I bet you can Google Kristen Saban but she beat the crud out of a sorority sister.

Not LSU - at Alabama....she was a legacy and pledged that chapter....but no happy ending...

That's the thing-if you've got the connections to get into the most desired and selective sororities despite mediocre grades and involvement, you know it already. You're either the daughter of the football coach or the scion of the gas station owner and Eta Eta Tittle legacy and you've been going to their events since you were old enough to behave in public. You know for sure that you're set. It's the other 99% that have to get in based on merit, connections, and a little bit of luck.

My undergrad was Texas A&M - College Station.

YMMV - At A&M there were usually a lot of engineering majors during freshman year. Some of them did not achieve the minimum GPA to move on to their sophomore year in engineering, so they had to drop out. When they did, they usually went to engineering technology.

Again, YMMV. One of the biggest challenges that you will find in the natural sciences and engineering (now called STEM) is that a lot of the professors are non-native English speakers. For example, one of my TAs for my Biochem lab was Chinese. At the time, I did not know that there is no letter 'L' in the Chinese language. So, every time she would lecture she would "drop" the 'Ls" from her words. So first I had to understand what she was saying, THEN, I could understand the material she was teaching. That can become a frustrating environment to try to learn, which may unfortunately affect your grade.

But, to the young lady's concern about her major. I would become very involved in your major's undergraduate student group. I remember my freshman year the president of the Undergraduate Biochemistry Society was a Tri-Delta, and another 'friend-of-a-friend' of mine in my Biochem major was the president of A Chi O our junior year.

I would talk to these women to see how they balance the major with sorority commitments.

honestly, it's not that i think i'm better than anyone or need a free pass or anything like that, I chose this major because I want my dream job. However, I do feel like I'm deserving of a chance you know. I think of it like getting into college. It looks better if you took all AP/honors classes and got a 3.8 GPA versus someone who got a 3.9 taking all standard classes, right? I don't think all other majors are easier. All majors get more difficult over time. But I do think some are not as challenging and it's worth noting. For example, engineering major vs photography major with the same GPA...

I do know quite a few girls I went to high school with that are in top tier sororities at big universities but graduated with a 3.0-3.2 GPA. They are exceptionally beautiful though so I do think that might have something to do with it...

3.8 vs 3.9 wasn't the problem. And physical beauty is a factor, but it won't override a bad GPA.

maybe not, but this thread kind of gives the impression that if you don't have a very impressive GPA you won't be getting into any sororities, let alone top tier. I'm just saying I know girls who are living proof that's not exactly true, lol.

No, what we are saying is that if you don't meet the particular sorority's nationally set minimum and/or the chapter's voted on, in their bylaws minimum, you won't get in. (unless mom is the national president, etc). Just because PH allows you to register at a 2.5 or even lower does not mean that a single one of the chapters on that campus can pledge someone with that low a GPA.

I would eat my hat if someone could find a single instance of a chapter of my sorority overriding the national minimum grade requirement for ANY reason. And president of the national fraternity would absolutely not be one. I can't imagine her humiliating herself in the way required to say, yes, my super special snowflake isn't good enough for us, but take her anyway.

As a point of clarification, just because a sorority is not perceived as "top tier", that doesn't mean that they must be scraping the bottom of the GPA barrel.

I understand that but a few posts back someone basically said you won't get a bid with a 3.1 GPA, which is untrue.

I never said they were. However, since the "top tier" houses have so many girls that want in, you would think their criteria would be more rigid and they would pick the girls with higher GPAs.

My best friend is in a "bottom tier" sorority and graduated with a 4.0.

Definitely have mixed feelings on this issue, and it all stems from anecdotes, rather than any sort of facts. I'm asking forgiveness in advance for rambling:

My university is a very Poli Sci/International Affairs-heavy school. We're really, really good at that, that's what people come to my school to do, so when people say they're majoring in that (or something similar, like Political Communications), it's not rare, but it's definitely not viewed as just some soft major.

The university has also changed its admission requirements over the past few years to admit students without SAT scores and include more engineering students to finance our new engineering building. As a result, our admissions rates have gone up. So when PNMs come through recruitment saying they're engineers, I'm impressed because I would never be able to do that sort of math, but that is by far not the most impressive PNM. My sophomore year my little was an engineering major and after the first semester, she was placed on academic bad standing and eventually dropped. Very sweet girl, but just because she was admitted to the university did not mean she was adequately prepared for the rigor of university academics, no matter how impressive some might view her major, just because she is a woman in STEM.

Finally, I'm studying English and theater, which many will likely see as a totally easy course of study, and also point out how difficult it will be to find employment once I graduate. However, I have plenty of STEM sisters who look at the number of papers I write or books I read every week and they say they could never do it, just like how I could never do economics or study anatomy. I chose to pursue a major where I would both enjoy the subject matter and be good at it, because while I certainly could have chosen to be an International Affairs major and take econ classes, there's no way I'd ever make any sort of honor roll or dean's list.

So, whenever a PNM says she should get a pass for her bad GPA because she has a hard major, I always wish she'd think about whether she'll actually be able to participate in her chapter and manage her school work, or if she'll turn out like my old little, because it really is heartbreaking when a girl has to drop because she can't handle the commitment.

@ari115

The OP is talking in general terms...there are always exceptions to the rule. Also, the perception of what is top tier is different for each campus. Besides, since you are not a part of membership selection you don't know what all of their criteria to receive a bid to that sorority. Each sorority on each campus has a different round when they make GPA cuts.

Also, your GPA most likely will be different when you go through recruitment than when you graduate. 2 completely different animals. You are a prime example of this, you are having an inferiority complex about your current GPA and worried about when you go through recruitment that you will not even be considered for your school's top tier chapter because of it. Well do something about it...again, which I believe you may be doing, by doing better in your classes to increase your GPA. [Of course, you could also be doing a would've, could've, should've for an unsuccessful recruitment in the past, or got released from that top tier chapter.]

Reality check: all they see is a number (for GPAs), not the story behind the number. But also remember that is just one aspect that the chapter is looking at when recruiting new members.

Perhaps you should wait until you're actually in a sorority before making assumptions about our membership selection criteria.

Here's the deal, according to me:

NPC sororities were founded on scholarship principles. It was brutal to be a woman back in the 19th century, entering higher education, which was a man's world. Our predecessors were not treated well at all. You can read about it in history books; the struggles were real.

We take great pride in that fact. Further, we continue to value scholarship. Hence, there is competition for GPA each semester in the active chapters, and use of GPA as a membership selection criterion. That doesn't mean just great grades. It's the whole package: a lifelong interest in learning, a keen mind, intellectual curiosity, and willingness to impart and receive knowledge, just for starters. Attempting to reduce this to one major being more difficult and hence earning a "pass" or "wiggle room" isn't going to cut it. One of my sorority sisters is a renowned diplomat with a distinguished career in foreign service. No way I could do what she has done. Do I think her major was any less demanding than that of mine (which was heavily loaded on science classes)? Hell, no! It prepared her for success. Frankly, if we traded places, I'd probably have made a mess of things internationally and she likely would have failed at what I've done. And I was pretty successful (and happy).

I tease AZ-Alpha Xi because she is a "real scientist" (based on her major and her profession) and I am merely a "faux scientist" (that came from a long-ago GC thread, lost in the mists of time). She laughs at me and knows it is good-natured teasing. My point: I think what she does is very difficult, and she thinks the same of me. We each ended up in a field of study that suits our learning styles, talents, and abilities. Sororities brought out the best in us, academically.

tl/dr: you are barking up the wrong tree. And l like what my panhellenic sisters have written, and would love to see this thread stickied.

I don't care about being in a top tier sorority. I was simply stating that girls can still get into those chapters without having an outstanding GPA, even though they are supposedly "harder" to get into. I also know every campus is different as far as top/mid/bottom tier sororities.

@Sororitysock I am in a sorority actually.

Good grades, community service, a good personality, beauty, rec letters, etc, all contribute to a girl getting a bid. I understand. But this topic is on GPA so that's what I was talking about.

you are? Not according to your previous posts you aren't.

Which is it?

GC is totally confusing me, all this double-speak.

Then why have you been asking us for help getting into a sorority?

This is what you said on 9-26.

Did you accept a bid since then?

Yes, I have :) very excited

So are you still planning to transfer to U of Florida next year?

It's possible but honestly, I only really wanted to transfer because my friends from high school go there (and it does look better for getting into their vet school). After talking with their Admissions, it seems like their biology college is pretty competitive and I'm not sure I'll have the GPA by the end of this semester to get in. I really like my current school, but it's been extremely difficult for me to make friends so the past year has been really rough & depressing. I figured if I fall in love with my sorority & can make some good friends, I'll have no problem staying where I am.

Yet less than 24 hours ago, in this very thread, you said you were hoping you'd get a chance in spite of your lackluster GPA because of your "hard major."

Your timeline is quite dubious.

Did you ever think maybe I was waiting to hear back? You don't have to believe me. I don't care. I don't have anything to prove to strangers on an online forum lol

Did you ever think we know how these things work? You really expect us to believe you literally accepted a bid within the last couple of hours yet are spending time with "strangers on an online forum" instead of with your sorority? Much believable.

Um yes, I did. literally earlier today. I haven't gotten a chance to even meet my sorority sisters. Currently doing homework on my laptop so yeah it's not very hard to switch tabs & respond to you. Not sure why you think you know everything that must be going on in my life.

You could have at least been honest with me when we were messaging last week....

What was I dishonest about??

Calling your bluff, ari115.

Where? What school? What is your chapter?

ETA: private message me, if you prefer. I won't blast it. Or else just carry on and continue to be thought a liar. On an online forum consisting of strangers. lol

ETA #2: crickets. No pm no public response. Done here. Still totally agree with KSU Violet's posts on this topic and with others' responses, ari115 notwithstanding. Super annoyed.

Pardon if I missed something in these posts, but how does someone get a bid "but not have met their sisters"?? That seems very, very odd and like OP doesn't know how rush really works.

Honey, we are just not that gullible. :rolleyes:

I have a question about GPA. Do the Universities normally give the chapters the weighted or unweighted GPA? Also, if a woman is a transfer, does the University normally give the chapter her high school GPA or her college GPA?

For freshmen, it's non weighted. For upperclass, whether transfer or not, it's college only.

And that is what I *thought* we were supposed to get. But one of the Universities I work with seems to have given us a mix of weighted and non-weighted, and maybe a couple of the transfers information had their HS listed instead. I just wanted to find out what is the norm.....or what we are SUPPOSED to get.

Thanks!

I am curious on this point.

My high school did not weight GPA at all. If you got a B in an honors or AP course, your transcript listed the honors/AP course but also listed the B.

My husband's high school did weight GPAs. His GPA was pulled down because he was in the chorus, which was considered a class, and, even though he got straight A's, he was not tapped for valedictorian or salutatorian for this reason.

Typically, the PHs that give a GPA to the sororities for the PNMs give the core subject GPAs that the school accepted for admission.

Back in my day, ;), my Virginia high school only weighted the GPA if you got a 4 or 5 on the AP test; BUT, the AP classes used a different grading scale than the normal/honors classes.
For AP it was a 10 point scale. The lowest points per grade were 90=A, 80=B, 70=C, 60=D.
For other classes it was a 6 point scale. 94-100=A, 87-93=B, 79-86=C and 70-78=D.

So, by default your AP classes were weighted more favorably without being obvious. But I hated the 6 point scale with a passion. Especially since I was from California and knew that it was not the norm! I still think about how much better my GPA could have been if the scale had been standard with the rest of the country.

*Both were on a 4.0 scale, not the 6.0 scale that some schools use.

*I googled and found out that VA Beach has come out of the dark ages as of 2010! It looks like in the mid 80s they moved to the 6 point scale from the 5 point scale. In reading another link, it sounds like quite a few schools in VA still have scales other than the 10. https://pilotonline.com/news/local/e...70180d2a3.html

^ So, if you took AP classes during your senior year, you wouldn't know your definitive final HS GPA until AP grades were sent out in July?

How did your HS determine class rank? Did they just go by your GPA as of the end of junior year, appropriately weighted if you'd taken any AP classes during your sophomore and junior years? (That's what my HS did. Class rank was based on your GPA as of the end of junior year - and, as I mentioned earlier, GPA was completely unweighted. I could have completely blown off my senior year and gotten straight F's and I would still have been valedictorian.)

Yes, the weight was so small though, less than a tenth and only if you scored 4 or 5. (In San Diego, it seems it's at least a tenth and has a bigger impact.) I want to say we had our test scores before mid-June when we graduated, because I was over the moon to have done better on the test than my class grades would have indicated.

When it came to class rank, our upper tier students were so neck and neck that you would think that the bump would make a bigger difference. We sure as heck knew where each other landed on the list and what classes everyone was taking. The truth was though that since they were taking the same classes and getting similar grades they'd get the same scores too. So it was a wash.

Actually, my senior year there was DRAMA, because a girl returned to our school that year, after having been in Boston for 9th-11th grade. She had gone to VB schools through Junior High so she was well known. Based on GPA she was #2, but everyone pointed out that her grades were "easier". The girl who was edged out of the honor was eventually allowed to give a speech at graduation as an "honorary" salutatorian.


Googling again, it looks like now they weight based on your class grade instead of your test score. I'm not sure how I feel about that though, now everyone who passes those classes gets a bump. That would make it more impactful.

Here's what VA Beach has for weighting:
After the grade point average of the student has been determined, bonus credit will be added for advanced placement courses and specifically approved courses such as international baccalaureate and magnet courses. The Department of Teaching and Learning will determine which courses are to receive bonus credit. Bonus credit will be awarded as follows for year courses: (A, A-) =.0488, (B+, B, B-) =.0366, (C+, C, C-) =.0244, (D+, D) =.0122, E=O. Bonus credit will be awarded as follows for semester courses: (A , A-) = .0244; (B+, B, B-) = .0183; (C+, C, C-) = .0122; (D+, D) = .0061; and E = 0.