In need of some advice...
 

I'm a high school student and I recently went on a tour of some southern CA colleges, and while we were checking those UC's out I got interested in the sororities there. It seems like so much fun and a fabulous way to make friends too! I was wondering if any of you girls could give me some tried-and-true advice on how you get in or what part a girl's ethnicity plays, or anything else you'd be willing to share with me! Thanks so much!

Which UC's specifically?

I don't believe ethnicity plays ANY role. The women of the various chapters are looking at personality, intellect, etc, not nationality, religion, color of skin.

We looked at UCLA, Riverside, Irvine, and Santa Barbara. Do you go to any of those? I'd be thrilled to go to any UC. The reason why I asked about ethnicity is because my parents are different races and I know there are some Asian sororities and Black sororities and stuff, but aren't there some sororities that just don't care?

At the school I go to, and from what I've seen, most sororities do not care what race you are. BUT, since that most of the girls that rush are more than half white, this SOMETIMES gives the impression to other people that sororities will care what race or nationality you are, which of course is not true. For example, Alpha Xi Delta in my school is by far the most international sorority at my school. They have the most mixture of asians, whites, blacks, etc. A couple others, like A Phi, Tri-delts are mostly white, but have spots of other races in it.

I went to USC, not a UC, but I am pretty familiar with the UC system. Most if not all the NPC sororities have a good mix of caucasian, asisan and african american women. The UC's will also have MCGLO's and BGLO's for you to choose from as well. But nothing should stop you from rushing the NPC sororities, your ethnicity and color of your skin/hair/eyes does not play a part in decisions by the sororities. The UC system as a whole has a very diverse student body--this is especially true at UCLA, Irvine and San Diego.

Good Luck!

Thanks for replying...forgive my ignorance http://www.greekchat.com/forums/ubb/smile.gif but what are MCGLO's and BGLO's? And for Amycat - How is it at USC because that was another college I'm interested in but we didn't have time to visit.

MCGLO - Multi-cultural Greek Letter Organization

BGLO - Black Greek Letter Organization

I am probably one of the few girls on this board that has seen both sides of greek, Multi Cultural Greek and GLO...as you can see, I'm a Theta, but I didn't rush "mainstream" greeks until my second year. My first 2 weeks at school at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, I rushed and pledged Kappa Delta Phi, the largest Asian American Interest Sorority. BTW, I was accepted into all UC's, and chose Cal Poly because of it's size, and believe it or not, to meet more non-Asians, since I grew up in Silicon Valley.

Anyhow, I pledged quite long, and ended up dropping during the last few weeks because it just wasn't for. This sorority only hung out with Asians and dated Asians and actually had issues with my Cacausian boyfriend...I thought I was over being greek, but then I found Theta. Our house is mostly white, we have three Asians, 4 hispanics...but race was never an issue. Asian girls just seem to go to Asian sororities. Some of the other houses have a few more Asian girls, but not a whole lot. A lot of my friends are Asian Greeks down south, it's huge in SoCal. If you are in one, you know everyone else that's in it, it doesn't matter the house...if you have any questions about ANY Asian houses, I could tell you, that's how tight knit it is...they keep to themselves, that's how they all know each other...there are good things, and then there are bad things. They never really get to meet as many different types of girls there are in college, and there's a whole lot more than just being Asian.

Feel free to e-mail me, and I can tell you more about being SoCal greek...

Honey- http://www-scf.usc.edu/~gogreek/
that's the link to USC's Panhellenic website. Its a bit out of date, but you can get an idea of the type of Rush and the houses there. Call the Panhellenic office for an application, with questions, etc. I graduated 10 years ago, at that time Rush was a week long and very competetive. I understand USC has now cut Rush down to 3 days.

Good luck!
Amy

I'm half Indian and half Persian, but I've always felt more comfortable around white people so I'm glad to hear that the regular sororities take everybody.

BTW, I'm also in Silicon Valley! Cupertino to be exact. Hahaha, the Asian percentage here is off the charts!

"regular" sororities do in fact take all races. Most of my friends at school are white, but almost all of my friends in the bay area are Asian, I've always thought that was odd. I'm from Sunnyvale, born and raised, where did you go to high school? I know a lot of Persian and Indian families in the bay...

Hi there!

I'm going to UCR this fall (next month, actually)! I'm definitely going to rush... and I'm also Asian. I will not, however, be rushing for an Asian sorority. Frankly, I feel rather odd being in a group of people that is purposefully composed of just one race, whether that race is Caucasian, Asian, or African-American.

From what I'm seen at UCR, the Panhellenic sororities are definitely not all-white. The majority of the girls were indeed white, but there were definitely several Asian girls in each one.

Please PM me if you would like!

XOXO,
Annie.

My campus is very diverse but our national sororities aren't particularly diverse. Its not that we have decided to not give bids to minorities, but we just haven't had any minorities to give bids to. My school is 40 percent white but formal rush attendance usually turns out to be 90 percent white. But the minority women who do show up are always just as likely to get a bid as the white women. I think the problem is that minorities often feel uncomfortable approaching a sorority that isn't diverse because they don't feel comfortable - they may mistake our lack of diversity as a result of purposeful exclusion.

I echo AEPhiSierra and UCLA girl... focus on getting into college 1st! Sororities will wait for you.

I go to school in northern CA (we live very close!), and our problem is not that we don't want minority sisters, but there aren't that many that go through rush! When they do come through, I'd say they are favored in the rush process since there are so few and all the sororities want diversity. Of course, we look at personality first, but I would not worry if I were you!

Good luck with colledge admissions... it's a jungle out there!
ll,
M

Just to add on a quick note, I want to mention that, according to recent research on the UC system and other universities nationwide, UCR has been ranked the 4th most diverse university in the nation. Our multicultural diversity rate (basically meaning "non-white") is 74%, and more than half the campus is considered Asian-American. I believe we are statistically the most diverse campus in the UC system.

:rolleyes: Just had to get one out there for our growing campus... :)