Complicated GPA Question!
 

Hi my name is Christine and I will be going through formal recruitment at my University this Fall. I will be going through rush as a Junior (I'm on the 5-year-plan, so I will still have a full 3 years to enjoy the sorority experience). I am a transfer student, so I did not attend this school from the time I was a freshman. I have attended a community college and one other university out of state.

Greek life at my school is not huge, there are around 9 fraternities but only 4 sororities. The GPA requirement for rush at my school is a 2.5 and there is only one chapter on my campus that has an individual requirement of a 3.0 to receive a bid.

My cumulative GPA is a 2.7. Not great but I'm working on it!
I actually have a question about GPA and I know that it varies by school.

A lot of my really good friends are initiated sorority members at other schools and they have all told me that sororities look at your Cumulative. That's expected. I have looked at both the greek life page for my university and the individual chapter websites and they all say something along the lines of the GPA requirement having to be a 3.0 from high school or a 2.5 in your most recently completed college semester but they never mention anything about your cumulative. I also read somewhere online (and of course I can't find it now or I'd link it) that if you are a transfer student, they only look at your most recent semester because when you transfer schools, your GPA does not transfer, it starts over.

It isn't vital for me to know because I still meet the minimum requirement for recruitment and the minimum requirement to receive a bid from at least 3 of the 4 chapters on campus. BUT my last couple semesters have been in the 3.25 - 3.75 range, even though my cumulative is not fantastic so I was curious.

I have contacted my greek life office twice to ask them about it. The first time I called, I spoke with a fraternity member who unable to answer my question took down my phone number and e-mail address and told me that he would would have one of the sorority members contact me with more information. I never received a phone call or an e-mail, so I called the greek life office a second time, this time I spoke with a sorority member who had no idea, could not answer my question at all, didn't try to find someone who could answer my question and just told me that she was sorry. So my greek life office has been oh-so-helpful. I also talked to a sorority member who did NOT work in the greek life office who is an active member and she doesn't even know what the minimum GPA requirement is, let alone whether they look at your cumulative or your last completed semester. You would think members of greek life would know these things . . .

If anyone has any information on this subject, it would be much appreciated. Whether it is on what is looked for in general, if you have ever heard of them only looking at your most recent semester, how it works if you are a transfer, etc.

THANK YOU!

~ Christine.

Does your Greek life office have a faculty advisor or paid staff member that you can ask?

The only times I have tried to contact the Greek Life Office I have never received a faculty advisor. When I spoke to the fraternity member, he put me on hold to ask around the office if anyone else knew and no one had any idea (I don't know who was in the office at the time, if it was just other members of greek life orgs or if there were any faculty around) . . . I have even e-mailed the greek life office three separate times in an attempt to get an answer with no reply from anyone. I don't understand why they are so untimely and uninformed.

I suppose I can try calling them again. I'm just afraid I'm going to keep getting the run-around.

Count on them looking at your cumulative GPA.

I would walk down to the Greek Office to find out, otherwise i would say assume they'll look at cumulative.

With all due respect, Victoria, you are not a sorority member, and it is considered poor form to give advice to PNMs (no matter how benign) on this site when you have absolutely no experience in this matter.

Find out who the Greek/Sorority Adviser is on your campus. Ask to speak to that person ONLY. Don't just ask whoever answers the phone. If it takes going to the office, do that.

FYP.

Membership is for a lifetime!

Can you go to the office in person?

Sorry, I know it's for a lifetime. I guess I should have been more specific. I was just referring to how many active years I'd have as a collegiate. My bad.

That is what I'm counting on. I'll be down at campus sometime around the end of May / beginning of June to meet with an adviser, so I'll see if I can go to the Greek Life office while I'm there. Seems going down there in person is my best bet! I also just found out through a friend that they hold recruitment information sessions in June for girls who are interested in going through. So I'll see about registering to attend that.

Thank you for your information!

No need for sorry, I just have this *thing* about lifetime membership :D Our NPHC members really have this down, and I think we NPC members can take a few pages from their book.

Hope you will find a home, and you'll go on to enjoy a lifetime of sisterhood! It's worth it. Good luck to you!!!

Thank you so much! I'm excited! :)
Maybe I'll be back on here by Christmas as a newly-initiated member! If I am, I'll be sure to post where I end up.

I don't think that sounds right because you could have a horrible GPA in previous semesters and be on academic probation but still rush if you somehow managed to get a 2.5 that one semester. So many people come here that seem like they are grasping for straws and trying to game the system and those really low minimum GPAs and poorly worded pages seem to kind of encourage that.

It seems to me that minimum GPAs for rush are set ridiculously low so most people don't feel left out from rushing and are allowed to go through even if they have no chance of getting a bid with a GPA that no one is going to take. Even if the chapters at your school have published minimum GPAs that are less than what you have right now, it doesn't mean that that is what they will take.

You should probably spend some time getting used to being at your college and studying and making sure you can get a decent GPA before you rush because being in a sorority is very time consuming and can be very distracting!