cut once, cut always?
 

I am sorry if I am bringing up an old question, but I have gone through rush twice already. I was just wondering if the fact that I have not gotten a bid means that I should stop rushing. I love going to the events and meating new people. Later on I see them in my classes, and some of the girls have bacome my good friends http://www.greekchat.com/forums/ubb/smile.gif, but I don't want to start annoying people. I have some friends in Fraternities in other schoold, and they told me that if they don't give a prospective a bid right away, then they definitely don't want him in thair house.

Well, there's lots and lots of debate about this issue. Some members of NPC groups swear that no such rule exists.

I have been through rush twice as well, plus I went through informal for one group. The first time I went through, I dropped out. This time I was cut from all 10 houses on my campus.

I personally believe that there *is* such a rule, and that some schools use it and some don't. I would have to say that it more than likely depends on your school, on your greek system, etc.

juniorgrrl et al--

Having never gone through a formal rush, I am wondering how someone can be cut from all houses on the campus? Is it because the houses used up their quotas? Was there no snap bidding? In addition to being emotionally devestating, I just have difficulty seeing all 10 houses cutting someone. I assumed that between all the national and local sororities, one would have a bid from at least one of them, and you could decide if you were actually interested in accepting that bid.

How often does being cut from all the houses happen to rushees?

Best,
Shela

Shelacious,

juniorgrrl and I attend the same school. There are 10 NPC groups on campus and it is possible to be cut by 8 or 9 of the 10 houses. I went thur Formal Rush Fall 99 and after the first round of parties I only got one invitation back. Had that one house been interested in me still after the second round, I would have pref them and got a bid from them. But for some reason, me and the house didn't click and I was cut after the second round. There is no snap bidding here at my school(as far as I know) and no COB because most of the houses make quota during formal rush. The average size of all of the houses is 180 girls. Roughly, I would say about 1000-3000 girls go thur sorority rush (juniorgrrl can correct me if I'm wrong.) The majority of them being freshmen. When I rushed, I believe I was the only upperclassman who did(and also the only minority). The whole time,my rho chi kept saying how brave I was to be rushing(blah,blah,blah)

As far as how often being cut goes, that really depends. I really don't want to say that upperclassmen get cut more then freshmen because I don't know.

hope this helps

Shelacious,

About 800-900 girls go through Formal Rush at LSU each year. There are 10 sororities and they each have a pledge class of about 70. Their quota is determined by the amount of women still in the process after the third round of parties. So, basically, if there are 700 girls left after round 3, divide that by 10, and each house has 70 spots to fill. And they fill up year after year after year. The DZ chapter on our campus has made quota for 40+ consecutive years - its a national record, I believe.

Its very possible to be cut from all the houses - with so many girls, some people just fall through the cracks. However, it seems to be more like "she's not our kind."

I'm smart, I'm cute, I had a good GPA, and was only a soph when I went through first. The area I felt I was lacking in most was school involvement. But overall, I felt I was a good candidate. I dressed cute for every party, hair and makeup done to a fault. I tried my best to find a common thread of conversation with each sister I met in each house. However, after the first day of parties, I was cut down to 2 houses. I was devastated. That upset wore me down and I finally dropped out the day of preference. I only had one invitation to pref, and, while I liked the house very much, my top choice had dropped me and I felt like a failure.

This year, I decided to give it a go again. Well, surprise surprise, after round 1, I was cut from 9 of the 10 houses, the only one that invited me back was the same one who invited me to pref. After round 2, they cut me. I took it much better this year than last.

As a sidebar to the story, I went to the Informal party for ZTA last spring (they didn't make quota - not even close) at the request of a very good friend - one from 1st grade. I let her know how interested I was, I clicked with all the girls at the party, I thought I had it made. I was not invited to the second round of Informal because "you rushed once before - its not that we didn't like you"

I guess that, plus this year's experience of being cut by the exact same houses makes me think that such a rule DOES exist, at least at LSU.

I don't remember that ever being brought up in our house--and we always made quota. I suppose it doesn't extend from school to school, though, because at my second campus I pledged a sorority that had cut me at the first one; also, I cut several groups at the second campus that had cut me at the first one.

Oh, I forgot this in my last post:

I called LSU Greek Affairs over the summer, posing as a mother of a prospective, and saying that she was a junior, had been through last year, etc. What they told me was interesting:

"If your daughter got cut last year because of not having the right grades or recommendations, she could possibly be invited back this year. If it was for some other reason, she won't be invited back. 10 juniors rushed last year and about half were placed."

Very interesting indeed. I thought that recs weren't that important. So how would one know what the reason is,if nobody is suppose to tell

WELL....

The Rho Chi tells you that it is the chapter's job to get recs for you, right? But the application form for Greek Affairs says its strongly recommended to have recs for all chapters. And the panhellenic tea held in my hometown made it sound like recs were imperative. They gave us a form to fill out, and we gave it to a representative, who gave our info out to all the area alums and may or may not write recs for you.

So what is the answer? I've been told by people on the "inside" that a chapter cannot pledge anyone they don't have a rec for.

And I suppose if you know that you rushed with a 2.0 GPA as opposed to the recommended 2.5, you could see why you'd get cut on the first day. Or if you knew you registered late and couldn't possibly have gotten any recs in - that could be another reason.

Like I said this is very interesting indeed. When I rushed, I didn't get any rec's and my g.p.a. was less then steller. I was doing a good job at getting it up till a little thing called Spring 2000 happened. I'm surprised that I got the one invite that I did. Learn something new everyday about good old LSU

Heh, when I rushed the first time, I was under the impression I had recs from all the chapters and my GPA was a 3.5. Talk about an ego blow when I was cut from so many after the first day.

This year, I came back with a 3.69, recs from about 5 chapters, 20 lbs lighter (not that I was fat before, but I wasn't thin either), and a better attitude (more open minded), AND I had joined a service org. When they didn't take me this time, I was able to look back and say "their loss. I would have been a good addition to their chapter"

Thank you for hipping me to how that could happen. I do find it sad, but I admire you all for being so mature in the face of a system that sounds like it can be the epitome of superficiality. It sounds like it was their loss. If you think you'd like sorority life, do take a look at groups that may not be on your campus that you can charter. You may find a group with history that you do identify with. Many great sororities began with the realization that something different was required in Greek life. Best of luck.

I was wondering, with so many women going through rush, has LSU considered extention? It seems to me the interest is there and the campus could support at least one more house?

Good point X-girl. I have to admit that rush at LSU sounds like a really brutal experience. It seems like it could be so negative that it would give the whole system there a bad name. I have to ask the LSU students....what exactly are they looking for? In other words, what do the girls that get invited back have going for them other than social connections? A pledge class of 70 sound huge, there does seem to be room for another house or two.

One of the problems with extenstion at LSU is housing. The university requires new chapters to be competitive in their housing which means, with real estate prices in the area, an NPC group would have to spend well over a million dollars to set up a house. That is a huge investment with no guarantee of success.

Barb

Give me some time and I'll look up the links of a few of the houses at LSU. They are all certifiable mansions. I'm not sure how many girls they house, but I know its a good many.

Here's the Delta Zeta House:

http://its2.ocs.lsu.edu/guests/sigma...html/house.jpg

Phi Mu
http://phimulsu.homestead.com/files/House.jpg

Theta
http://its2.ocs.lsu.edu/guests/theta/img62.gif

Tri-Delta
http://its2.ocs.lsu.edu/guests/delta...html/house.jpg



[This message has been edited by PnguinTrax (edited October 12, 2000).]

Housing is a very big problem here at LSU. There is absoultely no room on sorority row. As some here may already know, LSU has had a chapter of 21 of the 26 NPC groups here at some point in time. All of them had houses. The groups that are not here anymore have houses that are occupied by other groups. Alpha Omericon Pi(excuse my spelling,I'm sick as I write this) was ine of the last groups to still own a house on the row but has recently sold it.

This summer, my friends and I were working on trying to bring another NPC group to campus,but after careful consideration, we decided to pursue another avenue

Thanks Pnguin..pretty impressive. Are all the houses near each other at LSU? I now understand the difficulty in bringing a new group on campus. It just is too bad that it seems so hard to be selected there.

You know, the "house competition" seems to have caused a big slowdown in expansion. Obviously, a new chapter on a campus with big houses will have to spend gazillions and there's also a problem when all the old houses are on an established Greek Row with no property left on it.

My oldest daughter said that one sorority at her university is unhoused (although they have property) and they had a really rough time in rush, taking very few pledges. I hope they'll be able to build soon or their future doesn't look great.

I've even seen "housing competition" affect established chapters. At one school I attended, the frats were housed but the sororities shared 2 Panhellenic dorms with a floor for each and all the chapter rooms were in the basement. Then one sorority, tired of having the other sororities listen in on their rituals through the walls, claimed the housing situation was sexist, bought property, and dared the school to stop them from building. When their house went up, the other groups had to follow suit or die and several groups just opted to deactivate.

Thanks PnguinTrax! I got back from class later than expected, and didn't get a chance to look them up.

DGMomofZeta:

All of the houses are on campus. They overlook the lake. Sorority Row is one of the most beautiful spots on campus - and LSU is a very pretty campus overall. The campus bus system even has a special Greek route to take them to and from the row. There is also a fraternity row, which is also on campus and it houses most of the frats. However, some of the frats occupy houses that were once sorority houses.

I guess its only hard to be selected if you're not a "cookie cutter" girl. I talked to *so* many girls during rush who where cheerleaders/dancers in High School. I was captain of the quiz bowl team. Not exactly what they are looking for.

No matter how much they stress academics, the chapters here seem to prefer girls who had pretty good grades and were in the "popular" activities as opposed to people who had a 3.9 and were in more low key activities (like me).

And another thing...

There was a local at LSU until this year. They were founded in 1990, and were unhoused. I heard they were trying to affiliate with a national, but didn't have any luck. They didn't recieve much respect from the NPC groups. As a friend in an NPC org put it "yeah, they don't even have a house! You would have to be desparate to join them!"

They lost their recognition by the campus this year, however, because of hazing reports. Not to mention their GPA was seriously below par (NPCs have a 3.0+ and this group barely had a 2.5)

This shows just how hard it would be to expand at LSU.

Actually, the local did have a house for about a year. They leased the Alpha Phi Alpha house since last summer when A Phi A was suspended. When the local got kicked off of campus for hazing and what not, A Phi A got their house back.

Ok, I understand that some campuse have a lot of houses and the Greek system is very big. However, what about some of the campuses on the West Coast that have very few National organizations present? My campus has only 8 National Sororities and 20 National Fraternies. Their houses are spread throughout the town and during formal rush it seems impossible to remember everyone. This year more girs rushed than was anticipated and one of the houses took about 50 pleges while two that I know of did not meet their quota. http://www.greekchat.com/forums/ubb/confused.gif