Quitting school after an unsuccessful SEC recruitment

[stargirl007]

h

[carnation]

Originally Posted by stargirl007

I have heard of a couple girls at my school doing something like this. They went off to a big 12/ SEC school, went through recruitment, did not get a bid.. since their recruitment was held before school even started - they also applied & were accepted to my school.. so they come in and start the Fall with us and we have deferred recruitment in January. I still have yet to understand how this is allowed..since they come in too late to go to orientation.

I've heard of it many times, not necessarily for rush purposes. In every situation I heard of, the student went to orientation at both schools.

[bostongreek]

Originally Posted by carnation

I've heard of it many times, not necessarily for rush purposes. In every situation I heard of, the student went to orientation at both schools.

Yup, I did that. But not for rush, that's pretty silly.

[LXA SE285]

It would be interesting to have a transfer expect to affiliate and be turned down.

I think I've read here that a number of desirable chapters at SEC/ACC/Big 12 schools have stopped taking affiliates at all for this reason.

[AnchorAlumna]

Oh, yes, absolutely it still happens. Every year.

It's not like there are hundreds - or even a hundred - girls who do this, but there are always a few. I know of one girl who was dropped from recruitment at 3 different schools. She did stay in school that semester, but transferred the next. She never did pledge anywhere. That's just it - word gets around.

I hear every year of 2 or 3 or 4 who drop out, transfer, or in some way let their college experience be dictated by sorority. Sometimes mama insists...but I really think that's rare. DD thinks "I just can't hold my head up" and skedaddles - never realizing it's a BIG campus and they're not going to be seeing the same high school friends every day. Usually they COULD have pledged a sorority but didn't want the sorority they got.

This is why, many years ago at a certain SEC school I'm familiar with, most of the big ones stopped taking all affiliates. These young ladies, however, do wear their paraphernalia around campus. As they have every right to do.

[Brutally*Honest]

This basic practice of going to extreme measures to insure that one gets in the fraternity or sorority of their choice has been going on in some form or another for more years than I and even older sorority friends can remember. It was much more prevalent where my husband was originally from and we now live.

Back "when dinosaurs roamed the earth"... it was common knowledge at his very connected high school which schools had a weaker chapter or an easier rush for one of the top tier sororities or fraternities in this region. Girls would deliberately go to that school with the sole intention of rushing (dating myself again!) and then pledging one of the "big four" and then transferring back to their desired school... already a fully initiated member of their sorority chapter the next year. Further, they did not have the reputation of having a "failed recruitment/rush" following them. That was back in the day when we had rush in August and then pledged the entire first semester and we had to "make our grades." If you made your grades you were an "initiate" and we were all initiated around mid-March, leaving very little of our first year as an actual, initiated member. While this practice was much more common with female students there was a contingent of young men, who after informal rush during the summer, realized they would not get a bid to their desired chapter during formal rush... so they also went to a specific school the first year with the sole purpose of joining their desired fraternity. Oddly enough, based upon what my husband and our now mutual friends have told me... this practice generally worked. And since most of these people were known to a number of members in their sorority or fraternity when they transferred back to "Big State U" they were almost always allowed to affiliate.

This practice was also used for "religious reasons" when desired fraternities and sororities still had exclusionary clauses. Going to a much more liberal school that ignored inter/national policy definitely worked for several friends.

This practice, or some version of it, has been going on for more years than we can count. It is a rather sad indictment of the system... but shows that the system and the preference for membership in specific fraternities and sororities has been around for ages... no matter the extremes or cost one had to go through to insure they were in an what was seen to them as an acceptable group. But, as we say... membership is for life, and it used to make a huge difference in Junior League and other activities perceived as "elite" in this highly Greek dominated region.

B*H

[33girl]

Originally Posted by Brutally*Honest

But, as we say... membership is for life, and it used to make a huge difference in Junior League and other activities perceived as "elite" in this highly Greek dominated region.

B*H

Except not.

If everyone's up each others' asses in these circles to the point that it seems, I'm pretty sure that if Trudy Transfer walks into a Jr League meeting and says "I was a Mu Nu at Texas!" that some of the JLers are going to either 1) know that she was only a Mu Nu because she pledged at BFE Travel School and then transferred to UT and they were stuck taking her or 2) find out that information very quickly. Same as saying you were in a certain group at BigStateU (but actually at the branch campus).

I mean when you're going to get busted anyway I just don't see the point. Especially nowadays when the internet preserves everything for posterity.

[BadCat25]

I think transfering after a failed rush is more common than just dropping out. My high school BFF went to the University of Georgia, had a failed rush and transfered to Georgia Tech after her sophomore year. She said she just didn't want to go to UGA any more. There was a girl in my dorm my freshman year who had a failed rush. We were taking a class together our sophomore year and that spring she showed up to class one day wearing a Carleton College sweatshirt. I asked if she was dating a guy from Carleton and she said no, she had just been accepted there as a transfer student for her junior year and wanted to celebrate. I don't know for sure but suspect failed rushes had a lot to do with it in both cases.

[aephi alum]

Originally Posted by carnation

I've heard of it many times, not necessarily for rush purposes. In every situation I heard of, the student went to orientation at both schools.

Wouldn't that mean paying a semester's worth of tuition at each school? That's a high price to pay just to increase your chances of having a good recruitment at one school or the other.

----

IMO, it's silly to transfer just because you had an unsuccessful recruitment. You went to college primarily to learn and to earn a bachelor's degree in your chosen field of study. If you join a GLO along the way, great, but if you don't get into one, or don't get into a "top tier" GLO, it's not the end of the world.

[carnation]

Originally Posted by aephi alum

Wouldn't that mean paying a semester's worth of tuition at each school? That's a high price to pay just to increase your chances of having a good recruitment at one school or the other.

At most schools, you get a full or major refund if you don't matriculate. Even if you do attend briefly, you generally get most of it back.