Do sororities look at past grades?
 

This past semester, my first semester at this university, I earned a 2.99 GPA (my school grades on a plus and minus system) the minimum to participate in spring formal recruitment is a 2.5 and of the 15 chapters on my campus 2 have a 3.0 requirement the rest are 2.8, 1 with a 2.7, and one with 2.5.
However I realized that the house averages are normally much higher than the gpa requirement aka much higher than my dismal gpa.

Special Snowflake question:
I transferred from another 4 year to this school(this was always the plan, the new school has a much better program for my major), I would consider myself a junior but not all of my credits were accepted so I have 3 years left here. And my prior gpa at my previous school was a 3.8, would this be taken into consideration at all? Being a junior I know my chances are already diminished and this first semester gpa (my first C in college) really does not help things. Thanks for any insight!

It's likely that the sororities will only receive the GPA from your current school on the report they get from the Greek Life office, since grades from previous institutions are not calculated into your GPA when you transfer. However, you can call the Greek Life office at your school to ask.

Did you secure official recommendations for the sororities? I know that our form includes information about previous institutions attended and GPA earned. This would be the place to let sororities know about your past GPA.

Focus on your strengths and try not to fret about things you can't change. You certainly aren't a grade risk, although you're practical to think you may face some hurdles with some groups. Project positive enthusiasm and be open to all sororities. Good luck!

I don't know that I'd say she isn't a grade risk. She got great grades, switched schools and then they plummeted by nearly a full point. While I would be willing to bet the new school came with some understandable growing pains, reports say your first semester in a sorority also comes with grade drops (the study which I can't site here but is lurking SOMEWHERE on GC) regardless of whether that pledge period is as a first semester freshman or later on. They pop back up again, presumably once you've learned to juggle your increased responsibilities, but in the meantime I would assume that in the short term she could be at risk of a further drop.

There isn't anything you can do about it at this point, so I would try to provide as much information as you can (and this is a good reason to use recs, even if you go to a school that doesn't require them), accept any invitations you are offered (this is no time to think you are the chooser here), and be as fully prepared as you can be.

In my experience as a University employee, the credits transfer - the grades do not. So your prior GPA would not be considered; just your past semester GPA at your current school. There is no way to ensure grade equivalencies across academic programs, which is why credits are transferred, not GPAs.

She may be a "grade risk" for several reasons. The prior university may not have been as competitive/rigorous as the current school. What concerns me is that she transferred in as a junior after two years of college so her GPA/study skills should have been established, based on that prior GPA she reported. Using past performance as a predictor, I should think her fall GPA would be higher. And one C grade alone should not pull a GPA down to a 2.9.

Bottom line: go through recruitment, keep an open mind to all chapters, and don't be surprised if you experience heavy cuts.

Thank you for replying! I got two letters of recommendation from women who my mom knows who went to my school, both of them told me they weren't needed but wrote them anyway because they are nice ladies lol. However, after hearing repeatedly that no one uses them here I stopped looking.

Sciencewoman & DubiaSis, it is nice to see different ways that people may view this, although I certainly hope they will all see it the way Sciencewoman does but that's not realistic. Hopefully being open to all options will help me here! I've tried to close my ears to any "reputation" gossip so I can make my own opinions come recruitment.

& AZTheta you are right, my old school was insanely easy compared to this new program. The program average is a 3.1 for undergraduates for my major . This semester I earned an A, B+, B+, B-, and a C+ but the A was only a 1 credit course so it didn't help me out that much. This comes out to a 2.985 rounded to a 2.99 (A=4.0, B+=3.3, B-=2.7, C+=2.3). I would've thought my gpa would be higher too, but my studying habits were not up to par with this new course load and this is something I didn't figure out until after the first round of exams.

Anyways thanks again for the insight! I definitely plan on going through recruitment but I don't want to get myself too excited if realistically my chances aren't so hot.

From what I remember about recruitment, the student life office would compile the PNM's GPAs for the sororities and whatever the university's records had on file for you at that time was what we got when you went through. If you have questions about whether transfer credits configure into your present GPA, you can always call the registrar's office/records office and find out for sure. Wouldn't hurt for peace of mind's sake!

If a PNM's grades were above our chapter's cutoff that was really enough. It seems like we would have/should have put more emphasis on it during selection and recruitment, but we consistently had the highest GPA on campus out of the other NPC groups. With the numbers you gave, I think you will be just fine.

In any case, higher grades of members = better chance for a sorority to have top grades on campus. I encourage you to be frank and open with the girls you talk to during recruitment. I hope you decide to post your story on GC!

QFP

don't feel like making a new post
 

another random question, on the recruitment application when it asks for a photo is a headshot ok? or do they want a full length photo?

They want a "real" picture of you, not a glamor shot. They want to be able to recognize you when you walk into the house. A head shot is fine, and if you want to include a full length one, too, that would be okay.

And just to tag on to this - check with your campus and Greek Life office to find out which GPAs are or are not reported at your school. In contrast to AZTheta, in my experience as a University employee who made transfer credit awards, we transferred credits, grades and GPAs! Our students had three GPAs calculated on their records: our campus GPA, overall/cumulative GPA (our campus + transfer GPA) and major GPA. The University where I worked accounted for all credits and grades earned at any college. If you were rushing at my University, your transfer 3.8 would have been factored in with the 2.99. Policies vary by campus; so, just double-check to be sure.

Thank you again for the advice! Next week I will contact the greek life office (i'm assuming they might be closed this week) to figure out for sure.
After reading some past posts I learned that at some schools if you are taking a winter/summer course after signing up for recruitment and that grade raises your gpa they may be able to update your application prior to recruitment actually beginning? Anyways I'll check it out, getting an A in my winter class would make my gpa much more respectable.