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Formal/Informal Recruitment as Soph.?

I attend a Big 10 school and am interested in going through recruitment as a sophomore. We have deferred formal recruitment in January mainly for freshmen. Informal recruitment is held in March and September for those with at least 12 credit hours.

I currently have a 2.85 GPA and am a sophomore. I am a little confused on whether I should do informal recruitment now, or wait till Jan. to participate in formal with mainly freshmen even though I'm older. I did not participate in recruitment at all last year.

I can not attend the open house that is held before informal recruitment activities begin because it is during one of my classes. This makes me nervous that I might skip over a house that could have been perfect for me. However, I have read a lot about the different sororities and have narrowed my list down to 5 potential houses just to make it easier for me to participate in activities since there is a limited time to fit everything in before they select new members.

I really am just looking for opinions... my GPA is not that high, and this quarter I will be able to bring it up because freshman year was challenging for me but over the summer I got straight A's and have now figured out how to approach school in a way that I am successful. If I wait till formal recruitment, I might be able to get my GPA up to a 3.2 or so. Also, formal will give me a chance to look at ALL of the houses rather than just make my own opinions without even meeting any of the girls.

Would any of you advise me to go through informal now? Or do you think I should wait till formal? I'm also nervous about attending the informal activities without knowing anyone, since I can't go to the open house guided tours of all the houses. However, I'm also nervous that going through formal recruitment with all of the freshmen will make me less appealing to a sorority. Any information or advice is appreciated! Sorry this post is so long, just trying to share all my thoughts and information :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by midwestgal (Post 1852281)

My personal opinion:

I would seriously wait until formal and try to raise that GPA.

With a 2.85 (and only looking at 5 chapters), things really may not go well for you if you do informal.

I tend to think that seeing ALL chapters during formal is the best thing to do.

Depending on your school, it may or may not be a big deal that you're a sophomore during formal recruitment. You won't know unless you try.

Of course, this is all for you to decide. Good luck!

I guess I'd ask the Greek affairs office what the grade requirements are and see if that answers your question. In my day, we couldn't be flexible AT ALL about grades. If you were off by .01, you'd be out. Sad but true. And I don't think anything about recruitment has gotten easier in 20 years.

But I personally think the sooner you can join a house the better! I don't think being a sophomore will be held against you at most of the chapters, but there may be some that it will accept very few.

The "needed" GPA is a 2.4. So I'm technically safe.

Well I'm starting to feel more and more discouraged. I guess I will just wait it out.

Quote:

Originally Posted by OTW (Post 1852308)

This is what bugs me. They say you "need" a certain GPA in order to rush, but more often that not you'll NEED a higher GPA to even be considered.

Yes.

Just as an FYI to PNMs, Panhellenics often require a certain GPA just to REGISTER for recruitment (in your case a 2.4).

However, each CHAPTER has it's own INDIVIDUAL GPA requirement.

So while your GPA may be high enough to participate, it may be lower than some of the chapter's minimum GPA requirements.

Example: Panhellenic may require a GPA of 2.4 to participate, but ABC's GPA requrement is 2.5. XYZ's is 2.6, and QQQ's is 2.7.

If you have a 2.48, you can rush, but you are going to be cut by all 3 of those because you don't meet their CHAPTER requirement.

Is there a way to find out a chapter's individual GPA requirements? Or do you just have to try to rush?

Quote:

Originally Posted by midwestgal (Post 1852314)

Is there a way to find out a chapter's individual GPA requirements? Or do you just have to try to rush?

I know that my school published them in our "Go Greek!" booklet. It's not private info.

Typically your Greek Life Office will have that info somewhere.

I agree about the GPA. I was at a Big 10 school in the midwest and the GPA was a 2.5 for rush. Well most houses were a 2.8 and above. My friend went through as a sophmore and my house cut her because our GPA requirement was a 2.8 and because we had hundreds of girls who had higher GPA's so when the grade cuts came out after first round, that is what happened. I had no idea she was cut until I saw the list and realized she was cut for grades. I woud work as hard as possible this semester to get your GPA as close to a 3.0 as possible

Quote:

Originally Posted by midwestgal (Post 1852314)

Is there a way to find out a chapter's individual GPA requirements? Or do you just have to try to rush?

On some campuses they are published or fairly public info, on others it isn't. However most campuses will make the overall sorority GPA and Chapter rankings available, often on a Panhellenic's website. This is a way for an upperclassmen to gauge whether she's in the ballpark for a particular chapter.