University of Alabama Recruitment
 

I will be transferring to UA in the fall.Iwaswondering: since I will be transferring, does this make my chances of getting into a sorority slimmer? I have above a 3.3 GPA so I think I'm good in that area. But since I will be an upperclassmen will I have less of a chance of getting a bid or even invited to the rest of rush week?

If by UA you mean the University of Alabama, it is traditionally a very competitive recruitment. Your chances won't be any easier as a sophomore, but they aren't shot to hell either. I would strongly recommend obtaining 2 personal recommendations to each chapter, and keeping an open mind to all chapters on campus as they are all huge and engage in the same types of activities. Your only chance of getting a bid is to go through recruitment. Good luck to you.

Here is what Bama's Panhellenic website says:


Alabama utilizes a secondary quota that separates upperclassman from incoming freshman. A dual quota system is used specifically to place upperclassmen potential members. Its purpose is to give upperclassmen and transfer students a greater opportunity to pledge during Formal Recruitment.

More info is at: http://www.uapanhellenic.com/index.p...id=20&Itemid=8

Alabama does have a very competitive recruitment, and even with the upperclassman quota, your options might be more limited. As already advised, approach it with a very open mind in that you are willing to give all sororities a look and an opportunity. Recommendations are an absolute must, not an option. Keep the GPA up and read the threads here on GC about how to put your best foot forward. SEC recruitment can be tougher for a sophomore, but the ones I know personally who have rushed in the last couple of years had successful recruitments! Best of luck to you!

Also, here is a link to GC info about upperclassmen quota so you can understand it better. http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/sh...d.php?t=121221

3.3 is......adequate. 3.0 is considered the floor and some chapters, I hear, prefer to start with 3.5.
Sophomore is not that big of a deal, especially if you're transferring. As said, recs are required. REQUIRED. Keep all your options open - don't automatically discount any sorority. Tent talk is vicious at UA, and includes some of the most fantastic fairy tales I've ever heard anywhere.

Your opinions will change from day to day, too. In the end, go with your heart. And if formal recruitment doesn't work out, COB sometimes works better for upperclassmen than formal.

Best of luck, and Roll Tide!

My options are all open. But I will be coming in as a junior (I'm a sophomore at my community college right now). I've had a 3.5 every semester I've been there. This past semester was the first time I had below a 3.5. So my transcript looks nice.
But I'm worried that none of the sororities will want a junior :(

No sugar coating here. Most of them probably won't want a junior with a lower GPA, so expect heavy cuts based on year in school and grades if you have under a 3.5. The school will recalculate your GPA, so it may be under/over what your community college calculates. UA's GPA is what the sororities will consider.

SEC sorority recruitments are very competitive and you've got your best shot as a freshman, with very limited returns as an upperclassman. Even with a dual quota system, you're still a junior at the upper end of your time in school. But if you want to join a sorority, going through recruitment is the only way to join. If it doesn't work out in formal, there may be a few sororities with open spots during the year who will hold their own informal recruitment. Formal recruitment is your best shot to start off because it provides the opportunity to meet all of the chapters.

You know what you're up against, so give it a shot. I'll be very happy for you if you get a bid. But I'll be very surprised if you get a bid from formal recruitment. Not because you aren't a super or wonderful person, but you're coming in as an upperclassmen with a decent but not stellar GPA. You may have a chance at a bid during the spring if you're still on everyone's radar and were well-liked. It will also help to get involved on campus in the fall and get to know Greeks in your classes and campus organizations.

Does anyone know if there are any sororities colonizing at Alabama this year? That is often an excellent way for nonfreshmen to find a home.

No there are not.

And the last time one did colonize, colonization was probably 3x harder than normal rush.

Some may consider you as a junior and some may not. It just depends especially if you are friends with members already or maybe you had a not so great reputation in high school or your home town. If you know sorority members start letting them know you're coming now but not in a creepy way like if you haven't talked or facebooked in like two years and really don't know them, don't all of a sudden friend all of them and start talking recruitment recruitment recruitment all the time!

Have you already spoken to an advisor (or registrar, etc.) at Alabama? Do you know for sure you will classified as a Junior when you transfer? I only ask as sometimes not all classes taken at community college transfer to four year universities. Something to look into if you haven't already.

I hope that you will register tonight for the Bama Panhellenic preview coming up in a few weeks. Here is a link for you:

http://www.uapanhellenic.com/index.p...d=57&Itemid=42

I have signed up already :)

A junior is definitely more difficult.
Start looking around now among your high school friends at UA - did any of them pledge a sorority? Try to connect with them when they come home. Same with friends at your junior college. Juniors who rush successfully often already know someone in the house.

Higher GPAs are an advantage in rush, I agree, but I feel as if a college GPA of 3.3 might be considered a little differently than a high school GPA of 3.3 -- I know I would consider it more predictive of college-level work if writing a rec for a transfer.

Only about 8 chapters at Bama had new member GPAs above a 3.3 this fall -- and of those, some just barely above a 3.3:

http://greekaffairs.ua.edu/documents...radeReport.pdf

I don't know where rumors like ^this originate -- but this is just not true.

Greekdee is correct -- I know the last two colonizations at Bama have been great opportunities for upperclassmen.

Good luck, Bamagirl. It will probably be more difficult to go through rush as a junior, but you won't know what opportunities may exist unless you try.

Like others have said -- keep your options open, and work on rounding up those recs. And remember (as others here have also said) to treat every invite as an opportunity -- it only takes one.

All the best!

This ^^^ cannot be overly emphasized, at Alabama, or other notorious tent talk schools!

bamagirl, I know I've sounded harsh about your chances, but we have a lot of Prospective New Members come here and declare they will totally pledge their choice because they have wonderful 3.0 grades and are cute and were homecoming queen. Well, 60% of the other PNMs have 3.5s or better and were also homecoming queens. I'm exaggerating, but so many girls don't understand that they are one of MANY well qualified PNMs.

You need to know it will not be super easy for you...but it is possible.

Go into UA recruitment determined to only accept 1 of 5 or 6 sororities = you're toast.
Go into UA recruitment prepared with recommendations, good grades and activities, dressed appropriately, determined to meet new friends in many houses, enjoy the parties, be pleasant to your hostesses and participate in conversations, unconcerned about sorority reputations (and you shouldn't be - all UA chapters have outstanding women and leaders) = high chances of a successful recruitment.
I wish you the very best!
RTR!

That number originated from my ass, since you asked.

And yes, they were great opportunities. Those upperclassmen selected were probably also head and shoulders above the average Bama female student and vetted back and forth and upside down. Greekdee's post didn't really convey that.

If I used a little hyperbole, it's because people often don't get the point unless you do.

All the more reason they may be looking for women with higher grades.

Can you supply us with those statistics? Number of upperclass women, by class, who went thru the process vis-a-vis the number who actually were offered bids?

That's what I thought.

The actual number of total PNMs from both recent colonies, who participated in formal recruitment, then joined a colonizing chapter, was 304 of the total 438 new colony members. I think that there was a lot of opportunity for upperclassmen to join these chapters, since colonizing chapters want and need new members outside of freshmen and sophmores.


Yet you didn't attend Bama (or any other competitive SEC school), your GLO doesn't have a chapter there, you don't write recs for PNMs there, and don't know girls who joined either of the most recent colonizing chapters.

I do. And I know that the girls selected were great girls, though to state that this process is 3x more difficult than FR, and that these girls are turned inside-out in such a manner, is tantamount to uninformed tent-talk.

Greekdee's post conveyed exactly what needed to be conveyed. I wish there was such an opportunity upcoming for transferring upperclassmen like bamagirl. I think we still need more chapters to colonize at Bama (just my opinion -- especially considering the continued large size of the pledge classes).

One way or another -- I'm sure bamagirl would be happy in any of the chapters there -- and I hope she pursues the opportunity. There aren't any bad choices at Bama!

Do you know how may of those 304 were upperclassmen (including sophomores since they are also considered upperclassmen)? And why not include all who participated in the colonization process instead of the number who also participated in formal recruitment? Does that skew the stats?

Perhaps you can help with that -- do existing chapters pledge more juniors, for instance, than colonizing chapters?

I certainly didn't think so, but perhaps you can provide some stats from your own chapter's recolonization there. I'm willing to be educated.

I don't agree. It made it sound like it was an "easier" option. (FWIW I don't think that was greekdee's intention, but it did.)

If you want to blow sunshine up everyone's twat 24/7, you're on the wrong site. Maybe you need to go assist your chapter at Alabama with recruitment and tell them to give bids to all the women you "support" on here.

If I knew, I would have posted the information. But I'm not on the recruitment side these days. Since you had partial stats, it appeared that you might be privey to such information.

Look, we're all just trying to make the point that "colonies seek out women of all grade levels, but they are by no means taking everyone", right? That's the important part for PNM's.

But if I wanted to swap not-so-classy insults with someone pulling uninformed advice out of unmentionable places, then I’m on the right site? ;)

I just don't see a disagreement here -- no one said that a colonizing chapter takes any upperclassman. Opportunities for upperclassmen were more abundant during a colonization than in FR with existing chapters at Bama, and I imagine on other SEC campuses as well.

We could extrapolate a little from the numbers posted in the reports found here:
http://greekaffairs.ua.edu/resources.cfm

For the most recent colonization at Bama, for instance –

In Fall 2011, 221 girls were pledged in the colonization. In Spring 2011, 10 more NMs were added, for a total of 231.

In Fall, 2012, 92 girls were pledged, and the total membership at close of Fall 2012 is reported as 261.

So that leaves 62 girls who potentially graduated within those 3 semesters. These girls would have been seniors -- and maybe juniors on their way to an early graduation -- when they pledged during the colonization or sometime thereafter (check my math, just in case).

All chapters have some girls move, transfer, drop, etc, of course, but there are probably a lot of graduating upper-upperclassmen among those 62.

Your numbers are off. The question wasn't how many total were pledged. The issue is how many upperclassmen were pledged - and are generally pledged - in a colonization. You are trying to extrapolate something for which you do not have enough information.

Once again, do you know the class breakdowns? Yes or no would be appropriate answers for the discussion you joined. The rest is not germaine to the issue at hand. Thanks though for the math tutorial.

Lane-swerving, but:

You and most others posting here, as women experienced with how NPC recruitment and colonization work, understand that. But the student in college who wants to be Greek and who isn't nearly as familiar with how NPC recruitment and colonization work may not understand that, and may read much more than intended into a statement like this:

Quote:

Originally Posted by greekdee (Post 2203349) Does anyone know if there are any sororities colonizing at Alabama this year? That is often an excellent way for nonfreshmen to find a home.

Hence the hyperbolic responses to that statement from some who have seen that from PNMs on GreekChat all too often.

Okay, okay, okay, let me rephrase the statement for the benefit of any PNMs reading this:

A colonizing chapter may be another path to a sorority home for both freshmen and upperclassmen. Because colonizing chapters do often look for a mix of both, this might be a good opportunity for an upperclassman. At schools like Bama, though, the competition for colonizing chapters is usually competitive and there are no guarantees that you will be extended an invitation to become a member. And yes, in the SEC, it is advised to get recs for those colonizing chapters. :)

How/where are my numbers off?

How do you interpret the numbers? What happened to the 62 girls pledged but no longer included in the membership total -- within a year? My take is that many graduated (hence they were upper-upperclassmen when joining during the colonization).


That was the point of my extrapolating, so to speak, using the data that is available.

Since you were involved in a recolonization, wouldn't you have some idea of these numbers? Or at least a general idea of class proportions desired in a colonization pledge class?


That is kinda the point of extrapolating.

Extrapolate

a: to project, extend, or expand (known data or experience) into an area not known or experienced so as to arrive at a usually conjectural knowledge of the unknown area


No, do you? I was extrapolating from the numbers available in the reports I linked. Neither of the more recently colonized chapters at Bama are mine.

You are the one who said "I know the last two colonizations at Alabama have been great opportunities for upperclassmen."

I said that 1) if I had the information I would post it and 2) that I am not/was not involved on the recruitment side.

Hence the question to you - do you have the upperclass numbers breakdown. Obviously you don't. Why is that so hard to say?

One figure was how many were originally issued bids, not how many accepted them. A few decline, a few just don't show up, a few get through some of the NM period and decide it's not for them.

Then some transfer, flunk out, drop out, get married. And a few graduate.
You'd really need all the numbers to come up with a accurate picture, and that's private info. But feel free to extrapolate all you want from the published figures.

One way or another, there will be no colonizations at the University of Alabama this year. Maybe next year, but not this year.

Personally, I think that once the three sorority houses are vacated by the groups moving into new houses, a new group might be interested. The cost would be much less than building.

No, it wasn't -- the figures I used to arrive at 62 girls came from the actual totals on the semester-end grade reports.

I hope so -- but I don't think all the houses will be vacant. I understand that some of the chapters may be renovating their existing houses -- I heard that the Chi Os will be moving into one of the vacated houses while renovating their house, for instance.

From what I understand, Gamma Phi Beta is going to take one of the next new lots. ZTA will expand on the Gamma Phi side and AXO will expand on the DDD lot. That leaves the ADPi and AGD houses - both of which are great lots.

lol, I said it. I also said I was extrapolating from the numbers on the reports I linked. You said that my numbers were off, but you are not able to point out how or where my numbers are off. Check the reports I linked earlier.

What exactly are you disagreeing with? That colonization is a great opportunity for upperclassmen? That colonizing chapters take more upperclassmen than existing chapters in FR?

I was originally responding to 33girl's misinformation:

You inidcated that colonization was a great opportunity for upperclassmen at Alabama. I asked if you had stats to back that up. It's that simple. The possible answers are 1) no or 2) yes I do and here they are.

I don't see what all the rest of this has been about. As I said, if I had them I would have posted them.

I don't know how to make this any plainer. End of story.

Yes, I did. And yes, it is. It really is that simple.


I don't think your calling out my posts is really motivated by your data-driven concern over stats. :rolleyes: You didn't even look at the numbers that I did link.


Neither do I. Sorry I couldn't help you understand the math.