Questions about GPA Requirements and PNMs
 

The Panhellenic Council at my university has decided not to release the required gpa for membership this year as they don't want PNMs to judge the sororities based off of gpa. This is a smaller school with less than 5 female GLOs on campus, and rush isn't considered very competitive. My question is, doesn't this put the PNMs at a disadvantage if one of the groups they prefer has a gpa req that they do no meet, or if they go into rush only to find out how limited their options may be?

I dare say that most campuses don't release that information solely because there are always exceptions and besides, that's information private to each chapter. I don't have a problem with it because I would never tell PH what our requirement is anyway!
Those who don't meet the GPA requirement are usually released after the first round at most schools. With RFM these days, it's the easiest way to get your numbers in line.

How does it put them at any kind of increased disadvantage? The GPA requirement is the same whether it's published or a closely guarded secret, and the PNM either meets the requirement or doesn't.

I doubt that they use RFM because

Also, they may only have one invite-only round.

SororityGirlBO - what is Panhellenic's GPA requirement to participate in rush? If it is far below the GPAs the individual sororities have, raising it may remedy the problem or any concern about PNMs with low grades being disappointed.

33Girl, NPC recommends NO GPA requirement to participate in recruitment so that each organization deals with it according to their rules. And the number of groups on campus has nothing to do with RFM. You should still use it as it gives feedback to the chapters as to where they stand overall with the PNMs. There are only 4 at my campus and they use it. We have 2 invitational rounds - theme night(2nd night) and pref(third day). All the grade cuts are done after open house round (first night).

Really?

That's incredibly irresponsible. Especially with the economy in the crapper and more parents/students than ever worried about funds for college.

Not trying to shoot the messenger, I just think that's a horrible recommendation. I can only hope that most universities/Panhellenics ignore it.

What I meant re RFM is if it is a small school and not big on rush, it may be more a matter of hoping enough girls show up in general. Also if women don't pre-register, there is no way to know their GPA until they come through the door.

The reason NPC prefers no GPA requirement is that a chapter's requirement is private information. Everyone would have to put their membership criteria out there for everyone to know and then be open to possible lawsuit if they took someone below that. SO how can CPH set a minimum when no one knows what everyone is willing to take? And what do they do when PH sets one and a group wants to pledge someone below that? THat's interferring in a chapter's autonomy. No it won't work unless you make the minimum a 2.0 - which should be the min to get in school to begin with.

A group can pledge a woman without any interaction from Panhellenic - i.e. through COB. If they want someone that much, and know there's a reason for her crap grades, then they can hold a spot open for her and pledge her after formal rush. That also is "chapter autonomy."

I've never heard of a Panhellenic setting a minimum too high. Obviously the Panhellenic would vote on such a thing, and each group has a vote, so a representative can always vote against the proposed GPA - for whatever reason you choose. Too high, too low, don't like the way the numbers look. It's no one's business (except your nationals) why you vote the way you do. The vote to pass this policy should be unanimous. I don't see what's wrong with putting that in the Green Book, rather than allowing women to waste their money and time and seemingly condoning it.

This is not setting a minimum to JOIN, this is setting a minimum to PARTICIPATE IN FORMAL RUSH.

I thought most campus Panhellenics had a minimum GPA to participate..?

But maybe I'm wrong..

I also thought that for many sororities, the minimum GPA to join was public information. I believe AST has that information posted on their website, and I know of at least 2 other NPCs that do as well. I'm sure if I looked at more sororities' pages, I'd find the same thing.

In terms of what each chapter requires though, that's a different story.

Please see the MOI (Green Book) 17th edition, Unanimous Agreement #II, Jurisdiction of Panhellenic Associations, Item 1 College Panhellenic Associations, page 29:

C. A College Panhellenic Council shall take no action that infringes on the sovereignty, rights, or privileges of the individual NPC fraternities. Infringements include but are not limited to the following:
i. Requiring fraternity chapters to maintain a specific scholastic grade point average.
ii. Requiring a scholastic grade point average as a condition for a chapter’s participation in membership recruitment.
iii. Requiring a scholastic grade point average as a condition for a woman’s participation in the membership recruitment process.
iv. Requiring a scholastic grade point average as a qualification for pledging or initiation.

swerve/

I'm obviously not NPC, but IIRC, our councils didn't have GPA requirements, but our university did (you must have a 2.5 or whatever to participate in any campus group).

Is this not the norm?

/swerve

I'm not saying it's not in the Unanimous Agreements, I'm simply saying that I thought there was a minimum GPA to participate at many campuses.

But again, I could be wrong...

Either that, or I'm mistaking that with a university policy, as k_s and KSU have pointed out.

There very well may be but they are violating the UA if they do. And should be counseled by their AA regarding their error. The CPH has no right to determine a minimum GPA for my chapter. Only my national organization can do that. They are interfering with our personal membership rights if they do.

However (and sorry I'm double-posting), I think the OP needs to clarify what this means. She says "required GPA for membership" .. Is this referring to a GPA to participate in recruitment? Or the minimum GPAs required for each sorority? Because again, as far as I know, the latter is public information.

you release your minimum required GPA? Wow! Am amazed at all the private information put out there. I would never let a chapter do that.

The national minimum, yes. An individual chapter's minimum, no.

Yeah - we do that - it's a "C" average for pledging...leaves a lot of leeway!

These big schools that have thousands of women going through rush - how do they cut based on grades?

Doesn't it take some kind of minimum to get in to college? And many schools hold rush before classes begin, so only the HS grades are available. I must be missing something.

The PNMs fill in their GPA on the recruitment enrollment form. They give permission to Panhellenic to verify their grade info. That info. is passed on to each chapter.

I found this on the Florida State Panhellenic website concerning grades:

"Although there is no minimum grade point average required for registration, it is STRONGLY recommended you have at least a 2.8 high school and/or college grade point average. Please note that meeting this minimum does not guarentee membership in a sorority. In Recruitment 2010 the average high school grade point average of women receiving bids was a 3.710, and the average college grade point average was a 3.430. All submitted academic information will be verified against official transcripts on file with Florida State University, and academic information will be updated to match University records."

I can remember not too many years ago when chapters posted their minimum gpa requirement on their webpages.

They do a merge to an excel spreadsheet, sort by GPA/rec and there you go.

Towson for years did nothing. PNMs listed no GPA and Panhellenic did not verify a GPA. We couldn't even get a semester GPA report from the Greek Life office for years so we had to start mandating members turn in their grades at the first meeting of the semester. Let me tell you, nothing is more disheartening than pledging quota only to find out half your new class has below a 2.0!

That's when recs come into play!

I think this is a reasonable way to do it; not to have a "rule", per the Green Book, but to be realistic. In my mind, "don't rush with a 2.0" is like "you must get your own recs".

This is what Alabama has to say.

The National Panhellenic Conference (NPC) does not allow the UA Panhellenic to set a minimum GPA to participate in Recruitment, however, it is highly recommended that potential new members have a high school or college GPA at or above a 3.0. If you have additional questions about individual chapter requirements, you can inquire further about GPA requirements during Recruitment. This year as a courtesy to the PNM's going through recruitment, minimum high school and college GPA's for each sorority at UA will be listed in the 2012 Recruitment Guide on the individual chapter informational pages.

I think a lot of people familiar with more competitive admissions schools would be shocked at how low the GPAs can be for schools where the standards are much lower.

^^^^ That is my observation as well.
A highly competitive chapter at such a campus would obviously be even higher. A way to get an idea would be to look up the median high school GPA of incoming students. Most schools have this on their website, but is also on wiki or Princeton Review websites. Some schools have this listed as the "middle 50%" - i.e. 25-75%. If you are below that range - you probably are overcommitting if you join a sorority as a freshman. If you are not at least in the middle of that - you might be looking at cuts from those chapters with higher GPAs.

There are are always exceptions. There may be some reason you had a tough time in high school. That's where a good letter of recommendation can help you.

No recs are used at Towson. They are completely unheard of.

A little off topic, but there are some people who go through sorority recruitment to meet people on campus and not necessarily to join a chapter (although I will admit they are probably a SMALL minority). If the campus Panhellenic set a minimum GPA they might shut out women who just wanted a chance to meet others on campus.

Just a little anecdote... in college I took a job search/resume writing/networking course, and one of the tips the professor gave as great practice for learning how to network and overcoming a fear of speaking in small groups of strangers was to go through sorority/fraternity recruitment.

If they are having the problems you spoke of, I suggest they start using them!

It's Maryland. Starting the use of recs isn't that easy. The alumnae don't even know what they are.

I guess I wasn't clear.

How does a women get in to a college with lower than a 2.5 HS GPA?

Non selective state colleges allow students to matriculated with GPAs less than 2.5. These students then have to take special Remedial courses to prepare them for the real college level courses. Low ACT scores may also trigger you to qualify for these classes.

Clarifitcation
 

Sorry I should have clarified. What I meant was the required gpa for membership into the NPC GLOs. Looking around, I've seen schools that put them right in the recruitment handbook they release every year, I kid you not. We used to do it as well. I never even realized that it's considered private info on some campuses. Even Bama Panhel's releasing this info this yr. (According to their website.) If a pnm has limited options b/c of grades, I would just think she would be able to know, so that maybe she could be able to decide whether or not she should go through recruitment at the time or wait, to be matched with the organization that was truly best for her. I've been reading around and it seems that, depending on the school, exceptions for gpa are rare, but at some universities it happens all the time. Thoughts?

Wait to be matched with the organization that was truly "best" for her? Not in this universe. At a competitive school, you usually have to take what you're handed whether you like it or not. We do not have a genius Sorting Hat.

To carnation: The school being discussed (my university) is a smaller school with a much less competitive recruitment process. Because the greek community is smaller, we really do put a lot of thought into those sorts of things, b/c there's more room to. That's what a GLO is all about, to me, being in an organization where you at least have something in common with your sisters. But hey, that's just my personal opinion. Obviously things can't be perfect, so there's no need for the sarcasm, I was just curious to see how things were at other schools. I like what Bama's doing though, girls do deserve to know if they have a real shot with the organizations, since the gpa required to participate in recruitment can be much lower than a GLO's requirement.

See, there isn't one, and no mention of one when the girls go through ICS to sign up for recruitment.

Bama's web site and the other one mentioned - FSU? - do it the right way. Tell them that one really needs a high GPA but doesn't go listing everyone's requirements. We all know that some folks get in that don't meet the chapter's requirement because of a lot of reasons. And recs are the way to get the information you need to make those decisions. And if your alumnae don't know how to do a rec and you aren't inclined to teach them, well, you're going to get what you are going to get.

That wasn't sarcasm. It was the unvarnished truth and I said it because so many PNMs go into recruitment thinking that they will do the choosing and at many schools, that's not so. You choose from what you're left with.