university of michigan?
 

how is greek like/rush there? competitive, especially for sophomores?

any information appreciated, thanks :)

Why don't you decide where you're going to school first? ...THEN you can worry about recruitment and ask all the questions you'd like.

well greek life is something i really want to experience in college. all of the colleges i applied to are about the same caliber education wise, so the school's greek life will play a significant role in which college i decide to go to.

i'm sorry, but please don't use my past questions against me just to be rude, witty, or whatever you're trying to be because it isn't helpful. i try very hard to find previous answers to my questions before i ask them, so when i have a question, there's a reason. I don't just arbitrarily ask them for laughs.

Be prepared for people to question those motives, and suggest you are just looking for the school with the easiest/least competitive recruitment process. Also things can change in a semester, let alone a year so your research could be in vain. Keep it general and save your time before you pledge the library for academics :) Yay libraries!

i think the previous poster is referring to a while back, when i was deciding on which schools to even apply to. but now tthat i'm getting acceptance letters i'm trying to narrow it down using many different factors, greek life being one of them. so i figure now's a good a time as any to be specific, since i'll be rushing in the fall!
but thank you for your advice :)

p.s. if anything my intentions are actually to find a school that's more on the competitive side. i'll be a sophomore, so i'm trying to be realistic but i like a challenge :D

I didn't really think that this...

... was rude, witty, or implying that you're looking for laughs. I was merely saying that you should decide on a school and worry about Greek life after (ya know, because we go to school to get an education). But ok, whatever you say...

If you've been accepted to a couple different schools, and you'd like information, then ask away. But there seems to be no rhyme or reason to your posts/questions, and if you explained yourself a little better, and made your questions more specific, then it might be easier to give you some answers.

And I know of people who have based their college decisions off of Greek life, and they've ended up being miserable.

I was just trying to help you out...

You should really take Greek Life out of the equation. You need to ask yourself "If I don't get a bid, would I still be happy at this school?". Because yes, there is always a chance you won't get a bid no matter where you go.

ASTalumna06, I'm sorry that my question was not clear and that I misunderstood your response. It came off to ME as sarcasm; I jumped to conclusions, my honest apologies and thank you for trying to help.

To make myself more clear:

I have been accepted to 3 different schools (USC, UM, and Texas). Texas..well there's enough on greek chat to write a book. USC, I have some connections to and know very well, so I know its greek life fairly well. UM, i'm clueless.

It's safe to say that they are very close to being equal academic wise, and as for every other aspect, I feel I would be happy at each, whether I pledge or not. That said, I feel it is okay to take greek life into consideration when making a decision. I have my priorities straight I promise :p

SO if anybody could help with MICHIGAN, i would love you!!
Thanks :)

I assume that when you talk about USC you mean Southern California. USC is an expensive private school and you will be paying for smaller class sizes and more professor contact than at either UM or Texas. UM and Texas are two of the top public universities but when it all comes down to it they are huge educational factories that don't really care that much about its undergraduate students.
As far as going greek goes, I see nothing wrong with taking that into consideration in selecting where you want to go. If you want an active social life going greek is the way to go. UM has the least competitive rushes of the three. Both Texas and USC are more competitive, Texas is one of the most of any greek system.
You talk about entering school as a sophomore. Are you going to be a transfer student? If you will be entering as a freshman don't wait until you are a sophomore to rush because it will be much harder.

Please don't come to Texas if this is what you're looking for in a recruitment and Greek system. Texas recruitment goes way beyond "the competitive side" and "a challenge," especially for non-Freshmen from out of state. It's something that you can't even fathom unless you experience it. Recruitment will be brutal, gut wrenching and most likely end up in disappointment for you. So if you're really determined to be Greek and that's the tipping point in your decision, I'd honestly not come to Texas.

There will be chapters at Michigan willing to take sophomores, but not all will. Recruitment is still fairly competitive and U of M does use release figures so the major cuts are done early on. The chapters that won't consider sophomores will cut you early. The houses are big and gorgeous and you will be expected to live in at least one year, possibly two, if you get a bid. There is a lot to do in Ann Arbor if you don't get a bid too. Being Greek is not essential to having fun in college or having a full social life at Michigan. That said, the Greek system is pretty big but a huge percentage of students are not Greek too. Ann Arbor is definitely a college town. Everything there revolves around the University of Michigan.

nevermind, i read the thread

good luck

shouldn't you know if you go there? or are you transfering?

BadCat: unfortunately, I am a transfer student, so I will be rushing as a sophomore

Lady Longhorn: Don't worry I am well aware of how intense Texas rush is, especially since 50% of my school is from texas lol. The comment you quoted was more of a joke than anything. Pretty much, my mentality if I do choose Texas is keep an open mind and prepare to be cut from most/all houses. From what I've heard though, greek life isn't the dominant social aspect of UT since it's such a large school, so I would be okay.

AGDee: Thank you for your input. I don't know how familiar you are with their greek system, but do you know if there are very many houses that wouldn't consider taking a sophomore and/or which ones they are so if I rush there I won't get my hopes up? lol

Dee is very familiar with UofM

Understatement of the year.

Having lived in Dallas for twenty years and serving as Alumnae Panhellenic Sponsiorship Chairman for Richardson /Plano, LadyLonghorn speaketh the cold truth.

haha yeah i've actually read a lot of similarly brutal, yet honest answers she's given so i think i have a pretty good idea of just HOW intense it is!

but right now, I'm kind of leaning toward michigan if i can get used to the idea of living so far from home. so i'm trying to find out as much about that school as possible!

I think your best bet would be to visit Ann Arbor to get a good feel for the campus, preferably before school ends because it "feels" very different in spring/summer term. While I'm pretty familiar with the greek system in general and the area, I couldn't begin to name which chapters would take sophomores easily and it probably wouldn't be very Panhellenic to do so either. There are 15 NPC groups, 1 of which is currently a colony. There have been a few recolonizations/colonizations over the past few years, which generally increases the likelihood of upperclassman receiving bids. Sometimes those chapters are looking to even out the number of women in each class.

Since the other schools you are considering are in warm climates, you may want to think about the climate! While we had less snow and warmer temps than usual this year (less snow than they had in Atlanta this year even!), it does get quite cold and we get a lot of snow up here :) I don't want to discourage you from Michigan, it's a great school and a great college town, the climate can be quite a shocker to people who are not used to it.

AGDee, thank you so much for your help, i think i will end up visiting the school. i get out earlier than most, so i will definitely have time.

And as far of the weather, i have DEFINITELY thought about that. as a southern california native, it would be quite an intense shock. but if i get a good feeling from the school, i think it'd be worth it :)

thanks again!

Surprisingly, since it is arguably the most competitive recruitment outside the South/Texas, sophomores getting bids at USC is routine. Even the most competitive chapters will have a third of their pledge class be sophomores. But don't underestimate the competition...I'd get recs to all chapters without a second thought. From what I understand, sophomores have a very hard timing getting bids at Texas. I have no idea about Michigan...a really close friend was a Tri-Delt there, I'll ask her if they ever take sophomores.