Reality Check
 

Hello to everyone on GC! I recently discovered this wonderful site and for the last couple of weeks, I have been able to find the answer to many of the questions I had about Greek recruitment and life. Now the last question I need the answer to is whether I should or should not rush this fall. From what I've read on GC, it seems like the odds are up against me. I am a 4th year senior at competitive school in Texas. My GPA is okay (2.75) and I have no recs for any of the houses on campus due the fact that I am Hispanic and do not know any women who are Greek. Although I feel like everything I mentioned so far is counting agaisnt me there is hope. According to my university's NPC, seniors are not counted as part of the quota and most of the sororities list the minimum GPA between 2.2-2.5. I know that if I do decide to rush I will get cut from most of the houses after the first round and I'm okay with that because I really want to be part of the Greek community. I consider myself as a smart, fun, funny gal and I am hoping the chapters get to see that and get pass the fact I'm a senior with no recs. With that in mind, I also feel that I'll be easier to remember among the hundreds of girls who rush each year since I'm different than your regular blonde freshman. So please GCers, give me your HONEST advice on whether I should go through with it. I don't care about joining any particular house but I do care about finding a house full of girls that will be my sisters for life.

The fact that you are Hispanic has nothing to do with not having recs.

Just because the minimum is 2.2-2.5 does not mean squat. If this is a competitive school in Texas, you'll be against girls who have STELLAR GPAs, most of whom will have recs. You may be considered a grade risk, and chapters won't want potential grade risks.

It's likely you'll be cut heavily and you won't get a bid. If you're not prepared for that outcome, I wouldn't even bother rushing.

Well, I understand what she means in the sense that because of her culture, finding someone you know personally who is NPC greek may be down right impossible. And the concept of approaching people you do not know and vice versa to recommend you for something like this sounds odd.

If she's a 4th year senior, I find it hard to believe that she would not know anyone on her campus who could point her in the right direction to solicit recs.

Not only that, she did mention that she's read and gained a lot of answers just by reading GC, so she'd (hopefully) know that having resources like the Alum Panhellenic in her area/nearby may help.

Culture or not, if you want something badly, you do whatever you can to get it and you don't use being Hispanic as an excuse not to do it.

Yeah, I caught that as well.

I don't think any girls I went to high school with would have been able to get recs to an NPC sorority.

Yeah that's true too.

I'd wonder why she waited three years before deciding to rush.

I'm hispanic... and I also know some other hispanic women who chose to rush, but they didn't use their ethnicity as a reason for not having recs.

Also, you're a 4th year senior? How much time do you have left in school?

If you are at a competitive Texas school, I don't know many chapters would take you because many chapters have minimium GPA's well above the minimum to rush....even if seniors don't count towards quota.

My advice is to concentrate on your school so you can graduate with a better GPA.

Just being honest.

Cosign...but...my feeling is that a girl who has made it through three years with a 2.75 is unlikely to be a grade risk. Anyone else might be, but a senior? She's got three years under her belt, and the finishing line in sight.

TexasCutie, by any measure your chances of getting a bid under these circumstances are quite low, perhaps less than 10%. If you can live with those long odds, then give it a go. I personally believe that rushing has value even in situations such as yours. It will prevent you from thinking, "What if?", and it will give you a close-up view of a segment of campus life that intrigues you.

Consider it training for job interviews, for presenting yourself in the best possible light, and for selling yourself. Rejection is a part of life. As long as you don't take it personally, you'll be all right. It can take a lot of "no's" to get to a "yes" that will bring you happiness. But realize that the "yes", at this point, may not necessarily be coming from a sorority.

You're right. I assumed that she would have X numbers of years left if she was considering rushing as a senior.

IMO, your biggest obstacle is your class standing. I think a senior, even with recs and a stellar GPA would have an extremely slim chance at joining an NPC sorority at a competitive Texas school.

You can't join a Greek organization without going through some form of recruitment. So long as you know the factors that are working against you (competitive system, senior, grades) and can deal with any consequences (severe cuts, no bid, etc.), go ahead. You can't win the lottery if you don't buy a ticket. Good luck with your senior year and recruitment!

Maybe someone who pledged as a senior could weigh in on their rush experience? I'm just a little worried about how much the OP can get out of one year...my senior year was a whirlwind of finishing up my life on campus and figuring out what to do the next year, and I barely saw my sisters that year, even though I was living in the house. She might do better to spend a year with a service fraternity.

See the thing is that I just discovered this website about three weeks ago. After reading and learning about recs, I checked my local Alum Panhellenic but by then the deadline had passed. Since I was over two months late, I figured that there was no chance of getting someone to write me a rec so close to rush.
Thanks BabyPink for understanding. I grew up in a part of town where everyone I knew (family, friends, neighbors, acquaintances) was either an illegal immigrant or a first generation American. Most of them barely graduated from high school and very few made it pass that. Back in high school my main goal was to graduate from high school and go to college. I don’t think I ever thought about joining a sorority until I came to college and started meeting sorority girls in my classes. From what I've seen, the Hispanic culture doesn't really consider that a priority.
The reason why I waited so long to rush is simply this: I didn't care for it. It wasn't a concern for me so I paid no attention to it. It wasn't until last year that I became interested but by then I had missed the deadline. And it wasn't until I found this website that I realized how competitive it is at my school. I really wished I had discovered this website last year so that I would've prepared myself better for this year.

Please stop blaming things on the Hispanic culture.

I grew up in S. Texas, which by the way, is almost ALL hispanic. And guess what? Several of my high school friends ended up in NPC/Multicultural/Latin/NPHC sororities.

I'm not blaming the fact of not having recs on being Hispanic. All I'm trying to do is explain my circumstances on why I don't have recs. You may not agree with me, but being Hispanic did put me at a slight disadvantage. I was not aware of sororities until I got to college. Because of that, I didn't prepare properly. Of course the main reason why I don't have recs is because I really didn't know anything about Greek recruitment and I waited too long to get interested. I supposed I should've emphasized that more in my other posts.

Well instead of hemming & hawing on an internet message board about not knowing about sororities until you were a senior in college, maybe you should go out there and get recs if rushing is what you want to do.

I'd be a little more sympathetic if you were an incoming freshman or a transfer, but a 4th year senior that just "didn't care for" the greek system her first 3 years at a competitive greek school.... I dunno, just doesn't sound like a good match.

I'm going to go ahead and say this regardless if no one agrees. Have you looked at other sororities, as in, non-NPC sororities? I say this because as someone who is Hispanic as well, I didn't know about NPC but I did learn about Latina Sororities and NPHC sororities beforehand. Perhaps you would be better suited for a sorority that is not as competitive in the "getting recs" sense.

I'm not by any means saying Latina or NPHC sororities are easy to get into. But, their process is completely different AND being a senior does not affect you in your aim for membership the way it will for NPC recruitment. Whereas NPC ones will cut you due to your class rank off the bat, others will not and this is why I mention perhaps looking into others. If you can handle rejection, go for it. But like others have said, be prepared to be cut and cut hard.

I agree with Nittanyalum's statement. Perhaps you may not be a good 'match' for this type of sorority. I didn't read a reason as to "why" you are going through recruitment.

If her year is that much of a "whirlwind" she won't have time for a service fraternity either.

Texas*princess' experience differs from that of TexasCuties and that's why it's not about Hispanic culture.

TexasCutie clearly stated the dynamics going on where she's from. It's similar to many black communities where graduating from high school is a huge feat--going to college is a God send--going Greek is not thought of or is laughed at as unrealistic. TexasCutie made the mistake of identifying her issue as a Hispanic one but it really is a subcultural issue.

She is really late on the bus with this one, however I don't think non-NPC organizations should be recommended to anyone because many of these organizations are not "last ditch efforts" for those who "want to belong to something." If she really wants to rush NPC, she will struggle to find out how to get the recs and see what she can do to make it happen in her 4th year. If it can't happen, maybe she's not meant to be in an organization at all.

TexasCutie and I grew up in similar sounding cities so the dynamics of the city has NOTHING to do with rushing. I can understand if that was her logic as a freshman, because I went through it as a freshman (not knowing anything...yada yada yada). The fact is that TexasCutie is a 4th year senior, which gave her years to figure out about Greek Life. Even if she didn't know anyone personally who could give her recs, she could have gone to the Greek Life advisor for assistance. Man, I even contacted the Greek Life advisor from the university in the closest city to mine (which happened to be in New Mexico) and got information from them.

I do agree with your last part though.

My point exactly.

I was clarifying for her info why what she experienced isn't about "Hispanic culture" and that I understand what she meant about her frame of reference when she was just getting acclimated at college. I wasn't saying that her experience excused her lack of knowledge as a 4th year. That's why I ended by saying she can figure it out if she really wants to.

ahhhh ok, I missed understood your post.

I am not saying this on the pretense of priciple, but out of reality. Let me preface by saying that I pledged both an NPC and a national service sorority (different schools). I can relate the level of time and effort spent as pretty equal in both sororities. Pledging a service sorority does take a reasonable time of time, work and effort. While the purposes of existance between social and service organizations do differ, and (in my experience) most of the experiences were service-oriented, it's a commitment.

To the OP: Even if your academic year didn't matter, your grades are not great, especially for a senior. If you have a 2.75 without the commitment of pledging, what will your grades look like if you take on something as time consuming as pledging in (ANY sorority)? THAT is the biggest issue I see.

Your campus culture would dictate the chances of a senior, or any PNM wihtout recs getting a bid to an NPC, but your hispanic heritage would factor nearly zero in this situation. The bottom line is you waited too long to get to the gate and didn't prepare. You said that you were interested last year but were too late, so why wouldn't you have done your homework for THIS year?

If you have a compelling story, do share it (if not with us, then at recruitment). Otherwise, remember that if there are only X number of slots compared to the number of girls rushing, most organizations can be as picky as they want. Best of luck whatever you decide.

My point was easy to misunderstand. My fault. LOL.

You're right and I agree. I don't think she should go the non-NPC route as a last ditch effort. However, if she really wants to be in a sorority for all the right reasons, her efforts might prove to be more useful pursuing another route. From what I've read in the DST, AKA and other NPHC forums, there are women who try two, three times because they truly want it and pursue it (and this is even for graduate chapters). The OP does not have that option for NPC recruitment. I don't think she should go the non-NPC route just to get accepted somewhere and be in a sorority.

Sorry if my post re: service fraternities wasn't clear (which it wasn't). I was in both a social sorority and a service fraternity. Both took up a lot of time. The difference *for me* (and I'm sure we all had different experiences) was that my service fraternity was glad to take on seniors, because in spite of the fact that we did form good friendships, when it came to service, help is help is help. In the social sorority, we were happy to take on juniors, but with seniors, we had a bit of hesitance, since the focus was so much on sisterhood...we'd be getting to know her just as she was on her way out! I'm not saying it's logical (after all, senior sisters vote on PNMs who are coming in just as they, the seniors, are leaving), I'm just saying that if she is looking for some sort of fraternal bonding, a service fraternity might be very happy to take her on, regardless of her standing, whereas most social sororities are going to prefer younger members in part because there will be more time to bond.

She would've thought of an NPHC sorority without anyone recommending it. :)

I understand what you're saying with your entire post. However, the NPHC (and some other non-NPC orgs) culture is such that we don't say "oh, too late for NPC...how about you look at NPHC?" :) I wager to say that she probably doesn't have what it takes to pursue an NPHC org at the undergraduate or alumnae levels.