Lovely1919-
First of all as a UofO alum, congrats on completing your first year at UofO and GO DUCKS!
I did not choose to get involved in Greek life while I was at U of O, but my daughter is, and for her it has been a great experience thus far. She also went through recruitment as a sophomore transfer and got a bid to a chapter that was in her top two from the start, so I hope that gives you some reassurance.
Since I am now middle aged and was never in a sorority what I know is limited to what she knows and has experienced. What she knows is limited by the fact that this fall will be her first year going through recruitment on the other side. Please keep that in mind, and I will tell you what little I can offer.
As you have already been told, no one can tell you for sure that ABC and XYZ never take sophomores. The only people who have that information are U of O ABC and XYZ members, and that isn't something they are going to discuss anywhere outside of their own chapter. Here's what I can tell you.
1) U of O is not an especially competitive Greek system. There are a pretty good number of sophomores and even a few juniors who go through every year. Lots of houses do have sophomores in their pledge classes from year to year. A few have had juniors. This does not mean they all do and some may have three sophomores in a pledge class one year and none the next. Also, be aware that if a particular sorority didn't take any sophomores a particular year, it may have nothing to do with their sophomore status. They may have been willing to take a sophomore, but for some reason they didn't feel the sophomores coming through that year were a good fit. This year may be a different story.
2) Having said this, as greeklove21 said, the Greek system is growing quickly and steadily at U of O. This means chapters can get pickier and yes, word is they are going to be making steeper cuts this year. That usually means more cuts for non-freshman. For reasons that have nothing to do with you as a person, most sororities in any system in the country, competitive or not, would see a sophomore as being a little more of a liability, and assuming all other things are equal, they will generally choose freshman if they have that option, so your job is to do everything possible to make them feel you are worth the risk.
What will help you - Great grades (college), good involvement in HS and college, good reputation, friends in houses, a willingness to seriously consider each and every house (more on that in a minute), recs if you have them (they are really not necessary at U of O, but hey, every little bit helps, and you want to go the extra mile), an outgoing personality, and showing up at recruitment looking put together.
ALSO - go under the sorority recruitment thread on this forum and take the time to read ALL of the stickies. My daughter got SO much helpful information from those.
I know everyone says on here to keep an open mind at every school (and it is great advice), but I feel like that is especially true at U of O. No school is completely free of sorority gossip, but U of O does an outstanding job of keeping it to a minimum. They really do have 9 good chapters. I think (can't swear to it) they are all full or pretty close to full, so they all have good numbers. They all have great houses. They are all pretty active and involved.
You probably know this, but U of O's Greek life does have an online newsletter, a website, and a facebook page. That's a great place to find out about recruitment, grade requirements, chapter grades, actitivities, costs, and general information. It has all been quite recently updated.
There are some regular posters on here who a current members in U of O sororities. Hopefully, a couple of them will see this and chime in with much better information than I can give you, but I hope this helps some.
Good luck and please come back (after recruitment) to let us know how it went!
