Why? Sophomore UGA story

[AuburnMom08]

Originally Posted by UGAALUM

Each sorority at UGA is different in how they treat upperclassman (i think) What I do know is back in my day we pledged a lot of juniors, but not anymore. I know at least one sorority on campus has an internal rule they can pledge no sophmores. My sorority has a limit of 3 or 4 I not sure how many, but i know it is VERY competitive for a sophmore. The thinking is (which I don't agree with) is a freshman will be there all 4 years. I know every year there are freshman who pledge that drop out and I'd much rather have that sophmore that knows this is for her, but that is the reality. The rules aren't set by the girls (they want to pledge their friends), but by their national or alum advisors.

IMO this is the best answer to the original question. IDK about UGA but at Auburn about half the sororities don't take sophomores at all and the other half can only take a few - ie 3 or 4 at most so that means out of alllll the girls pledging only about 25-30, at most, will pledge ANY sororitiy as a sophomore. At Auburn they ended up with something like 16 sophomores out of the entire pledge class of almost 1000 girls.

[AuburnMom08]

BTW, my daughter dropped out of rush on the last day after she was cut by all but 2 houses and she was really down about the whole thing but I am happy to report that now, a whole week later, she is doing great and not nearly as lost/lonely as she thought she would be without sisterhood.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by srmom

Yes, thank heavens we're not! Vassar? A UGA person would cut off their foot before they'd choose Vassar.

Weren't Fern and her roommates in Animal House from Vassar?

"Can we dance with your dates?" (couldn't resist)

haha JK! Really!!

actually it was Fawne and Chris Miller said in an interview that "Emily Dickinson College" was Bennington.

I thought that was an odd comparison too.

[kddani]

Originally Posted by AuburnMom08

BTW, my daughter dropped out of rush on the last day after she was cut by all but 2 houses and she was really down about the whole thing but I am happy to report that now, a whole week later, she is doing great and not nearly as lost/lonely as she thought she would be without sisterhood.

Am I understanding you correctly? Your daughter had 2 houses left on the last day, then dropped out? How many houses did she expect to have left? Preference, at most, is three parties. Did she not go to preference for either of the two houses that genuinely were interested in getting to know her and potentially having her as a sister?

I'm glad that she's doing well, however, it sounds like she had quite a good chance of becoming a member of a sorority.

[ThetaDancer]

Originally Posted by gtdxeric

if uga is a public ivy, i am Francis Ford F***ing Coppola

I know I'm late on this and I'm just getting caught up on this thread, but I have to tell you that this really did make me laugh out loud. THANK YOU.

[texas*princess]

Even given the new information, there is nothing anyone on this board can say or do to answer the question of "Why".

We don't know. Period.

Maybe it had nothing to do with her class standing. Maybe it did. Regardless, she unfortunately didn't make it. And it's unfortunate, but it does happen = a lot = every year.

[InHerShoes]

Originally Posted by kddani

Am I understanding you correctly? Your daughter had 2 houses left on the last day, then dropped out? How many houses did she expect to have left? Preference, at most, is three parties. Did she not go to preference for either of the two houses that genuinely were interested in getting to know her and potentially having her as a sister.

What???

Just because a sorority shows interest in a PNM does NOT automatically mean that the PNM feels comfortable or at home in that chapter. Who are you to judge this woman's daughter for dropping out of recruitment because she wasn't comfortable with the houses she had left? Every sorority is not for everyone; they are not all the same, and that's the beauty of the system, but it also means that not every girl is going to fit in at every house.

I think that too often on this site girls are accused of dropping out of recruitment because they thought the houses they had left were "bottom tier." Why do we assume that is the case? This girl could have had two "top tier" chapters left that she simply couldn't see herself in.

Which is worse? Knowing that you wouldn't be happy with any of the sororities that invited you to preference and dropping out of recruitment? or knowing that you wouldn't be happy with any of the sororities that invited you to preference but attending the parties, signing a bid card, and dropping out after bid day, thus taking the spot of a girl who would have been HAPPY in that group?

[Benzgirl]

Originally Posted by violetpretty

Don't make me choke. I would agree that UGA and Texas are among the best public schools in the country. Is that what you meant by "public Ivy"? While UGA and Texas are on par with (or slightly below) other competitive presitigious public schools like Penn State, Maryland, UVA, William & Mary, UNC, etc, they pale in comparison to actual Ivy League schools. Keep in mind, I am not knocking the quality of these schools, because I went to one, just that I think the term "public Ivy" is laughable.

Some numbers to compare from collegeboard.com:

% admitted; GPA at or above 3.75; % first-year students in 10% of HS class; Middle 50% SAT Verbal; Middle 50% SAT Math

UGA: 55%, 63%, 51%, 560-660, 570-660
Texas: 51%, none given, 69%, 540-670, 570-700
Penn State: 51%, 31%, 45%, 530-630, 560-670
Maryland: 47%, 65%, 56%, 570-680, 600-700
UVA: 35%, 85%, 87%, 590-700, 610-720
W&M: 34%, 77%, 79%, 630-740, 620-710
UNC: 35%, 93%, 76%, 600-700, 610-700
Cal: 23%, 93%, 98%, 590-710, 630-760

compare with

Cornell: 21%, none given, 87%, 630-770, 660-730
Penn: 16%, 65%, 96%, 650-750, 680-770
Dartmouth: 15%, 62%, 91%, 660-770, 670-780
Brown: 14%, none given, 92%, 660-760, 670-770
Columbia: 11%, none given, none given, 660-760, 670-780
Princeton:10%, 82%, 96% 690-790,700-790
Yale: 10%, none given, 97%, 700-800, 700-790
Harvard: 9%, none given, 95%, 700-800, 700-790

UGA and Texas (and most of the other "public Ivies") are not even close.

Elephant Walk still has the North/South issue up his....
With Ivy being North, he will do anything to boost up SEC and SWC to their level, even at the expense of making us all laugh

[violetpretty]

Originally Posted by InHerShoes

I think that too often on this site girls are accused of dropping out of recruitment because they thought the houses they had left were "bottom tier." Why do we assume that is the case? This girl could have had two "top tier" chapters left that she simply couldn't see herself in.

Yeah right. It doesn't happen like that. Do you know how the RFM works? Besides, that girl was a sophomore and received 4 invites for round 2. I HIGHLY doubt her only remaining options two "top tier" chapters where she didn't feel comfortable. If you don't click with a "top tier" chapter, it's going to be obvious, and you're going to get cut (unless you're a celebrity in some way), because they have plenty of other girls that would be dying to join and they have to make big cuts. Hell, even if you do click at a top tier chapter, you still have a good chance of being cut.

Originally Posted by InHerShoes

Which is worse? Knowing that you wouldn't be happy with any of the sororities that invited you to preference and dropping out of recruitment? or knowing that you wouldn't be happy with any of the sororities that invited you to preference but attending the parties, signing a bid card, and dropping out after bid day, thus taking the spot of a girl who would have been HAPPY in that group?

I don't mean to sound like I think every girl should sign a bid card, because really, she'll just drag her pledge class down with her if she doesn't want to be there. What I DO advocate, rather strongly, is going to all parties to which you were invited and have room for through preference AND keeping an open mind throughout recruitment. If after seeing your preference chapters 4 times and giving them the chance to change your mind and win you over, you STILL don't feel like you could be at home there, fine. It's not the action of dropping out that ticks me off, it's the "I'm too good for these chapters" attitude that causes the PNM to drop out.

[AGDee]

To me, at these huge chapters like UGA, Auburn and Bama, there are so many women in each chapter that I cannot believe that no matter who joined a chapter, there would be SOMEONE else in that chapter they would click with. There's no way that all 180 members of a chapter have identical interests, attitudes or personalities. These groups most certainly have groups within the larger group who hang out primarily together. I get the impression it is largely by pledge class. If that's the case, then it's really dependent on who else is in your pledge class rather than who else is actually in the chapter. In every chapter at UGA, I'm sure there are scholars, athletes, beauty queens, computer geeks, etc. In that way, I think a PNM could end up feeling at home in any of the chapters easily.

[BBelleADPi]

Originally Posted by AGDee

To me, at these huge chapters like UGA, Auburn and Bama, there are so many women in each chapter that I cannot believe that no matter who joined a chapter, there would be SOMEONE else in that chapter they would click with. There's no way that all 180 members of a chapter have identical interests, attitudes or personalities. These groups most certainly have groups within the larger group who hang out primarily together. I get the impression it is largely by pledge class. If that's the case, then it's really dependent on who else is in your pledge class rather than who else is actually in the chapter. In every chapter at UGA, I'm sure there are scholars, athletes, beauty queens, computer geeks, etc. In that way, I think a PNM could end up feeling at home in any of the chapters easily.

Golf clap.

[alum]

Originally Posted by violetpretty

Don't make me choke. I would agree that UGA and Texas are among the best public schools in the country. Is that what you meant by "public Ivy"? While UGA and Texas are on par with (or slightly below) other competitive presitigious public schools like Penn State, Maryland, UVA, William & Mary, UNC, etc, they pale in comparison to actual Ivy League schools. Keep in mind, I am not knocking the quality of these schools, because I went to one, just that I think the term "public Ivy" is laughable.

I absolutely agree with you. However, there are several books out there defining the public ivy institution.

William and Mary, UVA, UNC-CH, UC Berkeley, Michigan (AA), UVM, Miami of Ohio, and UT Austin were the original "public ivies". The phrase was used by a college admissions counselor from Yale to define the 8 public higher education institutions most similar to the true Ivies. Another college admissions expert later expanded the list to include other publics by region. UGa is on the 2nd list.

[DSTRen13]

Originally Posted by UGAalum94

I've even know a couple of kids who got into Tech who didn't get into UGA. Weird I know.

Not so weird Tech cares about things UGA doesn't, UGA cares about things Tech doesn't, especially depending on your intended major.

I know it's blasphemy, but U(sic)GA actually isn't a bad school for certain things ... It's just that dog is so UGLY.

[irishpipes]

Originally Posted by alum

Another college admissions expert later expanded the list to include other publics by region. UGa is on the 2nd list.

I wonder who that expert was. Hmmm

[texas*princess]

^^^ Someone who was very prestigious and top tier, that's for sure!