Canadian Recruitment- School with smaller Greek population

[ColdInCanada11]

Hi there,
I go to school in Canada, and I was wondering what recruitment was like at schools up here. I don't want to say how many chapters we have, as that would obviously reveal my school (due to the few numbers of chapters [relative to the US]). I will say that I'm not at UBC or UofT, just to narrow down from the larger schools (my school has 2-5 chapters, to give a general idea). That being said, I realise that no one will be able to give me specific advice for my school, but I was just wondering if anyone has any experience at any Canadian school. I have read probably hundreds of recruitment threads, but I've only come across a few Canadian threads, and they appear to be from UBC... From what I have seen from Canadian greek life websites, it seems to be more low-key (if you will) up North here, but I don't want to make any assumptions. I have no idea what I'm looking at here. I'm excited to go through recruitment, and I'm just trying to be prepared for what's coming.

Just to give a little insight into my situation:
A. I don't know anyone at my school who is in a sorority, nor anyone else for that matter.
B. I've only seen advertising for one sorority once throughout my time at the school.
C. Our student groups organiser thing (?not sure what you would call it) is weak, so I don't even know if there is a greek life office at my school.

Any advice, experiences, or any comments would be appreciated, and if I've said anything stupid, just let me know right away. You guys put out more than enough advice for pnm, so I don't want to take this for granted.


Thanks for all your time in reading this!! Also, thank you for all the advice for pnm- you guys are a goldmine and I would like to say thanks from all of us!!

[KSUViolet06]

Recruitment functions generally the same in Canada as it does here.

It's probably not as competitive as some of the bigger schools like Alabama and Auburn.

Alot of the general advice in this forum applies to ALL schools (here or in Canada).

[violetpretty]

Princessjv at Alberta
blackandgold55's friend at Calgary

Since your school has so few chapters, there probably isn't a separate Greek Life Office; Greek Life is just part of Student Organizations/Campus Activities/etc. I'm aware that some Canadian schools don't recognize fraternities or sororities, but the IHQs do recognize and monitor their chapters at these schools. If this is the case, it is possible that the school has rules about them advertising. If you can't find any information via recruitment flyers or the Student Organizations Office, and the sororities don't have websites, I'd check the International websites (another place to look for a chapter website) and email someone at HQ asking for the email of the chapter president to get you started.

[born2bdphie]

Originally Posted by KSUViolet06

Recruitment functions generally the same in Canada as it does here.

It's probably not as competitive as some of the bigger schools like Alabama and Auburn.

Alot of the general advice in this forum applies to ALL schools (here or in Canada).

I never went to college in canada but I did live there my whole life untll I made the Big *gasp* move dooooown soouth (new england is the south up there hahahaha) to America for college.

I'm going to guess that recruitment is much more low key back home, because I don't think Canadians grow up thinking about going greek the way Americans do. (or at least not where I grew up). In general most schools seem to have wayyyy less chapters (1-5ish... Ottawa U only seems to have one sorority!?!) and not all of them participate in formal recruitment (Concordia does not for example). And I'm willing to bet far less women participate in recruitment at once. If anything, you'll have an easier time than you would if you went to a huge state school, and *probably* have to worry less about your appearance. But you should double check with your panhellenic.

OH! http://www.canadiangreeks.com has a basic list of most schools and chapters. I spend too much time online.

[ColdInCanada11]

Thanks for all of your time and advice- extremely helpful!! I'm just waiting to get replies from e-mails, so hopefully the train keeps rolling

[GuitarAOII]

Hmm, well as it has been said, recruitment is generally the same as in the USA. Excluding the schools that have lots of greek groups (UT, UBC, UWO, etc), most tend to have only a handful. The canadiangreek website linked above is a good source.

Having gone through recruitment at a Canadian school, I can tell you that it is indeed less competitive. Not a lot of people realize that there are, in fact, greek groups in the great white north. Remember though that each school is different.

A little side note on your situation of not knowing anyone: don't worry about it too much. I was in the same boat. Usually you can find out more information by going to clubs days and finding the 'greek' booth. For example, at my school our greek system falls under FSA (Fraternity & Sorority Affairs), so if one was to come to clubs days, they would look for the FSA booth for all their greek life questions and information

Best of luck!!

[MooseGirl]

Originally Posted by born2bdphie

OH! http://www.canadiangreeks.com has a basic list of most schools and chapters. I spend too much time online.

That website often links to the student or admin group responsible too for Greek Life. It's still pretty new for some orgs to be recognized officially on campus.

I'm a Phi Sig alumna from U of Windsor. I've been to a few Canadian InterFraternal Conferences in the past too so I've heard about many other campuses. I lived in K-W and now in Montreal so I'm vaguely familiar with UWaterloo, WLU, Concordia & McGill and I know sorority women from UofT, Carleton and UofA.

That being said, while the NPC groups have the same rules as those in the US, from my experience they choose the least restrictive recruitment format. Things have changed even from my time, but I don't think too much.

I'm not on GC much anymore, but feel free to PM me if you have more questions; I promise I'm discreet.

[blackandgold55]

Hey coldincanada, I'm a Theta alum from Alberta. I also have a close AGD friend at Calgary (as was linked) and I am fairly familiar with greek life at most Canadian campuses. Feel free to pm if you have any questions!