Georgia Recruitment

[UGAalum94]

Hollywin,

I'm sorry that your daughter's experience has been so bad.

I just wanted to note that I'm not sure your information about high schools in Georgia receiving recruitment information is actually correct.

It's possible that some do through their local alumnae panhellenics which could sponsor recruitment information sessions in any state, but I don't think the high school where I teach gets anything from UGA about recruitment, and if they do, they don't promote it. *

Anything that might come from the school probably goes directly from UGA to the admitted students through email or letter, I would guess, and goes to out of state girls as well.

Certainly, informally in-state hometown girls get information from from other UGA students from their hometowns, but this is probably the case at 90% of the colleges with Greek life. And I think it's the case that having hometown people pulling for you in the groups is an advantage, but it's an advantage that not even the in state girls have at all the chapters. Of 17 groups, the girls from the high school where I teach can be found in only five of them, I'm pretty sure. It's a difficult recruitment no matter where you are from.

I agree with you that it's a shame legacies get cut/ have to get cut. As you probably know though, UGA's Chi Omega chapter has more than a pledge classes worth of legacies going through in any given year. (Certainly, they aren't all 4 time legacies from the UGA chapter though.)And again, I'm sorry that your daughter hasn't found a home yet in the Greek system.

ETA: * I really don't think they get anything, but if they did, I really doubt the official word from Greek Life would really give a girl much of an advantage.

[KSUViolet06]

Originally Posted by UGAalum94

I agree with you that it's a shame legacies get cut/ have to get cut. As you probably know though, UGA's Chi Omega chapter has more than a pledge classes worth of legacies going through in any given year. (Certainly, they aren't all 4 time legacies from the UGA chapter though).

Wow. I'm sure they're all great and all their moms would love for them to be Chi Omegas, but it's just not possible. There was a sorority at my school that could fill over half of quota (which was only like 15) with legacies. So they naturally had to release some of them. PNM's and their families would be really upset over it, and it caused the chapter alot of stress.

The reality of it is that the chapters realistically cannot pledge them all, and I think parents should be cognizant of that fact. The chapters need to make room for others that may not have that legacy tie but would still make great sisters.

[dgdramadawg]

Originally Posted by UGAalum94

Certainly, informally in-state hometown girls get information from from other UGA students from their hometowns, but this is probably the case at 90% of the colleges with Greek life. And I think it's the case that having hometown people pulling for you in the groups is an advantage, but it's an advantage that not even the in state girls have at all the chapters. Of 17 groups, the girls from the high school where I teach can be found in only five of them, I'm pretty sure. It's a difficult recruitment no matter where you are from.

They also get information from adults. The standard question for many UGA alumnae in my area when a girl says she is going to UGA is "Are you rushing?" As they start to get acceptances, they start to compile rush advice and information. Think about it this way: I can think of women from 6 separate chapters in my department alone. Girls from the school at which I teach most certainly gain an advantage if they have us to give advice/recs. A girl from out of state might not have so many alumnae at her fingertips... and alumnae from out of state might not ask "Are you rushing?" the moment a girl states her college choice.

*Note: I know of a few high schools that have lists of alumnae who are willing to find/write recs for graduated seniors. I'd imagine that would be a very valuable resource, too.

Originally Posted by KSUViolet06

UGA GCers, how likely is it that the sororities will remember that someone is a 4x legacy to a chapter? Do UGA sorority members tend to remember PNMs that re-rush in general?

It depends on the PNM. If we really liked her and she cut us, we'd have remembered her. If she was poorly behaved in a memorable way, we'd have remembered her. But otherwise... it's very hard to remember specific PNMs year to year. Then again, I graduated four years ago in May, so it's probably a different planet now.

[carnation]

A former student's mother told me that her daughter gained early admission to Georgia for next fall. She said, "I think she should wait until sophomore yeare to rush," and I sent the mom this thread with a note that if she wanted her child to have choices, maybe she shouldn't wait! (Mom isn't Greek and had no idea.)

[NUBlue&Blue]

Originally Posted by carnation

A former student's mother told me that her daughter gained early admission to Georgia for next fall. She said, "I think she should wait until sophomore yeare to rush," and I sent the mom this thread with a note that if she wanted her child to have choices, maybe she shouldn't wait! (Mom isn't Greek and had no idea.)

Last year I went to the Atlanta Panhellenic Info session with my daughter (mainly to go with a friend who was going to UGA) and a mother asked if it might not be better to wait until she got used to school to go through rush.

I wanted to scream "NO! It's not a good idea to wait to go through rush at Georgia". But they just gave her some song and dance about how she should make the best decision for her, blah blah blah. In my opinion, it doesn't do any good to have those sessions if you are not going to tell people the truth. It's hard anyway, and it will be a lot harder if you wait. Can you handle that? Then you make the best decision for you. But at least you know.

The growth of suburban Atlanta has put an entirely different face on greek life at UGA. There are some chapters that are very heavy on Lassiter/Pope, some full of the North Fulton girls, and the Parkview/Brookwood/Gwinnett schools, which doesn't leave room for others when they've got a block pulling for even more girls from their particular school. Looking at that list that Panhellenic put out after recruitment was quite interesting and it was easy to see how our school's girls have been "shut out" in the past few years.

Thankfully, I don't think many, if any, of my younger daughter's friends graduating this year are going to UGA. My first relaxing rush in 3 years!