Rushing at WVU
 

Hello!

I will be a junior transfer in Fall 2013 and was curious about sorority recruitment at West Virginia University. Is it super competitive? Are recommendations absolutely necessary?

I tried to look for threads specific to WVU but only found ones about fraternity recruitment. maybe I wasn't looking hard enough?
Thank You so much!

Any advice and tips will be super helpful and much appreciated :)

I'm going to make a few assumptions here since I don't know specifically, but according to our NPC Recruitment thread, and assuming everyone reached an average number of pledges (within a handful), my interpretation of those stats is a lot of girls drop out of rush during the process. Being a state institution, there may be a lot of girls who register and get cut heavily or completely because of grades. There may also be a few chapters that all the girls want and when they get cut they drop out completely. Even if I did know that for sure, I wouldn't specify because it's counter-productive.

So here's my advice to you: 1-if you are the person going through rush, it's competitive. 2-Cuts will happen and as a junior, you will get hid harder than your equally as awesome freshman counterparts. Be aware that the most competitive chapters may not be interested in taking a junior, so keep your mind open to those less competitive chapters. Once rush is over, that status won't matter one bit, so ranking all the chapters as though it's life and death is just silly. Sure, you will have preferences, but unless there is something SERIOUSLY wrong with a chapter, be open to them. Your membership is for a lifetime, and as a junior you will want to think bigger picture than the younger gals probably will.

And regarding your searches here, try using google or bing and use Greekchat in the search. It works better than starting from within this site.

Thank you for the advice! I do know that I have to keep an open mind which I plan to.
Being more specific in terms of my bio, I'll be a junior with a sophomore standing (b/c of credits) with a 3.3 GPA, with a lot of extracurricular activity. I've done short-term missionary work in South America for 4 years during the summer.

Should I get recommendation letters for rush at WVU? Are they a necessity there as it is in SEC schools?

Thanks again!

It was a looong time ago, but I had a friend who transferred to WVU, did fall rush as a sophomore and had no problem getting a bid. If you have sophomore standing, register as a sophomore, not a junior. Like most schools north of the Mason-Dixon line, no one did or cared about recs.

If you are a Martian with sophomore standing, you're a sophomore.

West Virginia is in the Big XII, not the SEC.

She was just missing the comma that would make the sentence correct. She knows it is not in the SEC :) Try this for better clarity....

Are they a necessity there, as it is in SEC schools?

:eek: I'm glad to see the "CP" brought you back to GC...but...WV is south of the Mason Dixon line. I live in PA and work in Morgantown on weekends, so I literally cross the M-D Line to and from work.

On Topic: WVU has some pretty sorority houses!

Yes, that's what I meant :) Sorry for the typo.

Thank you! That's really good to hear

Point taken, but you know what I meant. It's a mountain school with cold winters, it rushes like a northern school, not a southern one.

I have a junior friend that rushed at WVU that was cut early from most houses - including a legacy chapter (I can't remember exactly how many). She made sure she kept open mind. She only ended up with one chapter on pref night, but bid day she knew she had found her home. She's a completely happy active now :)

runningswiftly, it can never hurt to get recs!

that is so great! makes me feel more at ease :) thanks!

everyone is so helpful! thank you :)!!!

I graduated from WVU in 2007 and I don't think things have drastically changed since I was there. Pledge classes are about 10 people bigger (I think Alpha Phi took 40 girls in Fall 2012) than when I rushed as a freshman in 2003, and quota was around 25 when I graduated.

My chapter received one rec in my 4 years there, and it was from an active at another chapter whose biological sister was rushing at WVU. I knew about recs from GC, but 90% of my chapter had no idea what it was and our advisor had to explain them.

I remember us pledging just one junior during my time there, and she ended up quitting the following semester. She did not make many friends in her pledge class, but I think it had more to do with her personality than her age/class standing. Most pledge classes are a pretty equal mix of freshmen and sophomores.

Feel free to PM me with any questions! You will love WVU, it was the best 4 years of my life and I still miss it every day. :D LETS GO MOUNTAINEERS!!

I went through recruitment last semester, and WVU Alpha Phi is correct. Recruitment is getting larger and larger every semester. The pledge class a semester before mine was about 25 girls, and my pledge class was 40 (every sorority but one had around 40 girls in the Fall). I did have a rec to a few different chapters when I went through, which I was later told helped me a lot. However, no other girls I spoke to had them, so I would not say they are necessary.

I also agree with what everyone else above me said. Go through rush and keep an open mind, but recruitment will be slightly harder on a junior than on a freshmen. Greek life at WVU is getting larger and larger every year, so if you show each house that you want to be an active, involved member that will definitely help you!!
Best of luck and remember to stay positive!

(On a side note, I do have an account here but I made a fake account because it would make me very easy to identify if I used my main account :D )

Yes, recruitment is pretty competitive. With only 8 sororities and 600+ girls going through, the biggest reason for dropping out of recruitment is girls not getting invited back by the house they want. With that being said, going through recruitment as a junior is not ideal but its definitely not a deal breaker! I know quite a few girls who transferred and pledged as juniors. If you have sophomore standing I would definitely go with sophomore when you sign up, but during recruitment if it comes up, you just say that you transferred so you have (X) amount of years left. It doesn't bother sororities that you are a junior, they are more interested in how many years you will be around and be an active member. One of my best friends rushed as a junior and is a great sister.

No, recommendations are not necessary. Most girls go through recruitment at WVU without recs. You're chances are still as good without a rec. However, they can definitely help you if you have one.

I'll be a senior in a sorority at WVU and my biggest advice to you is go through recruitment and let your personality shine through. Try not to feel nervous or intimidated, it can be intimidating meeting a bunch of strangers and trying to impress them. Just try to have normal conversations and have a good time. Also, try to stay open minded about all the houses and disregard any "rush rumors" you might hear that week. I can promise you any of the bad rumors you hear during rush are false. No houses on this campus haze and all of them are great and have really sweet girls in each.

Best of luck!