Sophomore Rush at UO, HELP!
 

I'm going to be a sophomore at the University of Oregon this coming fall (2011) and I'm debating whether or not I should participate in formal recruitment for a sorority. Anybody have advice or tips for me? Please help me with any information you feel is important for me to know :D Thank you!

We don't know you and so we can't answer the question if you should go through recruitment or not. Please look at the Sorority Recruitment forum and read the stickies for important information regarding recruitment in general. Also, feel free to use the search function.

The torch is passed! Where's the LIKE button?

If you participate in formal recruitment, you'll get to meet ALL the sororities. Which is the best way to find the best one for you.

Here is my recruitment story at Oregon. I went through as a sophomore transfer.
http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/sh...ad.php?t=99916

Go through formal. Few sororities will have informal, if any.

Read the stickies. If you have any more questions, feel free to PM me. AXOMom will also be helpful, her daughter is currently there.

I also went through recruitment at Oregon as a sophomore. Last year though when I was on the other side, I felt like there were even more sophomores/juniors than the year I went through. A great deal of them had rushed as freshmen, but didn't make it. There were probably 1:3 ratio of sophomore/juniors to freshman last year, but I'm just guessing.

Look through the stickies, recruitment is lot more tough at Oregon than you would think it would be (I was one of those that went through Freshman year and didn't make it). Not that I'm trying to discourage you at all! I know a lot of sophomores that got bids (including my little who also went re-rushed as a sophomore and is such a light in the house). If you have friends that are in houses, I would contact them now and ask them about it.

Brokengymnast,
When you say you went through recruitment freshman year and didn't make it - do you mean you didn't make it through because you chose to withdraw from recruitment or you didn't make it through because you were released from recruitment?

^^ my thoughts too. I only had two upperclassmen in my rho gamma group out of a group of 40. Only one of my freshmen PNMs was released. The others withdrew themselves. Over all the numbers of PNMs who were released was less than 40 and honestly, less than that. Day one we had almost 100 PNMs drop. Even after pref night, there were 12 PNMs who were not matched because of single intentional preference.

Even with having 800 PNMs to begin with, quota was right around 60, not including quota + numbers. With nine chapters each getting around 60 members that means around 540 PNMs were given bids. So after all those who dropped (some really rapid, did I mention one day we had college game day on campus, talk about PNMs not showing up...), very few girls were actually released from recruitment.

While UO recruitment isn't a cake walk (is any?), we aren't talking SEC recruitment and by no means are recs required (yet).

It is still the basic, go through, keep an open mind, F*%& stereotypes/rumors, and maximise your options.

Yeah, that's the impresson I got from daughter as well and looking at the numbers that U of O provides on the website - it looks like out of the 38 total girls that were released over the last two years (11 in 2009 and 27 in 2010), 30 were released on bid day which I assume means they only put down one chapter after preference.

I have no idea what criteria the OP is using to decide whether or not she wants to go through rush - I just didn't want her to get scared off solely because she might think that getting cut from all the sororities happens commonly. It is still a pretty rare occurence at U of O.

That Stanford game in the middle of recruitment was a killer. Thank heavens this year they're playing away at UA during rush.

Ooh, sorry about that. I REALLY should have clarified. No, I did not mean released, I was stuck in a sticky situation where I only had one sorority for Preference and got a bid to them, but was incredibly uncomfortable at the house to the point that I would rather not go greek than join that house.

From what I've seen at UO (and I'm sure happens at many other campuses as well), I feel like there seems to be a clear line of the normal sororities and a couple struggling ones. Some girls, find their home in the struggling ones, but I've seen and talked to MANY that were in the same situation as me and just could not accept a bid to the sorority.

So no, I was not released, but I did not find my happy ending that year. While there are numerous reasons explaining where the 250 girls went during recruitment (the football game not helping), some of those will leave with perhaps not a great ending.

Obviously though, the numbers are in your favor. My chapter took about 5 or 6 sophomores last year in a pledge class of 60, if I'm counting right. There may be more or less, cause honestly, I can't pinpoint who is older than most girls in their pledge class.

Again, I'm so sorry about not clarifying. Re-reading it I reads as if I was released.

Thank you for the clarification.

Of course, every girl needs to make the decision that is best for her and if she doesn't feel like she fits then she has every right to drop out.

I do want to encourage you to be careful about how you word things on a public message board, and I am referring specifically to the paragraph I bolded. I don't know what you meant by stating there is a clear line between the "normal" sororities and two other chapters. I am hoping that you meant simply that they do not have the same numbers as the others (although that isn't totally accurate).

I can tell you that coming to U of O as a sophomore transfer student from another Pac-10 school where greek life was somewhat more competitive than U of O, that "line" wasn't clear to my daughter at all. I realize everyone's experience is different, but when she went through rush (also in 2009), she felt like very little separated the sororities as far as she could tell (which amazed her since the differences were abundantly clear at her previous school), and they all had a pretty diverse membership make up. She likes that about U of O. Granted, she didn't talk to a lot of people in Greek life before she rushed, but she was impressed that the few she did talk to seemed to confirm her impression. Not one of the fraternity or sorority members she spoke to had anything particularly negative to say about any of the sororities on campus.

Also, I guess it depends on the definition of struggling, but from a numbers perspective, that isn't the case with any of the sororities. In 2009 all but one were over total (one was 2 under total) and all but one made quota (it was 4 under). In 2010 all were well over total and all but one made quota (it was 5 under). If they had been struggling two new groups wouldn't have been added in the last 3 years.

I don't mean to sound harsh, I just don't want the person who started this thread to think that a) she stands a good chance of getting cut or b) she's going to have to figure out who the two "abnormal" sororities are and drop out if she gets them because they aren't like the other sororities. Impressions of the various chapters vary greatly from person to person.

I understand your comment about not getting a happy ending. I do think girls need to know that's a possibility and not go in convinced that the sorority they love will be the sorority that loves them (it doesn't always work that way), BUT if they drop out it is at least, in part, an ending they chose. They may have given it a chance and ended up happy - who knows.

I understand both your points. For some reason, certain chapters are thought as "undesirable" or "struggling". However, a lot of that is due to rumors, just like any other stereotype. After going through recruitment as a rho gamma, I saw there were very few differences between the chapters. I mean, yes there are different people and PNMs will get along with more members in one chapter than another, but honestly, I realized that there is very little difference. With what 130 ish members, each chapter is going to be diverse and have a wide range of interests.

I do think that people might fit better into one chapter over another, but I do think that many PNMs and members keep the tent talk ideas and never lose them. That is why some people are like "oh that chapter is struggling." I also wonder if it is something like a self fullfilling prophecy where the new members bring those ideas into the chapter and then the chapter "fails". However, that is beside the point.

I also think this is why it is foolish to drop on bid day. Get to know all the people one can in the chapter before dropping. Not nagging you BrokenGymnast, you had to do what was right for you, it is just something I saw as a rho gamma.


I think abnormal means unwanted, undesirable, struggling, whatever. I also think that is ridiculous. Coming from a chapter that when I joined could be considered "abnormal", it is ridiculous. Chapters change with every new pledge class. The "top" chapters that were there when I went through recruitment are not the same ones they are now. My chapter has changed a ton since I joined!

Anyway, AXOmom, I do agree with your daughter that there is very little that separates the chapters. Most of the differences are in people's heads. Guess what, every chapter is going to say they are diverse, have the best sisterhood, are involved, etc. There really is no "best" house.

^^^well worded. Your fourth paragraph (I think abnormal means unwanted, undesirable, struggling, whatever) is exactly why I had a bit of a problem with Brokengymnast labeling several as "normal" sororities - implying the couple of others were not and again, I hope she was simply referring to a difference in numbers, but the conotation, as you said, is pretty negative. They are all solid, diverse, normal sororities (or at least as normal as anyone can be at U of O -lol), and you stated that well.

I feel like U of O is lucky to currently have what I consider a pretty healthy system. I don't think its perfect (daughter does have areas where she feels it falls short in comparison to other systems she knows), but all the chapters are doing well at least from the numbers standpoint, they are adding chapters, and I think there is a good balance on campus between Greek and non-Greek. Its an active system, but it doesn't dominate the campus social scene and as a parent I like that. But that's another tangent, so I'll stop now. :)