New here...Does anyone know anything about DePaul?
 

I am new here, and have done a search under DePaul but didn't come up with anything. My D is on the fence about rushing (what is the correct term? going through recruitment?) at DePaul. Does anyone have any info on the process at DePaul, or any other aspects of sorority life at DePaul? (Yes, I know they can't have houses.) I wasn't Greek, so I know very little.

There was a GCer (lillady85) who posted her DePaul recruitment story 5 years ago. She ended up joining Chi Omega, a colony at the time. She'd be 2-3 years out of college by now, but she hasn't posted in over a year now.

Here's the DePaul Panhel website.

http://depaulpanhel.com/index.php

They've added several sorority chapters in recent years (with another to come in a year) which is a good sign of a growing Greek community. :) There are lots of Chicago people on here so even if they don't go there, they most likely have close friends that do and can fill you in a bit.

Ditto to what 33girl said, DePaul has been growing A LOT, just in the last five years. They will have doubled the number of chapters (assuming all goes well) from 2006 to 2012.

I was thinking AOII there was a lot older. I guess I'm thinking of TPA being there, because they always had at least 3 groups.

Thanks, everyone. I've been on the website but I must not know the "code" because the chapters all seem alike - they all want to do good and bond and have fun.

Is there a thread for all the abbreviations on this board?

What does that mean?

Campus total is the maximum number of members each sorority can have. It's also sometimes referred to as "ceiling."

Quota is - without getting too detailed - the number of women rushing divided by the number of sororities. Since DePaul has 6 sororities, that means 198 women went through rush last year. Every sorority is entitled to take quota even if they are over campus total.

This is REALLY oversimplifying it but I don't want to make your head explode. :)

And yeah, every group does kind of come across the same on websites. That's what recruitment is for - to meet everyone in person.

I would say that it's a fairly safe assumption without any super secret code needed to say that all NPC (National Panhellenic Conference) groups are alike in that they want to do good, bond, and have fun. Really, what your daughter should focus on is which chapter she feels most at home/comfortable with the sisters. She's going to get all the rest no matter which group she joins.

There is only one school in the country that assures that every girl who participates in recruitment will receive a bid (and it's not DePaul). Everywhere else, women can be released from all sororities (i.e. not receive any party invites) at any time during recruitment.

She'll never know unless she tries. The main thing is for her to KEEP AN OPEN MIND - don't listen to rumors or trash talk about the sororities, and don't get her own preferences in her head too early in the process.

Even if you saw how many women began the rush process, it isn't an accurate figure of the % of those women that are pledged, because many times girls drop out - because they don't keep an open mind or because they find out the financial obligations are too daunting. In other words, if 100 women sign up for rush and 70 women end up with bids, it doesn't necessarily mean 30 women were cut from all the groups. It can mean 15 dropped out for financial reasons, 5 dropped out because Greek life just wasn't for them, 5 dropped out because they didn't like the groups that were inviting them back and 5 women were cut everywhere.

Like at any campus, she'll need good grades, been active in high school clubs, volunteer in the community and be of good character. I don't know if recs are needed there. The Greek life office can answer that question for you.

What will happen is over the course of those September days she will attend parties (events in recruitment talk) at those chapters. On the first day, all the PNMs (potential new members) go to all the chapters. Then the PNMs will rank each group according to the ones they liked the most and turn that into Panhellenic (campus org that runs recruitment). Then the chapters will issue invitations for the second day to the PNMs they want to get to know better. The number that each group can invite is dictated by Panhellenic, based on a formula called RFM (release figures method) that is used by all campuses with National Panhellenic Conference chapters.

Those invitations are then given out to the PNMs based on the ranking she did, the number of events she is allowed to attend that day and which groups invoted her back. So, if she can attend 4 events and received 5 invitations, all from the groups she listed in her top 5, she would not get the one she ranked at #5. She would get her top 4 choices. If she didn't get an invote from one she ranked higher, then she would get her 4 highest ranked groups. And on thru the week till the end at Bid Day.

Yes, some women may be totally released. Usually because they don't meet the GPA recruitments. All chapters have a minimum GPA they have set in concert with their national organizations. Anyone falling below that is usually released the first day. A few exception may be made but we generally don't know that as it is private membership selection (MS) information.We want women who can meet the demands of membership while keeping their grades at an acceptable level for us, them and their parents!

So for freshmen, you're talking about high school GPA? Do they confirm that (like do you have to send a transcript?) If a girl didn't meet the minimum GPA requirement, why would she even start the process?

How do they know about clubs, community service, etc.? Is there an application form, or do they prepare a resume, or what? How do they know about character?

D is on the fence because she doesn't know if she wants to be in a sorority, not because she is worried about being cut (she can leave the worries up to mom.)

Yes, they fill out an application that has all that information listed. Most campus Panhellenic will verify the grades to the chapters so that they know the GPA that the university accepted her on. That let's out those GPA inflating cheerleading grades, etc.

As for character, many groups solicit recommendations (recs) from alumnae in the PNM's home town. So, when she registers for recruitment she'll fill out an application. The chapters will then contact an alum in her home town for the rec. Or, on very competitive campuses where you HAVE to have a rec (Alabama, Ole Miss, etc), the PNM has to make sure she has the recs. She would do that by getting a list of the chapters on her campus and then ask family friends, teachers, counselors, neighbors, employers, etc (network, in other words) to find recs for the needed groups. It's much like a letter of introduction except all the groups have a form the alum fills out.

Hope that helps.

ETA: I don't know if the PNMs at DePaul have to do their own or not. The Greek Life office can tell you.

The "inflating" grades are a part of the GPA and if the school admitted a student without backing out such grades, that would be the GPA, right? I make this comment because I come from a Land where a full quarter of a student's high school grades may be in football, cheer, band, etc. But of course, those are "regular" (unweighted) grades, so that 100 in cheer or band actually hurts many of the better students. (A student would get more GPA points from an 88 in an AP class than a 100 in cheer.)

They expect all the alums to know all the girls in her town?