Support for OOS at UGA

mom2ee · #1 06-21-2012, 11:48 AM

Okay, here goes. My daughter will be a freshman from out of state at UGA and participating in fall recruitment. She has 2 rec letters from alums for each chapter represented on campus. What advice would you give for someone coming from OOS? She plans to go into the process with an open mind, knowing that the "reputation" may not be what she sees and she is looking for "her best fit" not the best fit according to anyone else. I am more nervous about this than I was college applications.

carnation · #2 06-21-2012, 12:02 PM

She should try to get to know as many people who'll be at UGa as possible. Also, please caution her that what she thinks is her "best fit" may not be the sororities' opinion.

mom2ee · #3 06-21-2012, 12:29 PM

Carnation,
how exactly does she "get to know these people" as she is out of state and no body from our geographic location is attending. how does she meet actives without "dirty rushing". and yes, thanks for the reminder re: best fit. what i meant was for her to go with open mind without preconceived notions with regards to chapter "reputations" from our geographic location so that she is able to make her decision based upon her experience and not the experience of her friends.

carnation · #4 06-21-2012, 12:50 PM

Her best bet would be at orientation.

FSUZeta · #5 06-21-2012, 02:17 PM

Agree with Carnation. If your daughter has not yet attended orientation, this will be a great opportunity to not only make connections with fellow classmates, but also with orientation counselors, some of whom may be sorority/fraternity members. She will also see students attending summer classes-every encounter on campus should be seen as an opportunity to network. Good luck to her!

DeltaBetaBaby · #6 06-21-2012, 02:27 PM

You've obviously done your homework and gotten recs, so that's good. The fact that your daughter may know fewer people at UGA than other PNM's is not really something that you can do much about now (other than, as mentioned, presenting herself well at orientation), so it's not something to spend a huge amount of time worrying about. Plenty of women from OOS have successful recruitments at UGA.

dgdramadawg · #7 06-22-2012, 10:00 AM

There are a few groups at UGA that have reputations of "never taking OOS girls," but most of the groups on campus are very open to it.

When I was going through recruitment, I didn't want to be in a chapter with only girls from Georgia, so I found that a good piece of round one conversation was to ask if there were any sisters from my home state. If there were, they usually introduced me to those girls (who were so excited to meet me because I was "one of them")! This is also something my little did during recruitment (and that's how she was introduced to me during round one).

Another way to meet actives is just to talk to people around town. I worked in a bookstore in town (the one across the street from Russell and Brumby) during my junior/senior years and I had a lot of opportunities to meet PNMs as an employee there. They came in asking questions about dorms/lofts/books and we didn't necessarily even discuss sororities, but there were a few times when I met girls at the bookstore and then later looked them up to see if they were rushing.

gebbie · #8 06-23-2012, 12:43 PM

Like dgdawg said, there are a handful of houses that have a reputation for not taking OOS girls. I was point blank told by one house that they don't take girls from my state when I went through (I am an OOS transfer and went through last year not knowing a sole at UGA).
My best advice would be to just relax. Don't let what other PNMs say influence her decision... I noticed that a big chunk of PNMs came in all wanting the same 5 houses or so and it bode well for me to not get wrapped up in what other girls are looking for. This is a choice she has to live with and enjoy for the next for years (and beyond).
Maybe have her try to identify the qualities she is looking for in a house ahead of time? Truly every house has great things to offer, but they are all different. If she can pinpoint what she envisions for her experience (maybe a very social house, a house with an ironclad sisterhood, or maybe she wants a house that focusses a lot on campus involvement) I think it will be easier to decide which houses fit the bill.
So long as she goes in confident, relaxed, keeps and open mind, and remains true to herself, she will likely have a terrific experience.

Good luck to OOS daughter! Rooting for you!