Rush at Washington and Lee!

Just interested · #1 03-18-2012, 09:46 PM

Congratulations to your friend. My understanding is at W&L references are appreciated but not required. I know we send about 7 references a year from Dallas to W&L but it is my understanding that expectations vary from region to region. If they get a lady going through from say Dallas or Houston, 2 areas I'm familiar with, and they don't get a bells and whistles reference, they are suspicious as to why they don't have it. However, another young lady from "off" or "from the North" as we say down here may get a pass because where she comes from it is not the norm. Someone from W&L has much more knowledge than me but that is what I have heard from our members. I guess what I am trying to say is they are much more open to women without references than some schools but it is not a bad idea.

alum · #2 03-18-2012, 10:52 PM

Congrats are definitely in order! The Johnson is awarded to the cream of the crop of a very accomplished applicant pool.

Recruitment recs are encouraged and can come in during the fall. Of course if they arrive in the summer, the actives will be able to know a PNM better. The freshmen (VERY few upperclassmen pledge) are invited on rush dates throughout fall term by the NPC actives. Everyone is supposed to pay for themselves on these dates and it is supposed to be at least 2 on 2.

W&L is about 80% greek. 5 of the 6 NPC groups (Kappa, Theta, Pi Phi, KD and Chi O) have had houses since the late 90s. ADPi came aboard in 2009ish and their house is being built right now. Despite W&L being a small LAC (1800 students, about 50/50 M/F ) the Panhel groups are large (usually over 100 after rush is over).

breathesgelatin · #3 03-18-2012, 10:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Just interested

Congratulations to your friend. My understanding is at W&L references are appreciated but not required. I know we send about 7 references a year from Dallas to W&L but it is my understanding that expectations vary from region to region. If they get a lady going through from say Dallas or Houston, 2 areas I'm familiar with, and they don't get a bells and whistles reference, they are suspicious as to why they don't have it. However, another young lady from "off" or "from the North" as we say down here may get a pass because where she comes from it is not the norm. Someone from W&L has much more knowledge than me but that is what I have heard from our members. I guess what I am trying to say is they are much more open to women without references than some schools but it is not a bad idea.

Honestly, it's going to vary by chapter at W&L I expect, too. In my chapter, we typically got references for a large number of girls from the larger Texas cities - but by no means all of the girls from large Texas cities had references, either. My chapter... well, I don't want to say we didn't care, but a girl having a reference didn't matter a ton to us one way or the other. We would NOT have been suspicious of a southern woman who didn't have a reference. I'd venture that for some chapters it could possibly be more important. But keep in mind that so many girls come from the north and from rural areas and from all over the country, really - most girls don't have references. Only a small number do. Large numbers of people go to W&L and go Greek who have no family history or relationship to Greek life before they get to W&L. Yet 75% of women go Greek.

That said, I graduated in 2005 and the last time I was involved with my chapter's rush was 2006. But if anything, with the Johnson scholarships, the population of W&L has only gotten more diverse/less likely to have references IMO.

Perhaps I've said too much; I've been away from GC for so long. But that's my honest to goodness take.