Re-Rush or Give Up?
 

So I come from a medium sized school. We only have 3 sororities with CPC with 40-50 girls each. A lot of people come from the area and already know each other. I came in from a different state and knew no one. I did their formal rush in the fall (which only lasts 3 days plus bid day mind you) and really connected with a lot of girls. Unfortunately they had their biggest turnout ever and a huge amount of girls with GPA's just as high as mine and higher plus lots of connections so I got cut after the second night. When some of the girls talked to me after I was encouraged to do COB but there were very few spots open and I could only attend one which I didn't get a bid for. Since Formal recruitment I've joined a few clubs, volunteered more and I've become acquainted with a lot of people. I really want to re-rush if my school even allows it but I'm not even sure that I can. If I can should I? Does anyone have any advice on how I should prepare?

So, you now know a lot of people, including girls in the chapter. That's great! Tell them - no pressure, just mention it - that you're interested in rushing again. See what their reaction is. If it's encouraging, sign up.
You'll need good grades, and a sterling rep.
Find recs...polish your wardrobe and conversational skills.
Go in without any expectations, just go have fun and enjoy the process. You've got nothing to lose, right? If you pledge, great, but if you don't pledge, you already have lots of friends and a life.
Don't think you'll only accept Alpha Alpha Alpha sorority or nothing. Be open to any of them.
Best of luck!:)

Three sororities with 50 people each is NOT a medium sized school. It is a small school. Not everyone who rushes at a small system like this will find a group they fit with. It's not like a chapter of 300 where just by law of averages, you will find SOMEONE in every chapter you can relate to.

That being said, "the biggest turnout ever" had ZERO to do with you getting cut. It's not like they decide the spring before "oh, for next fall's rush, only 30 girls can get bids." Bids given = number of girls rushing ÷ number of sororities. PERIOD. The only time that doesn't apply is when the school applies an arbitrary membership cap and that is very rare and not advocated by national panhellenic.

Go ahead and rush again and keep an open mind to all three groups. What did you mean by you could attend only one group's cob events? If it was a scheduling conflict, make sure you convey that to the two groups whose events you didn't attend.

Not necessarily -- the University of Alabama Birmingham has around 18 thousand total enrollment -- around 11 thousand of those are undergrads.

Yet there are only 4 NPC chapters, which is a small number especially considering that the largest recruitment in the country is 45 minutes away.

I think it depends on the culture of the campus, though having only a few chapters among many students does make it more difficult to meet chapter actives.

Yes! The only way to guarantee that you will never be Greek is not to try.

But isn't chapter total at UAB way bigger than 50?

^ It's 80 per irishpipes' list.

Our sororities don't have houses and I think meeting placed vary. Usually they have 20 girls at formal recruitment but in Fall 2013 they had 100. They told us there were only a few spots available in each. I originally had been under the impression that there wasn't a limit until I was told about that. Now that you mention it I wonder why it s like that. My school is mainly a commuter school so the Greeks ARE campus involvement. They talk about making the system bigger but then they have limits as to what they can do.

And thanks everyone :) I'll definitely try then.... if it is even allowed at my school. I'm not sure if we're allowed to rush twice. I haven't been told of a cut once cut always rule but I was told that one sorority felt weird about putting a girl through twice though there was no rule on it.

Could you please confirm that you are talking about NPC sorority chapters? Or are these local sororities?

Yes, these three are listed as NPC's.

Thank you!

Fellow GCers - wouldn't the chapters be following RFM? In which case, they wouldn't have "a few spots available" because that isn't how RFM works. To the best of my knowledge, virtually all campuses follow RFM (with a few exceptions).

As for rules regarding re-rushing and cut once always cut, that's another baffling piece to me.

Something just doesn't quite add up.

I'm with you. Something doesn't add up. She evidently doesn't know enough about recruitment to understand exactly what was said. The schools that I know about that use some hinky method have more than 3 groups. Am I missing a place?

Hey I could totally be wrong. It is only what I was told. I mean they could have meant something slightly different or something. I am definitely no expert.

Did they tell you they only had a limited number of spots AFTER formal recruitment was over, and/or that they only had a limited number of spots for the spring semester? These scenarios would make sense. Or did they tell you that formal recruitment would only permit a small number of girls to join?

If its the latter, something doesn't seem to be adding up.

If you're curious about the current recruitment procedures at your school, you can always call the Greek life office and ask about how exactly everything works.

I would send a private message to a GCer whose opinion you trust so you can be specific about where you are. I'm not aware of anywhere that doesn't allow rerushing, but there are some where your chances are definitely diminished. But based on what you said, here's what I'm hearing... You went through rush in a small Greek system who suddenly had WAY more girls go through than normal. You didn't know anyone and didn't do well in the process, and got cut completely. Once school started you got involved and made friends. You wanted to go through informal rush but only a few chapters were participating and you were only invited to 1, but subsequently wasn't invited to join. Now, with the end of the year approaching, you're wondering if that ship has sailed. Do I have that about right?

If I do, then absolutely go through again. Tell your Greek friends you're doing it so they can be on the lookout for you. Don't ask them about your chances and don't believe any promises or insinuations they may give. They don't speak for the chapter and their good intentions can really get your hopes up. Then, work on your conversation skills and read a bunch of rush threads to get prepared in other ways.