FSU Winterfest 2013 (informal recruitment)
 

Hello everyone!

I am starting my freshman spring semester in a few days. I went through Fall recruitment (which at FSU is formal recruitment) and it didn't work out for me. Basically, I attended FSU during the summer term and took a science class that was way too difficult for me (i am not a science person whatsoever), and despite working my butt off, ended up with a C+, which brought down my GPA considerably. Despite my stellar high school resume, straight As, leadership positions, being an attractive south florida girl with many friends in almost all FSU sororities, I didn't end up where I hoped and thus "suicide-bidded", didn't receive a bid, and was released from recruitment. Despite my disappointment, I decided I would try again and come out for Winterfest at FSU. I have already signed up, but I was wondering if anyone out there has any tips for me? My GPA, which at the start of Fall was a 3.0, has risen to a 3.3, and I hope that will make at least a slight difference for me. And again, I do have friends in most of the sororities at FSU.

Is there anything I should be doing now? Contacting the Greek life office, messaging my friends reaffirming my interest, etc? Also any other tips such as what its like, what to expect, etc would be much appreciated!

Do you have recommendations? You need them, no matter if you have friends in the chapters at FSU or not, even for informal recruitment. Do send a little note to your friends in the sororities letting them know that you will be rushing in the spring. Something like "Hey Anne. I just registered for Winterfest and am so excited. I hope that I will see you at an event, if your sorority is participating", or something to that effect.

I am glad that you are giving recruitment another try. You have the experience of fall recruitment, so you know what to expect and what to wear. Your GPA should be fine.

I know that it is hard, but try to look at the chapters participating in spring recruitment with fresh eyes. They all offer a wonderful chance at sisterhood. Good luck.

Thank you so much. I think my biggest problem in fall was that I was a little too closed minded. I'm definitely going to give some more chapters a second look!

How many recs per sorority do you need? I will be a freshman in the fall and come from out of state. Just trying to get a jump on things. Thanks :)

I hope you give more chapters a chance, soflogirl, BUT....FSU Zeta knows her stuff. If she says you need recs, you NEED recs. Do what you can to secure some now for the informal recruitment. If things don't work out and you decide to re-rush in the fall, get those recs!

Massgirl77, check out this thread: http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/sh...d.php?t=112718

With all due respect, none of my friends that I know (this # is around 10-20 girls) that got into sororities last fall had recs. One is even currently a ZTA, which is considered a "top sorority" now at FSU. I'm sure that people do get recs, but I'm not sure if its as common or as important as it maybe once was because I haven't heard of anyone getting recommendation letters. More emphasis has been placed on actually knowing the girls, I think.

That being said, if spring doesn't work, I probably will try and get recs just to be extra safe, especially since ill be a sophomore!

They may have had recommendations that they didn't know about at the time, so you really can't say that the girls you know didn't have recommendations. GET RECS NOW! Seriously, why wouldn't you try to get something simple that will probably help you considerably? And, if some other girls don't have recommendations, having them might give you a little boost.

Think of it this way, recs can't hurt, they CAN help and they MIGHT be mandatory. Why limit your opportunities? At least try to wrangle together some recommendations.

YES, IT IS IMPORTANT. Your friends probably had people getting them recs behind the scenes that they didn't know about, as some of the sororities there REQUIRE a rec to receive a bid (that is, it is a national requirement).

Get off your high horse and get recs. It may end up not mattering, but if you have them and get cut, you'll know that at least it wasn't because of that.

Whoa I don't see why you have to get so hostile. After all, I've seen plenty of posts on here chastising people for strictly heeding advice from this website rather than talking to real life people in sororities about these questions. Thanks for your advice but I'm not exactly on a "high horse" I merely said the many people I know in sororities have not once advised me to get recommendation letters.

Well since you know all these sorority members and know all about recruitment, I am not sure why you are on the Internet asking for advice???

You are getting very snippy with people who are only trying to help you.

Think of it this way; most of your sorority friends are probably freshmen and therefore just went through rush themselves. The women here who are giving you advice have seen rush many MANY times, including as rush advisors for chapters at FSU. The sorority girl you know has never seen rush on the other side and they don't know the policies and procedures yet, even if they think they do. And the way all the paperwork goes in sororities, the advisor and the rush secretary may be the only ones who actually see the recs, and they might be the only ones weighting their importance. Or in other words, in member selection, someone isn't standing up saying "Mary has a rec but Suzie doesn't, so we're cutting Suzie." But that could be just what is happening in the dungeon in the basement where the rush secretary lives.

Every sorority has a different way of handling it and it's all secret, but think of it like this theoretical scenario. Your grades count for a point, your recs count for a point, your conversation counts for a point, your appearance counts for a point, your friend connections count for a point. Do you really want to give up 1 of 5 points? Maybe you've got all 4 of the others and maybe 4 is enough. But what if it's not?

I don't think I ever got snippy. And I am asking you all for simply that reason, you know the process better. I was just giving you all my side of the story and I have expressed over and over my appreciation for all of your advice. So thank you once more, I am currently trying to get in touch with as many former sorority women as I can, hopefully it's not too late, and if it is at least I have a jump on Fall.

You can have recs and not know it. Chapters have connections in home towns and will often put the extra effort into finding them, etc.

But you shouldn't count on it. Try to line them up on your own. FSUZeta knows a lot about what to expect and when she say to line 'em up, you really should line up some recs.

I agree that being more open minded is also likely to make a big difference, too! Good luck!