Exactly. I come from a chapter that, when I was active, never had more than 19 members. We still had PNMs to which we didn't extend bids (for many reasons, grades included).

20+ years ago, I was a PNM. Coming into recruitment, I had tons of activities, including National Honor Society, band, chorus, student government, and drama awards. I had spent the summer before entering college studying language and culture in the Soviet Union. I showed horses on a national level, including having gone to a couple of national finals for my sport. I was a legacy. I also had a 2.99 GPA overall thanks to one bad semester my sophomore year (I was gone showing horses a lot that year). I would have been in what we now call the "yellow zone".

I was dropped from recruitment completely after the 2nd round.

I am happy you have the confidence in yourself. But, speaking from the perspective of someone who was in a similar situation, I seriously wish there had been a Greekchat to tell me to wait a year, get comfortable in school and get those grades up to stellar, where I knew they could be.

Yes, it did work out for me in the end, but it was not a route of would have chosen to take, looking back with the experience and wisdom I have now.

I agree with what everyone else is saying, esp MissouriIvy. I also came from a smaller chapter, and we dropped grade risks all the time. We also dropped people who went around talking about how they weren't worried because we'd "take anyone."

You seem like a nice enough girl. This really is the exception to the "rush as a freshman" rule. Get on campus, focus on your studies, and make friends with sorority girls. Join clubs and be social (once you have your classes under control). Become known (in a good way, not in a "that girl" way). And good luck!

This. I went through recruitment as a freshman at UGA. I had a 3.6 GPA, lots of activities, clubs, hobbies, recs for 11 out of 17 sororities, 2 or 3 for several of them (I should have had more, but hey, I had some). I dressed appropriately and, IMO, looked cute. I was polite and had lots of good conversations and some lame ones. I was also a legacy to one house and knew girls in several others. I didn't have a bad HS rep. I only got invited back to 3 houses for round 2 and I was dropped completely after that. I'd say I was at least in the proverbial lime greenish section and it still didn't work out for me during formal recruitment.

You know what I did, though? I studied, joined some clubs, made a few friends and eventually signed up for informal spring recruitment where I found my home (not my legacy). Recruitment with your GPA and no recs at an SEC is almost certainly going to end in heartbreak. Why not wait? Give it time, work hard, get involved, and sign up for spring or fall later. We are NOT trying to be mean. We're trying to help you.