Sorority recruitment is coming up in August and if you were a member of a sorority and have younger friends, acquaintances, sisters, cousins, etc. you are probably going to be asked to write a sorority rec letter at some point in your life. I have been asked to write a few so far and when I first tried to write one, I had no idea where to even begin. What all has to be in the rec letter? Who do I address the rec letter to? Do I mail the letter to the school? Do I email the letter to the girl and she includes it in her rush packet? Do I submit it to the Panhellenic website or sorority’s website?! So I’m here today to tell everyone how to write a sorority recommendation letter or “rec letter” or “letter of recommendation”. And I made a free Letter of Recommendation Template also!
I know this post isn’t for everyone, lots of people don’t join sororities, and that’s perfectly fine. But even if you were not in a sorority but you have daughters who might want to rush one day, you can refer back to this blog post at some point if you need help or know someone who needs help! Or if you were a part of a different kind of college student organization or group, this may help you when referring or recommending new members to your organization also!
A quick background: I am an alumna of the Alpha Chi Omega sorority from the University of Texas at Austin. Technically, the sorority is called Alpha Chi Omega Fraternity, Alpha Phi Chapter. I know, very confusing. I was an active member from 2011 to 2015 when I graduated, and then I achieved almuna status.
PSA: an “alumna” means an individual female graduate. An “alumnus” is an individual male graduate. “Alumni” is the plural for a group of graduates, both male and female. And “alumnae” refers to a group of female graduates. I struggle with those so much so I figured I should put them down in writing and try to help others, while also trying to remember them myself! 🙂
For the girls who are planning on rushing, also known as PNMs or Potential New Members, and need a rec letter(s), this paragraph is for you! There are approximately 104 sororities, I was going to try to list them all out, but after finding out there were 104, I obviously changed my mind, haha! But you can read the list I found here. And don’t worry, not every college or university will have all 104 sororities. Most colleges and universities won’t even have 20 sororities. And each school has different organizations, so you don’t have to worry about getting rec letters to all 104. For instance, The University of Texas at Austin has 20 sororities and down the street in San Marcos, Texas State University has 10 sororities and there are some on UT’s list that are not on TXST’s and vice versa. So be sure to look up your school’s sorority list to find out which sororities you need/want rec letters to. You can just Google search your school + sorority list.
Now for those of you who are writing a rec letter, this paragraph is for you. Every sorority has different guidelines for writing and submitting letters of recommendation. If you are an Alpha Chi Omega alumna like me, all you have to do is fill out the recommendation form on the Alpha Chi Omega website. They have gone fully digital and writing a physical letter is no longer necessary. And this could be the same case for many other sororities also! But you have to have your username and password to log into your sorority’s website to find the recommendation process information. Also, the girl you are writing the letter of recommendation for (or her mom) should have given you a packet or PDF with her “resume” including her GPA, extracurricular activities, sports and organizations, volunteer work, etc. so it should make writing the letter or filling out the information online super easy!
I have listed out the National Panhellenic Council sororities and the website to find their rec letter information. You can also find this same information on this website from the NPC. Just find your sorority and go to their website to find out how to submit or mail your letter of recommendation!
- Alpha Chi Omega – https://www.alphachiomega.org/
- Alpha Delta Pi – https://www.alphadeltapi.org/Page/PotentialMemberIntroduction
- Alpha Epsilon Phi – https://www.alphagammadelta.org/
- Alpha Omicron Pi – http://www.alphaomicronpi.org/
- Alpha Phi – https://www.alphaphi.org/recommendation
- Alpha Sigma Alpha – https://www.alphasigmaalpha.org/
- Alpha Sigma Tau – http://www.alphasigmatau.org/
- Alpha Xi Delta – https://www.alphaxidelta.org/recommend-a-member
- Chi Omega – http://www.chiomega.com/join
- Delta Delta Delta – http://bit.ly/recommenDDD
- Delta Gamma – https://www.deltagamma.org/
- Delta Phi Epsilon – http://www.dphie.org/home
- Delta Zeta – https://www.deltazeta.org/
- Gamma Phi Beta – https://www.gammaphibeta.org/
- Kappa Alpha Theta – https://www.kappaalphatheta.org/
- Kappa Delta – http://www.kappadelta.org/
- Kappa Kappa Gamma – https://www.kappakappagamma.org/
- Phi Mu – https://www.phimu.org/
- Phi Sigma Sigma – https://www.phisigmasigma.org/
- Pi Beta Phi – https://www.pibetaphi.org/
- Sigma Delta Tau – https://www.sigmadeltatau.org/
- Sigma Kappa – https://www.sigmakappa.org/
- Sigma Sigma Sigma – https://www.trisigma.org/
- Zeta Tau Alpha – https://www.zetataualpha.org/
If your sorority does require a written letter of recommendation, I’m sharing the rec letter template that I have used in the past. You can fill in the blanks and edit this rec letter, print it out, and then mail it to the sorority at the school the rushee is attending (If I were writing an AXO rec letter for a girl attending the University of Oklahoma, I would mail it to the AXO house at OU, which you can find their address online).
Some other best practices on how to write a sorority recommendation letter:
- Never give the letter to the girl you are writing it for – you have to mail it or submit it yourself for it to be valid. You can just text the girl and tell her that you’ve sent it.
- If you are unsure where to send the letter or how to complete your rec letter, just use one of the emails I have provided above (based on which sorority you were a member of) and ask them what their process is. I did this and they emailed back right away and told me AXO’s was all online now.
- Address the rec letter “Dear Reference Chair” or “Dear Recruitment Team”, never address the letter (or any formal letter) “To Whom it May Concern”.
- Never lie on the rec letter. You want the girl to end up in the sorority that best matches her personality and her values or else she may not enjoy it as much. And I’m sure you want your friend or sister or cousin to join the sorority that you were in 100%, but if she is a much better fit in a different sorority, then you want the system to work and help place her into the right house for her. So if the girl you are writing the rec letter for has always been super involved in domestic violence awareness charities and helping women and children who have been victims of domestic violence, don’t lie and say that she has volunteered with a lot of breast cancer awareness charities when she has not.
I hope this guide on how to write a sorority recommendation letter has been helpful and insightful and may continue to help out those who are stuck trying to write one or several. Don’t be afraid to contact the sorority and ask questions about how to submit the rec letter. They want as many letters of recommendation for girls as they can to help prepare them for recruitment so they want you to send the rec letter in to them. Don’t be afraid to just ask!
