University of Mississippi - Ole Miss 2014 Panhellenic Sorority Recruitment

[MaryPoppins]

Perhaps we need a second Ole Miss thread for the diversity discussion.

[MaryPoppins]

A dear friend has presented me with a terrible quandry. Yes, I've given the snowflake talk.

PNM is absolutely lovely, gorgeous even, OOS, good family, well behaved, tons of activities, Greeks all over the family tree, and a 2.7 to 2.8 GPA. What should they do? To rush Ole Miss or not rush Ole Miss? If not now, when? And if not Ole Miss where?

GO

[33girl]

How about SMU where they have deferred rush and she can have a semester to pull her QPA out of the toilet?

Or, um, does she just not have the intellectual capacity?

[ComradesTrue]

Originally Posted by 33girl

How about SMU where they have deferred rush and she can have a semester to pull her QPA out of the toilet?

Or, um, does she just not have the intellectual capacity?

Deferred rush is an excellent idea, but I am struggling to think of a Southern school that she could attend with that GPA. She can't even sniff SMU. Their freshman class will be 3.5s and above and most from college prep private schools.

Vandy, Tulane, W&L, UVA and Emory are also out. I'm seriously doubting Baylor as well, but of all of those it is the least competitive admission-wise.

I can't think of a single Southern public university with deferred recruitment.

[AnchorAlumna]

Spring Hill College in Mobile AL is not public, but it does have a deferred recruitment.

[Pingyang]

Maybe I'm remembering incorrectly, but isn't Alpha Phi planning to colonize in 2015 at Ole Miss? If she likes the school and wants to go right away, and things don't work out the first time or she decides not to go through recruitment, would she consider colony recruitment as a sophomore? That might be something for her to think about when making her decisions, and she would have some time to improve her grades.

[Sciencewoman]

Originally Posted by ComradesTrue

Deferred rush is an excellent idea, but I am struggling to think of a Southern school that she could attend with that GPA. She can't even sniff SMU. Their freshman class will be 3.5s and above and

I am also confused about how these low GPA students are even getting into a flagship school.

[AZTheta]

Originally Posted by MaryPoppins

A dear friend has presented me with a terrible quandry. Yes, I've given the snowflake talk.

PNM is absolutely lovely, gorgeous even, OOS, good family, well behaved, tons of activities, Greeks all over the family tree, and a 2.7 to 2.8 GPA. What should they do? To rush Ole Miss or not rush Ole Miss? If not now, when? And if not Ole Miss where?

GO

Not Arizona. She'll get dropped after Open House rounds by most, if not all, of the chapters.

Suggest she spends a year at minimum in college working on that GPA, sorority should come second. Her HS grades suck. She will likely get a bid as a sophomore at some schools, especially if she's behaved herself freshman year, and made friends in chapters, and achieved good grades (3.0 or better).

Good luck to her.

[clemsongirl]

My first question for your quandry-ridden PNM is this: why is her GPA where it is? Was she a slacker in high school? Are there extenuating circumstances that can be explained in a recommendation? Or is that simply her trying her hardest? I think the solution to her problem will change depending on why her GPA is so low, but deferred rush does sound like a good idea for her, especially if she was involved enough in high school to have a good resume otherwise.

[AnchorAlumna]

Deferred rush is not really an option at Ole Miss.

[MaryPoppins]

Originally Posted by AnchorAlumna

Deferred rush is not really an option at Ole Miss.

No it isn't.

[MaryPoppins]

Originally Posted by AnchorAlumna

Deferred rush is not really an option at Ole Miss.

No it isn't. Freshman year provides the best opportunities as there are Chapters that won't consider a sophomore.

[OldOleMiss]

YIKES MP!!!!! a couple of questions-- does she know anyone currently "in house" down there? i.e. someone who can lobby for her and convince their sisters that she really may not be a grade risk?? (As you know this would be a lot more helpful if the active just happened to be in one of the girls legacy houses)...

Secondly-- what is the HS's grading scale? I know up here with all of the super competitive private schools a 2.7-2.8 isn't "that bad"- especially when the grading scale can be as high as out of 5... if she IS at one of those schools- she can always add to her rush packet "un-weighted" --- meaning if it was brought up to scale it would be more like a 3.6--- (I know times have changed but when I went through down there I put both my weighted (4.2) and unweighted (3.5) GPA's down and noted each as such--- all though come to think of it I actually think my official hs transcript also was listed like that-- based on which honors and AP classes you took-- )

Finally, NO deferred is NOT an option-- the only option that would be somewhat feasible would be for her to do a year at a community college, get the grades up and then transfer-- but even then she would be an OOS sophomore --which we both know how detrimental THAT would be....

I guess my advice would be to tell her to go on through but be prepared for MASSIVE cuts. I know every once in a while a sorority WILL make a grade exception for a truly exceptional candidate-- but she will need to realize that this is more the exception than the rule. I honestly think at Ole Miss that she would be more at a disadvantage NOT going through than going through and risking grade cuts....

(also you asked if not Ole Miss than where--- aren't grade mins set by IO and not indiv. chapters?? Meaning even if she did go somewhere else that she would face the same issues--- at least at Ole Miss houses are so large that I can see an exception being made with a pledge class of 100 versus a pledge class of 25-- if that makes sense????--)

[MaryPoppins]

Originally Posted by OldOleMiss

(Also you asked if not Ole Miss than where--- aren't grade mins set by IO and not indiv. chapters?? Meaning even if she did go somewhere else that she would face the same issues--- at least at Ole Miss houses are so large that I can see an exception being made with a pledge class of 100 versus a pledge class of 25-- if that makes sense????--)

HQ/IO grade requirements for some of the 26 NPC GLO's can be as low a GPA as 2.5. For some GLOs local by-laws may vary somewhat with the HQ/IO number being the floor and not the ceiling.

Ole Miss Panhellenic has run the statisics, and they see that students below a 3.0 are cut outright or drop out before signing their Bid Card (a/k/a MRABA.) In fact many ONMs that are cut will give the story that they chose to withdraw. And as s I mentioned in the very first post, everyone knows/hears of that one snowflake that made the bid list of ABC instead of ending up bidless or in XYZ (you know "that" chapter,) but there were factors beyond public knowledge that led to that bid.

[OldOleMiss]

interesting on the grades like I said (or maybe didn't say but thought) not a grade expert just somehow had in my head it was an IO thing and not chapter- but what you said makes sense :-)

I still come back to the if not Ole Miss than where-- would she end up transferring to Ole Miss after a year? Even then, there is no guarantee that she will affiliate, and you know as well as I do, how "cliquey" even the "best/ most accepting" of Ole Miss sororities are- so even if she did affiliate would she "fit in"....

I guess it really boils down to whether or not this girl has her heart set on Ole Miss or on being in a sorority. I still don't think the two are mutually exclusive, but it will be an uphill rush (sorry recruitment :-) ) for her with the GPA. If being in a sorority is more important to her than which school she is at, I suggest she look at the schools where she applied and were accepted and find out which one either has the "bare minimum" GPA for recruitment or does second semester formal recruitment.

Best of luck to her (AND TO YOU!!!--- ugh what an awful situation to be put in to advise :-) )