I love when non-members try to tell us what our membership criteria are.

I love when they tell us that "It's ok I understand MS, it's just like making sausage."

I've made sausage, if you don't do it right the end result can be food poisoning. Also it is a really hands on and sometimes time consuming and disgusting process. I don't like the comparison of e.coli to membership selection at all.

Now I am craving reindeer sausage, GRRRRR!

It's just so funny because people often think just one thing was the reason they got cut. OK, sometimes that's true. I mean, if you pick your nose and wipe your booger on the wall and half the sorority sees you chances are you aren't getting a bid.

Other than that, most of the time even members of that chapter can't say (because they don't know) why a particular PNM was cut. This goes for UT-Austin as well. Just because an out-of-state PNM may be at a disadvantage does not mean she's automatically going to be released. That doesn't make any sense whatsoever, given the nature of the formal recruitment process.

Sorry your child didn't receive a bid, I know that's tough. That doesn't mean out-of-state students should skip recruitment if that's what they want to do. It also doesn't mean you know ANYTHING about membership selection, and it's highly inappropriate to assume you do. It's private. Why can't people seem to get over that?

ETA: VS I can't speak for reindeer but I can tell you that I almost hit a white tail deer tonight in my 13 hours of driving that would have made some mighty tasty sausages had I had a shotgun instead of a car for a method of bringin' home the bacon. Sadly, hitting it with my car would have upped the chances of e.coli.

I've never hit a big animal with a vehicle, but I think this is the year I will hit a college student, I had three close calls in two blocks. All were actively engaged in cell phone, texting, or iPod. I did freak out my guy the other night when we watched Planet Earth on Discovery and many of the featured critters I said I had eaten or wanted to eat, and which were tasty (caribou/reindeer especially). The nearest town to where I was working in Alaska had a restaurant with reindeer and buffalo on the menu, and the meat company had yak and elk as well. I could get fresh stuff to have a cook out or cured meat for snacks, but I had to lock it up in the Conex or some carnivore would be all up in my snacks.

http://www.deltameat.com/

I'd say if you're not a member actively involved in the MS process at the chapter at that point in time, you will never know the particulars of why a PNM was or was not invited back, period. Even if you're an alumna, advisor, or someone else who thinks they are important.

Sometimes even if you are in the room you don't know.

Then even if you know exactly why a PNM was released, you can't tell anyone. Membership selection is confidential for a reason.

Actually, we are in Cahoots with ALL universities. The point of GC is to make sure that every single out of stater doesn't get a bid at their school in the hopes that some day the greek system will be totally defunct. Duh.

PNMs need to know and be reminded that they could have been the first person on the list to return and would have returned if one more person ahead of them on the list had chosen not to return. So much of the time it is not that the PNM was dropped as that they were not near enough to the top of the list to return.

I lived in Texas for 20 years. I was heavily involved with Alumnae Panhellenic in the Richardson/Plano area and even though I moved back to my home state of Florida five years ago, I still remember the pressure the girls went through and the anxiety their Mothers suffered!

First of all, whoever started the myth that you don't need to worry so much about recs should be drawn and quartered. Plain and simple. Maybe up north. ANY where in the south, that is simply not true. If it's 3 A.M. and Susie from San Anton has recs and it's between you and her and you're from Pittsburgh with no rec, it's a no brainer. Let's not kid ourselves.

If you're going out of state, as my daughter did when she went to an out of Texas school, you need to be so prepared. And if you're an out of state person going to any school in Texas, you need to be super prepared. That's just a statement of fact.

What is "prepared"? Recs to every single house. Two or three is not overkill. And support letters aren't bad either. Professional photos. You should have seen some of the portfolios I saw as Rec Coordinator for Alumnae Panhellenic. The "activity" sheet was a professional resume.

Why? Because every Texas girl has them, even if she is a double legacy to five houses. I'm not exaggerating. It is brutal at UT. Some of the houses have already cut before ice waters. They have so many legacies in one year the number would exceed a quota of 50 or 55 new members. That's why some girls, especially Highland Park legacies to certain groups go to certain SEC schools (sorry, y'all), pledge certain houses, and then transfer back to a Texas school so that they are members of a house they could not get into at UT, but their Mama and their Grandmama will be happy that she is now a member of THEIR sorority.

I could not make this up. I wouldn't want to!

Love this! Anyone who has sat through a MS session taking place at 3 am can relate...