American University, class standing?

[eagleseleven]

I've been reading through a lot of threads here, and I'm a little confused about what I should consider my class standing when I rush. I consider myself a junior, because I am going to start my third year of college in the fall, and I'm staying for another year after this year - I will graduate in spring 2011. HOWEVER, I took a lot of AP classes in high school, and I came in with 30 credits. Currently, I have 91 credits, which means that technically, I have senior standing. Since my school has formal recruitment in the spring, and I will probably go through recruitment at that time, I will have 107 or 108 credits when I go through recruitment, depending on what classes I take in the fall. So I'm wondering whether or not I should tell people that I'm a junior or senior. I'm guessing that the recruitment application will just ask for how many credits I have - does anyone know whether or not I'll be able to explain that I'll be here for an extra year on the application, or if I'll have to tell people in person? Also, will it still work against me to have senior standing, even though I'll be at the school the same amount of time as any junior?

Also, I'm reconsidering whether or not I should wait until spring to rush, or if I should just go for informal recruitment in the fall. Honestly, I would just go for fall recruitment, but I'm pretty sure that only two sororities are doing it this year. Since freshmen can't do fall recruitment, I'd have less of a disadvantage. But on the other hand, I really want to see all of the sororities so that I end up with the one that's the best fit for me, I just don't know how much of a chance I'll have with spring recruitment if I'll be considered a junior, maybe a senior. A girl I know in one sorority told me that they took three juniors this year, even though there was a really big freshman class, and I don't think recruitment at AU is terribly intense. Also, even though this year the freshman class is going to be even bigger, last year only six sororities did formal recruitment, and next year there will be seven, since one of them was suspended - I also know that this chapter is very small at the moment since a lot of their members were kicked out. So I'm not sure how competitive it will be. I have a pretty nice GPA (3.77, hope to bring it up a little in the fall), I'm pretty involved on campus, and I'm going to try and get recs even though I'm pretty sure most people don't have them at AU. I also have at least one acquaintance in almost all of the sororities, and good friends in a couple, and I think I'm a fairly good conversationalist. I'm pretty sure I don't have a bad reputation on campus - I kept a pretty low profile for freshman and sophomore years, so if I have any reputation at all, it's probably for being extremely shy and a maybe little socially awkward, but I think I've grown a lot as a person and I don't think I give off those kinds of vibes anymore. So I think factors like that will probably help me a lot in recruitment, although I do realize that I'll probably be cut some places just because of my class standing. I'm going in with an open mind - honestly, I do know girls from most of the sororities and I know the reputations they have on campus, and I do feel that there are some places I'd fit in better than others, but I am open to the fact that I might not get into my first choice.

Anyway, I guess what I'm asking is basically, is it worth waiting until the spring to see all of the sororities, or should I just go for whoever's doing informal recruitment in the fall? Do I have any chance at all in the spring, considering my class standing? Also, any advice concerning things I can do to stand out would be greatly appreciated. I've read through a lot of threads about how to act during recruitment, etc., but not much about what I can do to really stand out...