Washington State University also tends to let PNM's know ahead of time about GPA issues, but of course, there are girls that their personalities/connections/passion/ or what have you, will get them through. My sister thought that and boy was she wrong. She got invited to 5 houses after the first round, but still.

On the WSU website it clearly says more than once:


And its funny because this year a very high number of PNM's were dropped because of grades and were devastated but it was said plenty of times and they were even emailed by their Rho Gammas before recruitment started to let them know that their GPA's were low and to expect cuts.

I find this topic very interesting having been a grade risk myself. When I went through recruitment, the minimum GPA was a 2.5 - if you had a 2.5 or higher (irrelevant of higher chapter minimums), you were allowed to go through the first round. Women with lower GPAs would be released before the first round of recruitment (or not allowed to finish signing up). However, it's very likely that (like in my situation - I had a 2.5 as a result of my own neglect to my academics) you will not be asked back to a chapter that has those higher grade requirements NO MATTER WHAT. I was cut from several chapters that I loved/loved me because the fact is that my grades were not where they were supposed to be for a sorority woman.

Recently, my school changed the minimum to be a 2.7. My chapters GPA minimum is higher than that at a 3.0, so girls between the 2.7 and 3.0 are typically dropped after the first or second round. There are, of course, exceptions to this (legacies, certain recs, special circumstances), but those are rare.

To comment on why allow women to go through recruitment with awful GPAs is because (IMO) they want to give those freedoms to the chapters to make the decision overall (via Panhellenic minimums). While my chapter had a minimum of a 3.0, another could easily have one of a 2.5, and that's why Panhellenic set the standard at that. I think the reason why it was increased is because every chapter had a minimum GPA of a 2.7, and wanted to prevent unnecessary sign ups from women who were just going to be cut the first round... And possibly to raise the standard for the overall Panhellenic GPA.

Just my two cents :)

The University of Iowa's 2013 Council Publication lists the required GPA for each chapter. Assuming what's listed is accurate, I think it's great to be so upfront.

I'd add a link to it, but am not sure how to do that from my iPad. Sorry!

One reason schools may not want to be the ones to discourage those young ladies with low grades could be to cover themselves from possible action under ADA. They know which students receive services from their Special Services Department (some schools known as Disabled Students Union) and cannot prevent them from participating in activities under the ADA laws. In that case, it is easier on the schools to let each chapter make the determination as to whether to accept the young lady or not. Since women with good grades are released along with those with low grades, it is much harder to come back and claim she was discriminated against based on grades. The rec may include a statement regarding the young lady's disability and the chapter has the right to accept it or reject it based on their own chapter's/national's guidelines.

DaffyKD

Panhellenics need to put warnings in their recruitment information. If they don't, women with low GPAs will think they were only allowed to rush so PH could collect the fees.

I remember a girl who rushed in 2005 at a Georgia school. She had a 2.5 and I was astounded that PH let her rush but her mom said none of the literature said a thing about grades. The PNM was cut from every group after first rounds. Greek mom was sad and her daughter was mad about the wasted fee.

Could I ask, how do you know the bolded is true? Of course it could be, but how would anyone know why girls were dropped or that the number of girls dropped for grades this year was higher than in years past?

My sisters Rho Gam told her. I'm not sure how the numbers were years past, but that's just what she said.

I'm still dumbfounded at the <2.5 students being admitted to college.

If an individual can't get at least average in high school, with its (relatively) disciplined structure and its grade inflation, doing so in college (even with its grade inflation) seems far from a sure thing.

THATS THE PART THAT ALWAYS GETS ME! I know of many athletes with GPA's that low that get into college, and I still have a problem with that, don't get me wrong, but what I don't understand his how regular folks just go on and somehow skate by admissions with a 2.0.


And sadly, the lowest person I know to get into college had a 1.7 GPA. How is that even possible?

If I remember right, at my university if you scored above a certain number on SATs or ACTs, you were automatically granted admission, regardless of your GPA. But, if you had a low GPA, you'd be stuck in a "study skills" class. Same if you had a low SAT/ACT but a high GPA.

As a high school teacher, I can tell you there are often extenuating circumstances, most often medical. The most drastic being, a girl from my area had a brain tumor that caused her to miss a lot of school and not retain a good deal of the information she was taught. Once the tumor was diagnosed and treated, she rebounded but her high school GPA was very low due to the illness and absences. Her doctors from a very well known national hospital all wrote letters detailing her illness and recommending her for college. These letters were sent in with her applications. She is a junior in college and doing well.

Another more common exception is a learning disability that was not diagnosed until well into high school. With academic support, these students can be successful in college after a rough start in high school.

WestcoastWonder - I don't want to derail this thread too much, but your sister needs to be wary of where her Rho Gam or whoever is giving her all of this information (number of groups not making quota, why girls were dropped, etc,), is getting it. I know a lot of these same rumors/statements (virtually word for word) are on another site that shall remain nameless, and she needs to know that they are just that - gossip and rumors. Her Rho Gam might know how many girls were cut entirely, but she would have no way of knowing why they were cut for sure (she might offer a good guess, but that's all she could do).

WestcoastWonder - just curious, are you in an NPC sorority?

As for GPA requirements, Arizona Greek Life Office makes it abundantly clear to PNMs that GPAs below a certain cut-off = very high probability of being released from recruitment. PNMs can't be told "don't rush", that isn't up to Greek Life; but they do get the information.

The NPC UA#2 is the reason for all this. It states that a college panhellenic cannot restrict a woman from participation in requirements due to her GPA. It is up to each individual group to set their GPA requirement with no interference from PH. While this can cause some women to sign up who will be released at the first opportunity, do we really want the CPH deciding who we can recruit? Sorry, but I don't....

Do Rho Gams work in the best interest of the panhellenic council or the PNM? Please include information to support your answer. What if the Rho Gam is a close friend of the PNM?