University of Alabama Fall 2014 NPC Sorority Recruitment

[als463]

Originally Posted by Momoftwogirls

Your two girls who didn't get bids, was that surprising to you? I mean, other than grades, what would cause a girl to not get a bid?

I have to admit that I was a little confused. I've yet to have any girls, in all the time I've been writing recs, not get a bid somewhere. I'm not sure. That's a good question, though.

[Momoftwogirls]

Originally Posted by als463

I have to admit that I was a little confused. I've yet to have any girls, in all the time I've been writing recs, not get a bid somewhere. I'm not sure. That's a good question, though.

My DD will go through recruitment next year. My fear is her being rejected before classes even start. She seems to have what the chapters say they look for, but it's still scary. Hate to see her be crushed so early in college life

[Hartofsec]

Originally Posted by Momoftwogirls

My DD will go through recruitment next year. My fear is her being rejected before classes even start. She seems to have what the chapters say they look for, but it's still scary. Hate to see her be crushed so early in college life

Perhaps it may seem less scary when you realize that of the 2,081 girls who began the process in 2013 recruitment, only 109 were released (2014 stats are not yet available). I suspect that many of those releases were due to grades.

From the UA Panhellenic site:

What was the Profile of the 2013 Sorority Recruitment Applicant Pool?


For fall 2013, a record 2,113 women registered for formal recruitment and 2,081 participated in the first round of recruitment known as Open House. Of those women in the Open House Pool, 563 were from Alabama and 1,518 were from Out-of-State. Of the 2,081 women in the Open House Pool, 11% (195 women) did not complete the process, of which 83 withdrew, 109 were released and 3 participated in bid matching but did NOT maximize their options. Of the 1,894 women receiving bids, 531 were from Alabama and 1,364 were from Out-of-State, for an overall Open House Pool Match Rate of 91%. The National average for women receiving a bid during formal recruitment is 79% of the Open House Pool.

• Average Cumulative High School GPA: 3.62
• Average ACT Score: 25
• Average SAT Score: 1085

[Momoftwogirls]

I wonder what the retention rates are. Seems like a taboo question though.

[Hartofsec]

Originally Posted by Momoftwogirls

I wonder what the retention rates are. Seems like a taboo question though.

I don't know what retention rates are on other campuses with similar chapter sizes for purposes of comparison, but it seems to me that retention is quite good, especially when one considers the percentage of OOS members.

To get some idea, one can compare the stats on the chapter grade reports. One can compare the Fall 2013 report (Total Members column):

http://greekaffairs.ua.edu/documents...portSheet1.pdf

to the Spring 2014 Total Members column (subtracting spring "Total New Members" column):

http://greekaffairs.ua.edu/documents...radeReport.pdf


Bearing in mind that seniors also graduate in December, this looks positive across the board to me.

[PearlGirl13]

Originally Posted by Momoftwogirls

My DD will go through recruitment next year. My fear is her being rejected before classes even start. She seems to have what the chapters say they look for, but it's still scary. Hate to see her be crushed so early in college life

I wouldn't worry too much, too early (actually, I wouldn't worry at all if you can help it!). My rec girl this year had a very successful recruitment in spite of not looking all that great on paper. Her GPA was middle of the road (3.2), she didn't really have any outstanding high school activities or awards, she is cute enough, but not a beauty queen and I'm not even very confident that she had recs for all the sororities.

What she did have though was a bubbly personality and determination to pledge a sorority! She wanted it badly and was willing to pick new favorites every time she had to. The system works for those who want it to work.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by PearlGirl13

What she did have though was a bubbly personality and determination to pledge a sorority! She wanted it badly and was willing to pick new favorites every time she had to. The system works for those who want it to work.

THIS!!! They have to get in the mindset of once a sorority has cut them, that sorority has fallen off the face of the earth. Not in a mean way, but that they just don't exist and never did. You will never be happy if you keep playing "what might have been" all through rush and through your college career. (and your life, for that matter)

[Momoftwogirls]

Originally Posted by PearlGirl13

I wouldn't worry too much, too early (actually, I wouldn't worry at all if you can help it!). My rec girl this year had a very successful recruitment in spite of not looking all that great on paper. Her GPA was middle of the road (3.2), she didn't really have any outstanding high school activities or awards, she is cute enough, but not a beauty queen and I'm not even very confident that she had recs for all the sororities.

What she did have though was a bubbly personality and determination to pledge a sorority! She wanted it badly and was willing to pick new favorites every time she had to. The system works for those who want it to work.

My daughter is a drama major at her high school. She said the way she looks at it is like auditions. You go in prepared and be yourself. If they don't think you are a fit then that's all it is. I did tell her the only way I would let her go through this is if she went into it knowing that everything happens for a reason. If it doesn't work out its because she was meant for a different path. Having said that, she has an excellent GPA, is bubbly, personable, friendly and cute. I would be shocked if she didn't match up to a house. But, you never know.

[AZTheta]

Originally Posted by Momoftwogirls

My daughter is a drama major at her high school. She said the way she looks at it is like auditions. You go in prepared and be yourself. If they don't think you are a fit then that's all it is. I did tell her the only way I would let her go through this is if she went into it knowing that everything happens for a reason. If it doesn't work out its because she was meant for a different path. Having said that, she has an excellent GPA, is bubbly, personable, friendly and cute. I would be shocked if she didn't match up to a house. But, you never know.

You nailed it. Your daughter has had experience with not being selected ("rejected") and you have told her the truth: everything does happen for a reason, and there may well be a different path. I predict she'll have a fine recruitment, because she has an open mind and heart and a great attitude!

IMO so much heartache/heartbreak comes from unrealistic expectations. PNMS do not accept that they are not always going to get what it is that they think they want or deserve. Reality bites. Hard.

[Hartofsec]

It seems to me that having one's heart set on a particular chapter (or a few chapters) may be more of an issue with in-state PNMs than OOS PNMs. My thought is that in-state girls form impressions based on where older girls from their high school pledge.

OOS girls may not know many (and sometimes any) actives in the chapters, so they may be arriving with fewer preconceived biases.

What do you all think -- especially those of you who are OOS and writing recs for OOS PNMs?

[SewSheKnits]

Originally Posted by Momoftwogirls

My DD will go through recruitment next year. My fear is her being rejected before classes even start. She seems to have what the chapters say they look for, but it's still scary. Hate to see her be crushed so early in college life

No need to worry about anything other than getting prepared. Those recommendation packets can be a bear if you aren't organized. Get them done early and read through some of the excellent posts here about preparing for the recruitment experience. It was so helpful when my DD went through UA recruitment last year. Just feeling prepared settled both of our nerves...until the real thing when I felt like I was losing my mind again. Thankfully, DD just had a fun week taking it all in.

[HottyToddy1]

Originally Posted by Momoftwogirls

My DD will go through recruitment next year. My fear is her being rejected before classes even start. She seems to have what the chapters say they look for, but it's still scary. Hate to see her be crushed so early in college life

Tell her to be very very very careful with her social media. It has sunk many girls this year.

[Hartofsec]

Originally Posted by HottyToddy1

Tell her to be very very very careful with her social media. It has sunk many girls this year.

Did it ever! Amen to that.

[carnation]

Originally Posted by HottyToddy1

Tell her to be very very very careful with her social media. It has sunk many girls this year.

I know of one who didn't get her top choice this year due to awful photos on the Facebook from last spring. The chapter considered her to be a risk.

[KSUViolet06]

Originally Posted by carnation

I know of one who didn't get her top choice this year due to awful photos on the Facebook from last spring. The chapter considered her to be a risk.

I was in college when FB came out at my school in 2004. I seriously cannot believe that it is almost 10 years later and we are still having to remind people about cleaning up social media. We were given the same spiel back then.

We had to learn as we went that social media could bite us in the butt in life.
You'd think it would be second nature for those kids coming in as freshmen now to have CLOROX CLEAN or PRIVATE social media accounts, because for them, there has pretty much always been FB/Twitter/etc. and they have grown up in the age of FB bullying, stuff going viral, etc.