Bama Rush
 

My daughter is rushing as a sophomore. Has 4.0 gpa and heavily involved in university activities. Dropped by ones she wanted and has been kept by the ones she has no interest in. is this normal? Should she just withdraw?

That's a decision that SHE needs to make.

Many girls have been released from recruitment altogether and would probably be grateful to have any invites at this stage of recruitment.

Seriously? Cut the cord. Your daughter has the chance to go back to some of the incredible chapters at Bama (which--ALL of them are GREAT chapters) and she isn't sure she wants to stay? If your unique snowflake has NO interest in other chapters, she should do the rest of the Greek system a favor and drop.

Op here. I understand your point and she is grateful. She had an open mind throughout the process and met some great girls. She didn't go into it aiming for "good" sororities (whatever that means). She is just confused by the process since she is new to the system. She felt real connections with girls in some of the houses and they seemed genuinely interested in her. And unlike a lot of girls had a lot of call backs (or whatever it's called). She only dropped these particular ones because she didn't get the same good feeling after her visits and they were asked which ones they would like to eliminate. Because she is already busy, she wondered if she should join a group that she really didn't "connect" with. Ultimately, it is her decision and she will do what is best for her. I just wanted some feedback because I am trying to understand how things work. Is being a sophomore a disadvantage when there are over 1700 girls rushing?

I'll let the ladies from Bama respond to that but, from an outsider's perspective, I would say that SEC recruitment is quite competitive. Because of that, even if you don't get a "top-tiered" chapter, you should still be thankful that ANYONE wanted to invite you back. With 1700 girls going through recruitment, your unique snowflake doesn't exactly appear to be unique. She is like every other goregous PNM with awesome grades and extra-curriculars. Not "connecting" with the girls is just another way to say she thinks she is "too good" for the chapters she doesn't find desirable. Many of us can read between the lines.

There is obviously a lot neither of you understand about the process. Did she have 2 recs for the groups that released her? If not, that's the reason no matter how well she got along with the women. The members are all young ladies and know how to be polite and make a guest, which she is, feel welcome.

Second, The chapters have approximately 175 members. They all have input into who is invited (not "called) back. So just because she had a "connection" with the ones she met does not mean there is enough support for her individually.

Third, there is a separate upperclass quota at Alabama. Some groups elect not to take upperclassmen. These groups may be some of those. There is no way to tell because that is private MS information (MS-membership selection).

Four, she does not "eliminate" groups. She either ranks them lower or declines to accept an invitation from them.

Five, however many invites she received for pref is how many chapters WANT HER. That should mean something to her. If it doesn't, then she has other issues beyond recruitment.

Six, if it doesn't work out, she can interview for Delta Gamma. They are taking women in all classes as they are starting a new chapter and need a cross section. and they can take average chapter size which probably will be around 250-270 by the time formal recruitment is over.

Good luck.

They were interested in her. There just happened to be a whole lot of other girls they were interested in too, and many of them were freshmen instead of sophomores. Yes, her class standing is a disadvantage.

Also, the more popular a sorority is and the more rushees like it, the more rushees the sorority has to cut (to not put too fine a point on it). The sororities your daughter liked maybe could keep inviting her back, but in the end, they wouldn't give her a bid. It's better for her to be cut now (and free up her head space to take a more thorough look at the groups that DID invite her back) than to go the whole way through rush with a group that as much as they may like her, ultimately won't bid her.

Encourage your daughter to stick with rush.

Titchou hit another homerun! :D

Coming from someone we all respect greatly, I am very humbled by your comment!

as did 33!