Rushing with a borderline gpa?

[gragon]

I found another fraternity and got to know some people in it. I went to their info night and they said that their required gpa is 2.6. Mine is 2.562. I know my gpa is low but I have faced depression in freshman year and I feel that if I wait longer, I will not have time to rush at all.

They said something about probation rush. What is it? Is there anything I can work out?

Thanks for your advice!

[elicampbell]

Originally Posted by gragon

I found another fraternity and got to know some people in it. I went to their info night and they said that their required gpa is 2.6. Mine is 2.562. I know my gpa is low but I have faced depression in freshman year and I feel that if I wait longer, I will not have time to rush at all.

They said something about probation rush. What is it? Is there anything I can work out?

Thanks for your advice!

Without knowing your campus and the fraternity, I cannot answer. You can rush this term, but you may not be offered a bid. Does your campus offer Spring Rush? If so, I would recommend that you work on grades this term and try in the next term.

My GPA did prevent me from getting a bid to my first choice.

[navane]

I'm sorry to hear that you had some struggles during your freshman year. Is it possible to have any of your previous grades officially withdrawn? If you go to the academic advising center on your campus, you might be able to speak with an academic adviser about whether or not you might qualify for a grade forgiveness/course repeat. That is, say you took a chemistry class and failed it. Then you took the same class again the next semester and earned a "C". You might be able to have the first "F" removed from the record on account of having the second grade be passing. Or, if you had a legitimate health crisis, and have documentation to back it up, you might be able to appeal to have some grades or a whole semester removed/withdrawn. This would improve your GPA significantly.

Even if your campus even offers these types of remedies, they wouldn't be done in time for you to improve your GPA for rush going on right now. BUT, it's still a good idea to check on this nonetheless.

Note: I was an Academic Adviser for a major state university for 8 years. I have counseled thousands of students.

[knight_shadow]

Originally Posted by gragon

They said something about probation rush. What is it? Is there anything I can work out?

This is a question you'll need to ask them, not us.

Good luck.

[DTD Alum]

From my experience, if there is a minimum GPA from the school or whatever, a fraternity may not be able to take you. However, once at or just slightly above that minimum GPA, the strength of one's GPA was almost never a factor (outside colonies) and that it was 100% about how you "fit" in the chapter. I remember many of my friends in sororities talking about grades, and I was like...what? I don't think someone's GPA, good or bad, came up once in discussion for any rush we had (and we rushed twice a year).