Arizona State University? All advice welcome!
 

Hi everyone!

I'm a high school senior and I'm about 90% sure that I'll be attending ASU this fall. It's a huge college with lots of opportunities, and as of late I've been exploring the possibility of joining a sorority there. I'm not very knowledgeable on the whole process (or Greek life/culture really), but this site in particular has opened my eyes to a potential great experience- there's so much wisdom here about the entire process!

I made this thread in hopes of learning more specifically about GL and the sorority recruitment process at ASU. Does anyone have any general advice for me if I decide to rush there? I have so many random questions- it is really competitive there? Will being out of state hurt my chances? Are recs/legacy important? What is their rushing process like? If I apply for general housing but get into a sorority, where do I live? I checked out the ASU greek page, but there really isn't a lot of concrete information on there, so I appreciate anything anyone knows about it.

If anyone goes/has gone to ASU, I would love, love, LOVE to talk to you as well!

Hoping for some input!

*goes back to lurking* :p

I went to ASU but didn't rush there. So here's my advice, based on my roommate's/friends' experiences.

It's pretty competitive. Being out of state won't really hurt your chances (almost 50% of my freshman class was out-of-state) but recs and legacies ARE important. ASU is a huge school and you won't have much time to get to know the women, so recommendations help them sort through the mob.

You would live in general housing as a freshman, and then you'd have the option of moving into Adelphi Commons as a sophomore. Many of the women I knew chose to live in apartments off-campus, but I think it varies by chapter.

Oh, and PLEASE go in with an open mind! ASU seemed particularly bad about buying in to unfounded stereotypes and writing off XYZ sorority before even meeting the members. I have heard terrible (untrue) things about every chapter at that school, but I've also met fantastic women in nearly every chapter. So be careful about what you hear.

Thanks sarahsmilehawk! :)

The "competitive" aspect scares me a bit, because that is soooo not my nature (in any aspect of life) and I've been known to shy away from competition. :o But nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?

I definitely don't bring the legacy aspect to the table, but I will be looking into local chapters for recs, if that is a possibility. Do you know if recs are REQUIRED for rushing there? I want to be open to all of the houses, but I'm not sure I could find a rec for each one!

Thanks for sharing the housing info. And I 100% agree about not believing everything you hear over the grapevine. I'm 1500+ miles away from ASU, and I STILL hear rumors about the frats there. :rolleyes:

Also- do they have fall or winter recruitment? I was confused when I saw on ASU's site that rush takes place in January, but read on one of the sorority's sites that it was in September...

ASU does formal NPC recruitment in the fall (usually around labor day I believe) and chapters under total will do informal in the spring. Also, I understand that Alpha Gamma Delta will be recolonizing their ASU chapter this spring. ASU web site says that spring 2009 informal will be in Feb. and that participating chapters will be announced after Jan. 26, 2009.

Recs are not required, but they're more important than the ASU web site lets on. You should try your best to find a rec for ever chapter on campus. If you can't get one for one or two chapters, don't sweat it. But definitely talk to everyone you can; you never know who might be an alum!

Also, some sororities (Alpha Delta Pi is one) allow active members to write recommendations as long as the PNM is not going through recruitment at the active's own chapter. Your friends at other universities may be able to write you recs if you can't find any alumnae.

Thanks for info, everyone!!

If I end up going for it, I'll be sure to post my story in the Recruitment Stories section. :D

Think of the "competitiveness" as more like a marathon than a basketball game. Stay with me for a second. In a basketball game, you're trying to do your best, yes, but you're also trying to get in the way of your opponents. In a marathon, your opponents matter very little. You train and prepare and show up and do your best. For 97% of marathon participants, winning isn't even a consideration. It's not about how you do compared to anyone else. It's about how you do compared to yourself, and getting your best time.

Recruitment's the same way. You do your preparation:

• keep your grades up and finish high school with a bang
• research the national organizations and visit local chapter websites
• network with alumnae and actives from other chapters (if applicable) and secure recs well ahead of time
• do some soul-searching and figure out what you're looking for in a sisterhood (hint - don't go for the house full of women who are like you want to be; find the house full of women who are like you really are)
• practice talking about yourself and what matters to you in a way that relates you to the organization
• come up with questions you want to ask your rushers about life in their sorority
• choose your outfits, jewelry, makeup and hairstyles, etc. in a way that will present your best outer self

Once you're done preparing, you show up and power through the actual marathon that is Recruitment, striving to ignore tent talk and stay positive and motiviated. You're tired. You might even be sweaty. The tent talk and the voices in your head are discouraging and try to undermine your confidence. You may not think you can do it. At times, your goal is simply to finish. And on Bid Day, when you cross the finish line, it doesn't matter how anyone else did. What matters is that you got your "best time" - you found the home that is the best fit for you.

A more competitive recruitment is simply a marathon where everyone has a higher level of preparedness. Because of RFM (read the threads on it if you want to understand how it works), you might get cut heavily in the beginning. But remember that that's how it works for everyone. All the chapters have to cut a certain number of women. The most important thing is that the chapters that keep you are the chapters that see something in you that resonates with them. They want you.

Sorry if this got a little rambly, but I want to emphasize that you can do this. You're starting at the right time. Prepare, persevere, stay positive, and you can finish the marathon.

Editing due to an excellent point made by KSUViolet06.

Not everyone can cross the finish line. Not everyone winds up with a bid. It's our experience on GC that most women who maximize their options and keep an open mind do find a home through formal recruitment, but some don't. Sorry about the confusion, but I got carried away with my metaphor.

I spent 3 years at ASU for my undergrad. I went through COB/rush/recruitment events for 3 sororities there before finding my home with Omega Phi Alpha. I truly believe that no matter what, you'll find a home in one of the many sororities there, whether NPC or not.

KappaKitty- I appreciate the marathon analogy, since I'm a runner! :p Thanks for your encouraging post- you're right that running is all about competing against myself. I know I'm not guaranteed a bid, especially since I won't know any of the girls there, but since ASU is so huge, I'm not worried about missing out on social events if I don't get a bid. And I can always sneak into the frat parties, right? ;)--- kidding, of course!

Question- what is RFM? :o

Dreamful Spirit, I'm so glad to hear from someone who was greek at ASU!! Do you mind if I ask you more about the university?

Definitely! Go right ahead!

Thanks! Sent you a pm, since most of my questions are way off topic for this thread...

True, true. I didn't think of that. Good call.

Sounds like you have a great attitude.

Correct me if I'm wrong, someone, but I believe that RFM stands for Release Figure Method. Basically it's the use of a complex mathematical formula to determine for each chapter how many women they need to release at the end of each round of recruitment. The numbers are based on the chapter's size and return rates and many other factors over a number of years. The idea is to prevent PNMs from being strung along by the "top" chapters and then suffering massive cuts right before pref.

What RFM means for PNMs is that they're more likely to suffer massive cuts early on but then hold steady-ish for the rest of recruitment. You'll see examples of this in many of the more recent recruitment stories here. At a campus with 9 sororities, for example, a woman might be cut down to 5 houses after the first round (harsh seeming), but then have 4 houses after the second round and a full slate of parties for preference. The benefit for PNMs is that they know early on which chapters are really interested in them. That way they can pay more attention and make a better choice without being distracted by chapters that, for whatever reason, have no intention of bidding them in the first place.

Hope this helps.