Another Pittsburgh Rush Question!
 

Rush at Pitt starts this weekend - my sister is going to be missing Philanthropy & Skit day. The rush advisors told her that it was okay - her 1st day parties will be on Wednesday and Thursday, and she'll attend preference round on Monday.
My question is - how in the world is it possible for her to get a bid this way? I guess if they told she could do it they must think its possible, but I find it highly unlikely. She really wants to do it but already feels deflated because she thinks its unlikely she will get a bid. Thanks ladies!

Why is she missing those two days?

Isn't she the one that was planning to go visit her boyfriend?

Yes, she bought plane tickets to visit her boyfriend that weekend. I had told her rush was this past weekend, because their recruitment website is horrendous.

In situations I have seen with absent pnms, the chapters are notified that a pnm will be absent and the chapter is given the option to vote to return her to the next round even though she missed the previous round.

I have only seen this offered in the case of illness or death in the family though, never anything like going to visit a boyfriend.

Well I was surprised that they were even going to let her do it...but Pittsburgh greek life is so different than Delaware.
I don't think she's going to end up doing it though - she doesnt think there's any chance of her getting a bid and she has 2 tests on Friday. I guess she'll just check it out in the spring

Definitely tell her to check it out in the spring. Some years, all houses participate, some years only some, but it will give her time to get to know some of the members.

Even though Pitt isn't super competitive, she will be at a huge disadvantage if she misses 8 rounds and 4 rounds.

I had a PNM in my Rho Gamma group miss round 3 (skits) for a "family event" (aka a Justin Timberlake concert). She was very sought after by most chapters after the first two rounds, getting nearly every chapter she wanted. I think she only got cut from 1 chapter after round 1 and was cut from one more after round 2. HOWEVER, after missing round 3, she only received one invite for preference, a fairly prestigious chapter. Luckily for her, it was the one she wanted and clearly they wanted her. I'll also add that she had at least one friend in the chapter pulling hard for her.

Missing one round might be okay, but 2 rounds? Think about this, each chapter will meet her once before deciding whether to invite her to preference, which means she is on their bid list and they would like to have her as a member.

BlueHenTheta, I'm not sure if this is a case of you wanting your sister to go through more than she does (I've been there with some of my younger friends), or if she just decided recently that she wants to join a sorority. It was poor planning of her to visit her boyfriend during recruitment if she knew she wanted to go Greek before buying her tickets. She wouldn't have anything to lose by going through (though I don't know how much Pitt's registration fee is). She can keep an eye out for COB opportunities following formal recruitment or she might have to wait until spring informal.

Thanks for your reply - I'll let her know this. She is definitely gung-ho about rushing but it it would cost $100 to get the plane ticket changed, and that's how much she paid for it in the first place! Like I said, Pitt's recruitment website is horrendous - it hasn't been updated in over a year! So, I told her the wrong weekend and thus she booked her plane ticket.