Georgia Recruitment

[carnation]

So much of the difficulty in getting a bid at UGa lies with, originally, the HOPE Grant. You guys of a certain age or older will remember that back in the day before it, anybody and his parakeet could get into Georgia. Now because of it, students with 1200 SATs often don't get in. You end up with hundreds of incredible women rushing, women with grades and test scores and activities that would get them into almost any sorority in a smaller system. Because Georgia is so selective in admissions and Auburn, Bama, and Ole Miss aren't quite as hard to get into, I'd rate Georgia as harder to get a bid at; the competition is staggering.

Also--back in the day, quota was often set early in recruitment, even as early as after the second parties. I've even heard of schools that set quota based on how many women signed up. This led to huge pledge classes for the "more selective" sororities and much smaller ones for the rest. When you couple that with the new release figures that most big schools use, you can see how rough UGa rush is and how different it is nowadays.

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by carnation

So much of the difficulty in getting a bid at UGa lies with, originally, the HOPE Grant. You guys of a certain age or older will remember that back in the day before it, anybody and his parakeet could get into Georgia. Now because of it, students with 1200 SATs often don't get in. You end up with hundreds of incredible women rushing, women with grades and test scores and activities that would get them into almost any sorority in a smaller system. Because Georgia is so selective in admissions and Auburn, Bama, and Ole Miss aren't quite as hard to get into, I'd rate Georgia as harder to get a bid at; the competition is staggering.

Also--back in the day, quota was often set early in recruitment, even as early as after the second parties. I've even heard of schools that set quota based on how many women signed up. This led to huge pledge classes for the "more selective" sororities and much smaller ones for the rest. When you couple that with the new release figures that most big schools use, you can see how rough UGa rush is and how different it is nowadays.

It's interesting that you say this, and I hadn't really thought about it this way. It may be harder than it used to be to actually get any bid at all.

I think recruitment at UGA may be "easier" these days in one way: the old south elite groups are more open, I think.

Pre-HOPE grant, I think UGA rush was a very smaller-city, hometown based event. A good girl from Albany or Savannah or Macon, especially if she was from a private school, could expect to be heavily recruited by almost all chapters, but she would really expect to end up in one of maybe five or six GLOs because those were the groups with the girls from her hometown.

Now, with HOPE, a higher percentage of the kids at Georgia are from the Atlanta metro area and went to schools like Parkview, Walton, etc. I think the public school, suburban kids have started to play a much bigger role in the Greek system than they used to, and they're more open to relatively unknown girls from other suburbs, rather than sticking to the little sisters of girls they knew at Deerfield-Windsor or Savannah Country Day.

I'm not sure if it's a good or bad trend, but I think it's a bit of a different ball game.

[carnation]

I think it's definitely harder for the average girl or a legacy to get into the "more competitive" groups. Remember, there used to be a lot of girls cut for grades right off and that took out a lot of competition. Also--with release figures, so many girls get cut by tons of groups by second or third parties. This results in a lot of dropouts but there's still keen competition for certain sororities.

The release figures are working in some ways but if you have your heart set on certain groups, it's a good idea to think twice and maximize your options.

[IHeartUGA]

Originally Posted by UGAalum94

It's interesting that you say this, and I hadn't really thought about it this way. It may be harder than it used to be to actually get any bid at all.

I think recruitment at UGA may be "easier" these days in one way: the old south elite groups are more open, I think.

Pre-HOPE grant, I think UGA rush was a very smaller-city, hometown based event. A good girl from Albany or Savannah or Macon, especially if she was from a private school, could expect to be heavily recruited by almost all chapters, but she would really expect to end up in one of maybe five or six GLOs because those were the groups with the girls from her hometown.

Now, with HOPE, a higher percentage of the kids at Georgia are from the Atlanta metro area and went to schools like Parkview, Walton, etc. I think the public school, suburban kids have started to play a much bigger role in the Greek system than they used to, and they're more open to relatively unknown girls from other suburbs, rather than sticking to the little sisters of girls they knew at Deerfield-Windsor or Savannah Country Day.

I'm not sure if it's a good or bad trend, but I think it's a bit of a different ball game.

Are you from Savannah?

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by IHeartUGA

Are you from Savannah?

Nope. I'm from suburban Atlanta which is sort of like being from nowhere and everywhere at once. My parents aren't from Atlanta which adds to the vibe.

[IHeartUGA]

I know what you mean-everyone at UGA is "from Atlanta" which usually means Marietta or something else.