Classes conflicting with recruitment?
 

Hi everyone! I've been creeping the forums for a couple of weeks trying to get ready for recruitment in the fall, and I've learned so much. Perhaps I wasn't reading very closely, but I didn't see this questioned answered in any of the threads I read and was hoping you all could maybe help me some more.

I'm going to be a sophomore in the fall at a school where recruitment isn't especially competitive (a friend who is a member of a "top" house mentioned to me that she wasn't even sure that they looked at recs). I didn't participate my freshman fall for myriad reasons that I'd rather not state; I looked into spring COB, but not every house was participating and I really wanted to give them all an equal shot. Thus, I settled on participating this coming fall and am really excited! I just have one issue: I'm registering for classes this Thursday, and there is one class I'm particularly interested in which meets only one day a week; because of this, the class is longer than most and ends at 9 PM. It worries me because our recruitment is during the first few weeks of classes (when varies each year) and I'm afraid I'll miss certain events if I take this class and ruin my chances of getting to know a house or getting a bid. If I were to register for the class, how would I go about handling this situation? Thanks so much in advance for all of your help!

There is a chance that if it's that early in the year, the class won't go the whole way until 9 PM. That's a little flying by the seat of your pants though, so talk to your professor and see if you can be excused from the class during recruitment week. See if you can find anyone who's taken the class and see if the prof is amenable to that idea.

Also contact Pan and your Gamma Chi (or whatever they're called) ASAP! I also had this problem, except I didn't miss just one day. I was in band (aka the unltimate problem when going through recruitment lol). I missed two parties the first day (one being the house I joined). Was suppose to have had class all during skit night ( I skipped class, we got one anyreason absence all semester and I told the director I was taking mine on skit night). And was out of town at a football game during pref night. Not exactly your ideal situation when going through recruitment. However, it did all work out for me and a few other girls who were in the same predicament. Just be up front about it, and know that it may not be the ideal situation but it can work out. Talk to Pan, you recruitment helper lady, and your professor; ya'll will hopefully be able to figure something out.

is this class offered at any other time of the year?

on the one hand, missing a once a week class is like missing a whole weeks worth of classes in another subject. on the other hand, missing an entire "day" of recruitment could ruin your chances. in my experience, it is not good to miss either.

Once you're getting into your "major" classes, chances are, some of them are at night, only happen once a year, or in some cases, every other year. The competition to get into the class is huge.

Is recruitment the very first week of class? I know that it sucks to miss the first class, though people who add a class on say, the last day of first week would miss the first class anyway and still survive, it's a gamble. Do you know how the relative schedule of recruitment (three nights in a row, over the course of two weeks, etc.)?

You have a few choices:
- take it the next time it's offered (is it a pre req for following classes?)
- take it and hope that the recruitment schedule doesn't fall on that day
- take it and ask permission to skip or leave early (some schools don't allow this)
- take it and just skip (some schools watch this)
- take it and if you can't get out of class, drop it and take it another semester (though I don't recommend that AT ALL, because you are there for school first)

We can't tell you what decision to make. Just get all the info you can (Panhel, Greek Life office, etc.). I'm sure you're not the only girl to go through it. It kind of sucks, I hope you figure it out.

My school has a pretty laid back recruitment and also has rush during the first two weeks or so of school.

Don't change your school schedule for recruitment. If it's a class that's offered every semester, that's one thing. But I know what it's like to have to take a class that only appears on a rotating basis. School should always come first. On my campus MOST, not all, but MOST professors are understanding if a student talks to them prior to the event. I've had to do this for Recruitment Team reasons more than once and I always offered to do whatever class work beforehand. In every class but one I still had the absence counted, but we usually get three a semester, and I just decide that it's worth it. You can usually tell which professors are going to be sympathetic towards Greek life and which ones won't. I have had a professor refuse to let me miss a critique before, even though I talked to them on the first day of class. (Which, by the way, I recommend. Talk to them the first chance you get.)

If that happens, you need to call the person in charge of Greek life, or if you've already met them, you're Recruitment Team leaders. Explain the situation and they will explain to the chapters why you will not be at the event. In my chapter at least, I can't think of a time when a girl was dropped because she missed one night due to a class. Usually that was seen as a good sign-if she takes school seriously, she's going to make good grades and be responsible in general. But you just can't tell, and have to take the risk. School is ALWAYS more important, but there are many routes to try to miss a class for recruitment, so I think you'll be ok. To recap:
1. Ask yourself if you need the class right now. If it's a pre-requisite to a major class or is only offered on a rotating basis, take it. No questions. If it's offered every semester and there's no need to take it right now, consider waiting. ASK YOUR ADVISOR and explain the situation to them. I'm sure they've had that question before and can give you advice.
2. If I were you, I'd go ahead and sign up for it. I know every school is different, but for me I can wait until a couple of weeks before the fall term starts to drop a class with no financial penalty. Find out if you can do this and what the last date is to do so and then sign up and make sure you mark that date on your calendar. If the recruitment schedule hasn't been released yet (and make sure you go to the student life office and ask if it is) it surely will be by then. Ask your advisor if this is a good idea and if they say it will work for you, do it.
3. If you have to take the class and it IS in conflict with a recruitment night, talk to the teacher on the first day of class. Explain the situation and ask if you could make up the work before hand or maybe send a tape recorder with a classmate to record the lecture. Read the syllabus to see what the policy is on absences. In classes where I had at least three without penalty I always talked to the teacher first (make sure you do this regardless so you stay in good graces with them), but missed regardless. If I would be penalized I offered solutions to the professor. Sometimes they'd find a way to work with me, but sometimes not.
4. If you've done all of this but cannot have an unexcused absense in the class (and it's doubtful this would be excused...but this is why it's important to talk to the teacher. It might be.), go straight to the person/people in charge of recruitment. Explain the situation. They'll have a system already for informing chapters of PNM's who have a class conflict-you won't be the only one. Then go to the class dressed and ready and call your Recruitment Team leader when you leave and catch up. It depends on the school and the chapter as to whether or not it will hurt you...in mine I can't think of a time when it did. But school should come first.

In the event you do all this and do get dropped, it might have nothing to do with missing a night, but then again it might. You won't know. So since you'll have gone to at least some of the parties and met all the chapters you'll have a better idea of who you'd like to COB. Consider this approach if everything else falls through.

Good luck!

Another thing to do is try to meet as many sorority women as possible right now. In class, at the dining hall, at parties, etc. That way if you do have to miss a party and your name comes up, they already know you.

Talk to Greek Life, at some schools ditching class is forbidden and can have you removed from recruitment. If they don't have something in place for women who are serious about, you know, learning and stuff, they need to make one.

Also as much as I hate to say it, talking to a professor about missing class for a sorority rush event could not bode well for you if they are not enthralled with the Greek system. Go to the Greek Life office first before the professor, you don't want to tick them off the first day and be a target because they are grumpy pants about Greek Life.

I personally missed class for recruitment my freshman year and don't regret it at all. I am OCD about going to class and am extremely focused on academics, but I still tell everyone I know going through recruitment it's not a huge deal to miss one class right in the beginning. My school doesn't even have a competitive recruitment and every year it's the same: girls who miss parties are automatically not invited back to that house. Again, school is obviously of the utmost importance but in many cases it's possible to get caught up the following week. Also - agreed with the poster above - do not talk to professors about missing because of sorority recruitment, it usually doesn't go well. haha.
P.S. Be careful because i know at some schools you get dropped from recruitment if you miss class for recruitment parties. Make sure you know your school's specific policies.

Edited to clarify: each individual chapter does choose whether or not to invite the girl back, it's not like a panhellenic rule to cut girls if they go to class instead of recruitment. But as KSUViolet said, every chapter has to cut a certain number and if a PNM skipped a party, it's hard to justify inviting her back.

Your school may be used to dealing with conflicts like this. My campus had a lot of music degree students, and they had mandatory rehearsals etc at night. We were used to having a few people every year that had conflicts, so those PNMs would come late and stay for part of the parties rather than the whole thing. e.g. if the PNM can only come for the last hour, she'll go to each of 3 parties for 20 minutes each. It's not ideal, but at least you get to go to all. Your panhellenic may be able to work something like this as well. We also had issues with swim meets on bid night, so swimmers rarely were able to partake in bid night festivities (we had a lot of swimmers in the system).

Also, our recruitment was not very competitive and if you missed one day of the first 2 rounds, it was okay. Yes the chapters could technically not invite you back for not going, but they rarely dropped someone for that. Not saying that would happen at your school, but it's possible.

Every school handles it differently- hopefully yours will be able to work with you. Until you speak with them directly, you won't know your options for the fall :)

Every professor I've talked to has been grateful that I at least was honest. And at my school most professors aren't huge Greek life fans. Just skipping with no explanation early on can look worse. The worst that happens is that they tell you it will still be an unexcused absence and saying you understand and won't do it again looks better than appearing to not care.

I'm not saying don't talk to the professor, I'm saying don't talk to the professor before talking to Greek Life. I actually do not advocate missing class for joining a sorority, and I am in one. I think Panhellenics and schools need to not do recruitment while class is in session because there wouldn't be a sorority without school and academics come first. I'm an excellent student who has good relationships with faculty and I'd still never ask to miss class for an Alpha Gam event, nor would my sisters ask me to. Hell I missed IRD and initiation last weekend for a class field trip, even though he would have excused me.

As much as I hate having rush before classes start, at least no one misses class to join here.

It depends on the campus. If her Greek Life office tells her girls frequently get dropped for missing a party, it would be worth talking to the professor. If it's unlikely to be a big deal, then she should probably just go to the class, but many people do choose to miss class for something like this and they need to be smart about it. It's one thing to miss an event once you're in and initiated, but it's another to miss an event and never get to be in the sorority in the first place.

My campus has to have recruitment after school starts because GL isn't particularly popular and we can't get enough PNM's to sign up before school starts. Most of our recruiting is done after classes have begun at the open rush parties the fraternities have, and at freshman orientation events. Ours is always the second week of school, and the numbers go drastically up during that first week. Because of that the chapters usually work around students who do not want to or cannot miss class, and hopefully her campus is the same.