The importance of conversation/personality during recruitment

[violetpretty]

How many times have we heard of PNMs with excellent resumes and recs who have great conversations at chapters, only to find they are cut the next round?

How often do we hear of a PNM at an SEC school who has the "total package" (great GPA, activities, recs), pretty, great conversationalist, but is from out of the South (thus lacking connections in chapters) get into a "top tier" chapter?

My point is that, at certain schools, there are other factors at play, like legacy status and having connections in chapters, other than conversation, resumes, and recs. Not to mention, at these schools, every PNM has a great GPA, activities, recs, and is gorgeous.

Based on what I've read on GC, at competitive schools (SEC, most of the Big XII), great conversation can not make you, but poor conversation sure can break you.

Any SECers/Big XIIers, feel free to weigh in on this.

[KSUViolet06]

Originally Posted by violetpretty

How many times have we heard of PNMs with excellent resumes and recs who have great conversations at chapters, only to find they are cut the next round?


My point is that, at certain schools, there are other factors at play, like legacy status and having connections in chapters, other than conversation, resumes, and recs. Not to mention, at these schools, every PNM has a great GPA, activities, recs, and is gorgeous.

I agree. We get this alot from moms particularly. They say, "but she was a 4.0 student, had 2 recs per chapter, and was homecomng queen and played tennis AND fed starving children in Africa, how did she get cut??" Those things alone don't guarantee bids (especially when EVERYONE has very similar stats). They don't realize that they weren't there to see their daughter interact with the sororities. They need to consider that the conversation skills/personality factor also comes into play and that maybe their daughter didn't stand out in that area.