Yes, we do...or at least my chapter does. If we get a rec on a girl, we definately remember her.

DGDramaDawg,

You are certainly right that some high schools are that way, in terms of almost a built in rec. system. My school doesn't seem to have that culture, and I think my reaction had to do with maybe misunderstanding what was expressed. I took the comment to mean that UGA sent recruitment info. to the in state girls, rather than high schools girls just getting advice and information. To be honest, I think the in-state value in terms of information is in the alumnae system, whether it's in the high school or not.

I can sometimes point people toward a few alumnae from other groups, and in the last year or so, I've come to fully appreciate what our local alumnae panhellenic does.

(They'll get a girl a rec for every house* on the campus where she is going, in-state, out-of-state, whatever AND they work really hard to find alumnae who personally know the girl, so it's not just info only. It's pretty amazing.)

*The local alumna panhellenic president even tries to find people from groups without current AP members. She's pretty spectacular and I don't know that all Alumnae Panhellenics do as much, but they do have them out of state.

Last year I went to the Atlanta Panhellenic Info session with my daughter (mainly to go with a friend who was going to UGA) and a mother asked if it might not be better to wait until she got used to school to go through rush.

I wanted to scream "NO! It's not a good idea to wait to go through rush at Georgia". But they just gave her some song and dance about how she should make the best decision for her, blah blah blah. In my opinion, it doesn't do any good to have those sessions if you are not going to tell people the truth. It's hard anyway, and it will be a lot harder if you wait. Can you handle that? Then you make the best decision for you. But at least you know.

The growth of suburban Atlanta has put an entirely different face on greek life at UGA. There are some chapters that are very heavy on Lassiter/Pope, some full of the North Fulton girls, and the Parkview/Brookwood/Gwinnett schools, which doesn't leave room for others when they've got a block pulling for even more girls from their particular school. Looking at that list that Panhellenic put out after recruitment was quite interesting and it was easy to see how our school's girls have been "shut out" in the past few years.

Thankfully, I don't think many, if any, of my younger daughter's friends graduating this year are going to UGA. My first relaxing rush in 3 years! ;)

I am so glad I found this forum! I am a transfer hopefully to UGA ( I have yet to hear back from them). I am from Northern VA, and didn't really have an idea about how rush worked in the south. This forum has given me sooo much information! Thanks so much

Get recs. And have an awesome GPA.

As a UGA and GA Southern alum, I would say yes, get recs for each GLO, list any volunteer/philanthropic work you've done, watch your GPA and remember your reputation during the year and months prior to recruitment. There have been some wonderful girls who may have had a crazy night or two with their girlfriends during the summer and behaved in a way that is unbecoming of them. As has often been said, 'it takes a lifetime to build a reputation, but it only takes one night to tarnish it'...something like that.

I'm a GA transplant from NoVa myself! I went to GMU and had a blast there. Though, I didn't go to UGA, but my fiancee did. He is a DTD and told me what he heard and saw of formal recruitment at UGA. It's one of the most competitive schools, so definitely get your stuff straight before going in. Keep an open mind and have fun! Greek life is huge there and I wish you the best of luck (in getting into the school and getting a bid from a sorority). :)

Sorority Information Session in Georgia
 

The Southern Crescent Alum Panhel is hosting its 7th annual Sorority Information session on Saturday 29 March at 1pm at the beautiful Phi Mu HQtrs here in Peachtree City.

http://www.ascapa.org

We invite area high school senior girls & their moms to attend. We always have some light refreshments and this year we are adding door prizes from the local spa and a cute local boutique. This year we are also inviting junior high school girls to attend if they want.

We also invite as many of our alums to attend as possible.

We always try to "tell it like it is" so the girls are clued in on how rush is in the south.

We also try to have a "notable" guest speaker - last year it was Emory's Greek Life director. This year we have the current NPC Chair coming! We also have some current sorority members whose homes are in the area come talk as well as one or two local collegiate Panhel exec members.

We have info forms the girls fill out and then they make as many copies as they need recs for - based on their college (in or out of state). They get everything to me by our deadline and I get everything sent out to the sorority alums in our association who have volunteered to write recs. Last year we did our first rec writing session and had a fantastic showing - many of the ladies in our assoc had not written recs in ages. We shared what - if anything - we knew about each girl and tips for how to phrase something in a rec. It was really a wonderful panhellenic experience and everyone is looking forward to it this year.

We basically try to do everything in our power to ensure the gals who rush from our area have the recs and info they need to have a succesful happy experience.

We used to help anyone who came to us - including a number of girls from metro/northside of Atlanta, but now we refer them to the Atlanta Panhel unless someone down here knows them personally. I do tell them if they cannot get any help to come back to me and we will try.

there should be a special star for you in the heavens,gphibltcolonel. thank you for all you and the lovely ladies of your panhellenic association do!

gphibltcolonel, three cheers to you! I wish there was something like this in my area when I was at that stage in my life. I never even knew about recs etc. At my time, it was either you were a legacy or not. (that was important back then) Times have changed and so much has improved for your women because of people like you.

Shucks, I'll be missing my 2nd one in a row but since the chapter is nice enough to throw me at Going Away party (not retirement!!;)), guess I'll go there, lol.

Have fun!!

I know the gals and moms will learn alot!

Reading this thread has been eye-opening to say the least!

Recruitment at my Georgia school (Columbus State) is not NEARLY as taxing as recruitment at UGA! I got sick just reading about the process there! I used to think that if I went to a larger school that I would join a GLO with no problems but now I'm SO glad that I chose a smaller school with a smaller Greek system.

Man, would it be nice to have over 100 PNMs go through Rush at CSU! It would be a luxury to cut so many legacies but here, if you're a legacy, you are almost guaranteed a bid from the legacy group (unless your grades are low or you did something stupid...). I know now that at a larger school I might not have found such a great home in AOII (who knows? I might have been cut the first round or something.). It just goes to show that G-d really does have a plan, even regarding going Greek!

However, we Greeks fight stereotypes all the time and its the larger systems like these that just strengthen those stereotypes, you know? I wish there was a better way with much less heartbreak... and the heartbroken just fuel the stereotypes again in a vicious circle...

I'm probably just rambling now, but PHEW! Congrats to all the Greeks who survived recruitment at larger SEC schools and found their homes!

I'm just saying that when girls are cut from larger systems, they often are negative and then promote the stereotypes that Greeks are mean beauty queens that didn't think she was "good enough" and cut her for stupid reasons (even though it might be for reasons like grades).

I understand that chapters have quotas and totals and can't take everyone that comes through rush, but I guess the arduous selection process is a necessary evil at larger schools...

Something to think about: What you are describing happens everywhere on some level. It's not exclusive to SEC schools or any other large recruitment environment. Cuts and selection happen everywhere, whether you have a ton of girls going through or you barely get 100.