Out-of-state makes it harder to get a bid?
 

I started this as a post on the UA thread, but didn't want to hijack a happy occasion for so many people. :)

This is simply a question of curiosity. When people talk about receiving a bid from UA being harder for out-of-state girls, is this because they are not from Alabama or because it is presumed they know fewer girls in houses? I understand we don't know why individual girls were dropped, but what is the general feeling behind this?

I am wondering because I have heard this about several schools (non-insert-state-here-girls have a harder time getting a bid). Would going to an in-state school but not knowing girls in the houses be close to the same "disadvantage" (if you assumed there is one) as being from out-of-state? Or is this totally relative to each school/ chapter?

Well, I think it varies from campus to campus. Alabama has so many out of state students that I doubt it's a problem there as long as you have your recs, grades, activities, etc. Same at Auburn because Auburn gets so many GA and FL students. Other places it may make a difference.

I'm not sure, because I didn't go to a public/state university, but I'd always figured it was more that, even if an in-state girl didn't know many in the house, they might know more about because of where she went to high school, or even what city she's from.

I know both the state universities in my home state have a tendency to brag about how many "State Capital Girls" they got, or how many "Rich Suburb Girls." They know the reputation of all the major high schools and cities in the state, and also somewhat for surrounding states. So even if you don't KNOW any XYZ girls, they can look at your transcript and go, "Oh, she was in Student Council at Millard Filmore High School -- she must be pretty dedicated."

So basically, I think for those places it IS an advantage to be from in-state or nearby (I assume at this point, probably a lot of the Auburn/Bama girls know of or about many of the GA/FL schools and cities), but may not be THAT big a help. It's probably more necessary to know people and/or have recs (recs, I guess, substitute for knowing personally about where you come from.)

Again, I don't speak from personal experience, although even at my university, there were some high schools and cities that were really well known (not always in state though).

Hope this helps.

I think this may be one of those questions that the full answer may never be known/disclosed.

1. Membership selection information is private.

2. When an out-of-state girl gets cut, it is easy to blame it on that factor, when in fact other factors may be coming into play. Even a simple analysis for percentage of PNMs from in-state and out-of-state who receive bids would not yield statistically significant results because all of the other factors can not be controlled.

An easy answer is that yes, it does help to know girls in the houses, but there are so many other variables that go into membership selection. Scanning the lists of recent SEC recruitments indicate that PNMs from across the country are getting bids to all houses, so clearly it is not prohibitive.

I think you'll find, when the Alabama list comes out that many sororities will follow along generally by the number of out of state girls going through recruitment. If 30% were from out of state then 30% of the chapter will be from out of state. I am not saying everyone will fall in that category. Some chapters may have more, some less.

I remember in the "Dark Ages" when I first started working on the reference board for my sorority and if someone pledged at Alabama from Dallas, she had long and deep ties to the school and to our chapter there. About 5 years ago, we pledged one girl without those ties. The next year two. This year we pledged five from one high school ( yes, I'm on a high) and we don't have the full list for Texas yet, there maybe more. The times are changing.

JUST AS LONG AS YOU HAVE A LETTER OF INTRODUCTION. (A reference) It is about who you know. That's life!

Both of my girls went to out of state schools from Texas. One is at Alabama-she had a fabulous rush and there were no other girls from her school at Bama at the time. She had great grades, great activities, & philanthropy hours. I made sure she had several recs/letters from each sorority. every round she had exactly what she wanted and pledged a "great" (whatever that means) sorority there. I think the recs and resume` really worked for her and the fact that she didn't fall into any quota cuts.
However one of her good friends - who did not pull together all the recs, just concentrated on what she thought she wanted, ended up dropping out.

My other girl is at Georgia. She too - had good grades and resume`, lots of philanthropy hours. She also had good recs to each house. She had a fabulous rush. She received her top choices every round. And pledged exactly what she wanted as well. - There were other out state girls who didn't do as well, and I'm not sure what made the difference.

I think out of state girls can do well - even when far - if you do the rec homework and put together a good resume package.

I just glanced thru the Alabama pledge list and the first five groups I looked at, the first name on each was from out of state. If you look thru, there are many more.

There are over 35 women on the ADPi bid list from out of state...congrats to Eta on a great new member class!

Out of state States represented - Mississippi, Kansas, Georgia, Florida, Ohio, Texas, Tennessee, Maryland, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Louisiana, Massachusetts.

They don't do it anymore because their headquarters cracked down. But one house at Alabama used to give you extra points for coming from certain high schools and take away points if you went to others.

It is harded
 

Do not kid yourself out of state girls have a tougher road than in-state girls at the University of Alabama. The big advantage in-state girls have is they have a better chance of knowing a girl in a particular house. Having someone inside the house fighting for you during Rush is a big advantage. Being an out of state girls makes it tougher but not impossible.

I agree with KSU about this, but I'll also point out that from a GPA perspective, it makes sense. We all know that not all high schools are academically equal.

But I think you meant it from a socially elite angle which is different and a little icky to me.

If you can work your socially elite out-of-state connections, being from out-of-state isn't a problem at all, and might even be a bonus. Your summer home is two doors down from the president of Chi Omega's, awesome. You went to Harpeth Hall? Not a problem. Your dad is the governor of your state or a US senator or representative? Alright.

You don't summer or go to an elite private school, but you're a completely well-qualified recruitment guest who visited during panhellenic weekend, got recs for every house and a couple of letters of support, was well turned out in appearance, and made a great impression at the parties, you're probably on an equal footing as the in-state girls.

But if you just decided to wing it at the last minute, it's going to be much harder from out of state, unless you are from a neighboring state because the process is going to be weird compared to what you are used to, and no one will know you. An in-state girl probably knows what to expect and has people in her hometown sending in recs, even if she didn't ask for them.

It's not that, in my opinion, most chapters hold being out of state against a PNM, but that most chapters would prefer the known to the unknown when it comes to offering membership.

Imagine a chapter with 200-300 women, like at Auburn and Alabama. If everyone knows and is pulling for one or two PNMs (with some overlap naturally), plus legacies, there are a lot of PNMs that the chapter DOES want. If this is a chapter that has to make steep cuts after the first round, who are they going to keep? Out of state girls can be successful, as evidenced by the number of out of state women receiving bids, but you've got to get those recs in and get them in early.