Recruitment as a senior
 

Hey guys!

I always knew I wanted to rush, and that I was going to transfer schools so I wanted to wait until my transfer to rush. I started attending my new school the university of Miami last spring as a junior, and I thought that formal recruitment was in the fall like most schools. Thats how my old school did it, and thats how all the schools my friends were at did it, so I just assumed it would be in the fall. I didn't find out until after my semester started that recruitment was actually in the spring, and by that time it was too late to rush. Im interested in rushing spring 2015, but i'll be a senior with only two semesters left at school. Is it still worth rushing? I'm scared I won't get a bid with only two semesters left. What do you guys think?

Not knowing your school, nobody here will know what your chances are. But what could it hurt to try? At least you'll have the experience of going through recruitment.

AA: The poster identifies her school as the University of Miami.

Gstar: Yes, being a senior will significantly limit your likelihood to receive a bid. Expect many cuts early.

All PNMs: NEVER assume. BE PROACTIVE: if recruitment is important to you, promptly get in touch with the Greek Life office. If you wait for opportunities to come to you, life will pass you by. (And proactive does not mean email. That's passive. It means getting off your bum and making a phone call or in-person visit.)

The OP actually edited her post to reflect she was talking about University of Miami so, that came after AnchorAlumna replied. I agree that PNMs need to be proactive and believe 100% that in person is much more personal than emails. That's why I'm a fan of talking to people in person rather than through electronic correspondence.

My apologies, AA, and thank you for the update, als. There seemed to be quite a few excuses rather than the reflection by the poster that maybe she needed to be more proactive. It's an important life skill, and perhaps this is a good lesson for her.

Of course! I really do like your idea of being proactive. I guess I'm old school, though. No, I don't want you to text me. I want to hear your voice or meet you for coffee! That's why I can't get on board with people always wanting to text me everything.

Just curious- do most schools have a Greek Life office you can actually call or visit? That would make life easier here but will never happen :(

It may be under the umbrella of student activities, but yes, I would think if there is more than one sorority or fraternity (of any stripe, not just NPC), there would be a person on the faculty who is in charge. If they do an organized rush (not COB or informal) then someone needs to coordinate.

Here it is just the 6 members of the Panhellenic Association (2 per chapter) and then three advisors (1 per chapter). I guess it has to do with the fact that here faculty have nothing to do with student groups! That certainly would help keep those meetings on track :(

The thing is, email isn't a terrible way to make contact, but it has to be done correctly, which means you either 1) Ask questions clearly and specifically enough that they can be answered in a single, brief email response, or 2) Ask to set up a time to talk in person or via phone. I get lots of student emails that fall into neither of these categories, and I used to stall a lot on answering them. Now I just reply with "come to office hours."

Yes, it will be really tough to get a bid from a sorority as a senior. And if you do get a bid, you will be paying a lot of 1 time expenses for that 1 year. A lot of factors go into whether or not you will get a bid. Grades will be extremely important. We can't tell you if it will be worth it or not. That is really a personal decision.

You will need to go into recruitment understanding that sorority membership is not just for your college years and see those costs as paying for more than just 1 year.

Speaking of which, please also don't use FB to contact people. I just realized I had a junk folder in my FB messages. I clicked on it and found 2-3 young ladies from about two years ago asking me for recommendations for recruitment. I would have gladly written them but, FB was not the best place to ask. I felt horrible and messaged them to apologize for not responding. The good news is that one went Alpha Omicron Pi, another went Kappa Alpha Theta, and the third one went Phi Mu. That's just another reason why talking to people in person or on the phone definitely beats out email or FB messages.

OMG. Just read this. Same thing. Found a woman who asked me LAST YEAR for a rec :eek:...never saw it until now.

Yep. I felt horrible. I wonder if she thought I was either really aloof or just mean. Guess we better start watching our "other" folder on FB from now on.

They can probably see when you actually read it, though, so hopefully they realize you just never saw it.