Rushing as Junior...?
 

My friend wants to rush Fall of her Junior year in Florida. She's been asking me if I think she could make it. My school/sorority is in Arizona, and it's not terribly competitive. I know that different states and different schools have more competitive rushing processes than others. I was wondering if anyone knows how hard that would be for her. I don't want to tell her to go for it and not make it, but I love my sisters and am happy that I went with it my freshman year. She has like a 3.5-3.7 GPA. Any thoughts on this one? Thanks girls! :p

On average, yes Florida schools are moderately competitive to very competitive. Some of the smaller colleges are not as competitive as UF or FSU. It really depends on what Florida school she is going to. Whatever school she is going to, she should just expect it to be competitive. That being said, it can be pretty difficult to get a bid as a junior. It is not impossible, but it is hard. I attended Jacksonville University, a private university. While the rush there is a competitive one, I was able to get a bid as a junior. I also attended UNF for awhile and have experience with their recruitment. UNF has a really competitive recruitment.

If you don't want to specify what school she is going in this thread, feel free to PM me and I can help you better.

Smiley said it pretty well.

Just to add to it, I'll try to categorize some of the schools for you quantitatively (I'm an econ major, everything is better for me in numbers :))

FSU, UCF and UF have very large, competitive rushes with quotas in the upper forties to lower sixties range.

USF, UNF, UMiami and Stetson have smaller, less formal rush processes. Their quotas are all over the board, but from what I've been told (someone please please please correct me if I'm misinformed) they do not exceed the forties.

FCGU, Rollins, FIU, FAU and Jacksonville University are even smaller schools as a whole with naturally smaller greek systems. For example, FCGU has only 3 sororities.

That said, I've seen juniors receive bids at UF, so its not impossible per say, but can be difficult at the school where there are 900 freshman rushing. It helps to have friends currently in the school's greek system.

I hope your friend decides to give it a try!

I think the 'upperclassmen' rules might come into play if they exist at whatever Flordia school your friend is going to.

Some schools have "free" upperclassmen in formal recruitment - meaning they don't count to quota. If that is the case, your friend might have a better chance at finding a match.

FMU has NPHC sororities; the NPHC intake process is very different than the OP's question, which is regarding NPC recruitment.

i am not aware of "upperclassman rules=free upperclassman" at any of our florida schools.

fgcu currently has 2 sororities and they will participate in formal recruitment in about a month. a third sorority will be colonizing at fgcu after formal recruitment. last years quota was 42.

I wish I still had my retro thread up because I would refer you to that.

Is she a legacy to any chapters? Is she going to have recs? I found that while neither of these are terribly important, they can certainly help.

I went through rush at UCF as a junior and got a bid, but I didn't have much of a choice as far as cutting chapters until my last day or so. If you want more advice/what to expect, you can PM me.

ETA: I have never heard of the upperclassmen rule... if this was true I probably wouldn't have had such a hard time! :)

None of the Florida schools have a free upperclassman quota.

While UNF maybe competitive, I don't view it as a super competitive environment when compared to FSU and UF or even UCF. I don't know when you attended UNF, smiley, it may be different now that we have 5 NPC groups.

Many of my friends didn't even know what recs were when they came to UNF, and I know a few that got bids as juniors. Is she a transfer student, because I was one too, and I don't believe that ever effected my chances of getting a bid. Just my two cents worth.

USF isnt all that competitive. From what I observed, if you were outgoing, friendly, smart and put together, you could get a bid. I preffed 3 our of 8 sororities, but as expected, after the first day I was dropped by 3. I was a junior when i rushed, and I wont be graduating until next December. Your friends GPA is amazing so that will help her i think. Seeing as how I don't know which FL school your friend is attending, I feel as though I cant give you an accurate answer on her chances.

I did not say it was competitive like UF or FSU. You were a founding member of your chapter, so your class standing didn't not necessarily hinder your chances of getting a bid. A colonizing chapter wants girls from all class standings for a more balanced chapter. You dont want the founding class to be all freshmen and sophmores.
When I went through at UNF, I remember there being a larger number of girls going through recruitment with quota being around 50. While it is not UF or FSU, it was still a competitive recruitment.

Rushing as a Junior
 

Hi! I would strongly recommend that your friend should go through recruitment this fall, because the worst thing that can happen is that she decides it isn't a good fit for her, which leaves her in the same place that she started! I decided to rush as a junior, and it was one of the best choices that I made during college. I attend UNF, and we are moderately competitive in comparison to the large state schools such as UF or FSU. However, we had a record number of PNMs come out last year, which meant that quota was over 60 for each sorority (there were only 4 last year). Recs definitely help, especially if you are an upperclassmen, so if she can get at least one I would think that would be to her advantage. Good luck to her as she discovers a whole new side of college! :)

rushing as a Junior
 

I am also rushing as a Junior in two weeks actually at FSU and now I am getting really nervous because I had no idea that it was that competitive. Do you think that I will have a good chance rushing as a Junior? I am a transfer student and I have a 3.5 gpa and a few acvtivities in college but a lot in highschool and one rec. so let me know what you think....

Based on things I've read during my time on this board, FSU is competitive. If you can secure recs for the other sororities, I think that could be a good thing.