Do I have a chance?
 

This fall I will be a sophomore transfer student to an SEC school and I will be going through recruitment to join a sorority. I am super excited for this, but at my new school I know that recruitment is super competitive, but I'm a northerner and don't know any girls who are in sororities down there, and I'm not a legacy to any of the houses. I just made the recommended GPA, but when signing up for recruitment I was able to list all my volunteer work and extracurricular activities from both high school and my freshman year at my old school, which was a good sized list with a couple of leadership roles. I also have found recommendations for all but one of the sororities on campus, two for a couple of them.

I know that no one can tell me if I will or will not receive a bid from a sorority, but I was wondering if any women might be able to tell me if I have a chance this fall even though I'm a northerner who knows no one, and who is an upperclassmen.

You are not shut out of the bidding process because you are a Northerner.

You will never know unless you try. We can't tell you what your chances are; but there is always a chance. Recruitment is full of variables that cannot be measured. For instance, you may meet a girl in one of the chapters who lives not far from you & takes a special interest in you; helping you to end up in her chapter. You could wear a yellow dress that everyone remembers linking your name with the color yellow that helps at another. You could have a wonderful conversation with a girl early on that makes it obvious that you would fit into that chapter. We can't say. But going through recruitment is a learning experience; and you should take advantage of the opportunity to do it. Good luck, and let us know how it goes!

It's that just made the recommended GPA and sophomore status that will get you.

Depending on which SEC school it is, there may be an upperclass quota and that will significantly impact your chances...though it might not be enough to overcome the GPA issue. There is no way for us to know. Just go and have a good time - and MAXIMIZE your options....be nice and polite - and MAXIMIZE your options.

Those ^^^ things could indeed trump all the other good things about you. Still you will never know unless you try, and you must make some effort at preparation, including developing a way to present yourself quickly at those first parties. It needs to positive and memorable. You expect to be rushed, well rush right back. Sparkle and wear your inner tiara! Learn the questions you can expect to be asked (whole thread here on that.)

When visiting Paris, I just enter every interaction with Parisians as if I do not expect them to be anything other than professional and pleasant. I am calm, serene, and not nervous or negatively anticipating. After my first week there ever, only two people had been rude, one was a Pakistani Taxi Drive who thought women were vermin, and the other was obviously an impoverished aristocrat.

Go into this recruitment without expecting rainbows and unicorns, but also without expecting rejection and dismissal. If you go looking to make new acquaintances, new friends, and possibly become a sister, I think you'll strike the right note. And mind your manners. Good manners go a long way to help create a great first impression.

Thank you for the advice! Also, when I said I just made the GPA recommendation I meant I have a 3.2 something to the recommended 3.0. I'm not sure if that makes a difference...

This is fabulous advice.

That's much better than just making the requirement. We thought you meant 3.0000. Not that the 3.2 will guarantee you anything but it's better than a 3.0.

A bunch of GCers have run the statistics of girls who got bids at a couple of super competitive SEC schools and being out of state and a northerner is not really an issue unlike it may have been in the past.

Granted we do not know if those girls from OOS have family from the South and their parents moved OOS.

Regardless of this, if you impress during IWT by sounding confident yet polite, looking put together, and of course maximizing your options. Then you shouldn't worry too much.

And like barbino said, you never know unless you try. Because if you don't go through recruitment, you definitely will not get a bid.

Are you sure that the recommended GPA applied to upperclassmen or was it for incoming freshmen? The GPA acceptable from a sophmore is very likely to be higher than acceptable for a freshman. Sorry if that is hard to hear, but it is often true.

Are you sure you have that right? For the ones I've seen, freshman GPA requirements have always been higher than upperclassmen.

Like 3+ for freshman and 2.5 for upperclassman.

That's minimums, not the "typical" gpa.

At my alma mater, freshman typically have 3.8-4.3.

It also depends on the SEC school. Even within the SEC there are uber competitive recruitments (Alabama, Arkansas) all the way down not as competitive recruitments (Vanderbilt, Kentucky).

At Arkansas, gpa requirements are higher for incoming freshmen than college students. The rationale behind that is high school is typically less demanding ( for a variety of reasons).