While you may hear that other schools require letters of recommendation, Clemson University does not require them to participate in recruitment. We find that our sorority women care more about your PNM video, registration questions, and the one-on-one conversations they have with you during recruitment rather than what a letter from an alumna says about you. Our women want to know all of the unique personality traits and values that make you who you are, and no letter can tell them that. If you do or do not have a recommendation letter, it will not be held against you in any way!
In summary, letters are not required nor needed to join a sorority. Recs are like extra credit—spend your summer relaxing and hanging out with friends. Do not worry about getting a letter of recommendation!
A Recommendation Letter/Form (also commonly referred to as a "rec" or "reference") is a recruitment information written on behalf of a potential new member (PNM) as your introduction to the sorority. Each sorority has their own policies regarding recommendations/references; however, currently none of our chapters require recommendation letters. Clemson Panhellenic does not have access to any sorority’s recommendations.
Only a sorority alumna, or a collegiate member of a chapter (depending on the sorority), can write a recommendation to her sorority. The chapter’s preferred submission of recommendations is listed below.
An alumna may find a copy of her sorority's recommendation form in her sorority's national magazine or on the inter/national organization's website. She can also call her sorority's inter/national headquarters to obtain a copy of the form.
Please have any recommendation letters/forms submitted to the appropriate location listed below by August 4th, 2024.
If you are from a state where "packets" are commonly submitted to chapters for recruitment purposes, please know that here at Clemson, packets are uncommon, not required, and have no weight on a PNM's success during recruitment. The Clemson Panhellenic Council asks that you not submit these packets. Please simply follow the information listed above in obtaining a recommendation letter/form, if you so choose.
