again..senior rush!?

[APhiAnna]

I am pretty familiar with a couple schools in Southern California that could be considered "relatively competitive"...let me just say that for both of those schools, getting a bid as a junior is a hard accomplishment and getting a bid as a senior is downright impossible.

I'm not saying don't go through with it, I mean give it a shot, but are there any sororities doing COB? You might have a better chance there.

[greekcheek]

APhiAnna, which schools are you referring to? im thinking of rushing at UCLA as a junior and was curious if it was competitive or not

[KSUViolet06]

I'm going to a little honest here:

I wouldn't go through recruitment if you are rushing JUST to try and join that house you didn't join last year. That seems really closed-minded to me, and not likely to work anyhow. Just becaue you preffed a chapter last year, doesn't mean if you go through again, they'll invite you to pref a second time. Who's to say that they would choose a senior over other freshman/soph PNMs?

If you're going through as a senior, I think you need to be more open-minded to the other chapters on campus. A senior who only wants ONE house isn't likely to be successful.

My school is not a competitive one, and even here it was difficult for a senior to get a bid. I think that most of the senior PNMs who got bids were girls who had at least another year left AND had alot of friends in sororities.

[dancemodel6]

Originally Posted by KSUViolet06

I'm going to a little honest here:

I wouldn't go through recruitment if you are rushing JUST to try and join that house you didn't join last year. That seems really closed-minded to me, and not likely to work anyhow. Just becaue you preffed a chapter last year, doesn't mean if you go through again, they'll invite you to pref a second time. Who's to say that they would choose a senior over other freshman/soph PNMs?

If you're going through as a senior, I think you need to be more open-minded to the other chapters on campus. A senior who only wants ONE house isn't likely to be successful.

My school is not a competitive one, and even here it was difficult for a senior to get a bid. I think that most of the senior PNMs who got bids were girls who had at least another year left AND had alot of friends in sororities.

oh no no i know very well from the first time not to be closed minded at all, and i know i may not get invited back to the same house, i just know from my first through time that some houses are just more selective, so i am trying to make a guess to which ones i would luckly be invited back to .

[APhiAnna]

Originally Posted by greekcheek

APhiAnna, which schools are you referring to? im thinking of rushing at UCLA as a junior and was curious if it was competitive or not

UCLA is competitive for a California school, but not nearly as competitive as USC. For UCLA, get recs because although they aren't the norm they would definitely help you.

From how I understand it, previously it was very difficult for a junior to get a bid. This year, for the first time, they had separate upperclassman quotas, so essentially they had a quota for freshmen and then an upperclassman quota (and to be fair I don't know if there was a separate one for sophomores and juniors, or just one overall). Because of that new quota system many juniors were able to pledge with minimal cuts. I do not know if they are sticking with that system or not...it gave them much bigger pledge classes than normal which was popular with some chapters and unpopular with others.

But the moral of the story is that especially if they keep the new quota system, you should not have that hard of a time. It is somewhat competitive though, so get recs, keep an open mind and definitely get some killer outfits (Los Angeles, and SoCal in general, usually means "classy with a touch of trendy").

[KSUViolet06]

Originally Posted by APhiAnna

This year, for the first time, they had separate upperclassman quotas, so essentially they had a quota for freshmen and then an upperclassman quota (and to be fair I don't know if there was a separate one for sophomores and juniors, or just one overall).

Typically, upperclassman quota includes sophs, juniors, and seniors. Basically those who are not freshmen. Generally, it's usually no more than 5% or so of quota.

Also important to note here (not for you APhiAnna, but to PNMs): just because there's an upperclassman quota at a school, doesn't mean that every soph, junior, or senior girl is going to get a bid. It does make things a little better because chapters can take on a few upperclassmen without decreasing the number of freshmen they can pledge.

[APhiAnna]

Originally Posted by KSUViolet06

Typically, upperclassman quota includes sophs, juniors, and seniors. Basically those who are not freshmen. Generally, it's usually no more than 5% or so of quota.

That's the way it works at some schools, but that is not how it was done at UCLA. They took the number of PNMs that were sophomores, juniors and seniors and devised a separate quota for them. Meaning, if there were 10 chapters, 200 freshmen and 100 upperclassmen quota would be 20 freshmen and 10 upperclassmen. So, ON PAPER, juniors had just as much of a chance to receive a bid as did freshmen. Now I can't comment on if sophomores were favored more than juniors who were favored more than seniors, but all pledge classes (to my knowledge) had juniors.

[greekcheek]

Originally Posted by APhiAnna

UCLA is competitive for a California school, but not nearly as competitive as USC. For UCLA, get recs because although they aren't the norm they would definitely help you.

From how I understand it, previously it was very difficult for a junior to get a bid. This year, for the first time, they had separate upperclassman quotas, so essentially they had a quota for freshmen and then an upperclassman quota (and to be fair I don't know if there was a separate one for sophomores and juniors, or just one overall). Because of that new quota system many juniors were able to pledge with minimal cuts. I do not know if they are sticking with that system or not...it gave them much bigger pledge classes than normal which was popular with some chapters and unpopular with others.

But the moral of the story is that especially if they keep the new quota system, you should not have that hard of a time. It is somewhat competitive though, so get recs, keep an open mind and definitely get some killer outfits (Los Angeles, and SoCal in general, usually means "classy with a touch of trendy").

That is so great. I really hope they keep that quota this year and the years to come...especially since schools like UCLA get so many transfer students, its only fair that they get equal opportunity to rush like freshmen do.

[APhiAnna]

Originally Posted by greekcheek

That is so great. I really hope they keep that quota this year and the years to come...especially since schools like UCLA get so many transfer students, its only fair that they get equal opportunity to rush like freshmen do.

I agree. It is interesting because at USC, which is their rival in many things (sports, academics, location, etc), sophomores never have a problem getting a bid for some odd reasons. Their rush is far more competitive than UCLA's, but I know so many people pledge the most competitive sororities on campus and say that an entire third of their pledge class is sophomores. UCLA, and Berkeley for that matter, never worked that way though (at least for the chapters with the highest return rates). The most competitive chapters would only take freshmen with the occasional legacy upperclasswoman.

[KSUViolet06]

Originally Posted by APhiAnna

I agree. It is interesting because at USC, which is their rival in many things (sports, academics, location, etc), sophomores never have a problem getting a bid for some odd reasons. Their rush is far more competitive than UCLA's, but I know so many people pledge the most competitive sororities on campus and say that an entire third of their pledge class is sophomores. UCLA, and Berkeley for that matter, never worked that way though (at least for the chapters with the highest return rates). The most competitive chapters would only take freshmen with the occasional legacy upperclasswoman.

That seems so odd to me. You'd think that it would be the other way around (especially with the recruitment numbers that USC gets).

[APhiAnna]

Originally Posted by KSUViolet06

That seems so odd to me. You'd think that it would be the other way around (especially with the recruitment numbers that USC gets).

I know, it's baffling. USC has a ridiculously competitive recruitment for being in California...recs, tons of legacies, frills, the whole nine yards...but sophomores seem to be at no visible disadvantage whatsoever (minus the whole having time to slip up on campus your first year). No chapter seems to mind taking sophomores and like I said, it often seems like a third of everybody's pledge class is sophomores.

[dancemodel6]

Originally Posted by APhiAnna

I am pretty familiar with a couple schools in Southern California that could be considered "relatively competitive"...let me just say that for both of those schools, getting a bid as a junior is a hard accomplishment and getting a bid as a senior is downright impossible.

I'm not saying don't go through with it, I mean give it a shot, but are there any sororities doing COB? You might have a better chance there.

i know a few houses did do COB last fall, but wouldnt i have to go through rush and drop out by pref night for COB?

[KSUViolet06]

Originally Posted by dancemodel6

i know a few houses did do COB last fall, but wouldnt i have to go through rush and drop out by pref night for COB?

If you attend pref night and submit a final ranking card, you are not eligible for COB.

I will still say that if you are going through recruitment in hopes of becoming a member of this ONE particular sorority, you may be fighting an uphill battle.

What are the odds that this sorority, who invited you to pref last year as a junior, is going to invite you back again as a senior (whether you have years left or not)?

I still say you need to consider other chapters too, because this may not end up the way you planned.