Pennsylvania Schools
 

Hey, I have a friend with a daughter looking at Bucknell and Franklin & Marshall for school next year. There are Alpha Xi Delta chapters there and she's a double legacy so obviously that is something she considers important. I have begun all the mom-prep since my friend hasn't been an involved member since college and about freaked out when I started talking about the changes in the process.

So you northeasterners out there: What can you tell me about these schools? They seem to have decent numbers, in the mid-30's so the chapters will be reasonably large and diverse. What else can you tell me? Would you consider these schools pretty competitive? Does legacy status hold much weight here (I completely accept generalization and will not burn down your house if her experience doesn't match your comments)? Do they have houses? Where do they hold their meetings? Are the schools pro-Greek life? Is there a hazing problem? And the big kahuna, if you were picking based solely on Greek system, which one would you choose? Why?

Thanks for the input! I want to help her as much as I can because I simply adore the mom. My guess based on facebook is the daughter will be highly sought, but I still want to prepare her with the good the bad and the ugly.

F & M didn't recognize Greek life for a long time and semi recently realized this is stupid and re-recognized it. I know we discussed it on here.

As far as how much weight legacies hold, that's probably more an A Xi D question than a PA question (i. e. how long a legacy has to be carried per your policies).

DubaiSis - they are both excellent schools as far as academics, networking and the quality of education.

Bucknell has a work hard/play hard vibe but the Univ is try to get everyone in check and following the law. Sororities are not housed in a traditional way on Greek row but rather have suite space in Univ owned property. I don't remember if the suites are large enough to host meetings or if they are meting on campus. I suspect they're on campus with chapters over 100. It is a fall sophomore recruitment. They have great retention to bid day if you remain open minded. Many old chapters and successful new chapters which is great.

I don't know anything abou F&M Panhellenic other than they have a Jan Deferred recruitment.

I'd say check out if either chapter has a fully functional advisory board. That can tell how much they value or understand your legacy policies. I think sometimes folks forget that these schools are in small towns and the chapters might have one advisor or a remote advisor.

As far as quality education, you can't go wrong!

Thank you for that information. I am reminding myself yet again what I've said a million times : if it's you going through rush, it's competitive.