students.” [Letters</a> of Recommendation](<a href=“http://www.uapanhellenic.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=15&Itemid=32]Letters”>http://www.uapanhellenic.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=15&Itemid=32) </p>
<p>Which two sororities require PNMS to submit an official transcript and is this a national policy or a campus policy? Thanks for any help anyone can provide.</p>
<p>One further question --in re-reading the prior answers it sounds like the girls are supposed to send updated transcripts directly to the chapters at Alabama. Around here it is drilled into the girls’ heads that it is highly inappropriate (and potentially a contact violation if after the period when no contact starts) to send anything directly to a sorority. Any contact after the end of the University semester should only be through alums of the sorority and in accordance with rush contact rules. So if girls are going to be sending final transcripts, shouldn’t they be having their rec writers send them instead of sending them on their own? Again, thanks for any clarification!</p>
<p>Oh I would never send the official transcript to the alum who wrote the rec and ask her to froward it on I would simply undertake that task, mailing a copy of the official transcript to each sorority (using the address given on the Panhellenic chapter profile page).
Are you saying that you as a parent cannot go into your school and get a copy of your child’s official transcript. I live in Missouri and have gotten one for each of my children to put in their file in case we need it. In fact when DD was doing rec packets for UA I got 2. Now…I work for the school district and so maybe I’m exempt??
I really think that it’s ok to send a rec packet with an unofficial transcript. It’s just my thoughts that then when the official is available (and if your school is one that will only send a transcript to a college) that you have them mail it to UA and trust that the panhellenic grade list will be enough. Again…I have helping with recruitment for awhile and I have never heard of a PNM not getting a bid because she didn’t have an official transcript on file with a particular sorority. I have heard of alums refusing to write recs for girls who they find do meet their sorority’s academic expectations.
Am looking for the 2 that say they need official…southlander do you know??</p>
<p>My D sent an unofficial transcript with each packet in April/May. The high school sent the final transcript to the University. She had no problems through rush.</p>