Introduction!

[NorthernMom]

Hi,

My daughter will be transferring to either Ole Miss, University of South Carolina or possibly University of Alabama as a sophomore. She stayed home her first year, as she really had no idea what she wanted to study. It was a good decision, as she is has now found a major course of study she is interested in pursuing.

I know these are all schools with a large greek presence and she is excited to be a part of that. I was in a sorority at a small NY state school, but the process does not at all translate to SEC rush, and my sorority has very little presence in the south. She is doing some of her own research and networking, but I am also trying to get a better sense for how this will all work.

I do know alum letters of recommendation will be VERY important. Her cousin was a Theta at Texas A&M, her cheerleading coach and another friend of family were Tri Delta in Texas and NY. That is just the very beginning of our "research".

Also trying to get a sense what her NY and sophomore status will mean at some of these schools. What disadvantage will that present?

She has been a competitive cheerleader since age 11. She is hoping to also cheer at one of these colleges. Interested in any stories about balancing that aspect with greek life.

Looking forward to learning from you all!

[AXOmom]

NorthernMom,

There are several threads on the site concerning the general question- Can someone manage a) fill in the blank activity, sport, job, major and b) a sorority. The answers on most of those threads vary greatly by my recollection because it depends so much on the school, the "fill in the blank", the specific chapter, and your child's personality.

My daughter was a college cheerleader her first year in school. She was not in a sorority at the time, but a couple of her teammates were. One managed both quite well; the other managed neither well and ended up getting kicked out of/off of both. I think the latter girl could have managed both fine because the cheer requirements at that school were pretty minimal - she just chose not to.

Like your daughter, mine transferred and wanted to join a sorority. She started off on the tumbling and acrobatic team at that school (a variation on competitive cheer). She quickly figured out she could not remotely handle both, but she is a person who needs a lot of study time and gets stressed fairly easily, so it just didn't work for her.

She knew of several girls at that school (including one in her chapter) who were on the school cheer squad and were in sororities, but inevitably it seemed, their sorority involvement was minor, and a good portion eventually dropped or were MIA for the most part; however, at that school there were a lot of PR requirements for the cheerleaders and the expectations were considerably higher than they were at her first school, so...yeah, different schools, different expectations, different kids, different results.

I wouldn't worry too much about that particular issue at this point. That's a several bridges down the river problem.