EEEk this is horrible news for my daughter. I think she'll not rush now as she is a science engineering major (incoming freshman) at a highly competitive school. I was also a science major and maintained a 3.75 average at UT. Oh well...Her GPA is only 3.6 not great... but I always told her I was ok with anything above a 3.5.:( I was more into it than she was, but without going through and seeing for yourself, you won't ever "get it."

PLEASE do not let the words of ONE poster convince your daughter not to rush. Maybe that's what they do in her chapter (and if it is, she really shouldn't be telling the world that - have we heard of discrimination suits people) but as for the other chapters on the campus, she has NO IDEA why a girl was cut.

Good luck to your daughter!!!

I had an average GPA for recruitment, not a 3.5. More like the one I stated earlier.
As far as the cutting goes:
Before I even joined a sorority, I was at a friend's sorority house and they were talking about future recruitment stuff. The most shocking comment they made was:"Alright, we really can't take anymore engineers. Their GPA always drops after freshman year and we cannot afford that. Let's limit the number in this pledge class to 2-4 this year."

I wish that wasn't the common comments I have heard while being at other friend's houses, but it is. That sorority that the above comment was heard has one of the largest number of engineers. The numbers are different from house to house, but most have 3-8 total. The houses here are around 120-130 ppl. Engineering majors account for appx. 1/4th of the university and 26% of those are female. I might add that avg. GPA in the engineering school is a 2.7.

Policies may be different at other schools, in fact I am sure of that. It would have been nice to be prepared for the worst. I will say that it is getting better as houses are realizing more and more that diversity in majors makes for more fun ideas/converstations.

The fact of the matter is that certain houses will draw heavily from certain majors or schools. House GPA is a really big deal here because all the houses are striving to be the top chapters in their sororities. It is a major concern for them and any sort of risks are not taken by many groups.

I would really like this to change. It is a shame that people are judged before the person even gets to know them.

I will site one conversation that I had during recruitment:
"Oh, so your an engineer. We have one of those. She couldn't be here tonight, she is studying at the library."

The other thing to consider is that if someone does not understand your major, it will be harder for them to relate. Some people will change attitudes completely when you tell them your major and basically end the conversation.

Hey, we are girls too. I do my nails and hair, put on a nice outfit and go to class. There are girly girls in technical classes, but some people just don't see that.

If your daughter has a 3.5, go through it. You never really know until you go through it. There are houses that like science majors and those that don't. For the ones that don't, she wouldn't want to be a part of them anyway.
It is just nice to be prepared for the worst. Those houses I got cut from first were ones not science friendly. There were still houses willing to look past that, a little over half.

Your daughter has a 3.5 in engineering - AMAZING!!!! You should be incredibly proud of her and I would love to see more engineers and science majors in sororities! More women are joining these fields and it would only make sense that houses would grow in that capacity too.

Tell her to go through it. Even if she ends up dissappointed, she will never wonder about "what if?" and that can be very important.

Don't let my comments discourage you, but do let it give you a better idea of what she may or maynot be getting herself into.

According to her rush thread, she decided to transfer to another Florida school and will rush there.

ZTAngel's advice is still pretty true for the major Florida schools with competitive Greek recruitments, though. Good luck, ocalagirl! Like we said-- open mind!

If you do not have grades to pledge, you will be dropped. We simply can't take people who don't have grades, even if they're just slightly under, because it's not allowed. It has nothing to do with what we WANT to do, we simply can't do it.

ZTA zetahunny: If your daughter has a 3.6, she will be JUST FINE. That is very high, so respect the fact that your daughter had to work very hard to get those grades. Our minimum GPA is a 2.5 at my college, and nationally it is a 2.3. We, of course, take the higher..but she is over that by over an entire grade point.

ChildOfTheHorn: I've seen that a lot here, too. I go to a liberal arts school, and I am the ONLY science major in my sorority. Over half the sorority is PA/PR or Hospitality and Tourism Management. Here, however, they were happy to expand their interests a little and shoot for people of different majors.

Don't Worry...
 

I had a 3.4 when I went through recruitment. Not only was I in Junior standing because of how many credits I had (I'm a double major in History and Sociology with a minor in Information Systems Statistical Analysis) but, I had just returned from my deployment to Baghdad, Iraq. I was really worried about how people would view me. I really hated bringing it up that I went away for the military but, thought I had to explain when girls would question why I waited to go through recruitment in my Junior year. Needless to say-I know my Army involvement was what got me cut from some chapters while others really embraced it. It was nice to see that some girls really appreciated my service and my sorority actually said that my military service was one of my distinguishing factors that got me a bid. Don't NOT go through because you think you may not get a bid....I went through will all that on my plate and was preffed by all three of my top choices, Phi Mu, ADPi and AXiD...not because they were the best on campus but, because they were genuine and made me feel like they really wanted me around-but, keep in mind EVERY chapter is unique and great in their own way.....I preffed all three chapters and in the end I became "Les Sous Fideles".....Good luck!!!:)

Unless you're Greek at the OP's new campus, I'd caution anyone to advise her with "don't worry." Ultimately we want the best possible outcome for her, but at the same time we need to be realistic and not sugarcoat things. Judging from her posts, she seems like she knows what she's getting into.

As far as the OP's situation, here was what I came up with:

If she's a freshman, it wont matter because she will go in without having a GPA. No big deal. If she's a sophomore, there are two things that can happen.

1). She goes to a school which is not very competitive in Greek Life. Therefore, the sorrities who DON'T have a minimum higher than her GPA could still be willing to take her.

Or,

2). She goes to a super competitive Greek life school, in which case her being a sophomore will hurt her much more than her GPA..or at least as much.

It won't hurt to rush and see what happens.

She's a junior (i think) transfer at a school with a very competitive rush.

I don't go to a super competitive school, but from what I hear..wouldn't that hurt her WAY more than a GPA? Apparently they like people to get their four years in? Correct me if I'm wrong, PLEASE!

Well, it's hard to say what would hurt more... not a good combo at a competitive school. That's why everyone is trying to be pretty honest with her.

I am truly shocked that in this day and age women are automatically cut for majoring in engineering/hard science/cs/math. Even in my day as an undergrad, non-Mickey Mouse major women pledged all the sororities on my campus. Later on in my advising years at several other schools, I know that my org. took girls who were majoring in tough disciplines.

My alma mater had both an engineering institute and a college of math/science (since split into math/sci and now cs). Greek Life wasn't and still isn't a huge percentage of the student body, but it was/is relatively influential. Student Gov leaders tend to be greek, blah, blah, blah. We just never had mandatory meetings on M-Th nights. From what I recall, all GLOs had chapter meetings on Sunday nights and mixers were only on weekends. I know many Ivies and top engineering schools that still do the same.

It would be interesting to hear from members or advisors of chapters at Dartmouth, Stanford, Cornell, Duke, Vanderbilt and a few others where every PNM who goes through has a 3.75 GPA or above with very high SATs.