My daughter got a near full ride to a school about 10 hours' drive from our home in the Mountain West. (We live in ski/fish/mountain climb/ river raft country.) When people heard she's going there, many told her she'd "have to" rush and she didn't disagree after visiting a couple of weekends (she's great company, is a good citizen, cherishes her friends, and she LOVES to organize, fundraise, and support causes
). Many of my friends offered to write her rec letters, which she accepted after learning that they were a good idea for girls not coming from traditional feeder high schools. Gamma Phi Beta and Delta Gamma seemed to let anyone do it, so one of her cousin's wives who was a Chi O at an SEC school went on to their national websites and filled those out for her a couple of weeks ago. Another lady she had nannied for was a Theta and her sister was a Pi Phi, so they covered those houses for her. I believe her tennis coach was a Tri Delt and another nanny boss was an Alpha Gam. My daughter really hoped to have Kappa and Alpha Phi rec letters, too, but our two Kappa friends were delinquent on dues (or similar), and we don't know any Alpha Phis, so we struck out on those fronts. My daughter says the Recruitment Chairs for those two houses follow her on Instagram, though, and have commented "congrats" or "good for you!" on a couple of her posts, so she is hopeful that she's on a list of women they want to get to know.
As a mom, I have to say that (though they are a pain if you're from a non-Greek-y area like we are) I wish recs were required at all the houses because the pre-screening seems too Instagram-focused otherwise. (It's great to have your daughter's social media be approved of, but I feel like her resume and kind words from folks who know her will help get her closer to her authentic/ best fit house.)
