University of Arizona Sorority 2012 Fall Recruitment
 

All of the chapters require a 3.0 unweighted GPA to join but no minimum GPA to participate in recruitment, and they only calculate GPA’s from grades 9-12. They sent me an email saying I have a 2.8 unweighted GPA from grades 9-11 and told me my experience will not be enjoyable because I don’t adhere to the chapters' minimum academic standards, but they said I can fax my senior year grades, which is a 3.3 weighted and 3.1 unweighted so they can revise the GPA they have on file, but I don’t know if that would change my overall GPA significantly. I was wondering if it would be worth it to go thru rush and just try and or just wait until sophomore year until I obtain a college GPA or do spring rush? I didn’t know from the beginning that they only took unweighted GPA’s, I thought it was weighted because my overall high school weighted GPA is over 3.0.. :( I took a lot of honors and AP classes, so that boosted my GPA. Sophomore year I did really badly because I was put into hard classes and couldn’t handle the work load, and that really affected my GPA. That was also the only year where my GPA was below a 3.0.They said I can write a letter to them if experienced extenuating circumstances that have significantly affected my GPA, but I don’t know if that would fit into that category.

Thank you so much for your opinions!

They don't do spring rush or something?

I think I recall that the U of A experts are laying low at the moment, so I am going to take a stab at this:

If your unweighted GPA was a 2.8 for three years, and then a 3.1 for one year, your cumulative GPA will be below a 3.0. You will likely have few, if any, options during formal recruitment with a GPA this low.

You don't really have any extenuating circumstances, here, so writing a letter would be pointless. Have you obtained recs? If you have any recs that are really really supportive in spite of your low GPA, that could help, but you really face an uphill battle, and it may not be worth your time and money to participate this time around.

3.2 freshman year
2.5 soph
2.9 jr
3.1 Senior..all unweighted

Math:
3.2 + 2.5 + 2.9 + 3.1 = 11.7 /4 = 2.925

It's not going to pull it up enough, from the looks of it. I don't know how many of their chapters do spring rush or how recruitment is for sophomores there, so I can't speak to that, but I'd recommend focusing on your studies for now.

Back in my day, they used to tell us to expect our college GPA to be a full point lower than our high school GPA. I don't know if that's still the expectation (and it wasn't true for me, I did better than that), but if that is still the rule of thumb, then focusing on studying will be important for you.

I am not the expert on U of A recruitment but from looking at their booklet for 2012 recruitment it appears that the minimum requirement is a 3.0 for every Chapter currently on campus. The campus that I volunteer at also does not take weighted GPA's for recruitment or college admission.

VERY few if any Chapters at U of A do spring recruitment. I heard that this year there were several "top tiered" Chapters that picked up girls but it was very hush hush and was done secretively. For some reason spring recruitment seems to have a stigma associated with it down at U of A. There is no formal process for spring recruitment. Fall recruitment is so huge at U of A that most of the Chapters will be at or way above total after recruitment. They will not recruit for the rest of the year.

I would send in your senior grades to Pan and follow up on it prior to recruitment starting. I would also attach your transcripts to your recommendation forms. If your forms have already been sent I would send your transcripts to the addresses listed with a note so they can be matched up with your recommendations. I have heard in the past U of A only takes grades 9-11. My advice would be not to wait until spring and not wait until your sophomore year. U of A is VERY competitive and although I have known sophomores who have gone through and gotten bids to their #1 choice they were also living with several Chapter members and very well known in those Chapters.

Good luck to you.

Giant thumbs up to them for having the balls to tell you this, rather than just taking your money and letting you get cut from every chapter the first day.

Agreed. I do find it sort of annoying though that they will give the low GPA students the chance to use extra data to revise their GPA but other PNMs are forced to use the required grades 9 - 11 GPA. I'd be upset if I were a PNM at a very competitive school whose GPA would increase significantly with the addition of the extra year and found out that only those with sub-par GPAs were given that option.

Catch me up here... what is a weighted GPA?

It's when honors classes are worth more than 4 points. Many high schools use this to figure their valedictorians and such, because it allegedly rewards those who have taken more difficult classes.

Some high schools will grade honors, AP or IB classes on a 5.0 scale instead of a 4.0 scale to reward students who challenge themselves. The resulting GPA is "weighted" for difficulty. It prevents someone who takes all super easy classes from becoming valedictorian, for example, when someone else took a lot of very challenging courses and perhaps received an A- somewhere along the way. Colleges generally look only at unweighted GPAs though.

Thanks. For no reason I ever understood, my high school didn't offer AP classes, so it wasn't an issue for me.

I'm not in Arizona anymore so I can't speak of specifics but thoughts based on what I've read....

With your gpa being below the required 3.0, you will face heavy cuts. I know when I helped with ASU's recruitment the first round of cuts were strictly based on GPA, we didn't take anything else into account. If the PNM was below the required minimum, even if the girls LOVED her, she was cut. The chapters have those GPA requirements for a reason.

As for spring recruitment, chances are slim that there will be offerings as last year every chapter made quota (and a couple above quota). I've heard through my AZ rumor mill friends that UA is trying to get another chapter back soon (I know AChiO is coming back I'm not sure if its this fall or next fall though). So don't count on spring recruitment.

Total is 200. ADPi (because I know the numbers) is down to 190. Quota will probably be 90-100 (it was like 95 last year). So for arguments sake, say 100 because it's going up every year. So now ADPi would be at 290. Unless 91 women quit, they can't offer bids to anyone else, because total is 200. I know it's sometimes confusing but most (if not all) of the sororities at UA are over total, so unless they have huge retention problems they can't bid anyone in the spring.

Now, UA is competitive, it's probably not SEC competitive, but it is. If you decide to go through recruitment and aren't heavily cut because of your grades, you need to keep your options open. You can't go on saying "I only want to be an XYZ" because chances are XYZ is going to cut you for grades.

Personally, my suggestion, while recruitment for a sophomore will be tougher, I would suggest spending the 12-13 school year doing the following:

1. getting your grades up. I would suggest 3.5-4.0 to be competitive with the incoming freshmen.

2. get to know, but not stalk, the sorority "girls". If you see some in class, say hi, be friendly. But remember even if you make friends with some chapter members the WHOLE chapter is involved with membership selection.

3. do not get a reputation. Whether it be going to frat parties and getting wasted. Talking crap about people. etc..That reputation will follow you. Trust me. My rep from high school (high school) followed me to ASU so I was unable to affiliate with the chapter there (worked out for the best though).

4. get involved in other activities. To me, personally, this shows that someone is trying to make a "go" of their college experience (because you never get this time back) and not holding on to their life for a greek experience. (If that makes sense).

The most important piece of advice I can give, whenever you decide to go through recruitment, is to keep an open mind. Every chapter at UA is amazing. You have to keep an open mind.

Alpha Chi Omega is scheduled to return to the UofArizona campus in the fall of 2013.

Thanks. I didn't think it was this fall. Do they still own their original house?