Trying to prepare!
 

Hi! I am new here but have read so many threads and have learned so much. My daughter will be going through rush at a SEC school in the fall and I have a few questions that I have not found answers to yet. We have a good start on recs and hopefully, with the help of the local Panhellinic society, she will be able to get at least one for all of the sororities on campus. My question is, if we can't secure a rec for "XYZ" will that affect her with "ABC" and "EFG" or only "XYZ"? Also, I am not clear on "bumping", especially during the first round. If you are bumped 3 or 4 times, is that a good thing? Or is it a negative, meaning that none of the girls care for you and don't want to waste time on you? Thank you so much!

To my knowledge (and this could delve into membership selection if you dug too far) ABC will not know if she has a rec (or not) to XYZ. Even if friends talked and ABC knew that she didn't have a rec, it shouldn't affect her one way or the other.

This is different for each chapter. Don't spend time worrying about it. I would guess that most bump several times so that several girls could get to know her. Nobody can be sure.

Good luck Future pnmmom! You're getting started at the right time - early!

Only the chapter knows what recs it received, but if she's at an SEC school she will need at least one rec for each chapter or will most likely face a first round cut.

Every chapter at every school bumps differently. Even if it had something to do with her likelihood of being invited back, we couldn't tell you. This is one of those areas you need to chill about now or you will be a crazy person by the time her recruitment begins. There is no possible way to figure out her chances or outcome.

Every chapter does bumping differently.

For my chapter, it would not mean anything. We were in groups and bumped on a schedule. The first rusher had a set amount of time with a PMN and then the rush chair would discretely signal us that it was time to bump and another rusher would join the PNM and the first rusher would excuse herself. For our chapter, the timing of bumps had nothing to do with the PNM.

Thank you all! I'm sure I'll have more questions as time gets closer.

I have witnessed recruitments on several campuses, and each chapter used a different method to bump, and none of them indicated whether the pnm was a rush crush or not-it is just they way they had been trained to bump. I have friends in other sororities that say the same thing. Even if a bump method determined whether or not a pnm would be asked back or not, there is nothing the pnm can do about it, so she needs to concentrate on those things that she can control-her hs grades and activites, securing recs. to as many houses as possible, her appearance, her conversation skills, her reputation, etc.

And, the number of times she gets bumped could be determined by when she enters the door. The first girls in could very easily get bumped one more time (or even 2) than the last girl in the door.

I don't have a lot of reference, but I would say the number of times you get bumped is indicative of efficiency on the part of the chapter, not any desire to show more or less attention to any individual girl.

If she's going to a super competitive SEC school, you may want to get her two recs for each group. When you are talking to women that are sorority members, ask who else they know that may be willing to write a rec.