UGA sorority tradition: Young and in a rush
http://www.ajc.com/news/content/metr...ge_tab_newstab
By ANDREA JONES
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 08/12/07
(Here's highlights of the article.)
It is an annual rite of passage playing out for thousands of young women on hundreds of college campuses this time of year, a time of emotional highs and lows that some describe as more cutthroat and competitive than getting into college itself.
At the University of Georgia, where the process is now called "recruitment," nearly 1,300 sorority hopefuls arrived on campus Friday morning in sweltering heat to move into their residence halls. Red-faced fathers lugged boxes and bags to their daughters' dorm rooms as moms hovered, unpacking IKEA bedspreads, hair rollers and piles of clothes.....
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On greekchat.com, an online network for people in sorority and fraternity life, a mother of a UGA student anonymously posted this after she said her daughter was not invited back to any sororities after the second round of recruitment last year:
"She was devastated, is devastated, and because she is in so much pain — so am I." Her daughter, she said, has "had her share of disappointments and handled them well."
"But, this has been more than she can process — cut by all [the] sororities in two days when her visits seemed to go so well."
Her daughter's experience is rare — most of the women receive invitations to at least some of the sorority houses at the end of the six-day, four-round period.........
Whatever the end of the week holds, the young women will venture out with the encouragement of blue-vested recruitment counselors who tell their charges to keep open minds and positive attitudes.
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Overall, about 75 percent of young women who start the recruitment process pledge in sororities on Bid Day, the first day of classes at the university.
Some take the process incredibly seriously and solicit stacks of letters of recommendation from sorority alumnae before they get to school.
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There are more than 2,800 active college chapters and 4,500 alumnae chapters of national sororities nationwide, and the National Panhellenic Conference estimates there are more than 3.8 million women who classify themselves as lifelong members of sororities.
Nationally, about 82,000 new members pledge each year.
Greek enrollment peaked in the late 1980s and early 1990s, nationally and statewide. About a quarter of UGA's students were affiliated with a fraternity or sorority from 1985 to 1990. Now, 20 percent are.
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It's a mantra that's repeated over and over during recruitment — that girls should go where they feel comfortable.
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