eek! gpa drama
 

hey yall!

i transferred to a southern university this year (with a very competitive recruitment) and am currently a sophomore. i have received very good grades throughout my life, graduating with a 3.8 in high school and finishing my freshman year with a 3.9. I was very involved with volunteer work and volleyball during high school, and joined a business club, intramural teams and a service club at my previous university. i am a member of national honor society, the national society for collegiate scholars and my previous university's dean's list.

since transferring to my new university, i was selected to become a member of the student organization that plans just about every university gathering and have made an INCREDIBLE amount of friends (most in top tier sororities and a couple GDI's) who i cant even imagine my life without!!

unfortunately, an illness with which i have been struggling since my freshman year of high school really caught up with me toward the middle of the semester and especially during exam week. my gpa ended up not meeting the minimum to rush. i mailed in an appeal, complete with a doctor's note, resume and transfer transcript, and received an email back from the director of appeals saying that she would make an "exceptional exception" for me, as she understood that i have been an "outstanding student and community member in the past." she concluded her email by making sure i understood that grades are an important part of the greek system and wished me good luck with my recruitment experience.

PROBLEM= my gpa is still too low for any of the sorority minimums. i have best friends in two sororities and know at least 5 girls very well in most of the others. i have established a very good reputation for myself, have made an effort to attend most of the sororities "pre-rush" mixers and philanthropies (we have deferred rush) and have excellent recommendations.

im seriously stressing and recruitment begins in a week! id really appreciate your responses. and good luck to everyone else rushing!

thanks guys : )

ha i guess i should mention my actual question: do yall think i have a chance at getting a bid? thanks!

If you're below all of the sororities' minimums- no.

Especially at a very competitive recruitment.

i would say that it depends on how badly the chapters want you-i have heard of exceptions being made for lower than minimum gpas. however, the exceptions that have been made were minimum-a 2.9 where the chapter minimum was a 3.0. or something similar. i have not heard of any cases where the chapter minimum is a 3.0 and an exception was made for someone with a 2.0 or below.

i would certainly send a copy of your doctor's note and the the note from the director of appeals to each of the chapters. it can only help.

I would encourage you not to rush. You say that you have had a flair up of a chronic disease that caused you to go from an honor student to a gpa below what is acceptable for sorority recruitment. Think hard about what you are doing. You are in school not to get a set of Greek letters but to get an education. Your first priority should be to your grades, which so far have taken a huge beating. Sorority life is very hectic and will take a large part of your time. With a chronic disease which has already proven to prevent you from achieving academically, why would you want to add more pressure to the system? There are so many ways you can be active in your collegiate community without joining a sorority and taking so much time from your academic studies. Focus on your grades and your health. That's my $0.02.

From a different perspective, how is your health now? Is your condition something that you will be able to manage, should it flare up again, while being a new member or member of a sorority? It is a huge time commitment. Without your health, you won't be able to do school at all, let alone a sorority.

Best of luck.

What did your GPA end up being? I will say kudos to the Panhel for apparently using a high enough minimum GPA for rush as a whole so girls didn't pay their $$ and then get gobsmacked when the individual groups all wanted way above that.

It's hard to give further information without knowing what the chronic disease is. I understand if you don't want to share that in public, but I would ask your doctor - and make sure he/she knows the amount of activities that will be added to your schedule - if getting involved in a sorority is wise.