A Recommendation/Reference (also called a RIF) serves as your introduction to a sorority, and gives their members a chance to get to know you prior to the start of primary recruitment. A “recommendation letter” is a generic way of referring to the support documentation a student interested in joining a sorority will have completed on her behalf. Learn more about this process on this page.
Recommendation letters are official forms unique to each individual sorority and are provided by the national organization for their alumnae members to fill out on behalf of potential new members, also called PNMs. Please note that each sorority has its own policy as to whether or not they require a recommendation/reference and that OU Panhellenic does NOT have access to individual sorority Recommendation Forms.
Only a sorority alumna, or in some cases, a collegiate member of a sorority, can write a recommendation to her sorority. It is also recommended that the alumna use her sorority’s official recommendation form, which can usually be found on sorority’s national website. Please note that additional “Letters of Support,” personal letters written on stationery by alumnae recommending a PNM whom they know personally for membership into the sorority, which are commonplace in Texas, are NOT encouraged or recognized at the University of Oklahoma. Personalized packets are not needed or encouraged at the University of Oklahoma.
Securing letters of recommendation is ultimately NOT the obligation of the potential new member, so below are a couple of things to keep in mind if you choose to seek out letters of recommendation:
Statement from the National Panhellenic Conference (NPC)
The responsibility for providing letters of recommendation for potential new members rests with the members of NPC sororities, and recruitment information distributed through College and Alumnae
Panhellenics shall contain nothing that infers that letters of recommendation must be secured by the potential new member.
Find more information by visiting the National Panhellenic Conference website.
The information below will be helpful in determining how to submit a letter of recommendation. Please note that chapters only need recommendation forms (RIFs) prior to recruitment. All other information including a photo, your resume information, GPA, and activities/honors will be submitted through your recruitment registration form with OU Panhellenic. Below you will find the email or physical address needed to submit your letter of recommendation. Some organizations manage their letters of recommendation through their national website, therefore, the alumna writing letter could submit it on your behalf. Personalized packets are not needed or encouraged at the University of Oklahoma.
Alpha Chi Omega accepts letters of recommendation from alumnae members.
Recommendations and all additional supporting materials should be emailed to ouaxorecs@gmail.com. If you have any additional questions please email the chapter directly.
A legacy to Alpha Chi Omega is a sister, daughter, granddaughter, or great-granddaughter of a member including step relations, blended families, as defined by the member.
Alpha Chi Omega
Attn: VP of Recruitment Information
1115 College Avenue
Norman, OK 73072
Members and non-members are encouraged to recommend Potential New Members who embody Alpha Gamma Delta values for membership through the Recruitment Information Form. Upon completion, this form will notify the chapter of PNMs participating in the Primary Recruitment and/or COB process. Click here to find the Recruitment Information Form.
While Alpha Gamma Delta chapters still recognize legacies, a legacy will receive no preferential treatment as a potential new member. Chapters will no longer be required to extend legacies an automatic invitation following the first round of Primary Recruitment nor consider legacy status when determining the final bid list order.
Alpha Gamma Delta
Attn: Director of Membership
930 Chautauqua Avenue
Norman, OK 73069
Alpha Omicron Pi accepts Letters of Recommendation from Alumnae Members electronically by visiting this webpage. Members can also email them to aoiixivpmr@gmail.com.
PNMs are welcome to submit a letter of recommendation, but not required by the organization at this time.
Alpha Omicron Pi legacies include the sisters, daughters, granddaughters; step-sisters, step-daughters, or step-granddaughters; and adopted sisters, daughters, or granddaughters of our initiated members in good standing with Alpha Omicron Pi. The chapter loves to know which PNMs are legacies to Alpha Omicron Pi.
Alpha Omicron Pi
Attn: Vice President of Membership
1411 Elm Avenue
Norman, OK 73072
Alpha Phi encourages all alumnae to submit email recommendations to ouaphirecruitment@gmail.com.
Our recommendation form can be completed online at alphaphi.org or if you prefer, you can download a hard copy and mail to our chapter house at: 1401 College Avenue Norman, OK 73072 (Attn: Brooke Borden)
For any chapter specific questions email: ouaphirecruitment@gmail.com or visit the Alpha Phi chapter website.
Alpha Phi legacies include mothers, stepmothers, grandmothers, great-grandmothers, stepsisters or sisters.
Alpha Phi
Attn: Brooke Borden
1401 College Avenue
Norman, OK 73072
Any Chi Omega alumni in good standing may submit a letter of recommendation/ Recruitment Information Form (RIF).
The Recruitment Information Form (RIF) may be submitted online on our website or mailed to the chapter address. Letters of support may be e-mailed to eaxorecruitment@gmail.com or mailed to the chapter house directly.
Chi Omega defines a legacy as a sister or a daughter of a Chi Omega in good standing. Granddaughters, cousins, and nieces of Chi Omegas have close ties but are not Chi Omega legacies. Someone whose sister and mother are both Chi Omegas may be referred to as a double legacy.
Chi Omega
Attn: Brigid Wentz (Recruitment Chair)
820 Chautauqua Avenue
Norman, OK 73069
Letters of recommendation may be submitted on behalf of a Potential New Member by any alumnae member of Tri Delta.
All information of recommendation letters for Tri Delta can be found at https://www.tridelta.org/our-members/alumnae/references-and-referrals/. Recommendation letters may be sent to oudddreference@gmail.com.
A Tri Delta legacy is a potential new member with a Tri Delta sister, stepsister, mother, or stepmother. Theta Gamma does not have any policies regarding inviting legacies to attend particular rounds of recruitment.
Delta Delta Delta
Attn: Recruitment Chair (Sydney Mathena)
1611 College Avenue
Norman, OK 73072
Delta Gamma accepts Letters of Recommendation from Collegiate Members and Alumnae Members. Members can find the recommendation form at https://www.deltagamma.org/recommendation-form.
Forms can be submitted via mail or email to oudgrecs@gmail.com.
Delta Gamma Legacies do not receive preferential treatment during the recruitment process.
Gamma Phi Beta accepts PNM Introduction Forms from anyone close to the Potential New Member. For more information please follow the link below.
Gamma Phi Beta has created an online reference system that allows you to send all reference information directly to the chapter. Please complete the online introduction form here.
Gamma Phi Beta offers no preferential treatment to legacies.
Gamma Phi Beta
Attn: Recruitment Chair Women
1105 College Avenue
Norman, OK 73069
Kappa Alpha Theta accepts Letters of Recommendation from both collegians and alumnae members. The process of identifying qualified potential new members (PNMs) is a responsibility and a privilege that is shared by collegians and alumnae. Therefore, both are welcome and encouraged to write a reference form (also known as a recommendation letter) for qualified PNMs.
Recommendations can be mailed to Kappa Alpha Theta or alumnae members can go to https://www.kappaalphatheta.org/members/reference-form-legacy-introduction and click “Submit the Form” under the Online Reference Form tab.
A Theta legacy is defined as a daughter, granddaughter, great-granddaughter, or sister of a Kappa Alpha Theta member. Stepdaughters, step-granddaughters, step-great-granddaughters, and stepsisters are considered legacies if their family considers them as such and if the family asks that they be considered as such on the Reference Form and Legacy Introduction. Although this is the definition of a Theta legacy, we do not give legacies any priority or preferential treatment. All Potential New Members regardless of legacy status are treated equally through the recruitment process.
Kappa Alpha Theta
Attn: Chief Recruitment Officer
845 Chautauqua Avenue
Norman, OK 73069
Only members of Kappa Kappa Gamma may submit a reference. Undergraduate members can submit references for PNMs at any institution but their own. To submit a reference visit www.kappa.org/references and log in or or email the reference to oukkgrecruitment@gmail.com.
The online system submits references directly to the Membership Chairman and even includes legacy notification.
Kappa Kappa Gamma does not recognize legacies as part of our formal or informal recruitment. It is our aim as the Beta Theta Chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma that all Potential New Members experience an equitable path to membership in Kappa Kappa Gamma.
Kappa Kappa Gamma
Attn: Recruitment Chairman
700 College Avenue
Norman, OK 73069
Pi Beta Phi accepts Letters of Recommendation from Alumnae Members. Please visit www.pibetaphi.org/recruitment to find the Recruitment Information Form, the Legacy Introduction Form and Pi Beta Phi's national legacy policy.
If you are having difficulty securing a letter of recommendation and need assistance, please contact: pbpokalphavpr@gmail.com.
Per Pi Phi’s Constitution and Statutes, a (step) daughter, mother, (step) sister, or (step) granddaughter of a current, initiated member shall be considered a legacy of the Fraternity.
Pi Beta Phi
Attn: VP Recruitment
1701 Elm Avenue
Norman, OK 73072
We know sorority recruitment is often a new experience for so many students and families. We've compiled some of our most frequently asked questions below. If you have other questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to our Panhellenic team.
Potential members are not required to secure recommendations in order to receive a bid. Ultimately, it is the responsibility of the sorority to obtain a letter of recommendation if one is needed for membership. While letters of recommendation are not required to participate in recruitment; PNMs can reach out to sorority alumnae or an Alumnae Panhellenic for assistance.
While we do recommend having one recommendation letter per chapter if possible, many students participate in recruitment at OU without any recommendation letters and join chapters.
If you are looking for an alumna to write you a recommendation, think about family members, teachers, friends, coworkers, members of your religious/spiritual affiliation, etc.
Professional service and civic groups like the Junior League and Rotary are also good places to look. If you start asking around, you will likely be surprised at how many people you know that were Greek while in college.
If you do not know an alumna of a certain chapter it is inappropriate for you to ask someone that you do not know to write a recommendation form for you.
Panhellenic at OU does not have a specific deadline for recommendation letters. We do suggest having letters submitted to our chapters by July 15 to help our chapters have time to process that paperwork prior to the start of formal recruitment.
Additional “letters of support," are personal handwritten letters on stationery from a sorority alumna, who has a personal relationship with a PNM, recommending her for membership."Letters of Support" differ from Recommendations/References in that they are NOT on the official sorority recruitment information form and are often sent to the chapter either alone or as supplement to the recruitment information form.
While commonplace in other states like Texas, "Letters of Support" are neither encouraged nor recognized at The University of Oklahoma. We urge you to consider respecting the time of others in writing these “letters of support.” They are not needed for formal recruitment at OU.
An alumna may find a copy of her sorority’s Recommendation/Reference Form in her sorority's national magazine or on the national website under the Member’s Only section. She may also obtain a copy by calling her sorority's national headquarters if she does not have access to a copy of the national magazine or has misplaced her login information for the website.
Keep in mind, the alumna writing the letter of recommendation does not need to be a graduate of OU, she only needs to be an alumna member in good standing of the sorority she is writing the recommendation.
Please note that it is NOT the responsibility of the Potential New Member (PNM) to obtain a copy of the Recommendation/Reference Form for the alumna. Also, please be advised that neither OU Fraternity and Sorority Programs and Services nor the Oklahoma Panhellenic Association have access to individual sorority recommendation forms and as such cannot obtain them for Potential New Members.
No! You’ll need to be sure to register for formal recruitment on the OU Panhellenic website.
Additionally, registering with an area Alumnae Panhellenic does NOT register you for recruitment at the University of Oklahoma.
OU Panhellenic recommends submitting one recommendation letter per organization. Submitting more than one recommendation letter per organization does not send a more positive message to the chapter. Recommendation letters serve the purpose of introducing a PNM to the chapter. It is like waving hello in the hallway at school. Just like you would only wave at an acquaintance once in the hallway, you only need to be introduced to the chapter once via recommendation letter.
Further, many of the chapters will throw out additional letters received after one. Do not waste your time or energy collecting more than one per organization even if someone else recommends this to you.
Personalized packets are NOT needed or encouraged at the University of Oklahoma. When PNMs submit information in this way, it causes extra work for our chapters. When you register for recruitment, you will submit all of your resume and personal information. That information is then forwarded over to our Panhellenic chapters.
We realize that alumnae might send in your resume with her recommendation for you – that is ok! But, you do not need to send additional copies of anything to the chapters directly. Glitter, confetti, or any other embellishments are NOT needed or encouraged. It is not memorable in a good way when it causes extra work, stress, or clean up for our chapters. With the large volume of recruitment participants, sending in packets is often overwhelming for our chapters.
Is there a question you have that we might have missed? Reach out to panhellenic@ou.edu and we can help answer your question!
