Recruitment at these schools?
 

I'm looking at a few schools as a transfer student (going in as a sophomore) for Fall 2010 and was curious about the Greek Life at two schools as to how competitive they are and proper dress for recruitment as their websites don't really go into it.

The schools are Drury University in Springfield, MO and Northwest Missouri State.
I keep looking on their websites but they really don't go into appropriate attire and I really didn't expect them to talk about how competitive recruitment is. Also for these schools, how important are recs? I'm not sure I really know anyone in any of those sororities and I would feel a little awkward asking "Hey, were you in any of these sororities? Great! Can you write me a letter?" if I haven't seen them in over a year.

I'm looking at a few other schools out of state, but they don't seem to have greek life so I didn't really feel the need to mention them.


Thanks!


ETA: I tried searching for Northwest Missouri State but wasn't finding any info. I'm still searching on Drury.

I've never heard of either of these schools, and I'm usually good at those sorts of things. Can't recall seeing a thread on either of these schools before.

If I had to guess (so take it for what it is worth) I would guess that neither school has a super strong greek life and recs probably aren't required. But I could be wrong.

Drury system is not competitive. It is a small system with 4 npc groups; Tri-Delta, Kappa Delta, Pi Phi, and Zeta. They have very nice suites and no houses. Due to the numbers going through I don't think you would have trouble finding a home with an open mind. Alpha Phi was there till 1983 but the campus population could not support 5 GLO's and we lost our charter due to low numbers.

NWMSU has one of the oldest active ASA chapters there. That's about all I know about it though. I think Truman's system is more competitive.

Thank you.

I'm not finding a lot of information at any of the schools. I'm interested in joining a sorority, but at the same time I'm also looking at schools that don't have greek life so it's not a huge deciding factor for me. I just thought I would get what information I could.

I went to school in MO— 90% sure these schools aren't very competitive in terms of Greek Life. You mentioned you weren't sure if you knew anyone in the sororities, did you mean specifically at those chapters? If you haven't talked to them in a while, you might want to get back in touch with your acquaintances in sororities at those schools to let them know you'll be coming through.

I'm sorry, I don't think I was too clear. What I meant is I don't think I know anyone who was in a sorority in college as far as getting recs. There may be a few people we know but I'd feel a little awkward to contact someone to ask if they were in one of sororities that has a chapter at the school(s) and then ask for a rec when I haven't seen that person in a long time.

I do have a friend who was in a sorority, but she ultimately left school and it was local to that school. However, she is heavily pushing me to at least go through recruitment to see how I like them.

I don't know anyone at any of the schools I'm looking at, most of my graduating class (which was small) went to Duke, Bama, Texas A&M, and then a few smaller schools in various places.

Please do not feel awkward about asking alumnae where they went to school, if they were in a sorority, if so which one, and if it is one at the campus you are interested if they would write a Rec. Most alumnae are thrilled to talk about these things. We love recounting our memories and offering advice. If none of the folks you know were in a GLO represented on your campus, they might know others that are.

Most alumnae are honored and excited to write a Rec (assuming the PNM is a qualified candidate). It's a way to still be involved in the membership selection process and to help our organization continue to thrive by getting good members. As for not having seen someone for a long time, well here's a great way to re-establish the relationship.

i agree !

A bit of an update. I don't really hang around here much, mostly I log in to read some posts because I find them very informative.

After talking to a few people only one person I knew turned up to be greek and she was not in a sorority that has a chapter at the schools that I am considering.


Some good news though is I have been accepted to each school where I have applied. :)

Another question. My HS GPA wasn't really excellent, not bad, but not outstanding. It has gone up significantly in college. I understand you cannot speak for the chapters but is it do you think it's worth trying recruitment if I didn't have a 3.0 HS but improved in college? FWIW my HS GPA is above the minimum required.

This probably depends on the school, but when I went through recruitment they didn't even look at my high school GPA. I went through informal recruitment and it was all upperclassmen, and even for formal recruitment at my school (which is in the spring), I'm pretty sure they look at first semester grades for the freshmen rather than their high school GPA. Of course, things could vary at different schools, but I wouldn't be too worried about it.

Congratulations on your acceptance!

I wouldn't worry too much about your HS GPA. It may show up on your recruitment packet, depending upon the school, but most chapters will be looking at your college GPA.

A sister in my alumni group is a graduate of Drury, and she loved the school, received an excellent education and was very active in greek life there. I have the impression that it's a nice system... small but active, panhellenically oriented, low pressure. I don't get the impression that being a transfer student would be a barrier to receiving a bid, if the pnm is a good candidate in other ways. Good luck!

Please see Drury's entire page -- with links -- on the subject of recommendations at

http://www.drury.edu/multinl/story.c...d=252&id=23698

To me, it looks like they encourage / strongly encourage recs. However, I may be mistaken (it's happened before and it'll probably happen again). At any rate, it looks like they're familiar with recs and certainly know what to do with them when they come in.

Now I really dont know about either of these schools specifically, but I do know generally that if you are a transfer going through recruitment, chapters will usually consider your college GPA, not your HS one.

agree!

Are you in Missouri right now? If so, you may be able to network through that connection...Missouri has several alumnae associations in major regions that would be helpful for recs.

As a general rule, I would go into recruitment at any school with the assumption it is competitive and thus dress to impress (take a shower, fix your hair, wear make up like you would to a job interview, dress cute and conservatively--clean clothes, no excess clevage, no bra straps showing, no underwear showing, etc.) and get recommendations to all the chapters if you can. Treat it like a job interview. They are selling you their "company" the same as you are selling yourself to be invited to come back for "further interviews" and ultimately to "get hired."

Recommendations may not always be required to receive a bid nor may they always be critical, but they certainly will never hurt you.

Bolding mine - why wouldn't someone take a shower?! :eek:
Another question - would perfume or body sprays be a "No" no matter what? I don't usually spritz more than 1-2 spritzes but I'm a little paranoid of it being overwhelming to people in a small space - I don't want to be suffocating people.

Thank you for the advice. :)

As far as I know I don't know anyone who could write me a rec and I'm certainly not comfortable asking strangers.

Some people are allergic to perfume. As an active we were always told LOTS of deoderant (carry it with you and hand it to your rho chis, refresh between rounds) but NO perfume. You don't know what scent is going to bug / sicken your active so it's probably better to avoid it. Plus there are going to be so many other girls crammed in the same room, too many scents can be overwhelming.

The "no perfume" rules are for actives, not rushees, unless you're told differently at your rush orientation meetings.

As someone who feels naked if she doesn't wear some sort of scent - I honestly don't think 1-2 spritzes of after-bath body spray (not cologne or perfume) is going to hurt. No heavy musky or flowery scents - green or LIGHT lemon is better. It'll probably wear off in 2.5 seconds, but I totally understand the psychological thing of needing to feel "done" and feeling completely off your game if you skip a step.

I really, really want to encourage you to get in touch with an alumnae panhellenic group in your area. These schools are not considered competitive but it is always good to make contact with an alumnae group.

As gee_ess mentioned, if you don't personally know someone who can write a rec for you, you really should check out a panhellenic alumnae group near you. No, you don't know those women, but they should be perfectly happy to help you out. Many young women who go off to college don't know people who can write recs for them, and one of the things the local panhellenics do is help young ladies in that situation.

At this link, you should be able to find an alumnae panhellenic group somewhere in your area: http://www.npcwomen.org/alumnae-panh...directory.aspx

Thank you for that link, it was full of information and answered questions I didn't realize I had. :D

Unfortunately there were no links in my area, or even my state. There was a listing but I couldn't follow a link or search it. Oh well, I'm not really shy but it just seems kind of wrong to go "Hi! You don't know me will you write me a rec please?"

I mentioned greek life to a few of my instructors and got either confused looks or "WHY would you want your grades to suffer as you drank your tuition away?!" which I thought the latter was a bit rude, but whatever, that's their problem. One woman was really nice and I'm starting to wonder if recs are hopeless.

Also I know someone PMed me but I accidentally deleted it. :o I believe it was gee_ess. I'm sorry about that.

Parfait, I just PM'd you with some info (but I wasn't the one you deleted before).

Parfait - It may have been me that Pm'd you, but I evidently deleted it! I think I remember the conversation though.

You need to email (or call)the npc.org link provided above and ask for the contact person in St Louis, Kansas City, or Springfield. There may not have been a link on the website for those specific orgs, but by contacting the npc website directly, you will reach the right person.

^^^^

So, are you, like, our own 'Gossip Girl'? :p

Redacted

Did I miss something?

Just another brilliant, insightful and completely out-of-touch post from Brutally*Honest about her fancy "classy" friends. Which she seems to have deleted once called out.

Are you always this crass and vulgar?
 

"annabella"... I must say that you are a real "class act." You certainly convey a wonderful impression to the general puplic of a refined and educated sorority member.

I was affirming that Drury is considered to be a very good private school. Drury has a strong regional reputation and attracts a large number of very affluent out of state students. I am very connected to Drury and was trying to convey information to the OP that I felt had been misrepresented by posters who know nothing about Drury nor the demographics of the student body. However, you fly in and immediately post:

You have no idea who I am nor do you know anything about me or who you are dealing with. I suggest you pause and think before posting rude, immature and inappropriate comments. Comments like that make you appear so...

As always,
Brutally*Honest

What happened to the rest of your posts B*H? You had quite a few more yesterday.

If your post was fine, then why did you feel the need to delete it? The only reason I redacted mine was because it just didn't make sense after you deleted yours.

I like that you didn't bother to quote the logical part of what I said. Your post was written in a rather condescending style.

And let's not act like no one has any idea who you are.

Oh, I think she still has quite a few.

Wow. Just wow!

I am intimately familiar with one of the schools and know of several alumnae from the other school you are interested in. Both have strong Greek systems although I personally would not consider either school particularly 'competitive' in the sense of large southern or for that matter Big 12 school.

Please posters, try to respond appropriately. Just because you are not familiar with a school does not mean that they do not have a wonderful Greek population or awesome students and academics.

OP, please PM me if you would like some specific information.

K_C: the OP knows she needs recs for Drury, and that they would be accepted for NWMSU.

Someone wrote a rant on here (and then deleted once corrected) stating that Drury was very competitive. While a fine private school; it was absurd to state it was "competitive" the way the term is used on this board.

She then proceeded to subtly detract from the merits of NWMSU, under the guise of her own "refinement." Also uncalled for.

Oh, I didn't know THAT. Well, that just confirms the suspicions in spades.

Hmmm...seems I missed a huge part of this thread.

I re-read something I posted where I said Drury was not competitive, but I was talking about the Greek system, not the school. I hope that my comments were not the source of the problem.

Brutally*Honest is a sockpuppet?

Well, that makes sense based on the username and the way he/she always closes his/her posts.

I wish the OP well. :) She has been very receptive to the advce offered.

The OP seems to have a good head on her shoulders, and I think she will do well at her school of choice.

Any further clarification in this thread has only been made for PNMs searching for info on these schools.