Why you didn't make it into a sorority.

[Stef the Pef]

Originally posted by carnation
"Size-ism" (is that a word?) is most definitely a problem in schools around here. I see many, many rush booklets and a couple of years ago, I saw one sorority's page that featured a shot with several very large sisters. Given the fact that this was a competitive school and that rushees are only 18 or so, I told my husband that that sorority had just shot themselves in the foot. Maybe they were trying to make a statement about their individuality--who knows?

Anyway, I asked the PNM from that school about it a few months later and she said that sorority didn't take any pledges in formal or open rush.

I know this is an old post, but there's a certain chapter PR term for this phenomenon--the use of "face girls." Basically, it means that you pick the girls who look attractive (yes, it can happen with larger sized women, too, so please don't jump on me for bringing this up), but there's some girls who are going to "look good" to PNMs and some who aren't.

It's a huge societal problem, IMHO. We're constantly told by the rest of society that skinny or athletic chicas are more successful, less lazy, and all around better people (even though in a lot of cases this isn't true), so for a lot of folks, it's just an automatic association even thought it's not PC at all. I try to think of the "face girl" concept as putting girls who look confident, well-dressed, well-made-up, and fun in pictures for the website and other chapter things. I think there are a lot of girls out there who don't see that in the same way, and that's sad.

As for my cuts, I got cut HARD. I had done all I could--contacted my area panhellenic in Seattle for recs (they didn't really know what I was talking about or was asking for), kept a 4.0 before rushing, and tried my darnedest to show up to each party looking my best and being my friendliest. I didn't, however, know much about the sorority system and rushed at a Texas school with only a couple recs. I accidentally talked about how my day was going overall (hey, I'm not gonna lie--I liked everyone and I didn't think it was a faux pas to compliment those chapters elsewhere), I was probably a little too open with what I said, and heck, I'm not exactly drop-dead gorgeous, despite my efforts to the contrary (mother nature played a big part in re-frizzing my hair after all that work).

There was, however, a computer issue with me being invited back to KD's party one day, and I accepted, but it somehow didn't make my schedule the next day. I let my rho chi know, and I guess it was fate that she was a KD and I got COB'ed on Bid Day as the "computer glitch bid." Don't get discouraged by the process and there'll probably be a chapter you'll really love later on. Learn from that attempt and go on.