As already said, ADPi leaves it up to the individual Chapters to determine how they treat steps. The vast majority say yes they are legacies.

However (and I know I've told this story before in some other thread) we had a situation a while back were an in-house active did not want her step-sister considered as a legacy. The active's Mom and step-Dad had been married recently after a whirlwind romance and the active didn't really know or particularly like her new step-sis. Mom was also an alum, but never pursued the matter by sending in a legacy intro. Frankly I was grateful for that because I really didn't want to get in the middle of a Mom/Daughter fight.

I wouldn't necessarily agree that most ADPi chapters give steps credit as legacies. Most I've seen view them as being akin to a niece or cousin-- an ADPi relative, but not a legacy.

My apologies. Allow me to clarify my statement. According to what I have been told by an International Officer, the majority of ADPi chapters consider steps as legacies. How accurate was her info? I have no idea and there is no way to check it out.

Was wondering if an active sister, at a different school, will help or hurt her soon to be rushing sister during cuts? Some have given advice not to write the connection down on any forms because the other houses will assume she will go in her sisters direction and could cut her because of it. Others have said since she is not "in house" at her sister's new school, it shouldn't hurt her with the other sororities, but might give her an edge with the sister sorority on the new campus? What do you all think?

Did that make sense?;)

you made perfect sense. unfortunately, i do not have a definitive answer for you.

i can definately say that you all should let the legacy chapter at your pnm's school know that she has a sister in a different chapter of the same sorority. if sister can write a rec., she should, otherwise, she (or the family) should help your pnm secure a rec. for that house(as well all the other houses on pnms campus)

FSUZeta's right, there is no good/easy answer to your situation. The viewpoints differ from one Chapter to another, one sorority to another and one campus to another.

I've heard of some that view it as an exciting challenge to try and "steal" a legacy away from another sorority, particularly an on-campus in house active's sister. I've heard that some figure it's pointless to even try and so drop the PNM early. Then there are some that are hopeful a PNM will make up her own mind and so treat her like everyone else. (Frankly, that's my choice.)

So unless you know an in house active who is willing to share that info, you'll never know how a Chapter views this scenario.

I know I've said this on other threads, but I think that at least in the South, being a legacy helps less and less. Most legacies from this area have not made it into their mothers' sororities, at least on competitive campuses, and the only ones we know who have made it into their sisters' sororities have been in-house legacies.

And if you're an in-house legacy, you'd better want your sister's sorority because chances are that with the new release figures, you're going to get cut by most of the other sororities pretty early. I know one who rushed last year and after first parties, she was cut by all the sororities except her sister's plus one that was quite a bit smaller that a high school friend was in. She spent the rest of recruitment week going to only these 2 parties. On other campuses, she would have been in much more demand with her grades, activities, and looks.

So in a big SEC school, it really isn't going to matter what sorority her sister is in as long as it is not "in house" legacy? It sounds like with the more competitive schools it shouldn't hurt or help.

It is sounding more and more that if you are a legacy you should send in whatever documentation you need to your legacy sorority ONLY, and not mention it on your application or advertise it during recruitment in any way. It sounds like being a legacy is as damaging to a PNM's options at recruitment as a bad GPA or questionable reputation!

A comment from a prospective:

The problem is that if the PNM is doing her job getting her recs to all the houses of her school as y'all have suggested, the NPC affiliation is requested on many of the rec forms. This isn't just on my mom's sorority's form but on several other sororities' rec forms that are on the national websites. So even if on the college's recruitment registration form it only asks for NPC legacy affiliation yes or no and how the PNM is related to the NPC member ie sister, daughter, the nonlegacy sororities will know if you are a legacy to a specific house on campus because it will be on the recommendation forms sent to the chapters.

Exactly the problem!!

I had one person who was doing a recommendation for my daughter say that she would make a note that she would be open to all sororities on campus, not just her legacy.

This is what got me to thinking in the first place! :eek:

Not sure if I needed to make it clear that the recommendation was for a different sorority.

Five of my daughters have rushed and pledged. When the next 4 rush, we'll make sure that only their legacy sororities will know they're legacies. We want them to be judged on their own merits and not cut by some sororities because they're legacies to 4 others.

It used to be that being a legacy meant something but honestly, I've seen so much recruitment pain in the last 6 years as the number of legacies grows. So many sororities blow off cutting the girls--"maybe her mom was an ABC 25 years ago but we get to pick our members and she would fit somewhere else". I saw an incredibly rude email written from a chapter advisor to an alum whose younger sister was cut--along the lines of "we chose our girls, your sister wasn't one, so too bad for you". The thing is, these legacies who are cut are honestly no different from the ones they pledge. Our family might know 2 very similar girls rushing at the same school and the ABC legacy will be cut by them and her best friend, who has the same values and grades and looks and activities will make it in.

I wish I knew the answer to it all.

I love what sororities have to offer a girl...unity, friendship, philanthropy , a sense of family, etc...but I truly hate the process of getting in one!