Recruitment at Southern Mississippi
 

Apparently there were several girls who received no invites today from Southern Miss. Is this typical of this campus? I wrote some recs. for girls at this campus and now they are so nervous. In the past there have been no cuts this early?

I don't know about this case in particular but cuts on the first day usually fall into 3 categories: 1) grade risks, 2) lack of rec or 3) the "no's" (unfortunately there is always a handful of them). Since most groups have to make some cuts the first day, they usually release on the first day the ones they know for sure they won't/can't take.

Yes, but according to their Greek Life no girls have been released fully during this process and there are two days to go. Several of the girls we wrote recs for were only invited back to one or two chapters today. I have advised their moms to upbeat and positive as it only takes one to make it through. They are a wreck and very nervous, but it is understandable this early in the process.

I agree it was harsh today. I wrote a rec for my niece but she still ended up with only 2 invites and it was the 2 she was not interested in, so sad for her. She is smart with a 3.9 GPA, honors college, HS cheerleader and tennis teams, pretty (I am biased though). Not sure what happened or what she should do. Sit out until next year? Accept bid from sorority she didn't really care for?

Glad I have sons.

Tell her to go to prefs and then decide whether to pledge! Minds have been known to change at pref parties!

I agree. I got invited back to all houses after the first set, then got huge cuts after the second sets. I was devastated and only liked two houses out of the six that were left. I decided just to go through with it since I'd been in each house for a total of about 40 minutes, and in the end, I ended up where I was supposed to. You never know--she should definitely give it a chance!

Tell her to keep in mind that whoever gives her a bid REALLY wants HER...and that's a big plus! Good luck!

I'm concerned because if cuts were made today they may not make the next round at all. This is one of my closest friends daughter.
Thank goodness I have two years to go for my own.

Usually once a girl has been released from a chapter at Southern Miss, they will not consider her again the next year. I echo the advice of others...I hope the girls consider the chapters they have left. All of the chapters at Southern Miss have wonderful girls! Good luck to all the PNM's!

Also keep in mind that the NPC Release Figure Method requires many Chapters to make larger cuts earlier in the process than times past.

If every group at USM has a cut once/cut always policy then why would they even allow anyone to go through the process again. So basically if you don't make it through as a freshman your first time you're never getting in a group? Well the PNM is not dropping out, has an open mind and will go where her heart leads her. She is just afraid she will have no invites today, but with the release methods maybe that's why she was cut so early from the other five. Her mom told me at parent orientation they said that in the past five years no girl has been completely released from recruitment, this must be the year as several received no invites to first rounds yesterday.

The good news is that she has 2 invites! She really needs to fully consider her remaining options. These 2 chapters may be her only chance to go Greek.

As far as cut once/cut always, that may not be the policy for every chapter, but it is for many. Most of the girls that come through recruitment a second time do so because they dropped out of a chapter that they signed a bid for and had to wait a calendar year to go through recruitment again (in this case most of those girls take a bid the second year to a chapter THEY released the first year, not a chapter that released them). It is common to come through recruitment at Southern Miss as an upperclassman, but not having already been through freshman year.

Also, as far as some girls getting no invites, I was told by a chapter president that a few girls that had signed up for recruitment had GPAs that would make the ineligible to actually pledge any of the sororities. Greek Life was going to call them to let them know, but they cannot actually force the girls to not come through recruitment. If those girls decided to continue with the process, they would automatically not be invited back by most chapters because in the end the chapters would not be able to extend them a bid because of their grades. I don't know if that is the case with the girls you are mentioning that got completely released, but I know that was an issue.

No grades were not an issue for her. I would think Greek Life would be pro active and tell them they won't get a bid based on their grades. Does USM do Spring recruitment? That at least would give these girls a chance to do well first semester and then pledge second semester.

And to TupeloHoney, your niece sounds like the kind of girl that any chapter at Southern Miss would love to have! I'm sure she has two great chapters left, and I hope she has a great time at skit today. The positive thing about the new release figures is that (usually) no girls get released from the system. However, because the biggest chapters have to release a lot of girls early because of the new system, it is hard on the chapter members too when they have to release PNMs that they would otherwise have kept around longer and gotten to know better. The new system seems to always work out well in the end, but it can be heartbreaking to both PNMs and the chapters in the beginning. It's hard to narrow down the list with so many great girls! Best of luck to your niece!!

Are you sure about that? Did you hear it from a reliable/knowledgable source (like Panhellenic) or is this just the rumor going around?

Usually it is more likely PNMs voluntarily withdrew after the first round because they were unhappy with the Chapters they were invited back to. They may tell everyone they were cut when in reality they were only cut by the Chapters that mattered to them. But as far as they are concerned, it's the same difference.

I don't know specifically about USM, but Panhellenics across the country are notorious for not being upfront with PNMs. They'll say it is the responsibility of the Chapters to obtain Recs when in reality if a PNM doesn't have them she will face dramatic cuts. They will say the minimum GPA is like a 2.7 to go through Recruitment when all the Chapters will cut anyone below a 3.0. It happens all the time and no, it is not fair.

This was mentioned in the parent's meeting to the parent's attending the information session. If the girls maximized all their options they would receive a bid. It was stated very clearly that in the past no girls had been fully released. Anyway it is over and she is heading home as soon as her mom can pick her up. She was released today. She had a 3.85 gpa, beautiful, talented and athletic. It is what it is. She seems to be fine and will do great things otherwise. Thanks to everyone for listening.

Is this an actual honest to God written down bylaw in the chapters' member selection processes, or just a tradition? momof2girls, if a chapter does have this, it's a chapter policy, not a Panhellenic one, and therefore Panhel can't make any rulings on it or prevent people from rushing because of it.

Doesn't the Greek Life office specify a minimum GPA to go through recruitment? If they don't, they should. If they do, and stuff like this is still happening, it should be one that actually makes sense with what the chapters are asking (for example, if all the chapters want 3.0 or over, the minimum stated by the Greek life office shouldn't be 2.5).

How many chapters are you allowed to attend on Skit Day and how many on Pref Day?

how sad. do you mean that she will not be attending usm?

This is the thing - NPC does not approve of the College PH setting a grade requirement as the feeling is it should be left up to the individual organizations. Withi each NPC group, there are varying requirements.
Delta Gamma requires a "C" average. Well, we all know that no chapter wants someone with a "c" average in high school. It's just a very difficult situation...

Maybe I'm old fashioned, but if you have a "C" average in high school, you're pretty lucky to be going to college, so you probably should be focusing on studying rather than joining a sorority, shouldn't you? College is hard, usually. I looked at some schools sites and the h.s. GPAs required to get in. I am curious how some of these girls are getting into these colleges with these GPAs. Sororities should be the least of their concerns.

maybe they knocked the ball out of the park on their SAT's?

Perhaps. But if it's down to her with the C and high SAT and Patty PNM with a 3.8 and the same SAT, guess who gets the invite.

Well I know each group can set different GPAs that they want...no problem there...but like I said, if all the groups require at least a 3.0 and they are letting girls with a 1.9 go through...that's deplorable. If nothing else, the school should go over Panhel's head and set a minimum. Or can't they do that since the groups are relying on high school grades? Just another reason deferred rush is better from an academic standpoint...

I guess I'm missing something, but I don't see a problem with this. I would be worried about "C" being able to keep up.

Then again, I don't think we had a GPA requirement for our sororities. There was no need.

Also, don't most of the recruitment booklets list the minimum GPAs that are needed for each sorority, both for hs and college? Isn't there some responsibility for the PNM to look at that and say "Hmm...I have a 2.5. Maybe I'm only going to be able to possibly pledge 2 houses?"

What seems to be being said is this. If all the individual chapters have their chapter GPA requirements, then the school should stop people from going true recruitment if they are below that. Lets say the GPA requirments for all teh chapters is a 3.o, then you can't recruit if you are below that. But what if some are at 2.5 and some are at 3.o, then you can't go through recruitment if you have less then a 2.5.

I do get what people are saying; I'm not misunderstanding this at all. I just think that when it's laid out for you in your materials, it's not the school's responsibility, it's yours. How is Panhel to know that you aren't lying about your GPA on your application? We had a girl lie about her legacy info because she wanted to be in XYZ so badly--it happens. We didn't have time to check all 1200 girls going through to make sure all their info was accurate before they went through. At some point, you have to realize these are 18 year old adults.

I was on Panhellenic in '07, and we tried to propose raising the minimum GPA for recruitment at my alma mater. Two groups would simply not hear of it. Even though they had higher standards, they wanted to opportunity to meet the women and choose at their own discretion if they would allow for grade exceptions. We all thought it was ridiculous because typically most chapter don't or only have a few and so these women were set up to fail, but we quickly dropped the issue because they had the right to take whomever they wanted. If they wanted to look at women with bad gpas, more "power" to them. :rolleyes:

The GPA requirements remain the same today.

BabyPink, it never got raised? Are you kidding me? I thought for sure it would happen the year after we graduated.

I'm surprised, considering the disparity in GPA requirements (2.2 for one group to a 3.2 for another) causing the heavy cuts we were seeing. I understand that the NPC Manual of Information states that the Campus Panhellenic cannot raise or lower the GPA to keep members' rights secure, but I would have thought that the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life would have set up the GPA increase they'd talked about for many moons.

No she is not leaving USM. They have to leave immediately if they are released from the process. They stay in a dorm for the recruitment events. They have freshman week next week. She will be back but did mention to her mom that several girls that were released will not be coming back to the school at all.

I agree with you, but I am wondering if in the South the pressure is a lot different? I don't know, I'm asking. I do know of girls at Indiana that dropped out of school completely when they did not receive a bid. My parents would not have allowed me to drop out of school; you go to college to get a degree, and anything you do above that is icing. I loved my sorority experience, but all of this seems a bit much to me. My university had over 500 clubs and organizations. Surely there are other things that these girls can do, and their worth is not defined by being in a sorority. If these girls are given the message that they shouldn't be at a school because they don't join a sorority, that's pretty sad. My heart goes out to them too, and not because they got cut.

To Twilight Mom: I don't think anyone ever answered your question, but if I missed it, sorry for the repeat. The girls can go to a maximum of four parties on skit day and two parties on pref night.

There is a lot of pressure at some schools in the South, but frankly, Greek Life is not as big of a deal at Southern Miss as it is other places. You can definitely not be greek, but be a happy and involved student. I have never heard of anyone not coming back to school because they dropped out or were released during recruitment, but it has probably happened a few times. No offense to the person posting these things because I'm sure she's hearing them from other people, but I feel like we might be hearing a few things that are coming off of the rumor mill.

My niece told her mom 2 girls on her floor chose to go home today because they did not like the choices left for them. Rumors ARE flying that some girls got no offers at all. My niece is only interested in 1 of the 2 left for her and will not do Greek this year if only XYZ offers for her.

She is being upbeat and positive but it's so hard on her and her mom, when your child hurts, you hurt. We know as adults it's not the end of the world, but when you're an 18 year old girl away from home, knowing no one, always being watched and scrutinized by your peers, it is difficult! Especially if you are cut hard and early, how difficult for one's self-esteem.

Niece has met some lovely and nice girls so all is not lost :) She is looking forward to officially moving in and getting school started.