A 4th year exchange student in a sorority ?

[KSUViolet06]

Originally Posted by Nolita

Thanks I was able to see lots of things I wanted to know on the website, if only the 2 others universities had such a comprehensive site about the subject.

Cal State Long Beach, Greek Life:

www.csulb.edu/greek/

CSUN Greek Life:

http://www.csun.edu/getinvolved/frat...rospective.htm

[navane]

Hi Carlotta,

You're in luck! I graduated from Cal State Long Beach and I just happen to work at San Diego State University! I advise two sororities and three fraternities at SDSU.

At San Diego State, recruitment is pretty competitive. Every year we see more and more students wanting to participate and we don't have room for everyone. Though, we just added a new sorority this year and hopefully this will help offer more places for new members next fall.

Most of the girls rushing are freshmen (first year students). We do get some sophomores (second year) and some juniors (third year); but, we do not see very many seniors (fourth year).

Being an exhange student will add interest and give you many things to talk about while meeting the sorority members. However, the fact that you will only be here for a year may be a disadvantage. With a limited number of places for new members, the sorority may favor someone who will be around for a longer period of time.

Cal State Long Beach is less competitive; but, again, being a senior will put you at a disadvantage. It has been a few years since I graduated from this university; so, things may have changed since then. I have an associate who is the coordinator for fraternities and sororites at Long Beach, perhaps I can ask her for you?

Finally, I do not have much information about Cal State Northridge; though, I would imagine that their recruitment is less competitive.

Of course, it would be wise to consider all aspects of the university you select: academic programs, location, activities for students, etc.

No matter which university you attend, I would encourage you to participate in recruitment anyway. It would be a good thing to experience this unique American tradition and, you never know, there is always a chance you could be invited to join.

If you have any questions, please feel free to send me a private message!

.....Kelly

[Nolita]

To KSUViolet06 : thanks for the list of websites but the CSUN one unfortunately isn't really informative but any way I have time before knowing where I'm gonna be accepted.

Originally Posted by navane

Hi Carlotta,

You're in luck! I graduated from Cal State Long Beach and I just happen to work at San Diego State University! I advise two sororities and three fraternities at SDSU.

At San Diego State, recruitment is pretty competitive. Every year we see more and more students wanting to participate and we don't have room for everyone. Though, we just added a new sorority this year and hopefully this will help offer more places for new members next fall.

Most of the girls rushing are freshmen (first year students). We do get some sophomores (second year) and some juniors (third year); but, we do not see very many seniors (fourth year).

Being an exhange student will add interest and give you many things to talk about while meeting the sorority members. However, the fact that you will only be here for a year may be a disadvantage. With a limited number of places for new members, the sorority may favor someone who will be around for a longer period of time.

Cal State Long Beach is less competitive; but, again, being a senior will put you at a disadvantage. It has been a few years since I graduated from this university; so, things may have changed since then. I have an associate who is the coordinator for fraternities and sororites at Long Beach, perhaps I can ask her for you?

Finally, I do not have much information about Cal State Northridge; though, I would imagine that their recruitment is less competitive.

Of course, it would be wise to consider all aspects of the university you select: academic programs, location, activities for students, etc.

No matter which university you attend, I would encourage you to participate in recruitment anyway. It would be a good thing to experience this unique American tradition and, you never know, there is always a chance you could be invited to join.

If you have any questions, please feel free to send me a private message!

.....Kelly

Thanks Kelly, Even if I don't know where I'm gonna be studying yet I wanna know what are your sororities & fraternities recommendations at SDSU ?

Sure ask your coordinator friend at CSULB about joining as a senior if you don't mind.

Originally Posted by Nolita

Thanks Kelly, Even if I don't know where I'm gonna be studying yet I wanna know what are your sororities & fraternities recommendations at SDSU ?

I could be misinterpreting this post, but are you asking which sororities and fraternities she recommends at SDSU? As in, which does she think are best?

Of course I don't speak for Kelly, but if you ask any GCer on which organization they think is best, they won't tell you. What they will tell you is to go through recruitment with an open mind, give all houses a chance, and maximize your options. It's all about the sorority YOU feel most comfortable with.

People who go through recruitment with their hearts set on one or two sororities (based on what they've heard, etc.) often end up disappointed.

[kathykd2005]

If you really want to be in a sorority, your best bet is, like your friend said, to go to a less competitive greek system at a smaller school. I know of many foreign exchange students from all classes joining where I went to school, but again, I went to a very small, private liberal arts university. It's a whole different ball game at bigger schools! Good luck.

[Nolita]

Originally Posted by OTW

I could be misinterpreting this post, but are you asking which sororities and fraternities she recommends at SDSU? As in, which does she think are best?

Of course I don't speak for Kelly, but if you ask any GCer on which organization they think is best, they won't tell you. What they will tell you is to go through recruitment with an open mind, give all houses a chance, and maximize your options. It's all about the sorority YOU feel most comfortable with.

People who go through recruitment with their hearts set on one or two sororities (based on what they've heard, etc.) often end up disappointed.

If I really wanted to know which sororities were the best at SDSU I would have directly posted a thread asking this question, it's just that Kelly nicely wrote in her post "I advise two sororities and three fraternities at SDSU " so I was just being curious as to what her recommendations were there and hypothetically if she thinks that ABC and XYZ are the best at SDSU she can say it, afterall aren't you all proud to be/have been in a sorority ?

And I think you can't go more open-minded than what I've said before concerning rush " If I don't get invited to join a sorority I'll just see it as an experience" since we don't have the Greek system here in Europe

[navane]

Hi Carlotta,

I just returned from a dinner with my sorority sisters. This evening I dined with several women, including collegiate members from SDSU, alumnae members and two advisers.

When I asked them what they thought of an exchange student participating in recruitment as a senior, they had no problems with that idea. The alumna member who is the chapter Recruitment Adviser, who was sat right next to me, explained to me that seniors are "free" at SDSU.

Here's what that means: Normally, each sorority is only allowed to invite up to a set maximum number of new members during each recruitment. That maximum number is called "quota". There may be 75 women that the sorority loves; but, if quota is 50, then they can only invite up to 50 to be new members. At SDSU, seniors do not count in this calculation - a sorority can invite as many seniors as they want without penalty. That doesn't mean they *will*, but they can if they want to. So, even though SDSU is competitive, being a senior will not necessarily hinder you.

Further, I cannot speak for any of the other sororities, but all of the women at the table agreed that Gamma Phi Beta (my sorority) is very open to international students and would welcome an opportunity to meet a woman like you during recruitment.

The only things that they would be concerned about is that you do indeed stay for the whole year and that you understand that you would be required to pay membership dues just like everyone else.

I'm not sure if the other sororities would share a similar opinion; but, that was the response I received directly from my sisters this evening.

.....Kelly

[navane]

Originally Posted by Nolita

If I really wanted to know which sororities were the best at SDSU I would have directly posted a thread asking this question, it's just that Kelly nicely wrote in her post "I advise two sororities and three fraternities at SDSU " so I was just being curious as to what her recommendations were there and hypothetically if she thinks that ABC and XYZ are the best at SDSU she can say it, afterall aren't you all proud to be/have been in a sorority ?

Hi again,

I'm not really sure what you meant with the question in your previous post. As OTW alluded, most of us here would not make any recommendations to any particular organization or which ones are "best". She is correct, one should go into recruitment with an open heart to find the organization which is a best fit for oneself.

Because I work for the university, I was asked to serve as the university sponsor, called "Faculty Adviser", to five of the groups on campus. That's all I meant by that. Since I volunteered to adopt so many of the fraternities and sororities, I obviously love them all.

.....Kelly

[navane]

According to my colleague at CSULB:

"We actually had 2 exchange students go through recruitment here last year. Neither of them pledged because they decided it just wasn't for them, but they were well received by the chapters here. Seniors do not count in quota and I think our chapters would be very open to having an exchange student join."


.....Kelly