UT-Austin Legacy Status now a "hidden field"???
 

As an Alum, the potential of this intrigues me. As many of you know my daughter is currently going through recruitment at UT. She is not a legacy to any chapter at UT. She did say the counselors said this year that if you are a legacy, that status is only shown to your legacy house. All other chapters would not be given this information. Does anyone know if this is accurate? I see it as a game changer for MS if so...JMO.

On ICS at the University of Alabama, that is correct. The chapter can see their own legacies, but nobody else's.
That's why hometown sponsorships are important!;)
I'm assuming the Panhellenic can set whatever parameters they want on the software.

I believe this has been the case with ICS for the past few years...but that's not how chapters find out about other chapters' legacies.

Chapters find out via recs, where it may ask if the PNM is a legacy to another chapter. So Kathy Kappa might write on Patty PNM's rec that she is a Zeta legacy. If Patty does not want Kappa to know she is a Zeta legacy, she might politely ask Kathy to omit that information, depending on whether Kathy knows it in the first place.

*Apologies if Kappa's rec form does not ask for legacies of other chapters. Kappa was just an arbitrary example.

Also, if the legacy is a UT collegian's little sister, ICS can't help you there, no matter how much you try to cover your tracks with your recs. People talk.

i don't know if it is currently done, but i remember UCFADPi mentioning that at the University of Central Florida, that the legacy chapter can only see legacies to their sorority on the pnm list.

As a member of an alumnae reference board we are seeing more and more of a trend where girls are not listing their legacies on their resumes they provide to the reference writer.

Completely random question (not trying to start poo, just curious):

If you were a ref writer for ABC and a girl did that - i.e. omitted the fact that she is an XYZ legacy on her resume or told you to skip it - how would you feel about that? Would it piss you off or would you understand the reasoning?

This is the 1st year we are really seeing it. Most of our recs come in from alumnae who already know the family well and know the connections, however, we do get a few from teachers, church friends who may or may not know. It's the girl's business what they want to share with us. It's her recruitment not ours.

33 - I would completely understand. That would fall into "none of their business" as far as I'm concerned. Frankly I think I'd play it safe and leave the legacy info off of everything except the rec from the actual mother/sister. They only need to know it once, right?

I would completely understand if a PNM asked me to leave off other legacy connections for her Sigma Kappa rec at a competitive school, ie. Auburn. I wouldn't want my sisters to cut a PNM on the assumption that she would pledge her legacy chapter. Now, if the PNM was a brat who was like "Well I am definitely getting into my legacy chapter..." then I'd list it.

However, at a less competitive school (or a less competitive chapter), her legacy status, even to another chapter that is on campus, could very well be seen an asset. Legacies of any sorority have a certain appeal to every sorority. Assuming the relative is active, the legacy will likely have a better understanding of what she is getting herself into because she's observed her relative's experience. Of course, it is important for the PNM to emphasize she is keeping an open mind. I would bring this up and respect her decision to hide or tell her legacy status.

Does it show that a family member was a sorority member, but leaves out which one?

At UT, I think this will be a game changer. If you don't drop your legacy right away you can forget about being asked back by other houses and you better hope your legacy invites you back after second round.

It kept my daughter from being asked to prefs at a house she really loved - not at UT, but at another very competitive school.

How does she know that?

I'd tell the chapter anyway!

I can remember the recruitments of two different sisters who were legacies to another house. We weren't a "high rec" campus, but both of these women told us that they were legacies to another house, but they felt they weren't being treated well at their legacy chapters. The one had TWO sisters currently in her legacy chapter, and really wasn't socially inept or had bad grades or whatever. It was a huge shocker!

Some things just have a way of becoming known.

I just had a very interesting experience with a girl from LSU that might have ran into problems because of her legacies. Of course the sororties my have not liked her who knows.
She was a legacy to A through grandmother but also almost every memeber of her family on Dad's side is an A. Mom was a B. Mom was very involved with B. I honestly think that every sorority at LSU is great but 18 year old girls do have sororities that they think are better. Most PNM's would think that A was much better that B. She was cut by B ( mom and PNM are very upset) She went to pref at A and recieved a bid. Does not really even want to except it. I think she may have been cut because of her history with A, B assumed she would cut them since most girls would. Unfortunetly for this girl I don't think that ws the case. Of course like I said they may have not liked it and it had nothing to do with her legacy !!!!
So instead of a girl being upset about getting a bid to a lower tier sorority she thought she was to good for, she had the opposite experience. We had to force her to go to bid day celebrations and my daughter called and told me she asked her to take her home ( A is my daughters sorority).

how sad. i hope that she will give it a go and realize the opportunity she has been given.

I hope so too. Her mother doesn't really think it is about the sorority. She is having a hard time adjusting to being away from home. I think she could definetly be a part of the psychology of rush study!!! She really had a hard rush and no one expected it because she is a great girl. I think all the cuts really messed with her head. It may or may not have had something to do with being a legacy. Her mother was hurt that she was cut from her sorority but wants her to be happy. She had said all along it didn't matter where she went as long as she is happy.

This is correct. It could be different now, though. We received each PNM's registration form. Panhellenic would "hide" the legacy info if the PNM was not a legacy to our sorority. There were other ways of finding out, of course. Either through recs or just knowing the girl (or knowing someone who knows her).

Is mom involved with B at LSU or B on a national level? "Involved with" doesn't always translate to "the chapter likes you." Just random speculation.

If B cut her and A took her, she may be feeling two things: 1) Oh geez, this chapter that everyone gets asked back to cut me 2) Since that happened, A obviously only took me because of grandma/dad's connections and they don't truly like me at all.

That's pretty rare. The same holds true for her situation, get involved and I'm sure she will have a great experience. Even if some of the members didn't want her, a loyal and dedicated member will win people over.

33girl, I think this might have something to do with it. Like I said I think this week really did a number on her. And yes her mother has been active with B at LSU. Not to the point that she is always there, we arent that close to campus but has supported them and she and her sister even hosted a sister retreat several yers ago. Now I am sure there is no one there now that remembers that but possible the advisors knew who she was. To add insult to injury I just found out one of the girls she wrote a rec for got in B and they cut her own daughter. I am keeping that to myself!!!
Unfortunetly Violet I don't think she is going to pledge. My daughter said the pledge director was going to talk to her but I think her mind is made up. But I really think there are a lot of things coming into play in this situation.

i guess she knows that this might be her best chance at LSU. what a strange situation.

I've been asked by girls to omit their legacies from my recs. This request often comes when a girl is going through recruitment at a school where their legacy chapter is very competitive (and I've only heard the request from girls who are legacies to a chapter through more than one family member). They are worried that other chapters will drop them because "Oh, she's a triple-leg to ABC" and they are worried that their legacy chapters might drop them because those chapters are traditionally very competitive.

I'm sure there are other reasons that girls might want to omit legacy status, but that's just what I've encountered.

Yes, FSUZeta, her mother and I have both told her this. Her mother is upset about her sorority cutting her but she is not so out of touch or selfish that she wants her daughter to suffer. This may have been a case that they really didn't think she would fit, but it could have also been that B figured she would want A which is what most girls would do. This girl is the type that would have chosen with her heart instead of with the crowd. I think it was important to her to share this with her mother. Of course we will never know why but it breaks my heart to see this. And honestly it is one for the books!!! Definetly not your usual story. In the end you can't force her to do something she really doen't want to do.

She became close friends with some of the girls in that house; they had been in the same rush group, and in fact still stay in touch to this day, twelve years later.

[QUOTE=tootiepie2;2082802]Yes, FSUZeta, her mother and I have both told her this. Her mother is upset about her sorority cutting her but she is not so out of touch or selfish that she wants her daughter to suffer. This may have been a case that they really didn't think she would fit, but it could have also been that B figured she would want A which is what most girls would do. This girl is the type that would have chosen with her heart instead of with the crowd. I think it was important to her to share this with her mother. Of course we will never know why but it breaks my heart to see this. And honestly it is one for the books!!! Definetly not your usual story. In the end you can't force her to do something she really doen't want to do.[/QUOTE]

no, that is true. at least she has been given good advice, from both her mother and from you. that is all you can do.

Just talked to my daughter she said she got a text from the girl asking her about the time of their meeting. So it looks like she is going to give it a try!!! Daughter is going to go pick her up so she will have someone with her. So glad she is giving ir a try. I know her mother really encouraged her to do it. Even if she drops at least she gave them a chance.

So either they violated MS secrecy or they quite possibly presented a biased view to their friend.

Yeah that's totally reliable.

I'm just making the point that NO ONE who wasn't sitting in that room knows why someone is dropped and most people IN the room wouldn't be able to tell you later either unless someone really sticks out. Even then there are multiple perspectives - "would have made it but she was a legacy somewhere else" might just as easily have been "didn't make the cut and wasn't worth trying 'steal' from her legacy chapter"

Making claims to knowing when that violates every one of our organizations' policies (I'm comfortable making this blanket claim unless someone would like to speak otherwise) is irresponsible and sets a poor example by giving dropped PNMs an easy 'excuse.'

tootlepie,

all right!! i have a feeling that your daughter will give it her all for her friend to feel at home!

Reliably irrelevant.

How's that for blanket?

So don't bring it up, and we're cool, G.

If you don't like my posts, please don't respond.

That way, we'll both be cool.

Nope, sorry that's not how the message board thing works.

I'm going to respond to inaccurate and misleading information when I see it, and when I care to. Keep on keeping on.