New here...Does anyone know anything about DePaul?
 

I am new here, and have done a search under DePaul but didn't come up with anything. My D is on the fence about rushing (what is the correct term? going through recruitment?) at DePaul. Does anyone have any info on the process at DePaul, or any other aspects of sorority life at DePaul? (Yes, I know they can't have houses.) I wasn't Greek, so I know very little.

There was a GCer (lillady85) who posted her DePaul recruitment story 5 years ago. She ended up joining Chi Omega, a colony at the time. She'd be 2-3 years out of college by now, but she hasn't posted in over a year now.

Here's the DePaul Panhel website.

http://depaulpanhel.com/index.php

They've added several sorority chapters in recent years (with another to come in a year) which is a good sign of a growing Greek community. :) There are lots of Chicago people on here so even if they don't go there, they most likely have close friends that do and can fill you in a bit.

Ditto to what 33girl said, DePaul has been growing A LOT, just in the last five years. They will have doubled the number of chapters (assuming all goes well) from 2006 to 2012.

I was thinking AOII there was a lot older. I guess I'm thinking of TPA being there, because they always had at least 3 groups.

Thanks, everyone. I've been on the website but I must not know the "code" because the chapters all seem alike - they all want to do good and bond and have fun.

Is there a thread for all the abbreviations on this board?

What does that mean?

Campus total is the maximum number of members each sorority can have. It's also sometimes referred to as "ceiling."

Quota is - without getting too detailed - the number of women rushing divided by the number of sororities. Since DePaul has 6 sororities, that means 198 women went through rush last year. Every sorority is entitled to take quota even if they are over campus total.

This is REALLY oversimplifying it but I don't want to make your head explode. :)

And yeah, every group does kind of come across the same on websites. That's what recruitment is for - to meet everyone in person.

I would say that it's a fairly safe assumption without any super secret code needed to say that all NPC (National Panhellenic Conference) groups are alike in that they want to do good, bond, and have fun. Really, what your daughter should focus on is which chapter she feels most at home/comfortable with the sisters. She's going to get all the rest no matter which group she joins.

There is only one school in the country that assures that every girl who participates in recruitment will receive a bid (and it's not DePaul). Everywhere else, women can be released from all sororities (i.e. not receive any party invites) at any time during recruitment.

She'll never know unless she tries. The main thing is for her to KEEP AN OPEN MIND - don't listen to rumors or trash talk about the sororities, and don't get her own preferences in her head too early in the process.

Even if you saw how many women began the rush process, it isn't an accurate figure of the % of those women that are pledged, because many times girls drop out - because they don't keep an open mind or because they find out the financial obligations are too daunting. In other words, if 100 women sign up for rush and 70 women end up with bids, it doesn't necessarily mean 30 women were cut from all the groups. It can mean 15 dropped out for financial reasons, 5 dropped out because Greek life just wasn't for them, 5 dropped out because they didn't like the groups that were inviting them back and 5 women were cut everywhere.

Like at any campus, she'll need good grades, been active in high school clubs, volunteer in the community and be of good character. I don't know if recs are needed there. The Greek life office can answer that question for you.

What will happen is over the course of those September days she will attend parties (events in recruitment talk) at those chapters. On the first day, all the PNMs (potential new members) go to all the chapters. Then the PNMs will rank each group according to the ones they liked the most and turn that into Panhellenic (campus org that runs recruitment). Then the chapters will issue invitations for the second day to the PNMs they want to get to know better. The number that each group can invite is dictated by Panhellenic, based on a formula called RFM (release figures method) that is used by all campuses with National Panhellenic Conference chapters.

Those invitations are then given out to the PNMs based on the ranking she did, the number of events she is allowed to attend that day and which groups invoted her back. So, if she can attend 4 events and received 5 invitations, all from the groups she listed in her top 5, she would not get the one she ranked at #5. She would get her top 4 choices. If she didn't get an invote from one she ranked higher, then she would get her 4 highest ranked groups. And on thru the week till the end at Bid Day.

Yes, some women may be totally released. Usually because they don't meet the GPA recruitments. All chapters have a minimum GPA they have set in concert with their national organizations. Anyone falling below that is usually released the first day. A few exception may be made but we generally don't know that as it is private membership selection (MS) information.We want women who can meet the demands of membership while keeping their grades at an acceptable level for us, them and their parents!

So for freshmen, you're talking about high school GPA? Do they confirm that (like do you have to send a transcript?) If a girl didn't meet the minimum GPA requirement, why would she even start the process?

How do they know about clubs, community service, etc.? Is there an application form, or do they prepare a resume, or what? How do they know about character?

D is on the fence because she doesn't know if she wants to be in a sorority, not because she is worried about being cut (she can leave the worries up to mom.)

Yes, they fill out an application that has all that information listed. Most campus Panhellenic will verify the grades to the chapters so that they know the GPA that the university accepted her on. That let's out those GPA inflating cheerleading grades, etc.

As for character, many groups solicit recommendations (recs) from alumnae in the PNM's home town. So, when she registers for recruitment she'll fill out an application. The chapters will then contact an alum in her home town for the rec. Or, on very competitive campuses where you HAVE to have a rec (Alabama, Ole Miss, etc), the PNM has to make sure she has the recs. She would do that by getting a list of the chapters on her campus and then ask family friends, teachers, counselors, neighbors, employers, etc (network, in other words) to find recs for the needed groups. It's much like a letter of introduction except all the groups have a form the alum fills out.

Hope that helps.

ETA: I don't know if the PNMs at DePaul have to do their own or not. The Greek Life office can tell you.

The "inflating" grades are a part of the GPA and if the school admitted a student without backing out such grades, that would be the GPA, right? I make this comment because I come from a Land where a full quarter of a student's high school grades may be in football, cheer, band, etc. But of course, those are "regular" (unweighted) grades, so that 100 in cheer or band actually hurts many of the better students. (A student would get more GPA points from an 88 in an AP class than a 100 in cheer.)

They expect all the alums to know all the girls in her town?

Whatever HS GPA the college uses to base their admittance on is the one the PH will give to the chapters. The PNMs may show something different on their recruitment application because they usually note the one with all credits. The school where I am currently an adviser reduces the GPA to core credits. But we all know that so it's fine.

And no, the alums aren't expected to know all the PNMs from their hometowns...but they are expected to know someone they trust who knows the PNM. Examples would be if I had a friend who teaches in a certain HS. I would tell my group that I could do recs for that school...because I could call said teacher and ask about the PNM. Just like the PNM networks for get the recs where she has to do it, we alums network to get the information as well.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say recs are probably pretty rare at DePaul and that you should not lose sleep over not having them. Any DePaul alumnae or Chicago ladies correct me if that is off base and recs secretly are important. If you happen to know someone personally who is an alumna of a sorority with a chapter at DePaul, a rec would be a great way to introduce your daughter to the chapter.

You can get a grade for cheerleading?

Sorry, I just can't wrap my head around this. Cheerleading is an extracurricular. Why/how would it be graded?

demon15 - here's the application the women have to fill out for rush.

https://secureapp.icsrecruiter.com/I...spx?UID=DEPAUL

It's considered a sport at many places. Much like you'd get a grade in PE or in football, you get a grade in cheerleading. It counts as your athletic/PE requirement.

^^^^Exactly. Daughter's cheer practice was primarily in a class that counted as PE/Leadership credit. And hey, for all the bruises, bumps, and stepped on fingers and toes she endured - she earned that grade more than I did in any PE class.

It wasn't considered a sport at her school though, but it allowed them to still participate in sports and the extracurricular part was all of the games/activities/leadership events after school and evenings she was required to attend.

I get the counting at as a sport, but no schools around here are allowed to use an extracurricular to fill in for their PE requirement. No, i got to do PE/conditioning AND soccer. (The conditioning was good for me, except I had to ignore the football coach/teacher's weight/reps and do my own more female/soccer oriented ones.)

Exactly. I'm not questioning it as a sport, but we didn't get a grade for football or wrestling or anything else either. You had to do gym class (I can never make myself call it PE), whether you're the triple threat athlete or the couch potato.

Nope, not everywhere...

I couldn't tell you all the reasons our district (and as far as I know our state) let them do it (I was glad they did), but it allowed them to do a sport which they would not have been able to do otherwise, so my daughter got to do track and gymnastics in addition to cheerleading. She did dance team the first two years of HS and that was also considered a class, so was debate, drama, band, and various music groups. I guess they would all be considered extracurriculars since they all had after school responsibilities and competitions as well.

I'm not sure how they made a distinction between those extracurriculars and say, wrestling, but I'm guessing part of it had to do with the extra-curriculars that were seasonal as opposed to those that went on throughout the school year (and through part of the summer for some). That's just speculation on my part though.

I kind of feel badly for hijacking away from the DePaul info on this thread, but I just wanted to add that I've always thought it was silly to make athletes who spend several hours after school practicing every day ALSO take a gym class. As a dancer and runner in high school, I certainly didn't feel like I got anything out of gym that I didn't get from those extracurriculars.

Except I did learn to climb a tree, play ice hockey, and walk-to-Dairy-Queen-and-back-totally-unnoticed-by-my-teacher. So, if you consider those important life skills, then I guess it's good they made me take gym.

Numerous places in the south have Health as a separate class and PE credits can be covered by sports, cheerleading, or marching band. I think this saves on space requirements and money in the long run. I have to admit that because of the instrument I played, I could do 200 push-ups in a set in high school. It might have been different, if I played piccolo.

With budget cuts being what they are, if giving kids PE credits for sports is in lieu of having no PE at all, I think it's great.

Demon, DePaul is a great school. My niece is now in her senior year there and she's had a great experience. My initial thoughts regarding grades is if they're good enough to get into DePaul, they're good enough to get into a chapter. HOWEVER, if she waits until next year her DePaul grades and activities will be what matters, so she needs to make sure to keep her grades up.

Alpha Xi Delta is beginning the colony process to start a new chapter at DePaul very soon. I believe it starts for them immediately after formal rush ends. The process of being a colony, or charter member is a bit different than at a long standing chapter, but DePaul's Greek system is growing so fast, it seems the new kids on the block are accepted with open arms. In any case, who Alpha Xi Delta is and what the process is will be fully explained to her, so no worries there. I have MANY Chicago A Xi D alumnae friends who are REALLY excited about this colony and their leadership is going to be top notch.

There's a great thread here about why Moms spend time on GC. I think you should read it and it will probably help you understand the process better. Feel free to ask any questions, but be very careful to keep your daughter's real life anonymous. Some overly zealous Mom's over-share because they think this site is so big nobody could possibly figure out the tall redhead from Detroit who was a cheerleader and speaks 5 languages. And it can hurt in real life.

Do recommend she go through the process, at least just to see what it's like, and do suggest she stay with it, even if she gets cut by a few chapters she initially has her heart set on. DePaul's Greek Life is going places and I think it's going to be fun to be part of over the next several years!

Whether she rushes or not, I just don't want her to have any regrets. That is really why I'm here...if she calls and is baffled by something on the application or whatever, I don't want to be entirely ignorant.

Of couse, I made the mistake of reading a part of the "worst hazing" thread, and I just hope that D has the self respect to never let herself be abused.

At our HS, traditional "extracurriculars" are not "extra" at all. Almost every sport, marching band, cheer and drill team are taken as a class. So they get a grade. I am aware that colleges have a lot of different approaches to GPA...backing out the weighting, only counting "core" or academic classes, etc.

Yeah, sorry I derailed things. :p I tried to look farther into the application, but I needed a student number which I of course don't have. If you have any more questions just bump the thread! :)

LOL, I went onto the application yesterday. It let me get all the way to the end by just putting an "x" in every blank, except the state and the GPA (where, of course, my imaginary girl from Louisiana had a 4.0.)