Sophomore fall formal rush at Uni. California school

[kairos]

Thanks for answering guys! Always good to have someone play devil's advocate on my side when assessing a situation. Anyway, I've deleted the info in this thread to safeguard my privacy. Good day!

[Titchou]

1) No.
2) All houses.
3) You might explain the situation to your rec writers and hope they convey that to the their chapters
4) Stop leaning towards any house and take what you get with gratitude.

[DGTess]

I'd suggest a recommendation for EACH and EVERY chapter at your school. No telling how your preferences or choices will change during rush, and there's no way you can know which chapters you will click with AND will believe they click with you.

More importantly, the rec would provide the place to do the explanations - to show the sisters not only that you can shine very brightly, but that you don't need to be hit over the head to learn from mistakes. Your rec writers can cover that, and you don't have to explain it over and over, hoping the story gets related, and related correctly, in whatever membership selection proceedings you face.

Do not expect to go through without facing heavy cuts. As a sophomore with a lower average, you will be easy pickings. And you already know you will miss at least one chapter's minimum.

[kairos]

Thanks for the replies


Hmm... thoughts on junior rush? i'd have a higher GPA by then, but class standing becomes an issue at that point. which one would be the lesser of two evils in terms of bid risk, high gpa but a junior, or sophomore but low gpa? with everything else constant in terms of quality (extracurriculars and professional experiences)

[AZTheta]

PLEDGE THE LIBRARY.

You need to get a 4.0 and then some for a lot of credits to raise that up, to be competitive. Your GPA makes you an easy release (cut) after first round anywhere.

[kairos]

lol

[Titchou]

FORGET the competitive houses. If you aren't willing to accept a bid from ANY chapter that offers you one, then don't waste your time and theirs.

[kairos]

lol

[LAblondeGPhi]

You've posted WAY too much information.

Your GPA is going to hurt you, a lot. Even knowing that you are in a difficult major often have much lower GPAs won't help you a lot. The Greek life office and nationals aren't "upgrading" hard major GPAs when they take chapter averages into account, and you'd be viewed as a high risk for being able to handle the responsibilities of Greek life.

I would suggest focusing on summer school and fall to get your grades up. If you can, meet women in sororities to prepare you for COB. Look into spring COB.

As for "competitive houses" - they are much more likely to make grade cuts high above their "minimum GPA requirement", and will be unlikely to have spots open for COB in the spring.

Cal and UCLA both have upperclassman quotas. I don't know if that includes sophomores or only juniors/seniors at Cal, but it appears to be small (4 last year vs. 41 freshman quota). At UCLA, the upperclass quota includes sophomores and is roughly 1/3 of pledge class size - it helps bring in both sophomores and juniors into even competitive chapters. But in that case, the juniors are typically transfer students, and it would be suspect that you aren't.

Here are your options:
1 - Rush this Fall: Be prepared for massive cuts based on grades. More cuts for class standing. If you get a bid, you'll be in a tough position to keep your grades up and fulfill sorority obligations.

2 - Wait and/or try again for Spring COB: Be prepared for a limited number of houses to have spaces available, but your sophomore standing might not be too much of an issue.

3 - Wait and/or try again for Fall 2015: Be prepared for massive cuts due to your class standing. If this is your second/third time going through recruitment, be prepared to answer questions as to why you're going through again.

[WestcoastWonder]

My sister was basically in the same situation as you last fall. The similarities are pretty striking too. She was a sophomore that did a lot in high school and didn't go through recruitment her freshman year for random reasons and by the time fall formal came, her GPA was a 2.6 as well. But one thing I saw in you post

my top preferences are the most competitive houses. For some reason, I just feel like I'd click the most with the girls there.

NO NO NO NO! My sister and tons of of PNM's go through recruitment with top their top choices already in mind and it is not a good way to go at all. As much as you may think you love them and feel like you click with them, you never know until you actually go through rush and recruitment is never 100% certain whether you have the grades or not, so disregard that. And echoing LABlondeGPhi, these "competitive houses" you're talking about will definitely be making those tough grade cuts.

My sister went through recruitment with her favorite houses in mind, 2.6 GPA in tow and then got dropped from her favorite houses even though she still had 2 perfectly good houses left and ended up dropping out of recruitment.

So TLDR, if you can't wait and do COB next spring, go through formal this fall but with an open mind and maximize your options.

[DubaiSis]

The reason the most competitive chapters seem like they would click the most with you is because virtually all girls see themselves as cooler than they actually are. You are seeing a reflection of who you WANT to be, not who you necessarily are. And being that you were full enough of yourself that you overscheduled yourself would kind of speak to that.

If you can REALLY get over yourself and go into rush accepting that you may get cut from 12 or 13 chapters after round 1, then sure, go through. However, don't rush at all if "you just didn't click with that 14th and 15th chapter" is going to be your response. And those most competitive chapters don't COB. Well, they MIGHT, but if they do, they choose particular girls, good friends of members, and don't actually do parties. Which means for all intents and purposes, they don't COB.

The good news is the UC schools aren't as cut and dried about taking freshmen, and in fact do take juniors, although mostly those are transfers. The bad news is sororities are hard core about grades. So if you can eek out another couple 10ths out of your GPA this spring and get stellar grades in the summer AND you can go in open to that last chapter on your list then MAYBE it can work out for you.

[WestcoastWonder]

Originally Posted by DubaiSis

The reason the most competitive chapters seem like they would click the most with you is because virtually all girls see themselves as cooler than they actually are. You are seeing a reflection of who you WANT to be, not who you necessarily are. And being that you were full enough of yourself that you overscheduled yourself would kind of speak to that.

If you can REALLY get over yourself and go into rush accepting that you may get cut from 12 or 13 chapters after round 1, then sure, go through. However, don't rush at all if "you just didn't click with that 14th and 15th chapter" is going to be your response. And those most competitive chapters don't COB. Well, they MIGHT, but if they do, they choose particular girls, good friends of members, and don't actually do parties. Which means for all intents and purposes, they don't COB.

The good news is the UC schools aren't as cut and dried about taking freshmen, and in fact do take juniors, although mostly those are transfers. The bad news is sororities are hard core about grades. So if you can eek out another couple 10ths out of your GPA this spring and get stellar grades in the summer AND you can go in open to that last chapter on your list then MAYBE it can work out for you.

QFT.

I remember KSUVilolet sayin in an old thread:

If you think you're the best fit for ABC, chances are good that EVERY OTHER PNM in your group thinks the same thing, and logically, everyone cannot be "perfect for ABC."

This advice is universal.

[thetalady]

Originally Posted by kairos

However, after taking a summer class which I'm confident I will get a good grade in, my cumulative GPA should come out to around a 2.6, which meets the specific house-set GPA cutoffs for all but one house at my school. Nonetheless, it's still low/not a 3.0.

Where did you get information on "house-set GPA cutoffs"?? A 2.6 GPA is extremely low. I would be very surprised if this number was even close to reality.

The minimum GPA that you might find on a national GLO site does NOT equal the minimum set by each chapter individually. That information is private to each organization.

[Dnpgopenguins]

Is there anyway that you can retake the classes you did bad in over the summer at yr current school?
As another engineering major I over estimated myself as well this fall. It really hurt my self confidence a bit. Does yr school have an engineering sorority? It's not NPC, but maybe they would be more understanding with grade issues. It's just a suggestion because I have heard that engineering and sorority membership can be very time consuming along and more so when together, thus the reason why engineering sororities exist. It was just a thought I had.
Good luck, DNP

[AZTheta]

Why do PNMs "click" with the "top houses"?

Because the "top houses" are professionals at recruiting and marketing themselves.

Not going to share any recruitment secrets, but as any experienced NPC GLO member will tell you (we've been through multiple recruitments as actives and alumnae and this ain't our first rodeo) top recruiting chapters know exactly what they are doing; they know how to make every PNM feel special.

kairos, now may not be your kairos. Like I said way upthread, pledge the library because you're an automatic first round cut. Oh, and find a GPA calculator to get specifics on how many units of what grades will bring that GPA up into a respectable range. Those grades suggest that you did not master the material and I'm a whole lot more concerned about that than whether or not you'll do well in recruitment. GRO (grade replacement option) typically only extends to a limited number of units.