Bama Sorority Recruitment 2010

[carnation]

Originally Posted by fantASTic

Please remember, mamas, to encourage your daughters to accept a bid if offered - even if it is to their last choice house. Remind them that this is their ONLY chance to go Greek at an SEC school. Only. Ever. No exceptions. What do they have to lose by going through the new member period and then deciding? Nothing...but they lose everything by giving up a bid.

Well, I wouldn't go that far. Many of us SEC veterans have seen women pick up an open rush bid or get one in the spring or even rush successfully the following fall. Usually, though, the PNM has made herself notable by raising her grades or getting involved in some great activities or perhaps she's gotten to know several members of one sorority. Sometimes this bid comes from a group that has cut her before.

[fantASTic]

Originally Posted by carnation

Well, I wouldn't go that far. Many of us SEC veterans have seen women pick up an open rush bid or get one in the spring or even rush successfully the following fall. Usually, though, the PNM has made herself notable by raising her grades or getting involved in some great activities or perhaps she's gotten to know several members of one sorority. Sometimes this bid comes from a group that has cut her before.

How many times does that happen, though?

I think it's more than fair to say that the vast majority of women who drop out of recruitment never end up going Greek. There's a lot of talk about how if you aren't a freshman, be prepared for heavy cuts right off the bat.

I don't think that it's realistic for any girl to be told that declining a bid will mean she has a decent chance of getting into a chapter she really liked in the following year.

[carnation]

It's definitely not rare. I don't know many SEC women who wanted to be Greek who stayed independent.

Sophomores who re-rush often do get heavily cut at first but they still may be left with 6-10 out of 18 or so and that gives a woman many more choices than to hastily accept a bid to her last choice her freshman year. I would tell a woman who absolutely knows that she doesn't want her last choice not to sign the card and then do all the things that I've listed: raise your grades, get involved in some big-name activities, get to know sorority women, especially if you're from out of state. Then see what your choices are sophomore year.

Several GC PNMs who dropped out of recruitment or who were dropped from recruitment have later contacted me to say that they proudly accepted a bid from ___ sorority later on in the year. This month, I've already heard from 2--one went Kappa at Auburn and one went DZ there. They were glad that they stepped back and signed up for open recruitment while doing some things I suggested.

ETA: sometimes a girl's friends who rushed with her (from high school, etc.) will get her into their group the second year.

[dgdramadawg]

Originally Posted by carnation

It's definitely not rare. I don't know many SEC women who wanted to be Greek who stayed independent.

::raises hand::
I dropped out of recruitment after round 3 as a freshman and pledged as a sophomore to a house that had cut me after round 2 during my initial recruitment. It does happen. I would think pledging as an upperclassman is probably much more common at schools which now have a separate quota for upperclassmen.

However, if a girl goes all the way through and refuses to accept a bid, she should know that she risks going through the next year and being remembered by houses for refusing to accept a bid to ABC. Because you can be darn sure that ABC will remember and will cut her right away the next year, and if they have friends in other houses and word gets out that the girl thought she was "too good" for ABC, she'll be cut from them, too.

[KSUViolet06]

Originally Posted by carnation

It's definitely not rare. I don't know many SEC women who wanted to be Greek who stayed independent.

Sophomores who re-rush often do get heavily cut at first but they still may be left with 6-10 out of 18 or so and that gives a woman many more choices than to hastily accept a bid to her last choice her freshman year. I would tell a woman who absolutely knows that she doesn't want her last choice not to sign the card and then do all the things that I've listed: raise your grades, get involved in some big-name activities, get to know sorority women, especially if you're from out of state. Then see what your choices are sophomore year.

Several GC PNMs who dropped out of recruitment or who were dropped from recruitment have later contacted me to say that they proudly accepted a bid from ___ sorority later on in the year. This month, I've already heard from 2--one went Kappa at Auburn and one went DZ there. They were glad that they stepped back and signed up for open recruitment while doing some things I suggested.

ETA: sometimes a girl's friends who rushed with her (from high school, etc.) will get her into their group the second year.

Woud you say though, that said re-rushing PNM is going to have to keep her options open?

Ex: if you aren't happy with your choices freshman year, you can't re-rush with the idea that you'll get into one of your say 3 favorites from freshman year.

I think if you want to be successful as a soph, re-rushing has to be done with the goal of being Greek at Bama (and being open to some groups that weren't on your radar last year), than specifcally re-rushing to get into your favorite chapter that dropped you.

[carnation]

I always tell any PNM whom I counsel to keep her options open, to consider everybody, even the groups that (gasp!) no one from her high school is in. I encourage them to go to as many parties as possible and to avoid suiciding if at all possible.

However, sometimes a PNM has gamely followed this advice and still knows that she really does not want that one last choice. In that case, she shouldn't put that group on her card because she'll be bound to any group who gives her a bid for the next year. (Remember CutiePie2000's recruitment story?) If that's her choice, she should rush again later.

There's no set answer for everyone. Many girls who re-rush will find it much harder the next year. However, many do find their home through COB or upperclass rush.