Texas A&M Recruitment...as a junior?
 

Hi everyone! I recently went through rush here at Texas A&M as a sophomore. I declined the bid I received from a sorority because it was not the sorority I wanted (I was not comfortable in the house). Since I declined on Bid Day, according to NPC rules, I am not allowed to rush for another year.

Since the next year I can rush will be my junior year, I was wondering if it is easier for juniors to rush? I have heard that juniors get "priority" over sophomores mainly because it is their last available year to rush, but I was unsure if this was true or not. I do want to rush again and hopefully this time get the sorority I want, but I don't want to make the mistake of going through again if there is no chance at all that I will get into a sorority as a junior.

Thanks and Gig Em! :)

How many groups did you have going into Pref Day this year? Did you have the maximum or just the one?

I had two groups going into Pref Night, and the maximum was three.

I'm interested to hear the answer to this, as I can't imagine your chances are very good.

So you signed your pref card listing a house you knew you weren't going to accept?

I have a very hard time believing that a junior gets "priority" over a sophomore because it's their last year to rush... the only way they would get "priority" is if there were a separate junior quota or something like that.

Your chances are slim to none. You've gone through the recruitment process at a very competitive school. You were offered a bid. Many many women didn't even make it that far. It's even more impressive because you were a sophomore.

I'd probably be going to the house you declined and see if you can still accept their offer.

This is dead-on accurate. I am sorry amperches, but at a school like A&M rushing as a sophomore is difficult as it is. Now that you are looking at rushing as a junior- especially since you are already an A&M student and have gone through recruitment plus turned down a bid, in all honesty I do not see prospects for you in rush next year. You never know, but if you are asking the odds based on what info you have given us, they are not good at all.

If you really want to give sorority life a chance, doing what DubaiSis suggests is the only chance I can see at this point- and even then that is not necessarily going to be easy.

Why were you uncomfortable in that house? Members of that house clearly saw something in you that they thought made you worth bidding. Rush can be a very overwhelming process for PNMs, and it is not uncommon for young women to not get their first choices only to be very happy later when they accept the bid they received.

If you have any interest in giving that house a chance and can generate some sincere enthusiasm about it, call the Greek Life office TODAY, say you made a mistake, were overwhelmed by the process- whatever honest excuse you can offer, and see if there is a chance of accepting that bid.

I have no idea if it will be possible at this point (it is certainly nowhere close to certain or even likely), but under these circumstances it is worth at least asking provided you are willing to give that chapter a chance.

Whoever told you juniors get priority in recruitment misled you. You had a bid in hand, which is difficult for a sophomore at A&M, and walked away because it wasn't what you wanted. That is your chance. It won't happen next year because until the sophomore quota was implemented this year, it seldom happened for sophomores. I know a number of young women in the Greek system there so this is not supposition on my part.

Many women think they must be an XYZ or nothing and learn later they were mistaken.

Maybe you can work something out with your GLO. If not, you will have to look at it as a valuable life lesson.

Is there an upperclassmen quota or what there? If there is, what classes constitute "upper"?

I rushed many years ago as a junior so I am sure somethings have changed but rushing as a junior was difficult. There was a junior quota of 3 per house, not sure if this is the case now? It wasn't too unusual for sophomores to rush but I see things have changed.

This was their first year to have an upperclassmen quota. I don't know what constitutes one, since my friend only said theirs was 7 or 8.

In past conversations, she mentioned this quota was a real possibility for TAMU because they were losing so many good sophomores in the recruitment process. I think sophomores prompted the change rather than juniors.

I was uncomfortable in the house from day one. The sister who picked me up at the door seemed uninterested in telling me about her sorority, and when I would ask questions, she would not give me a clear answer or would deviate from my question completely. Later in the week, when I went back for Pref Night, I had expressed that I had found my home elsewhere. The sister with whom I was talking told me that she thought that was wonderful and that she wasn't going to try and force her sorority on me now because I had already found a home elsewhere. She also said that many of the girls they asked back were asked back to fill quota (apparently they never fill theirs). I thought that being energetic about one's sorority and trying to gain new members was what rush was all about. The fact that the sisters I spoke with were disinterested in their sorority turned me off from it and the fact that I was asked back only to fill quota, not because they truly wanted me, both angered and hurt me. I do not want to be a part of something due to numbers. I want to be with sisters who truly want me there and really care about me as a person, not as a number.

Why again did you put them on your bid card if it was that bad?

I bet she didn't mean for you to think you were asked back just to fill quota, but was speaking more freely because you said you didn't want that sorority. You have to be open enough to look past a couple of rushers who are a little inept. Remember, they're just 18-22 year old women, not professionals.

Regardless, you've learned your lesson. If you knew on pref night you had no intention whatsoever of pledging that sorority, you should have single preferenced. I don't usually encourage that, but if you know you will turn down a bid to another sorority, why risk binding yourself for a year? And once you have gotten a bid and will be prevented from rushing for a year, why not give it a try? You could always have de-pledged before initiation, but you might have found that the chapter is a great fit, just not good at recruitment. It sounds like alums and students from your school are telling you too bad. If you want to go through recruitment again, do it, but take their advice into account and know your chances are slim.

If a rushee straight up said to me "I've found my home elsewhere" before pref even STARTED I wouldn't be too excited about talking to her either and I probably would vent out anything else I was feeling.

Did the "home" you found (I'm assuming the other group you went to pref at) promise you a bid outright? If so, you should report them to Panhel. At any rate, to say such a thing to another sorority unless you are standing there with the bid card in your hand is a HUGE NO NO.