I love reading UF stories! I hope your story ends with a bid to a chapter you love as much as I love mine, even all these years later :)

Love your story! You have such a great attitude about recruitment especially experiencing houses for yourself and not listening to what everyone else is saying. Good luck today!

GO GATORS!!
 

I hope you're surviving this insane heat!!!

Today was so fun! It wasn't as long as yesterday so that was a plus, and also the weather somewhat cooperated with us today. It looked like it was going to rain, but it didn't and it stayed overcast, so that was really nice. :) Today my group and I visited: Renesmee, Victoria, Jessica Stanley, Jacob, Mike Newton, Carlisle.

Renesmee- The girl I was paired with was super sweet and there was never any lull in our conversation. We spoke a lot about philanthropies, trophies, and family weekend. I'm not sure if I could see myself there, but I did feel pretty comfortable.

Victoria- Again, the young woman I was paired with was great and very welcoming! We spoke about TV nights in their house, people with coupons ( we both have to deal with this at work hahaha), nail polish, and their chapter president. Very pretty girls, another one that I'm not sure whether or not I could fit it, but I wouldn't be opposed to being invited back! :)

Jessica Stanley- The girl I was paired with was nice, however I bit hesitant and standoffish at first. The conversation picked up, though. We spoke about my major and networking. She was nice, but the place all in all was almost too "perfect" and almost stepford-ish. This isn't the place for me.

Jacob- Here, I spoke to three girls. The first was really nice, I could tell that she is kind of shy, but I just kept the conversation flowing as best I could and I believed she followed suit. Between the three ladies, we spoke about my year in college, major, their house and how it has been redone; the seats of their chairs were so cute and their house was beautiful! I believe I could see myself here.

Mike Newton- The girl I was paired with was a bit monotone at first, but I think because she was a little nervous, but the conversation got better in no time. We talked about their philanthropy and how it was something I would be interested in because I'm involved with something similar. BEAUTIFUL house. Still unsure about whether or not I could see myself there.

Carlisle- The last house of the day! WOOHOO! I LOVE this house! The young woman I was matched with spoke with me as if we have been friends for a while. No awkwardness at all! She was great! We spoke about networking, the same shows we like, my major and a lot of the girls in that group have the same major, and how being in a sorority can help someone so much and how sisterhood is such a beautiful thing to have. I also had kind of a deja-vu when I was sitting in this house; I felt as though I have been there before or have had a premonition of me being there in the future. Needless to say, I LOVED this house.

After the final party concluded, we all walked back to a building to preference our choices. We don't rank our top eleven, but we do rank our bottom five just in case it matches with their choice and it's still a possibility that we can be asked back.

My top 11:
Esme
Carlisle
James
Alice
Bella
Edward
Rosalie
Jasper
Renesmee
Jacob
Emmett

My bottom five:
Mike Newton
Victoria
Jessica Stanley
Charlie Swan
Laurant


I'm so excited to get my schedule tomorrow morning!! :) I have to be at "home base" at 7 am!! Although it's early, I know it will all be worth it! Goodnight, everyone and thanks for reading! GO GATORS!! :)

So, I woke up bright and early at 4:30 to start getting ready for my day and I'm super excited! I walk outside at 6:15 all cute and ready and my phone rings-- It's one of my pi chi's. I answered it to find out that I had been released from recruitment. :( I just don't understand. She told me about how my pi chi's are still there for me if I need to talk and if I was okay or if I needed anything. I am so crushed. I just don't understand how all 16 chapters could drop me after meeting with them for 20 minutes. Yes, I am a junior; however, I still have 3 years left in college due to a major switch and the addition of a minor and I made that clear to everyone. I was peppy, but not over the top and for the majority of the time, my conversations flowed really well. I just can't believe that I was dropped by ALL 16 chapters.I was expecting heavy cuts, but NOT this bad. After recruitment week is over, I plan on calling our office of Greek life and asking about COB or whatever it is that UF does. Although I am saddened by this, if it's not meant to be, it's not meant to be . Hopefully it is and maybe my journey is meant to be a bit rocky. Thank you all for reading and for all of your support!

You can't beat yourself up about this. It was simply because you're a junior and with the number of ladies on their lists, extenuating circumstances just don't get remembered. I'm so sorry for your loss. Yes, check into COB, and keep your ears open for a new chapter coming (no, I don't know anything, just saying if it happens, they will want even seniors). And get yourself into some other activities as soon as possible so you can get on with the healing process. And do use your Pi Chis for support. Again, I'm so sorry.

You definitely should not beat yourself up!

You can look at the entire picture and see what happened and at least pretty much know why. Many young women just can't do that when they are cut/released. They will never feel that peace that you can...even if it hurts a bit.

Your case is one of those recruitment cases where, in my opinion, the system does not really work. I am quite familiar with UF and I totally understand the bigger picture here, but I happen to agree that this is where the system is a tad flawed.

Go enjoy yourself! You are at an amazing school and you will have the time of your life. I hope something opens for you with COB.

Good Luck!:)

Junior status, regardless of how much longer you'll be in school, at a school with a competitive recruitment that doesn't have a separate upperclass quota does really hurt you. You didn't mention whether you had recs or if your GPA was impeccable but even if you did have great recs and a stellar GPA, when a chapter has to make cuts with little information to go on, junior class standing hurts a lot. You can't take it personally. Although sorority life is very meaningful to everyone on this board, there are MORE people who are not Greek who have a great college experience than people who are Greek.

Good luck :)

cob can be an opportunity for some girls to really shine, that might have been overlooked during a huge formal recruitment. definately sign up for cob and see what happens.

I know this must have been hard news, but there is COB and I am sure many other campus organizations that would be fun for you..

ufgirl12, how may recs. were you able to secure before recruitment began? i remember that a friend had told you not to worry about recs.

Thanks everyone, I really appreciate all of the support. FSUZeta, I was able to secure 9 recs before coming into recruitment. when I saw on here that everyone said it would be in my best interest to get them I tried my hardest and got 9 out of the 16 chapters. AGDee, I did have recs, like I said above and my GPA is a 3.3 which is about the average of all greeks in general, which isn't the best GPA, but it's certainly not terrible. I emailed the office of greek life this morning and asked about COB so I'm hoping for some positive feedback. Thanks again, everyone! :)

UFGirl, hang in there! Hopefully COB is an option. Fingers crossed for you. Just remember that whatever happens was meant to happen, and you can be successful in whatever you do in school and in life, regardless if you're Greek or not!

Although we can't possibly know the specific reasons for your release, we all generally agree that the most obvious and logical explanation is your class standing. That's simply something that can't be changed or denied. And while it's my opinion that upperclassmen can often bring something valuable to the table that an 18 year old freshman just doesn't have yet, the reality is that recruitment is slanted towards freshmen.

I know you are hurt, and if it were possible, I'd be able to take away some of that hurt. Telling you that it isn't personal doesn't make it any less painful. My Panhellenic sisters have offered some great suggestions and I'd most definitely encourage you to pursue COB, if that's an option. My sense is that you have a lot going for you and this bump in the road is not as severe of a setback as it feels like this morning.

Thank you for sharing your story with us, and I wish you the best.

Oh no Im sorry UFGirl :( Good luck with COB and thanks for sharing your story with us :)

Thanks,everyone! I really appreciate it, and all of your kind words are helping me cope a bit better. Come to find out, that there were A LOT of juniors rushing this year, more than there have been in years past, and mostly all of us were cut. It's so sad, but I'm still going to try for COB. :) Hopefully that will all work out for me! Keeping my fingers crossed. :)

That may be a sign that UF needs to consider a separate quota for juniors. I hope they get that message.

she's a student at UF, but i wish all the florida schools would grant a separate quota for upper classwomen.

ufgirl, i am impressed that you scrambled around and got 9 out of 16 recs. hopefully some of the sororities that might be able to cob will be ones that you had recs. to! good luck!

USF doesn't count upperclassmen in the quota.

that is good. maybe the rest of us will follow suit one day!

Well, this year was the first year that UF didn't have "Junior Quota" or at least that's what the ladies on the Panhellenic Council told us at the information session this summer, so I thought that was a good thing. But, since I guess that there were SO many juniors it just didn't matter? I talked to an active today and she said pretty much all the juniors who were not transfers got cut, simply because of the fact that we are juniors and there were so many of us this year. Ah well. COBs here I come! :)

Fixed it, thanks. I'm having trouble keeping track of all the Florida threads going on at once.

I really don't see why all universities do not have a seperate quota for upperclassmen. In my opinion, I think it can only benefit the chapters on campus.

I absolutely agree. It has worked so well on several campuses that I work with..and the upperclass women usually have a great recruitment experience as a result. Upperclass quota may only be 3 women, but they are usually great women who may have been released or dropped from the system in the rush to pledge freshmen. Now they can stand on their own merits and be recruited for who they are...wonderful girls , involved on campus, and making good grades, Who wouldn't want pledges like these!

Okay, so I called my Office of Greek Life today and spoke with a receptionist. She said that there wasn't a list to get on for COB but that the sororities would know if I was eligible. This kind of worries me a bit. I was thinking that maybe I should e-mail the membership or recruitment person for each chapter I was interested in and ask if they were doing any COB events? I mean I just don't know what to do, and I figured I should consult my wise group of people I know on Greek Chat before doing anything else. What do you think I should do? Your advice would help immensely and I would appreciate it so much seeing as I do feel I had a strong bond with a few chapters Just let me know. :) Thanks so much!

Doesn't the chapter usually contact the PNM if they are doing COB?

if there are any cob eligible chapters in spring semester, there is one night where all the interested pnms attend an information session. from there the individual sororities will contact the pnms. at least that is what they have done in the recent past.

Thank you so much! I just wasn't sure how to go about this situation. Hopefully some of the chapters I was interested in will call me back. *Crosses fingers* Everyone has been such a great help to me during this whole experience! Thanks again, and I will be sure to keep you posted about COB and what not. :)

Just got word that GC's "Gatorbaby" went Zeta Tau Alpha!!! At least one success story! lol

Great News!

:D:D:D:D:D That's two Gators I know who went ZTA now!

I don't think you should say ALL FL schools. Some don't have problems taking wome of all ages/class standings. But yes, the ones with this type of competitive recruitment should consider it as it is a better way of placing more upperclass women instead of having them sign up and then all but most likely refusing to take them based on that alone.

Exactly..not all FL schools are the same. USF started doing jr/sr quotas in 2008, not sure if they still do them, but I believe so...

we still do

UF has never had a junior quota. There are several houses that have been pushing it, but most have been resistant. Hopefully, UF will follow the lead of many of the other SEC schools and have it in place next year. Many UF houses are not open to upperclassmen. UF also has an administration that appears to be anti-greek and therefore one of the most brutal and unreasonable recruitment schedules that I have seen. If you go on their website you will be appalled at the recruitment schedule. It seems cruel and unusual punishment for both pnm, actives and Pi Chis. Remember these women are doing this is intense heat and humidity. It is surprising that anyone sticks around long enough to pledge a house. Not sure I would.

Umm, Panhellenic (national and local) are the ones who push for recruitment before the school year starts in August. Which, in Florida, is baking hot.

They have a lot of chapters to visit and the only solution would be to drag it out for another day or two - which would mean even MORE exposure to the heat & humidity. They actually are giving them breaks at the hottest times of the day.

I can't function at 7 AM but that has nothing to do with the weather.

If the administration really wanted to manipulate women out of joining with a schedule, rush would be on every weekend night for a month.

My panhellenic sisters have pretty much summed up all the good advice, so I just want you to know that I feel for you and I hope COB is a good experience. Either way, I have no doubt that your college years will be amazing because you have such a FANTASTIC attitude!

I haven't heard anything back yet about COB, but then I'm not sure that it would be this immediate after formal recruitment? So, if I don't ever hear anything back I AM going to try informal recruitment in the spring, and I know that all the houses don't participate, if I find a home, then it's what's meant to be. :) Thanks, everyone for all the info! :)

just keep in touch with panhellenic, join some clubs or honoraries on campus, meet some sorority members. good luck to you!!