What went wrong?

[clemsongirl]

Originally Posted by mountainmama

Hi. I just went through recruitment at a school with 10 chapters. It is a public college, and I am an in-state student from a big feeder high school. I ended up going from having the max of 8 houses for round 2 to being dropped by every house except my dead last choice(who I'm pretty sure invites back almost everyone, at least for the first few rounds). When I got back my schedule that day for round 3 with only that house, it was devastating and I dropped out immediately. I know that we can never know what goes on behind the scenes, but I wanted to get some thoughts from others about what could have caused me to get dropped by all the chapters.
First off, I was a legacy for two chapters. One of them had a policy at my school that they invite back all legacies to at least the first invitational round, but they dropped me after round 1 anyways, which was super weird. For round 2, I thought I had some really good conversations in some of the houses and was feeling pretty confident by the end of the day. That's why I was so shocked when they all dropped me. I thought I had had great conversations and had presented myself well. This was philanthropy day, and I had asked questions and had told them all about my service work in high school. I just have no idea why they would have dropped me after all of this. My GPA is very high, I had recommendations for most chapters, was a legacy for 2, am in-state from a feeder school, and knew a lot of girls within about 6 the chapters. I even knew 10 girls in one of the houses but they dropped me after round 1. None of this makes sense to me, and even my Gamma Chi was as shocked as I was. Anyone have any thoughts?

Honestly, we'll never know and neither will you. Maybe they all liked you but liked other girls more. Maybe they just felt like cutting women with your first initial that day. The legacy chapter you were released from likely has a different legacy policy than you think it does.

Also, quite frankly, you had one chapter left and you chose not to return to it. You could have given sorority life a chance and chose not to. You don't know how many women that one chapter invites back or why, but we all know they thought you were worth getting to know better and you didn't extend them that same courtesy. I hope you enjoy getting involved in other activities on campus and keep an open mind towards opportunities that may present themselves to you in the future.

[AnchorAlumna]

You won't find an answer here because we weren't there to make that decision. Could have been any number of things - could have been nothing. Recruitment is crazy, and crazy things happen...sometimes girls that should easily find a place just fall through the cracks.
Keep a smile on your face. Get out and get involved on campus. Get to know lots of people, not just people in sororities.
You never know. You could find you do just fine without a sorority, Or maybe a sorority will decide they need you and offer a bid down the road via COB.
Be open to anything and everything. After all, a sorority is only a part of the college journey.
Best of luck!

[ForeverRoses]

Originally Posted by AnchorAlumna

You won't find an answer here because we weren't there to make that decision. Could have been any number of things - could have been nothing. Recruitment is crazy, and crazy things happen...sometimes girls that should easily find a place just fall through the cracks. Keep a smile on your face. Get out and get involved on campus. Get to know lots of people, not just people in sororities.
You never know. You could find you do just fine without a sorority, Or maybe a sorority will decide they need you and offer a bid down the road via COB.
Be open to anything and everything. After all, a sorority is only a part of the college journey.
Best of luck!

Recruitment can be a numbers game. A sorority may really like you, but if you are #200 on the list and they can only invite back 195, then you may be released even though the did "like" you.

[ASTalumna06]

And let's remember: as clemsongirl said, you had a chapter left that invited you to the next round and you chose to drop out entirely instead. It's not even as though you rode it out until the end and then decided not to sign the MRABA. You just saw that chapter and thought "heck no". That's extremely unfortunate, because ultimately you were the one who decided sorority life isn't for you, and you weren't even willing to try and get to know that chapter a little bit more.

As others have said, no one can tell you why you didn't receive a bid, but if you decide to COB or go through formal recruitment again, I would really encourage you to give the chapters the same chance that they're willing to give you.