resume
 

Hi, I am new to this whole messaging thing. Anyway, I am planning on rushing in August and am getting my recs together. I was reading some info about stuff i have to send in and it mentions a resume. I have a resume that i used throughout high school, but i was wondering if this was appropriate. Are there any certain topics or anything I should be sure to put on there? Any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated! thanks so much!!

at least from my experiences of drawing up a resume, include anything and everything that might make you stand out as a good sister! the more, the better. try to include all of your high school activities, any awards you may have gotten, leadership roles, GPA, extracurricular activities, volunteer experience, work experience, comittees you may have served on(like for prom planning, or something), planned college major, etc.! some people have also asked me to include my parents' names and their jobs, and also about church affiliation.

good luck!

I'd say ix-nay on the parents' names & jobs thing-- it's considered a very tacky question to ask.

I'd also say that church affiliation is okay to mention if it's related to volunteerism-- "Sunday School teacher, Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Sun Prairie, WI, 1995-1999"-- but don't just randomly say, "Oh, yeah, and I'm a Lutheran." That's irrelevant.

KappaKittyCat, it is unusual for me to disagree with you, but in this instance I would say it depends. I know that MANY chapters (maybe it's a Southern thing) want to have that very information. It is not considered tacky and in some cases it could be influential in the initial rounds. Some DO want to know what position or community activities your parents were involved with. I can only GUESS at the reasoning behind it. Perhaps they want to know if you are from a family committed to community service. Maybe they want to know if your involvement and dedication to your GLO will likely extend beyond your 3 or 4 years of active status. Maybe it's a reassurance that you can afford sorority life, because in the end, reality hits when the projected cost falls short. There are probably a myriad of reasons. If someone asks for this information, it's probably a good indication it is necessary or could be beneficial. A big blank on a rec would draw more attention than having a completed form.

edited-Erin, are you rushing at KU or K State? I know we have some Kansans on GC.

I will be going to K-State next fall, any K-staters on here??

I CAN NOT IMAGINE, in most cases, being asked what my parents did for a living during Rush. If a sorority asked me that I would cut them on the spot...regardless of the reason. Your family has nothing to do with who you are as a person during Rush....they might be amazing human beings and the "best family on Earth," but a PNM could feel REALLY out of place if that was not the answer to the question. What if she had to say, well, both of my parents were killed in a car accident last year. Or my dad works at McDonalds and my mom is unemployed...OR if she says my dad is a millionaire....that should be irrelevant. The only reason I can see someone asking this question to find out if the PNM has money or not and that is stupid. If she says that she can meet the money obligations, then take her word on that. You don't check bank accounts, do you?

Sheesh, sorry for that lil' rant - but I just think that question is VERY tacky. It reinforces the shallow stereotypesthat we try so hard to break.

Erin's question referred to the resume, not rush party talk. I agree wholeheartedly with it being inappropriate for discussion. The reasons you sited are excellent examples. I too would drop any group that hinted at "interest" in my family background, unless there was a valid connection.

Here's a shocker for the extreme-
When my niece rushed at A & M, she was told that some of the sororities checked out PNMs neighborhoods. Now THAT really stinks. Of course, she rushed 10 years ago and maybe it was one of those campus rumors that wouldn't die.

Where are the Aggies when ya need them?
For the life of me-I'm blank on the Kansans. I'll ask Tom.

I agree, the amount of money your parents have is irrelevant.
a sorority on my campus asked PNM's this question and the majority of the PNM's were disgusted and dropped that house during formal rush.

like it's been said, what i mentioned was for a RESUME, not for rush conversations. i didn't mean to imply that what your parents do for a living is vital information for getting into a chapter, but i have been asked for this exact info by several alums who have written recs for me. it just happens to be something that appears on many rec forms - no big deal.

Erin...

As one Overland Park native to another... here's what I can tell you about K-state...

First of all, make sure you put stuff down youre proud of! That will make it easier to talk about if someone brings it up. However since your going to K-state it won't matter that much as there will be so many girls going through.

Don't put down information about your parents except for any sorority legacies you may have. People at K-state will have a good enough idea of what your parents do/financial background just by knowing what HS you went to in Johnson County (you've got that whole stereotype going for you anyway). Plus it's very likely that some girls will know you or of you from HS anyways. (BTW what HS did you go to?)

Other things to include are leadership roles you've had, HS GPA if it's pretty good - also your class rank if it was top 10% otherwise just put that you were in the top X%. ACT Score probably should be on there as well.

Obviously, all your extracurriculars should be there. Work experience is up to you, if you worked someplace cool or girly (Bath and Bodyworks comes to mind) then it'd be appropriate, but if it was just McDonald's or the like then I see no reason.

Finally, don't use abbreivations unless they are really well known and recognized. Going through the Fraternity Rush Apps at Nebraska showed me the importance of that, as not everyone will know what ABC or XYZ means...

Okay, JAM, if there's a blank for it on a rec form, then I can see how you'd need to fill it in, but it still seems strange to me. Kappa's Membership Data Forms ask for no such information. I guess I can see how parents' occupation and volunteer history could be useful in a letter:

"KappaKittyCat's mother is a special education teacher, and she was raised to value education. Mrs. Cat has volunteered as a Sunday School teacher for twenty years, and KappaKitty joined her when she was fourteen. She also tutors at-risk children in a local elementary school. Mr. Cat started his own commodities brokerage house when KappaKitty was nine, and KappaKitty says that watching her father's business grow has taught her the value of hard work and dedication."

But I still think it's incredibly tacky to specifically request parents' occupational information. Maybe it's just because I'm from Wisconsin and we don't do that sort of thing up here. Maybe I'm still burning after being treated like white trash by some rich Texan sorority dames. I'm inclined to agree with WhiteDaisy when she says, "The only reason I can see someone asking this question to find out if the PNM has money or not and that is stupid. If she says that she can meet the money obligations, then take her word on that. You don't check bank accounts, do you?"

As for wanting to guarantee the PNM's continued volunteerism, I think it's more the chapter's responsibility to instill dedication to the GLO. I can see wanting to pledge women who are already dedicated to volunteerism, but can't you figure that sort of thing out in Rush conversation?

Again, maybe I'm just totally missing the point here, or maybe it's a Southern thing that I shouldn't even try to comprehend, but I truly don't understand why they have to come right out and ask what your mommy and daddy do. It seems really hypocritical, given that that is one of the five Bs that we are told and tell PNMs to avoid in conversation (Boys, Booze, Bank, Bible, Bashes). Can you clarify?

I went to Blue Valley North High School. I'm sure you know of it...?

I think this totally depends on the school and the chapters. As a collegiate there were several chapters on my campus that checked out people's homes after receiving their reg forms and had advisors find out who their parents were and how involved they were in the community and whether they would be an active part of the chapter and supportive of their daughter's experience.

While it would be nice to believe everyone who walks through the door on money issues, many chapter have learned over the years that rushees think they can afford membership and then de-pledge half-way through or resign a year into their membership. This background checking has resulted in large part from the unfortunate circumstances on big campuses where you often cannot replace those members easily b/c you can't replace a NM after bid day and you are always over total.

We don't do resumes here in the Midwest, but what about references? Should you mention affiliated women you know? What about people who are not connected to Greek life, but can say good things about you, like a guidance counselor?

But it doesn't necessarily matter whether Mommy & Daddy are rich. My parents pay full tuition for me to go to a private, liberal arts school, but they don't pay a cent of my sorority dues. I know a lot of people at many schools who are in that boat.

I think that this is just another one of those cultural differences between Southern rush and rush in the rest of the country. Up here in Wisconsin, it would be simply TACKY to ask anything about your parents and their professions, be it during rush or for a recommendation. One sorority up here DID ask what your parents did for a living and all of us rushees were just :eek: after the party. It's just not done.

I think that outside of the South, you're a lot more likely to find girls who are paying for their own sorority dues (I do!) instead of having their parents pay for it. In the South, where going Greek is more expected, it makes sense that more parents pay their kids' dues. I know that at least a third of my chapter pays for their own dues, so we'd never think of asking a girl what her parents do for a living in order to confirm that she can indeed pay her dues. At least half of the staff at the local Express are UW sorority girls. :)

This is another one of those reasons why you shouldn't send a travelling chapter consultant from a Southern chapter up North (or vice versa) without letting her know what she's getting into . . . There's just so many differences to keep track of!

i was actually asked what my father did for a living when i was rushing through one particular sorority. ( i'll spare you the name as not to seem catty)
it was rumored that they asked all of their PNM's this question. i didn't end up going back to that sorority anyways, but i definately would have dropped them anyways. i paid my way through school, but if you were to look at my parent's income and everything you'd never understand why.

shelley j
sigma k

Hmm...

Keep in mind that I did rush in 1995, but almost every house asked what my parents' occupations were during round 1 conversations. I remember one house in particular (that shall remain nameless) where the girl who was talking to me just shut down after I told her what my parents did. She didn't even try to act like it didn't matter.

Maybe this is just another difference between big, particularly Southern universities and every other college or university?

Erin...

You can pretty much ignore all this back ground chatter about parent's occupation.

Trust me in that people will have a good idea of what your finances are the moment you say BVN (I went to Olathe East, and actually had a bunch of people that I knew at BVN...I even work close by at the Old Chicago on 119th). You will have the Johnson County stereotype working for you anyways if wealth is an issue, which I can't imagine it being from what I know about the Greek system in Manhatten (KU would be a different story, but the bigger issue there is that some houses don't choose small town girls - so you'd still be okay). Even if you end up talking to JoCo people, you'll have the BVN stereotype going for you for them, if again this ever becomes an issue.

Good luck with your resume, and enjoy greek life, it really is a great decision. And I'll vouch for my Beta brothers in Manhatten that they're a great house out there, so check them out.

Another way that chapters in the big south determine financial ability is to ask where you have traveled as a child. For example, my neice has been to Paris, England, Canada and several carribean resorts and she is only 14 yoa. It is a round about way of determining how weathly parents are.

Cluey -- I think it may be partially due to rushing at a big, Southern university with a strong Greek system, but also partially due to the times. If I had rushed ten years ago at my school, I probably would have been asked what my parents did too, no matter how taboo the question is now. I think that in the past five years, especially, there's been a push by the NPC to rid themselves of the stereotype that sororities are only for rich girls.

I do think that, completely disregarding geography and Northern/Southern differences, there are certain schools where asking the question "What do your parents do?" during rush is considered totally classless, and others where it's completely okay. It has a lot to do with the personality of the school, the personality of the Greek system, etc.

Betarulz-

Thanks for the info...It's great to hear from someone who actually knows where I am from. Where did you go to school? And are you still in school? And if you have anymore advice that would be good for me to know about k-state, that would be wonderful. I am so super excited about rushing. I can not wait till August!

Erin, what houses are at Kansas State?

I know my name isn't Erin, but I was curious what sororities were there also. According to their website, the sororities at KState are...

Alpha Chi Omega
Alpha Delta Pi
Alpha Xi Delta
Chi Omega
Delta Delta Delta
Gamma Phi Beta
Kappa Alpha Theta
Kappa Delta
Kappa Kappa Gamma
Pi Beta Phi
Sigma Kappa

Erin, listen to Betarulz, he's the best authority on your locality.

KappaKittyCat-It seems like the system some of us have been exposed to offends you. The fact is, no matter how offensive you, me or anyone else finds it, that's just the way it is. Like it or not, you have to play with the cards you're delt.

sugar and spice-This is another one of those reasons why you shouldn't send a travelling chapter consultant from a Southern chapter up North (or vice versa) without letting her know what she's getting into . . . There's just so many differences to keep track of! HOW TRUE!!!

yeah, the chapters listed in the previous post are the ones at K-State

Oh, jeez...
 

Yeah, I guess it does offend me a little. I just read through my posts again and thought, "Wow, that was a little bitchier than it needed to be." Sorry 'bout that. I confess that I find the South to be at once beautiful and ugly, self-explanatory and mystifying, enchanting and irritating. There's always something to learn, and maybe I need to have lived there to understand. I'm also from a small school where we do things quite differently, be they Greek-related or not. I've been to other, larger Kappa chapters in the same state, even, and am so baffled by the way my sisters are doing things. But re-reading this thread I realize that certain groups in certain areas do things a particular way for particular reasons, and I'd most likely need to experience life there to understand why.
I just learned that lesson. I'm applying in the fall to be a Kappa traveler, a position that I want very, very badly, and it sounds like I've got a lot to learn. Fortunately, I've got wonderful ladies here on GC to help me out with that, even when I'm being less than gracious. :D
Wow, Erin, you've got eleven fabulous groups to choose from. I can't wait to find out which one gets to call you sister!

thanks for all your imput! I really appreciate everything you have said. You guys are great!! :-)

Just a clarification: As far as I know recomendation forms that alums get from nationals do not ask for parents' professions (I know that AXO's doesn't).

However, when I went through rush the local panhellenic helped girls get recomendations and their form asked for parental info (like jobs, clubs, and church affiliation).

I think it really just depends on the area. I went through rush at Oklahoma State, which seems to have a mix between a western and a southern rush.

http://www.deltagamma.org/forms/sponsor.doc or PDF:
http://www.deltagamma.org/forms/sponsor.pdf
On the DG sponsor form, this is all you are asked about your parents:
Father’s Name and Address
Greek Affiliation
University
Mother’s Name and Address
Greek Affiliation
University

Here's the AXiD form:
http://www.alphaxidelta.org/pdfs/MemberProfile.pdf

Here's the DZ forms (Intro and Legacy):
http://www.deltazeta.org/01refform.doc
http://www.deltazeta.org/00legacy.doc

Here's the KD forms (Intro and Legacy):
http://www.kappadelta.org/Services/forms/reference.doc
http://www.kappadelta.org/Services/f...egacy_2001.doc

You can get an idea from there as to what goes on a Rec Form.

That's all our form asks for as well.