Questions on rushing and sorority life

[LAblondeGPhi]

Being 22 will make you a little older than a typical transfer student, but wouldn't necessarily raise any major red flags for me. The average transfer student age will be about 19-21, so you're not totally outside of that range.

UCLA sees a lot of transfer students coming through recruitment, so the whole system is pretty accustomed to bringing in a batch of 20 and 21-year-olds. Everyone knows that they have slightly different needs from the Greek system than freshman do. (Consider this: 2013 freshman quota was 47, and upperclassman quota was 20)

The numbers going through recruitment have been growing fast over recent years. Whereas some larger schools have developed really nice systems for going through and pre-screening all those applications, UCLA just isn't that organized. A huge portion of PNMs sign up for recruitment in the week before it starts. This means that above all, how you connect with, and present yourself to the women in each chapter will be the most important factor for your success. Unfortunately, there's not always enough time to check every application for unusual circumstances in the first round or two, so unless you mention your age in conversation, it may not be noticed until later rounds. That should buy you some time to win everyone over with your personality and enthusiasm.

As for socials...
You should approach the process knowing that social events are a big piece of every sorority's programming, but that doesn't always mean fraternity parties. In fact, the vast majority of sorority-sponsored events will have nothing to do with fraternity houses. Even exchanges (an event with a fraternity) are held at third-party venues. Fraternity parties are typically sponsored by the fraternities and separate from sorority programming.

Date parties (where you bring a date of your choosing), formals, sisterhood events, non-alcoholic socials, dinners and philanthropies are all excellent ways to spend time with sisters and be engaged with the chapter. Many of the older sisters and women with serious boyfriends will also tend to be more interested in the socials that focus on spending time with sisters. There's a good middle-ground you can find, trust me.