Alabama Sorority Rush Question
 

Hi,

I am hoping to rush at Alabama this fall. I am from the Northeast, have very good grades, activities and community service. I was unable to attend the Preview Day held in March and am new to the whole "Greek" thing since none of my family ever participated in Greek life. I was signing up for orientation this week and am left with the dates that fall during rush. I was told by the people in Orientation that I am "strongly encouraged" to attend orientation on August 14th but it appears there are activities that day that I would be unable to participate in. A friend of mine who did attend Preview Day told me I may as well forget rushing since having to attend orientation in the middle of rush will essentially kill my chances of getting a bid. Is that really true? As a Northerner, I am already at a disadvantage from what I understand. I am trying to approach this with an open mind but am I being unrealistic in hoping to get a bid if I have to skip an entire days worth of activities? Orientation people said tons of girls have to do the same but that doesn't mean it doesn't count against them right?

Membership selection information is private, but I will tell you this from my personal experience at a university in the Midwest.

Think of it this way. There are many girls going through rush. A sorority has X amount of girls they can invite back. It would be hard to choose to invite back someone they've never met (I'm assuming from what you said that you have to miss a day's worth of rush, meaning that you would miss an entire round of parties) over someone they have met and liked.

Technically, if you can't make it to a party (or multiple parties) for an official reason (you can't just choose not to go), you do get excused, but chapters don't have to guarantee you an invite to the next party.

What does orientation consist of?

I'm going to be very honest with you. Any parties you have to miss that day will mean that those groups will not invite you back to pref. There are just too many others for them to remember you from 2 days before and invite you to pref. You're only hope would be the groups you go to on Skit Day 1 - on Augist 13. If you are willing to take that chance, then by all means go ahead. The fact that you are from out of state has nothing to do with anything. Over 50% of the women who pledge at ALabama are from out of state.

You MUST have your recs though. That is a hard and fast rule here. You won't have any chance if you don't.

I've said this before and will say it again. WHY IN THE HELL DO THEY HAVE ORIENTATION SESSIONS DURING RUSH???

Not only is it awful for someone in the op's situation, but it seems to me that it's quite late and way too close to the beginning of the school year for orientation.

Could someone please sticky this where is it easy to find?

https://www.npcwomen.org/alumnae-pan...-advisors.aspx

I'm not sure how orientation works at Alabama, but I really don't understand this either. At my school, we had 12 orientation dates from early June to late July and one a week before classes started which is also during rush.

But on the other hand, there could be out of state students who can't afford and/or find the time to go back and forth across the country for orientation AND come back when they have to move in.

That's basically how it works at Alabama too. The two August sessions for freshmen are "final sessions."

It might be worth a shot to call the office handling orientation, make a friend, note his/her name, be super polite, and ask if they can possibly help you. You might leave out the rush reason initially and just tell them that the 14th was the only date available and you really, really need an earlier session. Even ask if they keep track of cancellations and if you could possibly fill one of those.

You would need to be flexible with dates and travel, but if you can be, it might be worth a try.

Otherwise you might just take the risk and know that you will miss some skit parties. Not an optimal plan or especially recommended, but perhaps you could slip away during less important parts of the orientation day if necessary - what you really must accomplish during orientation is the advising/registering for classes part. You need your act card too -- but I suppose you could do that later if necessary.

Good luck with it -- have you secured recommendations to the chapters yet?

Orientation
 

If you miss parties it is going to limit your choices.

Because not all freshmen go thru recruitment, my dear.

They don't? (Bugs Bunny voice) :p

I know that, but I would think that they could manage a way for women to not get stuck in this situation. Maybe asking on the enrollment application if the person is planning on rushing and if they are, automatically put them in an earlier session.

Honest questions from a guy who knows very little about the Alabama Sorority rush scene. What would be the big deal if she blows off orientation. It is apparent from your collective posts that missing a recruitment round IS a big deal so if the young lady is highly motivated to do her best in rush would it not be better to skip orientation than to skip recruitment activities.
Back in the Bronze Age when I was a freshman I was told that orientation was mandatory. So I skipped a personal invitation to a major social event and followed orders.
The orientation was a waste of time as I could have figured out most of what was put out by reading the printed fliers. The rest I could have picked up with a modicum of common sense and asking a couple of friends to fill me in.
Would those who are familiar with the process please comment and advise?
Many thanks!

You obviously didn't read all the posts. You get your schedule at orientation.

They do in that students can choose which orientation session they wish to attend. Likely many rising freshmen have considerations to plan around over the summer (including jobs, college classes, travel etc) that have nothing to do with recruitment.

If a student has only certain dates that she can attend, it is best to choose a session soon after registration opens. Registration for orientation opened in early February.