Cutting
 

I have enjoyed reading the various recruitment stories, but I have one question.

I have read about fraternities and sororities eliminating or "cutting" rushees through the various rounds. I am curious if any forum members know of a case where rushee was cut from all the fraternities or sororities during the first round of rush.

I ask the question because, from what I have read in the various postings, a rushee might only have less than 30 minutes to make positive impression on the members of a particular house. I have wonder if some 18 or 19 year olds have enough social skills to make a positive impression on a group of strangers, givien the various limitations of time, logistics, etc.

Just wonderin'

This happened once when I was a rho gamma for formal fraternity rush. Of 300 guys rushing, 1 was cut by every house after first round. The rushee was in my group. This was rushee was for lack of a better term awkward and psycho. At one house which was known for housing a meth lab in the 70's, this guy asked brothers where the meth lab was. Also, during rounds, whenever he got a call on his cell phone (with the ringer on) he would stop whatever conversation he was having to take a phone call. At my house first round (and presumably others), all he talked about was how much he liked doing drugs. He skipped one house during first round because he already hated it that much; he left another house during the middle of a speech because he "needed to call his sick grandmother". At two houses he used the name-dropping technique of saying he knew so-and-so at this house, since that carried weight in his mind. At a few houses he flat out told the rusher that they should cut him because he was going to be in XYZ. XYZ happened to cut this guy because my co-rho gamma who also witnessed all this happened to be a member of XYZ.

It goes without saying that this guy eventually failed out of college.

This will depend on the competitiveness of the campus and if they use release figures. A PNM with a low GPA may be released by all chapters after round 1, particularly on competitive campuses. Not having recs at an SEC school will also probably get a PNM released by all chapters after round 1.

While it is possible that a prepared, polished, involved PNM with recs and a good GPA may slip through the cracks an be released by all chapters during recruitment, she usually won't be released by all of them after round 1 unless something is terribly wrong with her. Some chapters do the majority of their releases early on in recruitment, and others make most of their releases later.

With campuses that use release figures, far more PNMs don't receive bids because they drop out of recruitment instead of from being released by all chapters.

* whew * i thought this was something else...

Oh good - it wasn't just me!

There was a girl when I went through that got cut from every house--all 14-- and supposedly she was a really funny girl with a lot of friends. To be completely blunt, she was a very overweight girl who wasn't extrememly attractive. I hate that it happened to her esp. because she was such a fun person, but the Greek system isn't always sympathetic.

As a Rho Chi last year, I didnt experience any of my girls getting cut by every house...Thank God.

I guess to be the voice of the devil--

As many GCers know already, I was released from all five groups after round 3. It was heartbreaking then, but life really does go on. I got involved in two other greek orgs and although niether is NPC--it has been a fabulous experience and much enriched my college career.

I hate to be the voice from the other side, but life will go on if you are released from recruitment. I sincerely hope you are not released and many others will agree with me--but every one's home is not in an NPC org.

And, if you are released, if NPC is what you really really want you could always try again. There are women on my campus that went through recruitment two or three times before getting a bid they would accept; I just would rather not waste my time with something that didn't work out the first time. If it takes an org three chances to see how great you are they really don't deserve you.

I guess, I'm just trying to say-don't put all your eggs in one basket. There are other options out there if NPC doesn't work out.

(Gosh..slight hijack...I just saw that I was quoted by AlwaysSAI in her sig!:cool:)

Okay, back...

It does depend on the campus and what is going on with that particular Panhellenic situation. Most groups try not to release the first night but usually do so because the GPA is very low and/or they HAD to release a certain number.

As each night goes on, a certain number has to be released and unfortunately, great potentials are released.

The short answer is yes, but you really had to screw up, at least on my campus, to be dropped from recruitment right away.

We had a girl come through rush who was cut by every chapter after the first night. She was a nice enough girl as a person....but she had made some incredibly poor choices during freshman week which led to a really gross situation. Needless to say, her reputation was trashed, and no chapter wanted to associate her kind of behavior with their group. She was the only PNM released after the first round that year.

There always seemed to be at least one woman cut by all groups after the first round. Normally these weren't due to reputation issues (honestly, you had to have a LEGENDARY rep like the aforementioned PNM) but due to bizzare behavior. Looking back, those bizzare PNMs probably had a personality disorder of some sort -- you had to have been really, really weird to be cut by all chapters on my campus after 1st round -- but the absolute lack of social skills, even by an 18 year old's standards, probably did them in. Think about a PNM in all seriousness saying really sexual, creepy, or violent things. That would be the kind of woman to get cut after the first round.

Aside from grades, it took something spectacular to get cut from everywhere in the first set of cuts at my school. I can only think of one girl, who (since we had deferred) everyone probably knew was, um, odd even before rush. But bringing her twin sister (who did not go to our institution) with her to all the parties was apparently the dealbreaker.

Maybe that's the end to Recruitment's retro story!



Sorry, I couldn't resist!!!

I want more retro recruitment:)

I would guess if someone was cut from every chapter after the open house round of recruitment it's most likely an issue with grades. Most chapters wont take grade risks so if a PNM's GPA is below that chapter's minimum requirement and/or below the NPC grade requirement for that campus (if there is one) then you can expect automatic cuts from each house.

I have seen normal women get dropped from all chapters after second or third round, but never after the first. In our rush, there were about 1200 PNM's. Usually this would happen to about 10 of them. Sometimes chapters would find this out and invite them back to later rounds, sometimes the GL office would encourage chapters to consider them for snap bids, sometimes they would COB.

I knew a girl who was cut by all but one house after round one. She was an on campus legacy to this house (her sister was a current member in the chapter). I think the assumption of the other chapters must have been that she would pledge her sister's house; she did, but ended up depledging because it wasn't the right choice for her.

That's the closest story I've heard to being cut by everyone after round one. I have known girls who were cut by every house at UGA or Auburn, but this was not until after rounds two and three. It can happen that a girl is cut by everyone after round one, but I can't imagine that it happens much...

This isn't the first time I've heard of this happening. What's sad is, there was probably a chapter where the sister WOULD have fit in, but because of a possible defeatist attitude, she never got a real chance.

It should serve as a lesson to those chapters who would cut legacies to other houses without giving them a shot. In my chapter, one sister had two in-house sisters in another sorority, but still went ADPi. Two others had sisters who had just graduated from another chapter, and at least two of us decided not to pledge our legacy chapters. That's five woman right there who wouldn't have gotten a second chance on another campus!

I was cut after round 2
 

I was at a big southern college where Greek organizations dominated the campus. Rush was hell. (It was 1992, when it was still called Rush) I was a stellar student, involved in lots of other extra cirricular activities and had recs to all eleven houses. I even had a rec from the National President (family friend) of one very southern very big house and was cut by ALL houses after the second round of parties. It was devastating to me.

Rush was the week before the semester started so I knew no one on campus and felt very alone during the process. We were basically on lock down in the dorm and the only thing I did was eat, sleep and breathe sorority. We had no telephone privileges and college students didn't have cell phones back then. I wish I would have had family and friends to talk to during the process.

The worst was the sorority dorm was right next to my Freshman dorm and I had to hear all the chanting, running and screaming when all the other girls got bids and got to run to their new sorority.

Don't put all your eggs in one basket. Be sure that you pick a school for other things other than a sorority.

I will say that I was overweight and definitely wasn't rail thin. Maybe things have changed but 15 years ago it was VERY cut throat. It didn't matter how great my grades and activities were, it only mattered that I wasn't a size 2/4.

IndieGirl, I'm sorry to hear your experience with Recruitment was so negative. It breaks my heart every time I hear stories like this.

However I have to say this, if we had a pnm with a fabulous resume, outstanding GPA, plus a glowing letter of Rec from our Grand Pres and the actives still want to cut her, then they'd better have a better reason than she's not a size 2/4. That's not going to fly either with me or our GP. Even when there is undeniable just cause that's not an enjoyable conversation when our GP calls -- and she will. Actually, I'd probably call her first. I've had it happen before, though not with a GP but other members of Grand Council.

Thank you for sharing. There are a few young ladies on this board who have shared similar stories of not receiving bids. I'm so sorry to hear about your experience. I'm quoting this because I think it's important for girls to know.

I don't think it mattered about the rec. This sorority was HUGE on campus and had the pick of the litter. I begged my mom to not ever mention it to her, and my Mom didn't and when the dreaded questions about what sorority I did pledge came about when home for Christmas break I spun a tale making it sound like *I* made the choice not to join any sorority.

My only point in bringing up this 15 year old wound is hope for the best but be prepared for the worst. No one really ever talked to me about not getting accepted.

I also hope that other current sorority girls think about looking past the superficial. Looks fade (check out some of your alums) and you won't all be model thin, dewey skinned and tanned forever.

For those wondering, I changed school after the first year and went to a school where Greeks were still prominent but never wanted to risk that heart break again.

I've been around sororities long enough to know that during recruitment, ANYTHING is possible and NOTHING is guaranteed. Sororities will pledge the most...interesting...new members and drop the most fabulous. You never know.
Remember...at all but a handful of schools, Greeks are still a fairly small percentage of the students. And there are PLENTY of things to do besides sorority/fraternity.
We have begun to do this at the tea our alumnae Panhellenic hosts for high school graduates in the spring. But I can tell from the look on their faces that they think nothing like that will happen to them! Sadly...it does, to at least 3 or 4. I just hope they remember what we said...

I had one girl in my Rho Chi group that was cut from all four sororities after the first day. She had an exceptionally low GPA and didn't have any connections in the groups. I wished that there was a cutoff GPA for actually applying for rush at the time, because I thought it would have been much more humane to turn her away before meeting everyone and having them all know her grades were so low.

OUCH! :cool:

I guess it's that time of year when I need to put away my Chi Omega wind shorts and tank tops until Rush is over. :p

With only 4 NPC organizations and between 50-100 girls coming out for recruitment, we're not allowed to cut until Pref. Last semester there was this group of 3-4 girls who wouldn't leave each other's sides along with about 8 of their friends who didn't even go to our school. So for 3 days, we couldn't wait to get rid of them.

Evidently when they heard "recruitment party 1, party 2, etc" (we don't have skit night or philanthropy night), they took it literally and kept coming back every night expecting club music and booze.

And come to think of it, I'm not really sure why NPC didn't handle the "outsider" issue. Can something be done about that?

:eek::eek::eek::eek:
YES! The school's Greek advisor should have kicked them out! Non-students have no business in those parties. But if it's a small school, the Greek advisor probably has those duties in addition to a pile of others and doesn't care that much. The sororities and their advisors ought to complain, though, and take it on up the administrative chain.

Ummm, where was CAMPUS SAFETY in this situation???

Panhel really doesn't have anything to do with it, unless they for some reason gave the okay for non-students to attend recruitment parties (which would be the weirdest thing I've ever heard.)

Our formal recruitment parties were considered closed events, and you had to be invited to attend after the first round of cuts. In any case, the parties were ONLY for people who had signed up for recruitment. If a fraternity guy/uninvited PNM/nonstudent tried to attend, we would have given them one warning to leave and then called campus safety. It's trespassing. Besides, if your chapter had done that, it might have pissed off that group of girls enough that they wouldn't have come back to your house night after night. :D

I hope what you're saying is you cut before pref, not after pref. And for that matter, the number of girls should have nothing to do with whether or not you cut after the first party - if they don't have grades or are otherwise someone you don't want in your group, you should cut them rather than waste their time and yours. You say you're not "allowed" - according to whom?

And re the 8 nonstudents, forget Panhel - you should have called campus safety or if they didn't do anything, the local police.

Yes, we cut as invitiations to pref.

We don't have registration for recruitment like other schools do. PNMs show up the first night (with the understanding they must have the proper GPA) and we just write down their name on an attendance list. Skipping the first night isn't all that uncommon either. It's completely open to come and go as you please (until pref). We don't have the girls list the organizations until after pref. There just aren't round cuts, and we're not permitted to exclude someone before pref; that's just campus climate I suppose.

In reference to security, the girls weren't rampant, causing damage or being necessarily inappropriate. They were just annoying and clearly there for the wrong reasons. Guests are permitted on campus as long as they have a signed pass. This was probably precedent for non-campus girls attending recruitment, and there was nothing that explicitly stated recruitment was for State University women only.

You should probably put bylaws in your Panhel constitution that prevent both of these things. Some sororities might be reluctant to come to campus if they're told they're not allowed to cut before pref.