May I have your thoughts?

[AZTheta]

wait…what?

ETA: duh, just duh. nevermind. move along, nothing to see here.

[TPA85]

Originally Posted by AZTheta

wait…what?

LOL. Go ahead, read the blog.

[SoClassic]

Originally Posted by AZTheta

wait…what?

My thoughts exactly.

I read a post or two on her blog out of curiosity and ... yeah.

[thetalady]

Originally Posted by austennn

I think it's perfectly okay to go through recruitment as a junior. Depending on what school you go to and how competitive their recruitment is you may get cut from quite a few houses at the very beginning, just because of the combination of a low gpa and being a junior.

I would definitely explain to the girls WHY you're rushing so late and WHY your gpa isn't stellar. Also tell them how you've been working to improve it. Talking to chapters during recruitment gives you the opportunity to explain yourself rather than the chapter just seeing a class standing and gpa on a piece of paper and having to base their decision off that.

Just be yourself and try really hard to make a connection with the girls you meet. As long as you can sell yourself to one house, you should be fine. If a chapter really really wants you, they will look beyond things like that!

If you want any recruitment tips or more general advice on Greek life, you should check out my blog I post a lot about my sorority experience on there.

STOP IT. You really do not have to interject your opinion and SPAM on every thread.

You have extremly limited experience in your sorority on a single campus. You haven't even been an initiated member for long. You know nothing of what rush is like at places like Ole Miss or Alabama or even University of Texas. Rush at Texas Tech is like the "lite" version of larger Greek systems. You are young & enthusiastic about your sorority. We get that. It would be a good idea to read some threads here before posting all of your advice.

[LAblondeGPhi]

My two cents:

It sounds like your mind is made up that you will at least give recruitment a shot, and you've already received a lot of advice here regarding the possibility that you'll be disappointed in sorority life once/if you join.

OK - now that that's out of the way, let's focus on what you need to do to put yourself in the best possible situation to get a bid:

ETA - Letters of recommendation have already been mentioned, but get those too!!

1) Because of your age, chapters are going to be concerned that you'll join, not like it, and drop out. Or that you won't be a very involved member. You need to convince them that you've done your research regarding activities and requirements, and that you're fully on board. This includes study hours, philanthropy events, recruitment events and mixers with 18-year-old fraternity men. If you have Greek family or friends, emphasize that.

2) Understand from a sorority perspective what they're looking for: they want a new member who is fun to be around, lends some prestige to the organization, will represent their letters positively around campus, has a solid GPA, etc. Think about what you can offer the organization and how you can convey that during recruitment (without sounding like you're selling yourself too hard - it's a balance).

3) Really fine-tune your story about your family and reasons for coming back. I could see a simple "I had to take some time off to deal with family medical issues, and now that my family is in a better place, I'm looking to get the full experience out of my remaining college years. My experience has made me appreciate being back in school and I'm excited to dive in." There are scenarios where your age doesn't even come up in conversation, but you are still able to convey your situation.

4) Practice conversation and know what a 19-year-old wants to talk about. I'm not saying that you don't already know, but it's good to really remember what most of the sisters' life experiences have been thus far and what they can relate to during conversation. Your ability to connect with these women quickly through short conversations is one of the most important factors in anyone's recruitment. The best recruitment conversations are the ones that go way off topic into a shared passion, hobby or something random.

This is not an exhaustive list, but I think these are the main points you'll need to really nail.

Good luck - please let us know how it goes in the fall.

Another ETA: Is there no way to go back to your first school and see about getting a retroactive withdrawal from your 4th semester classes for health and personal reasons? It sounds like you'd be a perfect candidate for something like that.

[SoClassic]

Thanks again so much everyone! I sincerely appreciate every thought, opinion and piece of advice. I'm looking forward to recruitment week at my university and I'm sure I'll be around to update you all with my story of how it goes, no matter how it turns out!