A very sweet Recruitment Story! (live!!)
 

Hello everyone! My sister is a Sophomore at a large West coast school and decided she wanted to go through recruitment because she felt like she was missing out on lots of social, community service and sisterhood activities her freshman year.


Let me start this off by saying she has a 2.6 GPA. I know, pretty bad right? The "recommended" GPA that the Panhellenic office has at her school is a 2.8 for transfers/upperclassmen. But her Rho Gamma did not place her as a grade risk to the other chapters because she had a good HS GPA, a 3.6 her first semester of college last year and her grades dropped second semester because of medical reasons. She also had 10 rec letters. So she was reluctant to rush, but still chose to anyway.


Her school has 13 chapters which will be referred to as candy!:


Airheads
Blow Pops
Snickers
Laffy Taffys
M&M's
Red Vines
Skittles
Twix
Starbursts
Milky Ways
Mike N Ikes
Twizzlers
Sour Patch Kids


Day 1: House Tour Day
- She visited 6 of the 13 chapters this day. She went to Snickers, Laffy Taffy's, Red Vines, Twix, Twizzlers, M&M's.

Snickers: She expected a lot of from this house and wanted to like them because she had an old friend in this house. She said the conversations were dull and felt forced. She said she felt like they weren't interested.

Laffy Taffy: This house is considered a "bottom" house, but my sister didn't care about rankings. She said she loved their door song and chants. But when it came time for conversations, she said it was extremely awkward. They didn't make much conversation and there were lots of awkward pauses. There aren't very many girls in the house so there would be 2-3 PNM's per active girl. She said it was they were nice, but it just wasn't for her.

Red Vines: She loved this house! She had a girl on her cheer team in the house and she said they were amazing. She said the girls were nice and beautiful and seemed friendly and interested in conversation.

Twix: She hated this house. She said the girls she talked to weren't interested at all and the girl kept looking around as if she needed someone to save her from the conversation. And she said the girl seemed a little racist. (My sister is black.) She said she felt extremely uncomfortable in this house and couldn't wait to leave.

Twizzlers: She felt iffy about this house. She said she had good conversations and the girls seemed fun, but she just couldn't see them as her sisters.

M&M's: She liked this house. This was actually the first house she visited and she said they made her feel really welcome and excited for recruitment. She said were beautiful and nice, but they have a bad reputation on campus because they're always seen fighting at parties and one sister actually punched another sister in the face outside of the house.

Day 2: House Tour Day pt. 2
-This is the last day of house tours, she visited the remaining 7 chapters, Sour Patch Kids, Airheads, Mike N Ikes, Milky Way, Starbursts, Skittles and BlowPops


Sour Patch Kids: She loved this house! She said right when she walked in the girls chanted and yelled and hugged everyone and they seemed really open and nice! She said they were really chill and had great conversations, but when she left a girl accidently promised her. She said: "Oh have you met _____? Never mind, you'll definitely meet her tomorrow!" She really loved it there and wanted to go back.

Airheads: These girls are the smartest girls on campus. They've been #1 in grades for several consecutive semesters and they're a beautiful classy set. She said she loved them and they seemed really nice and classy. My sister was a bit weary going to this house since they're #1 in grades and my sister had a 2.6 GPA, but the girl she talked her told her not to worry about grades. She loved it there.

Mike N Ikes: She didn't really feel this house. She said when she was there it felt like they were fake and were trying so hard to make girls obsessed with them and mainly talked about themselves and didn't really care too much about talking to her or any of the other girls. She said they were pretty and nice, but they were trying too hard and she definitely couldn't see herself being apart of this house.

Milky Way: She adored this house. She said the girls there were really nice and funny and seemed to really liked her. She said she had great conversations and with everyone and could see herself in this house. These girls have the lowest grade on campus, so my sister felt like they wouldn't drop her. She really enjoyed it!

Starburst: She felt bad for this house. She thought they were awkward with everyone and seemed nervous. She thought the conversations she had were ok, but really couldn't see herself in the house.

Skittles: These girls are considered a "top" house at her school. All of her guy friends that are in fraternities told her about this house before recruitment and said they had the most gorgeous girls, but they were stuck up. She had three friends in the house and almost did informal with them last spring but wanted to do formal instead. Anyway, she said she really liked the house and they seemed to like her and she was hotboxed by girls in this house and felt a little bit uncomfortable, but still loved them.


Blow Pops: Her favorite of the 13 houses. She said they were so amazing, sweet and welcoming to her. They're considered a "top" houses because they are nice to everyone and very funny, bubbly and sweet. She was excited and didn't want to leave. She absolutely loved them!


So later that night, she preffed:

1. Blow Pops
1. Starburst
1. Milky Way
1. Airheads
1. M&M's
1. Red Vines
1. Sour Patch Kids
1. Mike N Ikes
1. Skittles
1. Twizzlers
2. Twix
3. Laffy Taffy's
4. Snickers


Next chapter of the story coming up!!

Hope it works out well for your sister. I didn't know that Rush Counsellors/Rho Gammas had the authority to determine whether someone was presented as a grade risk. Surely chapters can see her grades and decide for themselves?

Well the way she explained it, everyone with under a 2.8 (for upperclassmen) or a 3.0 (for freshmen) was automatically marked as a grade risk for chapters, unless they had special circumstances. But each chapter has their own GPA cutoff and they can do what they choose with this information.

I don't want to hijack the thread too much, but what does a "grade risk" mean exactly? I always just assumed eligible/ineligible.

I'm assuming it means that their GPA is below the school Panhellenic Council's recommendation and giving bids to girls with bad grades could be risky.

This seems like a strangely unnecessary level of power to place in the hands of the Rho Gammas. I'm thinking that perhaps there is a certain level of misunderstanding along the way.

Day 3: Philanthrophy

She got invited back to:

-Blow Pops
-M&M's
-Red Vines
-Skittles
-Starbursts

She was really shocked she didn't get invited back to Sour Patch Kids or Milky Way and so was I. They seemed really compatible with them. But she wasn't really surprised at the rest, nor was she that bothered considering her low grades and she wasn't really interested.


Day 3: Philanthropy Day

Blow Pops: She loved them AGAIN! She loved their philanthropy and had even more great conversations with the girls. She really felt a connection.

M&M's: The house was OK. She didn't like them as much as she thought she did before, but still thought they were a cool group of girls to be around, but not as sisters.

Red Vines: She had fun at their house. She had a good time with the other girls and thought they were funny.

Skittles: She was surprised they asked her back. She really liked them and their philanthropy and thought they girls loved her.

Starbursts: Still didn't really like the house and the only reason she preffed them was because she really didn't like three other houses. She said the conversations were alright.


Since she only had 5 houses, she had to pref them all. But the next day, she got invites from:

-Blow Pops
-Starbursts
-Red Vines

She was dropped from Skittles and M&M's. She didn't really care too much about getting dropped from M&M's, but felt kinda bad about Skittles.

They way I understand it, it can mean the PNM has grades close to either NPC or individual chapter requirements. i.e. if a chapter has a minimum of 2.5, and Low Grades Lena has a 2.6 (or 2.54, 2.57 etc) she is considered a grade risk because her grades aren't good and by the next semester she could drop below the minimum and need to be put on academic probation by the chapter.

I'm 99.9% certain I know which campus this is, and yes, I think either someone has explained it to her sister incorrectly, sister has misunderstood something she was told, or the OP has misunderstood what her sister told her.

Regardless, I'm looking forward to hearing the rest of the story WestCoastWonder, and I hope your sister is having a great time. I'm going to root for M&M's. Lately, I'm addicted to the peanut butter version.

Edit: Just realized M&M's is gone. I'll go with Starburst. I like those too.

I think I know too, although I am ok being wrong!!!! Best of luck to your sister! =)

I know exactly what you're guessing and I'm not sure if it would be appropriate to name names, but I'm sure you're correct :)

I think I know as well, but hey, there aren't that many big greek schools out here. Always happy to hear west coast stories! Personally I'm a big skittles fan.

Reality check: she is a sophomore with a low GPA. If she wants to be in a sorority, she'll attend those two pref parties. Those are the only two houses for her. And there are many threads on GC that talk about not being in love with a chapter, not getting your first choice, etc. That's the best I can come up with, given the facts.

Tell her to get composed, get dressed, and head to her pref's. There are plenty of stories on this site about women who did not get their top choice (often with a rough pref round), but who LOVED LOVED LOVED the chapter they got.

She is your sister. Be the voice of reason for her.

Tell her to go Pref. she has nothing to lose and everything to gain. If she has a desire to join a sorority THESE are her options. She should proceed as if these are the only two sororities on campus, because for her, they are. To be honest, her grades are probably a huge factor. I hope she will give these two groups a chance. They see something great in her!

She knew it was going to be rough going in, then got sucked into the bubble. Be as firm as you can about moving forward. She WILL be happy in the long run. Rush is NOT real life and her perceptions are nowhere near the whole picture.

She loved Red Vines the first round and thought they were fun in a later round. How does that translate to "lukewarm"?

Pref is a game changer. Many women have fallen in love with chapters pref night. It won't hurt to go to the parties.

^^ This.

She can go to prefs and give it a shot. Previous posts are spot on!

As a sophomore grade risk, these two chapters gave her a chance and are interested in having her as a member. She needs to understand that those chapters she loved, don't see her as a member and needs to forget them for the next 24-48 hours because to her they do not exist. Concentrate on the chapters who wanted her. I know this may sound a bit harsh, but it is what it is.

Tell her to go to pref, and maximize her options on her bid card, if she does this she will get placed with a house... These houses have 120+ women, she will bond and find happiness with either one if she gives it a shot! This is a great place to be Greek and there are smart and beautiful women in EVERY house. And I agree she LOVED Red Vines early in the week! It is hard to determine if she clicked with these women after spending a total of 2 hours visiting the house.

WestCoastWonder - Sent you a pm. Your sister has been given some great advice from these women.

One other comment, and I don't want this taken the wrong way. I am sure your sister is a wonderful person but knowing a good amount about this university and about the grade requirements, she should be proud of the recruitment that she has had. She had low grades and if she continues and maximizes her options she will be a member of a sorority tomorrow morning! Please remind her of this.

Thanks for the update WW. To me, it sounds like your sister really likes Red Vines but let the tent talk make her second guess herself. It sounds like she really likes her Red Vines friend, so it stands to reason that she would like Red Vines if her friend does. It also sounds like she doesn't care much for Starburst. I hope she gives them both a fair shot. I am sure she's a great girl and would have a great experience in either chapter!

I think most sororities (except maybe the one everyone wants) have experience with distraught PNMs. It happens every year. Hopefully your sister was able to behave like a normal human being. If she could do that, it may not have been that bad at Red Vines. It's not always the kiss of death at preference. I hope everything works out for her. Recruitment has a way to make you lose perspective.

A very sweet recruitment story turned SOUR!
 

Thanks for the advice everyone, I'm afraid the Red Vines may drop her because she wasn't very enthusiastic at all, but i'm hoping for the best.


We'll see tomorrow morning which house is sweet enough to give her a bid! (no pun intended!)


Edit:

Final Update!!

My sister has dropped out of recruitment :/


I'm very disappointed she did and she and her Rho Gamma decided it would be best for her to just do informal. I'm upset because we spent so much time and money and it ended up like this. And you never know what houses are doing informal. I'm really sad, but she's stubborn and adamant about her decision and ultimately It is her choice. Thanks for all of the wisdom and advice.

Maybe next time. The school was Washington State, by the way.

WestCoastWonder - I'm so sorry to hear this, but of course, sisters do have wills of their own and you can't control all of their choices (it's good practice for having children - they're even worse about that sort of thing).

Since you mentioned the school, let me just say that as I told you in my pm, my daughter went to WSU her freshman year (2007) and went through recruitment there her sophomore year. Like your sister, she dropped out, and while her story ultimately ended happily and turned out for the best in her case, as I told you she nonetheless strongly felt that anyone who planned on staying at WSU and who wanted to go through recruitment there should see it through to the end. She sees things much differently now than she did when she went through and she knows she was extremely fortunate to have the opportunity to go through again at another school when she had a much better perspective on things.

Having said all of that, most of her HS friends went to WSU (we lived in Spokane for 11 years and she grew up there) and most were in Greek life, so she has kept track of things on that campus up until probably last year. In that time she knows that typically there were around three sororities that will do informal. One actually contacted her the February following recruitment. I know options for social activities outside of Greek life seem limited in Pullman, but there are some there. I would encourage her to sign up for COB and look into other things she can get involved in on campus if she hasn't done so already. Hope that helps.

Let her cry, help her figure out a plan B and assure her that life is long and while this may hurt a lot now - eventually it will be a minor sting.

I am so sorry for your sister! Wazzu is a great place and if she is truely interested in finding a home in the Greek system she should be able to do so! If she spends the semester working hard on her grades I bet she can become a great member through informal this spring! It is hard to swallow the disapointment right now, but please tell her not to give up!!

Thanks guys. I hope the houses she was interested in go through COB. But you never really know who will do informal. She's still really sad, but is holding up well and she'll be fine soon.

Best of luck to your sister in the future, I'll just personally never understand why someone especially with the qualifiers your sister has (upperclassmen, grade risk) would make it to pref and then drop out for the incredibly slim chance of COB which will be with either chapters that already dropped you, or the chapters you preffed at.

I know. And i'm so heartbroken right now because I can hear girls outside running to their houses and that could've been her. And even though she dropped out, last night, her Rho Gamma extended the offer for her to still pref, but she didn't.

WestcoastWonder, I am very sorry to hear about your sister's disappointing recruitment. I had my hopes up for her. I hope it all turns out OK for her in the end and she has a great college experience.


Also, just as a random question on the side, why is there a Sigma Alpha Iota crest showing for Alpha Omicron Pi on the WSU Panhellenic website? As we all know, AOII doesn't have a crest.

Wow...that's weird.

Coug alum here, I have been trying hard to find what quota was, but have not had any luck. Do you know any numbers? Thanks

I'm afraid you and I are on the same boat here. I'd like to know as well.

WestcoastWonder,

I don't want to add further disappointment to your sister. I'm obviously just the mother of a sorority woman who's spent quite a bit of time reading on this forum and who knows something about this campus, but I don't want to stray out of my lane and say what could and could not happen for sure. There are many women on here who are experts on how recruitment numbers and quota works so I'll leave it to them to explain with any certainty why this would or would not be possible.

I did ask daughter if she thought that was possible. Of course she's not an expert either, but she obviously knows more than me about a) WSU and b) how the recruitment numbers/quota things work. She said that the likelihood of 10 chapters out of 13 on any campus and particularly on this one, not making quota are virtually impossible. Actually she said she'd never heard of that happening anywhere and she flatly didn't think it could happen the way RFM works, but again, she's not an expert.

In this case it would mean that either ten chapters seriously miscalculated or the majority of girls who went to preference and filled out bid cards saying they would accept bids to the chapters they wrote down all changed their minds on bid day and collectively decided not to show up.

Also, I can assure you that at least in the last decade (that's how long she's had older friends, friends, and younger friends go to WSU and go through recruitment) this has never, ever happened before. It would be completely unprecedented. In all likelihood when you are out and about and seeing the photos you are seeing parts of a pledge class. Usually, as I said there are two or three that do informal. In the last five years she has known of five different sororities that did informal (there may have been a couple more that did it), but not all of them did informal every year- if that makes sense.

Like I said, just campus speculation. But several girls dropped out/were dropped this year. But who really knows. It all sounded far fetched to begin with.

Pledge classes could be quite small, but that doesn't mean only 3 chapters made quota. That's not how RFM works. If 50 or 100 or 1000 girls attend preference parties, they are thrown into the computer and the machine determines what quota should be in order to match the most number of girls. Because the chapters have made mandatory cuts through the process, the girls couldn't all end up at only 3 chapters. Now a truckload of girls could have dropped out and turned what should have been 50 member pledge classes into 25 member pledge classes. But that doesn't mean they didn't meet quota.

But based on how it works at really successful Greek schools, there shouldn't be more than 15 or 20% reduction between start and finish. If it's more than that, there's a problem with the Greek system there that needs to be resolved. This isn't 1 or 2 chapters spoiling the fun for the rest. In my opinion only, of course.