Awkward transfer situation!!
 

Hey ladies, I'm kind of new to this forum. I've been reading a lot of posts but I just now registered. You all are so helpful when anyone has advice, so I figured I'd come to you for help... here is my situation. I absolutely love the idea of being involved in the Greek system. All my friends are Greeks, so I know what the experience would be like.

I'm originally from California, but I'm going to college in the Midwest. I just finished up my first year at a good-sized state university. I didn't do formal rush in the fall because I was kind of forced into doing marching band, so I didn't have any time. I really regretted that, so I started to get into informal in the winter/spring (2nd semester). I got invited by several houses on my campus (we have 7 sororities) to come do rush there. I went to most of the events, and there was one house that I had a friend in that was rushing me pretty hard. I didn't really feel like I fit in there, so I didn't pursue it. Same goes for the other houses I checked out; great girls, but not a good fit for me. The school in general wasn't really meeting my expectations either. I feel like I'm a big fish in a little pond (which I hate!!) and that most people don't really care about anything but parties.

Long story short (too late) I decided to transfer to one of the most sought after schools in the Midwest. I have a 3.8 GPA, I've held leadership positions in student organizations, and I have a good high school track record. I'm waiting to hear if I got admitted or not until October/November. If I was accepted, I would start there in January 2011.

So basically, I still have one semester left at my first school and I want to make the most of it. I'm worried that I might not get accepted to the new school and that I might have to stay at my current school. I was wondering if you guys thought it would be a good idea to check out formal rush this year (but not go very far into it) just to make sure that I was interested in joining a sorority. I don't mean to be annoying or anything, I feel like I typed A LOT, but my situation is pretty complicated :P

Thanks in advance for whatever help you can offer me! If you are familiar with the big 10 schools and I'll tell you what school specifically I'm talking about, and maybe you can give me more advice from there. :):)

if wouldn't hurt to check out formal recruitment at your present school.

when does the school that you hope to transfer to hold recruitment?

Yeah, I was thinking I would just check it out in case I didn't end up getting accepted. Plus, I have a couple of friends who wanted to check it out as well.

The school I'm potentially transferring to holds formal rush in September and there is informal rush in the winter. The reason I was asking if anyone was familiar with Big 10 schools was to see if anyone knew specifically which sororities did informal in the winter at my school. :]

there are women on here familiar with big 10 school and hopefully they will be abel to help you.

i would imagine that the sororities participating in informal recruitment would vary from year to year.

Thanks for your help! You're probably right as far as informal recruitment goes. I really have no idea. I also have an additional question but I don't know if this is the time to bring it up. There are other threads on the forum about similar questions but they got pretty heated... so I will probably wait until I get more info :]

There's no guarantee that a sorority at your new school will accept a transfer from another school. Many do, but sometimes the chapter doesn't. Unfortunately, you probably won't know that until you're a member.

Are sororities really that strict about transfers? I thought that was only when you were part of a sorority at your previous school, but maybe I'm misunderstanding. The schools are right next to each other geographically, and transfers between them are very common. Also, the school which I want to rush at is only moderately (maybe even less than moderately) competitive from what I hear/read, so I hope I'll have a chance there.

This will vary; if all the sororities make quota during formal (Fall, in this case) recruitment, then generally no, there is no informal (Spring) recruitment.


Now I'm confused. Just to be sure: you're not thinking that you can become a member of one sorority and then join another when you transfer schools, right? Good, didn't think so. Each sorority will have its own policy regarding affiliation (that's what it's called when a member transfers schools and wishes to "affiliate" or become an active member of the chapter at her new school). You can contact the national headquarters of the sororities (if you're so inclined) to find out what the policy or by-law is regarding affiliation. I will say this: it is not a given that you can go from School Blah Blah in State Wherever to School Rah Rah in State of Greekdom and assume that you will be able to affiliate. You need to find out the national policy on this.

Finally, this: I'm not a mean person; however, I am sure I'm not the only one reading today who suspects what your additional question is. I'm not going to quote you here; I suggest that you do some searching on GC, as you most likely already know what the answer is to your question. And if that's part of the equation, then that will become a significant factor in your pursuit of membership, and you need to consider that.

Good luck to you, whatever you decide.

I think she asked her additional question in another thread.

AzTheta: I'm not affiliated with any sorority period, but thanks for giving an answer just in case I was. Thanks for clarifying the formal vs. informal thing. The school I'm currently at doesn't have "quotas" to fill for formal rush, so I was unfamiliar with the system.

Yeah I did post my additional question on another thread, which I thought was more applicable. I am married, but I'm only 19, so it's not like I'm totally on another planet from other girls my age. Plus, I'm very recently married too. I have wanted to be part of a sorority even before I was married. My husband knows this and he is supportive of it. Sorry if I sound defensive, I just want to be clear and honest. I just hope that it won't impact my chances at at rush too much. I want to be part of a sisterhood just like any other girl; the fact that I'm married doesn't change that :)

I'm not aware of any school in CA that has 7 NPC groups and doesn't follow quota/total. How can they not have quota during formal recruitment? That would mean each group could pledge as many women as they want with no limitations or equalization process.

And, if the OP is not going to go through formal recruitment until she attends the Big 10 school, at that time she would be a junior.

Like I said: consider all the factors, and again, good luck whatever you decide.

Also I would think it would really hurt if the sororities have a live in requirement.

Even more so when she's planning to transfer if she's accepted to another school.