recruitment advice for juniors
 

I am a junior, but this is my first semester at this particular college. Penn State. I went through some COB parties for some of our sororities, but didn't get a bid. I decided to give formal recruitment a try, but because of conflicting classes and party schedules I wasn't getting the experience I had hoped for, so I dropped. After recruitment was over I was invited to some more COB parties, but it seems like I am probably not going to get a bid from any of the groups as I haven't heard back and it has been 2 weeks since the first parties I went to and almost 2 weeks since the last parties.

I'm really starting to feel discouraged. I didn't realize how hard it would be to join a sorority as a junior, especially since so many students transfer here as juniors. The girls in the Greek Life office assured me that I should keep trying, some sororities even take second semester juniors during spring informal. I honestly felt like this fall was my last chance, I know it will be a challenge to get a bid in the spring.

I heard some schools don't count juniors/seniors towards quota but I don't think my school is one of those schools. I think a lot of the girls that COB after recruitment have similar concerns. We never knew how we would be contacted if we were to recieve a bid, or how long it takes to be contacted. I would leave parties not knowing how to feel because I didn't want to get my hopes up. I know that everyone says to trust the process, you will end up where you are meant to, etc. I don't mean to sound so depressing but you can imagine how I felt coming to this school. I was so excited to get involved in greek life, and then every attempt I made has been unsuccessful.

Does anyone have any advice?

First of all, your Greek life office can tell you whether upperclassmen have a separate quota. We can't. Second, they can also tell you how many upperclassmen get pledged as a rule. We can't. Third, no one here can tell you what your chances are. That's private membership selection information.

All that being said, do you meet the GPA requirements? Do you have activities? Did you have all your recs in? In other words, did you cover the basics? And lastly, how did you feel at the parties? Did you enjoy yourself and let them know? Did you let your favorite group know you'd like to join? How - or did you - show interest?

These are the simple basics of recruitment.

thanks for your reply, I wasn't asking my chances of a particular sorority exactly, but just wondering if it was possible that I could get a bid in the spring as a junior. Basically asking if anyone here had it happen to them. I should probably ask our VP of membership though.

and yes, I met the GPA requirements and I am involved in a couple other activities on campus. We don't have to have recs but I felt that I had a lot to offer and covered the basics. At the COBs I felt welcome and involved at the parties. I am typically a shy person but I found it really easy to open up and had great convos with the girls I talked to. I made sure to tell the sororities I was interested in that I liked their sorority and for what reasons. I didn't flat out say, Hey XYZ I want to be a sister. I feel like that would have been rude or would have made it seem like I thought I was in already, but I did make a point to show interest without seeming cocky or over confident. I honestly feel like maybe I just don't stand out enough. If fall recruitment doesn't work out I will definitely try in the spring, I know i will regret it if I don't at least try.

Get your grades up. You need to do more than "meet" the requirements. Too many others exceed the minimum so the more you can stand out academically the better. And a couple of activities probably isn't enough unless they are significant ones - like officer in SGA, etc. Only PH can tell you if upperclassmen get bids at YOUR school. We can't. And the fact that you dropped out of formal really could be strike against you. When you are at recruitment parties - COB or formal - you need to let them know that class conflicts caused you to drop out last time. However, since you've named your school and upperclassmen with your history are going to be few and far between, they'll probably already know you posted here....and that may not bode well for you.

It is my understanding that there are always groups at Penn State that are under quota/total. So, my very first question would be whether you have attempted to visit ALL groups doing COB. If you go through recruitment in the spring, it is very likely that the same groups willing to take juniors are the ones that would be doing COB now.

I'm also unclear what you mean by "not the experience you had hoped for". Does that mean you did not get invited back to the top chapters and dropped out? If you have your heart set on one or two chapters, it's probably not going to work out for you. My best advice at this point is to look at ALL chapters and if one of them really wants you, give it a shot.

This.
Yes, juniors get bids at Penn State, but I've never even heard of a situation where they were not cut from nearly all "top tier" groups in formal recruitment from various people I've known that did formal.
Be open to all groups, email the recruitment chairs of the sororities you haven't visited to set something up. You might get a bid, you might not, but if you don't utilize all your options, you may never know whether you might have loved it somewhere.

Ah! We were answering at the same time!!

But I should have added, that I received a bid as a junior.
My best friend went through formal this year as a junior and received a bid as well. She kept her mind opened & prepared for heavy cuts (which happen) and she ended up in a chapter she loved.
Also, that I know there are chapters that are still looking.

I'm guessing you mean the COB parties held before formal recruitment this semester. nittanygirl or psusue - were those open to anyone who wanted to come or did you have to be invited?

If they were open to anyone and you did not attend all of them - i.e. picked and chose - this probably did hurt your chances in formal recruitment.

Oh, here's another thing. If you really, really, want to give it your best shot during spring COB, you need to ask a brutally honest friend or two for feedback on how you present yourself. Any friends from high school or something who are in sororities at other schools?

We don't know you. We can't tell you if you are the shy girl who comes off as too good for everyone or the girl who is tomboyish, but comes off as not giving a shit about the effort that the chapters have put into recruitment or the girl who is trying so hard to be social that she comes off as an RM violation waiting to happen.

From what I've seen, it tends to vary.
I know of one chapter that seems to always have an open party in the fall, then they do "invites back" but I know of other chapters that are strictly invite only. And then some that are even more laid back without actually having events per se.

What I mean by that is, I went in with an open mind, since I don't know anyone here I didn't know anything about the chapters. I didn't have my heart set on anyone, I don't even know what the top chapters are here, but I knew a couple I just didn't mesh with. I always left their parties feeling disappointed. When first rounds was starting and I got invited back to 5 parties out of a possible 14, I didn't let it bother me and went to all the parties and made the best of it. Then I was dropped by all but one (one of the groups whose parties I did not enjoy), and maybe it was a bad decision on my part but I had class during the party so I couldn't go. I decided to drop because if by chance I had made it to pref night I would have had to miss that too because of class. I thought my chances of getting a bid weren't good, and even if I did get a bid it was to a chapter I didn't feel I would want to pledge.

I did not by any means try to pick a choose but sometimes it was unavoidable, like when two sororities would schedule a party on the same night at the same time. (during COB pre-formal)

I'm not saying I know for certain but the whole time I was talking with the girls it just didn't feel like I belonged. It's nothing against them personally at all. I'm not sure if I can explain it without sounding naive. Basically I was unsure about them, didn't ever have good feelings when I left their parties. If I had gotten a bid from them and turned it down I couldn't pledge again for a year. So the way I see it is now I can still go to their COB events and see how I feel about them, but if I had gotten a bid from them from formal I can't say that I would have been okay with accepting it, and I wouldn't have been able to cob after recruitment or rush in the spring.