seniors during rush
 

HI! I just finished my junior year at USF and was thinking about doing sorority rush as a senior. I would have done it earlier but I have been in the marching band here since it's inception and did not think that my first two years I had a lot of time and was really worried about keeping my grades up. Then last year, I was going to do rush when I was told that I would be section leader. This year I'm still going to be in marching band but I do have the time to dedicate to a sisterhood. I was just wondering if sororities ever take seniors in? I don't want to go through the whole ordeal and get my hopes up if there's no chance. Please let me know:confused:

It depends on the school I think. Here at the U of Arizona a senior's chance of getting into a sorority are very slim. Recruitment here is very competitive and a lot of houses will only take freshman with maybe one or two sophomores. I know that on campuses with large greek systems this seems to be the case. But I think that you should go through recruitment but be realistic about it and get your hopes way up. Good luck!

Hey. Of course, I am not in a GLO, yet, but I am planning to rush and I am 20. I mentioned my delimma on GC, and there were lots of posts encouraging me to rush that mentioned people that were older, or upperclassmen, so I would definitely say go for it. Think about it this way, if being greek is something you would really like to do, then why not go for it? At least, give it a chance, otherwise, you will never know!!!

It's very difficult at most schools to get a bid if you're a senior, unless you're on a 5-year plan. You will only have one year to devote to your chapter and bond with your chapter sisters.

At some schools, juniors and seniors are "free" (not counted in quota) so that a bid offered to an upperclasswoman doesn't mean that an interested freshman or sophomore goes bidless.

There's no harm in rushing. After all, if you don't rush, you definitely won't be in a house.

Good luck! :)

Rosma,
I think people are right when they say it depends on the school. I think some colleges only go for freshman and sophomores because they have 3+ years left.
Personally I think that is too bad because if you're a junior or senior, you can still add a lot to an organization as anactive and an alumni.
I personally didn't go through pledging until my senior year. I tried it my sophomore year, but wasn't happy with sorority XYZ, so I dropped from pleddging. So I tried again my senior year and ended up with my sorority Kappa Gamma Chi. There were actually 3 of us seniors in that class and we added so much in that one year :D And they didn't take us just for #s btw. We were the strongest and largest sorority on campus at that time and still are (Yes, I'm tooting the horn here :D)
So if you want to try it then do it. I never think it is too late. However keep in mind how the Greek system works on your campus and how realistic your chances truly are.
Good luck, I hope you go for it.

Rosma,

I don't know too much about the system there, as I was not active while I attended USF, but from what I have heard it would probably not be that big of a deal. I do know that the greek system is relatively small, so I would say go through rush. I would not make a big deal out of the fact that you are a senior (don't offer it up, but tell the truth if they ask). They will find out what is important to them. Good Luck, and if all else fails I can guarantee that you will make many friends just by going through the process :)

As someone said a seniors chances usually arent as good as someone who is a freshman or even soph going in. It all depends on not only the campus but the house/org. I finally excepted a bid my senior year at U of Michigan. I was lucky because my org was recolonizing and they were looking for older girls to show leadership to the younger ones. In all truthfulness they didnt want freshman to be running they show when they weren;t ready. Moreover, on my campus Juniors and Seniors are known as free bids, which means you can take how many you want and the dont count towards quota. I say go for it, you never know, but dont feel upset if it doesnt happen. I dont regret going through late at all. I gave me a chance to have friends who are and who arent greek. My only thing is I wish I had of excepted a bid sooner when I got them in my years. You may only have on year as a collegian, but being an active alum can be just as fun. Feel free to PM me with questions if you have them at anytime. :D

Tonya

Go for it!
 

All I can say is in the fall I already know the candidate class will have at least 1 senior in it. We just had another guy graduate that started as a senior.

I wish they could have been around longer but am definitely thankful to have had the opportunity to get to know them.

It of course depends on your school, but if you want to do it then I say better late than never!

LHT
Kevin
MT #5
University of Central Oklahoma

One of my pledge class sisters was a senior so I say go for it!:D

It depends on the chapter. For instance, my chapter does not take seniors (they do take juniors and sophomores though). But, there are many sororities on my campus that do take seniors. That may be a question you could ask during rush. You could ask them how many seniors and juniors pledged their chapter the year before. That way, you'll know on the first day of rush what chapters seem more likely for you.

Big Picture
 

Rosma,
I don't know anything at all about your school's Greek system, so I don't know how hard it is for seniors to get bids...what everyone else has said on the matter pretty much gives you an idea of the possibilities. I have one suggestion, that many people may not agree with me on...but it's worth considering in my opinion. SInce you are a senior, and only have 1-2 years left of school--try thinking more in terms of your alumnae membership in a sorority, and go from there.

My point is, every school has a chapter that is considered "weak" for whatever reason...and it is often easier for seniors to get bids from those chapters than others. Even the strongest sororities nationally have "weak" collegiate chapters...but there is more to being in a sorority than being a collegian...your collegiate life is 4 or fewer years, but alum life is forever. If you go through recruitment (and I strongly encourage you to do so), and it looks like your first choices aren't going to work out, consider accepting a bid from another National organization that you can also identify with--and see yourself as an active alum. Even if the chapter is not strong-you will have the benefit of the collegiate experience for a short time, and the priceless benefit of being an alumnae.

Also, keep in mind that many national organizations recognize and encourage alumnae initiation. If you don't think you can live with the choices at your campus during formal recruitment, remember you may have the opportunity to become an initiate of the organization you really like, later on as an alum...it can take some legwork to meet members of sororities under those circumstances, and you won't have the full collegiate experience to draw on, but it is special nonetheless. The other advantage is that you don't have to be limited only by the organizations at the school your are attending for alum initiation. You are just limited by those organizations who have alum groups in your area, and recognize alum initiation.

Anyway, sorry for the novel, but just some thoughts. Good luck to you, and keep us posted on your decision!

Listen to dzandiloo! She had some good advice. :)

Hi ,
I think you should go for it, but be prepared not to get a bid ( as stated above.) Even if you don't get in a sorority it is cool to get to know new people, I say think of it as an adventure. Also if you do get a bid from a sorority even though they may not be your top choice accept it and see if it works for you. Coming in as a senior also has some benifits, you are more mature and therefore will most likely see the "true reasons to join"
I will warn joining a sorority as a senior has it's draw backs-- the new member programs are normally aimed at helping freshman women become aclamented to the new campus as well as the sorority, also you may feel left out because of the small amount of time you have to invest in the active chapter.
Personally I believe the positives far out weigh the negatives. So take a shot at it:)

See if the Greek life office will give you figures on how many upperclass women pledged and if possible, at what houses.

"Can a senior get a bid" is a question that 100% depends on the school - I definitely learned that here on GC!

Although it is hard to get a bid as a senior, what they are more likely to look at is how many years you have left before you leave. My chapter has taken juniors before since they were changing their major and would be taking 5 years (that gives them 3 years in the chapter). It all depends. Also, what dzandiloo said is GREAT advice.

Hi!
As a member of a USF sorority, I would say that there are several factors that would influence your getting into a sorority. First, for the most part the only way anyone would know if you were a senior would be if you mentioned it to someone. While I know chapters drop across the board for things such as grades, etc. after the first day, I know from past years some people went through recruitment and it wasn't until they mentioned they were an upperclassmen that anyone was aware of it. With 500 girls going through recruitment and only 7 sororities there's ALOT of people to meet! and remember:) Therefore I offer you this advice, don't mention that you are a senior unless specifially asked. And then if you are planning on five years, you can say something like, well technically I"m a senior but I won't be graduating this may. Also, There are several chapters on campus who have taken older sisters before, both in terms of chronological age, and in terms of age in the university. Having been on campus for three years, is there a specific organization that you are interested in joining? Because you could probably find out their contact information and email/ call the executive board and express your interest (without being overbearing).
Also, talk about what you can offer to the sorority and what you can bring to their sisterhood, on this board we often talk about quality over quantity, and I know that I would rather give a bid to a senior who was going to improve our chapter if only for one year (and as an alumni) then a freshman who was only interested in meeting boys and partying, and would disaffiliate after she obtained what she wanted to do:(

If you have any questions please feel free to PM me!!!!
Hope it helps!

That surprises me that not even the VP of Recruitment for each house would not have access to this information at USF, and thereby have the information available for the recruitment committee to consider (which I think is normally how chapters find out who is what rank...). Most schools include this as a question on the Recruitment application.... Just an observation.

At least on my campus, you are required to list your GPA and if you are already in college, the number of credit hours on your form. Obviously, someone with 90 hours would have been there a while, so it's not that hard to figure out what year they are.

At UCF, the application includes a place where your number of credits, gpa, and year must be listed. It is then verified through the greek affairs office so the VP of recruitment knows what year each of the girls are.

All that information is asked about in the application, however only the VP for recruitment is allowed to see the applications and except for across the board cuts for GPA, etc. (I guess if you were going to automatically cut upperclassman across the board) she isn't allowed to discuss any specific girl because she also has the marks in front of her for the girl. Therefore she could be biased and isn't allowed to pro or con anyone.
Hope that makes sense.....

I know I talked to someone last year in formal, and her name came up, so I raised my hand and said she was a junior we decided to drop her, because she was a possible as a younger girl, a no as an upperclassman. No one else knew she was a junior though until I told them, cause she told me.

How can you say that the chapter won't find out if the VP Recruitment finds out?

I can say it because we follow the rules that our national office has set in place for us for membership selection.

The VP of recruitment is the only one with full access to the applications, she is not allowed to say anything positive or negative about a single person. If we as a chapter say that everyone with a GPA of 3.0 and under is dismissed then they are however, she is not allowed to stand up while we are discussing mary, and say mary personally has a gpa of 3.4. Because she is in charge of rush she knows the scores that we rank the PNMs she can not make any comments about any girls.

If you need me to clarify more, you can ask.

I see your point USFstudent. There are any number of things the VP Recruitment knows that the rest of the chapter doesn't know in some cases...and the recruitment committee often has alot of discretion with regard to those things...perhaps the class rank thing is reserved for that group in the event of a close vote, or something?

Just remember that every school/chapter does it differently. At Tarleton, there were only about 100 girls going through rush, so it was feasible for all of the members to get a look at all of the applications. At schools with 150-800 women going through recruitment, there is no way chapter members who are not on the recruitment committee would learn about all of the PNMs.

thanks
 

Hi!
I justed wanted to thank all of you for giving me some honest advice. I will keep what all of you have said in my mind during the whole process. Thanks a bunch