Fall Recruitment Questions
 

My daughter has expressed interest in the sorority. I tried to discover information on costs, which led me here. I quickly discovered how very complex the whole system is!!

I have certainly learned a lot and if my daughter decides to get involved, I will certainly have a better understanding of what goes on.

I do have a question and I haven't found a similar situation posted, so will need to ask it myself.

DD is planning to attend a SEC school. Not one that stands out as the most competitive for recruitment, but SEC nonetheless. I have discovered that if she signs up for recruitment, she should get recommendations. We recently found out that she will have another school conflict that overlaps at least part of the time with recruitment.

Is it better not to sign up at all? Or should she sign up and see what happens? Should we try and get recommendations? We know a few people but it would definitely take effort to obtain 2 for all of the houses. Moneywise, I can absorb the cost if signing up is for naught.

DD would likely be competitive grade wise (3.5 UW and 4.1 W), has outside activities and leadership, but is from a distant state. She is pretty ( of course I think so) but not stunningly model gorgeous. She will have no connections to any of the houses. She is not a legacy.

Advice would be appreciated.

Gratefully, Kanga

To be honest, if she can handle the possibility of going through the stress and not getting a bid she should absolutely go through recruitment.

She'll meet loads of new people and if she doesn't she could be left wondering "what if?"

The Greek Life office can help her with the conflict. She needs to talk with them directly ..... note that I said "talk." That does not mean email, Facebook, etc. It means pick up the phone and call them.

Yes, she needs the recs. The people you know in soem groups willmost likely know people in the others. NETWORK! Ask everyone you know who went to college and ask if they know anyone in any of the groups on that campus.

Have her sign up, talk with the Greek Life office and get the recs. Then let her handle it from there on.

Kangamom, your daughter should give it a whorl! Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

I have known some schools that make accommodations for PNMs who have a school conflict during recruitment. Others schools don't. As Titchou said, your daughter best call the Greek Life office and see what (if anything) can be done.

Thank you for your input. It never occurred to either of us to call the office of Greek life. I will encourage her to do so, just so she can make a decision with the full information. So I guess we'll still network for references, just in case.
Kanga

If rush is once school has started, there WILL be conflicts and I'm sure there are ways the system there can handle it. If it's one of the schools where rush happens before school starts, it better be a MIGHTY good reason. But still, the marching band girls, for example, have to deal with this. Do the advance prep, make sure your rec writers address her interest in Greek life even while taking on this other substantial commitment, and be prepared to run like hell to get every last second of party time she can. And of course, prepare your daughter to keep a very open mind. Regardless of circumstance, if she misses a party, some chapters are going to cut her no matter what. That doesn't mean she can't have a fabulous rush outcome. It might just not be where she expects it to be. And that's OK.

If the other "school conflict" is something like band camp, athetic camp etc that is held the same time as rush week, it may be the band or the sport sending a subtle message that the activity in question and sorority membership don't mix (i.e. they don't want girls splitting their time). In that case, your daughter will have to make a choice as to which one means more to her.

If it's a class conflict that's another story altogether and you should definitely contact the Greek Life office to see if they can help her out.

Or it could be that the band makes their own calendar without considering every other campus activity that might have a conflict. Could simply be coincidence.

Well yes, it is a band camp issue. I would prefer not to share more details on a public forum, but would be open to a private message conversation if someone felt they had appropriate information I should know.

That's why I was wondering if registering, getting recommendations and then essentially missing much of the start made any sense. If she were to try and be recruited after the formal recruitment (that's the COB, correct.) would the recommendations she had from earlier even matter?

While we have some friends, family and acquaintances to write her letters, we would also likely request some from a local Panhellenic organization and I would not want to waste their time!!!!!

Again, with thanks for the comments and information......Kanga

Don't worry about potentially wasting anyone's time. These alumnae sign on for this and love helping out PNM's, regardless of whether they pledge. Get all your ducks in a row and if your daughter still wants to proceed, then get your recs timely and have a blast!

She will need new recs for each recruitment: formal or COB. Recruitment records are destroyed after each recruitment period, so if she does formal and later does COB, you need new recs. And vice versa.

As others suggested, I'd call the school Panhellenic/Office of Greek Life and ask them if the band practice is an excused absence and make sure to get it cleared in writing and get confirmation of the excused absence in writing. My guess is that you will be fine. The sororities love members involve with various student activities like band, theatre, athletics, etc., and recognize there will be scheduling conflicts. Make sure to talk with a live person, preferably the director and not a student working in the office, to get absolute confirmation. Then at recruitment, have your daughter mention this to her recruitment counselor and re-confirm.

If she knows anyone who is in band and an upperclassman, she might want to ask them about the Greek issue. Some activities (like sports) don't want their members splitting their time, regardless of how the GLO may feel.

That's a really excellent point; I'd never thought about it that way!

Is that really true? Granted, I went to a school/chapter where recs weren't a huge deal, but I didn't think you needed a rec for COB, that was part of the allure of COB? I mean, some people go through informal without even totally realizing their being rushed... you really think they're going to secure a rec?

Not at all. I'm merely suggesting that one cover all of her bases in light of the fact that records are destroyed after each recruitment cycle. Every school is different. If COB at one school is more of a buyer's market, probably not. If it's highly structured and/or ends with a lot of unmatched women and/or recs are the norm at COB, probably advisable.

If it is a school where recs aren't the norm for formal, it's fine. If recs are a requirement at formal, it probably is going to help a lot to have them in COB, particularly if there are a lot of PNMs.

Again, I state that you should get recs for each cycle because the prior cycle's records are destroyed. Also, again, every PNM should take advice on GC with a grain of salt and consult her own campus's practices on her own.

BUT your rec writers may have (probably) kept your rec in their files and can just shoot off a new copy. It shouldn't be a huge amount of additional work, at least for the rec writers who know you personally.