Advice please!!
 

Hi, I am going through recruitment this fall as a freshman at florida state and have been reading all of the posts through here..it seems as if everyone on here has had a positive experience at FSU and have all received bids. However, I was reading that over 1,000 girls start and it gets cut to almost half by the end of it...i have my heart set on being in a sorority and having that amazing experience but am now starting to have second thoughts in going through rush week because i don't want to be released halfway through the week..what happened to all the other girls? I just am wondering if I should be this excited about it only to get my heart crushed :/ Does anyone know how common it is to not receive any bids or any experiences to share? Any tips at all to ease this anxiety?

Go in with an open mind about all the sororities, make sure you have recs for the chapters. Good Luck :)

This is not specific to FSU- others can address that if they wish.

The percentages and numbers thrown around usually do not distinguish between PNMs who voluntarily drop out of recruitment and those who maximize their options but do not get a bid. What does it mean to maximize your options? Keep an open mind about all chapters and accept the maximum number of parties every night through Pref- even if you aren't sold on all of your invites or don't receive the maximum. It only takes one, and all of the NPC groups are incredible and have so much to offer both in college and beyond, and Pref is often a night that changes minds.

Oftentimes those numbers that you mentioned include women who drop out of recruitment for a variety of reasons- they didn't like the invites they received, they had their hearts sold on only one org who didn't invite them back, they decided they don't want to join a sorority, they were only going through because mom/sister/roommate/friend/whomever wanted them to, etc. A better number- if it's published- would be the number of women who sign bid cards after pref night & list all preffed sororities on their bid cards versus the number of women who receive bids. That is usually a much, much smaller number than the ones widely publicized.

Regardless, good luck and keep reading the forums here. There are many great ones with excellent advice for recruitment in general.

If you go through recruitment (with a positive, open-minded attitude and good grades), you have a shot.
If you don't go through recruitment, fearing that you'll get cut, you have a 0% chance of getting a bid.

Go through. Carry yourself well and experience what each chapter has to offer. Otherwise you'll have regrets.

while thetygerlily is not giving specific fsu information, the information she gave you is spot on. it all comes down to keeping an open mind and heart and maximizing your options, and being realistic about where you would best fit in. often times the girls who are left with no options or options that they find unacceptable, have not made the most realistic choices and cut chapters that would have invited them back. they did not take the opportunity to really get to know the girls in those chapters and most likely based their actions on the "tent talk"-never a good idea.

good luck to you and let us know how it turns out for you!

Anytime you hear "we started with Xthousand girls and only 200 get bids" or something of the like, it's usually hyperbole put out by people who want to make the system seem more "exclusive" than it actually is.

Counted in that starting number, along with the things that thetygerlily mentioned, are the girls who filled out a rush app and couldn't go through because their grades were too low. In other words, they don't even START before they are cut - and it's not for anything intangible.

The amount of girls each sorority can take is not determined until (usually) Pref night - rush doesn't work like "each sorority can take 40 girls regardless of how many sign up."

Aren't there actually a few other ways to determine Quota? Or have all schools that do formal recruitment switched to the pref#/#ofchapters?

I'm thinking particularly of chapters with houses, or schools that do have ridiculous numbers of PNMs. Not that that negates your point.

I just realized you said "usually" *doh*

There are some schools that still bed rush. There might be a VERY FEW schools that say (regardless of housing space) "you may not have more than x members" but AFAIK NPC has been trying to eradicate that isht, as it completely goes against the total/quota system.

But basically....if you have ridic #s of PNMs, you'll have ridic big pledge classes. That's when you open for expansion.

as fsu is doing......

To the OP-I forgot to point out the opportunity to be a part of a sorority colony this fall. Alpha Phi sorority will be colonizing at FSU after formal recruitment. I don't know if they will give a presentation during ice water rounds and then start their colonization process after formal recruitment, but i imagine that is what will happen. Maybe an Alpha Phi can let us know?

No matter what, it would be a wonderful opportunity for you to think about.