Non-Trad PNM Receives PNM Survey from Recruitment VP
 

Hello! Recently, I emailed the Recruitment Vice President at my sorority of choice on my university campus in order to ask about informal recruitment. I missed the deadline, but she encouraged me to not give up on formal fall recruitment and offered to send me a PNM survey. Then, she facebook friended me, (which I still kind of feel weird about, but my profile is clean so I'm not worried about that).

I responded that I would like to fill out the survey, and when nearly a week passed and I hadn't heard back, I emailed again, politely, about the survey. She sent it to me and now I am nervous about filling it out. How gushy, flattering or extensive should I be on this survey? I want to register on the VP's/Chapter's radar, but not overwhelm them. (The survey is pretty much the recruitment application plus a few extra questions.)

Further, I am strongly considering writing the local alumnae organization to see if I can find someone to recommend me. My campus is, from what I've gathered, pretty non-competetitive when it comes to recruitment and all of the chapters (of which there are not many) are smaller. I don't know if the rec would be too much, or if it would serve to demonstrate my desire to join their chapter.

I am older (24) and a second degree student. I would say that my university does not have a "typical" student, as it is not a large state school, or a private college, but rather a campus whose student body is constantly in flux; there is no one, true, easy definition of a student on my campus.

Well, bottom line is, I'm trying to find a balance between trying too hard with this chapter and flattering the chapter just enough (with my survey, rec., etc.)

Any suggestions? :)

I have never in my life heard of a "PNM survey."

No, I find it very strange. I can see where it would be helpful to them, were it filled out honestly, but who would fill it out honestly?

To answer your question, I wouldn't worry about the recs, but I don't know that I'd fill out the survey either. Do some asking around before you fill it out or submit it. Something about it feels wrong.

When she offered to send it to me, she said it would enable the chapter to have my name in their records for formal recruitment. I imagine it's the document the chapter uses during informal recruitment for PNMs.

I intend/ed to fill it out honestly, but I just don't know what kind of honesty they are looking for, if you know what I mean.

Who do you think I should ask about this? Current members, other PNMs?

Thanks so much!

/ Pardon my lane swerve/

Is this a NPC organization? I saw that you said you are a "second degree student", which I take to mean that you already have 1 undergrad degree and are either going for a 2nd undergrad or a grad degree.

Ladies of GC, am I correct in understanding that the majority of NPC organizations do not allow grad students to join? What about students who have already graduated but come back for a second undergrad degree?

I noticed that too LaneSig, and I believe that, at least for some NPC organizations, this would disqualify the pnm from potential collegiate membership in certain sororities. She would need to investigate.

What are the questions like on the survey? Usually you can click in, take a gander, not fill it out, and still have access to it to fill it out after mulling it over. Just make sure you don't click the "finish" button.

Thanks LaneSig for pointing this out! Yes, it is an NPC org. I am going for a 2nd undergraduate degree, and I have performed some research on this topic.

I checked first with the Office of Greek Life on my campus, and the university permits 2nd degree students to participate in recruitment.

Next, I checked the bylaws of the sorority I am interested in and it does not explicitly prohibit 2nd degree students from joining, simply that the student must be regularly enrolled in the university. I realize that I might not be considered a "regularly enrolled" student in the eyes of the sorority, so my next step is to contact the HQ before recruitment officially starts.

I have all the questions available to me. The questions involve my grades, campus activities, and then more specific questions regarding my interest, etc.

So it's basically like the questionnaire we asked PNMs to fill out when they got to the house for their first event for informal.

Be 100% honest on the grades and campus activities (they will find out).

Regarding your interest, I wouldn't gush. Honesty is the best policy there. Don't use phrases like "I really, really" or anything - stuff like "I'm interested in the sorority because I'd like to get more involved on campus" or "I like your philanthropy" are fine, but sometimes a little unnecessary UNLESS that is the actual reason why you want to join. Phrases like "I admire XYZ organization because of what they do for women" come of as flowery - also unnecessary.

If you have relevant experience with their specific philanthropy (for example, if their philanthropy is March of Dimes and you've done things with March of Dimes before, include it). If you like their philanthropy but didn't do any work with it, you may mention it but don't go into detail ("I admire the Special Olympics organization.").

Same goes for other aspects. Don't go on and on about how you like their flower or other symbols. The meaning of a specific flower/color/symbol for you as a PNM will be different than the meaning for a member.

Basically, be honest. Don't gush. Usually these questionnaires are intended to just refresh their memory - you don't necessarily want to make a strong impression on paper - you want to make it in person. Then, if they have trouble remembering specifics, they'll use this.

so it's less a "survey" and more an "application." Would you agree? I might have a chat with your Greek Life adviser about this survey. If the campus panhellenic has a formal rush program, the individual chapter shouldn't need to do this, but maybe they do this for informal rushees since there wouldn't be an official rush application filed.

If it has any questions along the lines of what do you think of us or what have you heard about the various sororities on campus, I wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot pole. But if it is looking for your qualifications and asks you to put your NAME on it, then I guess I don't have a problem with it. Calling it a survey may be a misguided attempt to keep their informal rush process casual.

Curious: were the bylaws publicly posted for access?

I had that thought, too. I'm thinking perhaps National Policies? I know that ours are right on our website (National, not local) and they're just a regular old link on the homepage.

Hmm, well, this is what I did: I went to the sorority's official site, typed "bylaws" into the search, clicked the "Bylaws" link and then looked at the .pdf. I think there must be a loophole in the site, because the bylaws are shown nested under two sections which, when clicked individually, lead you to a sign-in section of the site.

I did not realize Bylaws are private, because these were so easy to find....