Legacy Situation

[violetpretty]

My school is large somewhat competitive (but not SEC competitive). Legacies occassionally get cut, depending on how competitive a particular chapter is, but there are never so many legacies that there are more than quota (usually no more than 6-8 per chapter). I was a Rho Gamma this past spring and I had three PNMs in my group who were "in house" legacies, just like you.

One of them, we'll call her Alissa, wanted her sister's chapter, and she got a bid there. Alissa had a pretty good choice of chapters come skit round and got her top 3 for preference. I should mention that although she got her top three, they are not the most competitive chapters on campus. They were chapters that compete the most with her legacy chapter, so it is safe to say that Alissa did not get cut because other chapters assumed that she was going elsewhere.

The second, we'll call her Ariel, did not want her sister's chapter. She wanted Alissa's legacy chapter and they both pledged that chapter. She did end up preffing her own legacy chapter, the one the pledged, and one other (she got 2 of her top 3). Ariel did get cut by one of the chapters that frequently competes with her legacy chapter, but I can't say for sure whether it was because they thought she was going elsewhere or just because they didn't think she would fit.

The third one, we'll call her Julie, wanted her sister's chapter, which is one of the most competitive on campus. She did end up pledging there, but the other two chapters that she preffed were waaaayyy random. Julie was cut by some of the other competitive chapters, but I can't say for sure the reasoning because obviously I don't know about their MS, but I can speculate that her legacy status did have something to do with her being cut by some chapters.

You might have some trouble getting cut more than you would if you were not a legacy. Members of other chapters might assume that you want your sister's chapter because you said it is one of the more competitive ones. People tend to assume that PNMs will pick the most competitive chapter that they can get into, which is not necessarily the case. The most competitive chapters will have to make their biggest cuts in the beginning of recruitment, and when a chapter has to cut so many women, they are looking for a reason, any reason, to cut a girl, even though they only have had 20 minutes-ish to get to know each PNM.

You won't be able to hide the fact that you are a legacy, so you might as well bring it up and make it crystal clear that you are not sure if you fit in to your sister's chapter, and show genuine interest at all parties. Even then, you still might get cut by many chapters. Good luck to you and let us know how it goes!