Northern Woman Getting Bids at an SEC School

[KillarneyRose]

Having gone to a college with a smaller greek system, I am endlessly fascinated by SEC rush. It's just a whole other planet from what I experienced.

Which brings me to this observation:

When I was checking out the Alabama pledge list Carnation was kind enough to post the link to, I noticed that, although the vast, vast majority of pledges were from the deep south, there were some from up north. Even a few even from, gasp, my home state of Pennsylvania!

I'd love to know how these young women managed to have a successful rush. I wonder if they recent transplants to the north who decided to head back "home" for college? Are their moms SEC rush veterans who knew how to guide them through the process? Were they just so outstanding that it didn't matter if no one knew their people - they just *had* to have them?

I certainly wouldn't expect anyone to divulge specifics regarding their new member selection, but maybe one of you SEC ladies can give me a general idea of the "fish out of water" rushees who end up getting bids?

[dvs-dz]

Here are my guesses about the situation -

1. I would think that if someone from the north chooses to go to a southern school (paying out of state tuition), then there must be some kind of family connection to that southern state and/or college.

2. The "exotic" factor. Maybe even a bit of "mystery" thrown in.

[BamaDad]

This is something I may know a little about. My daughter rushed Alabama as an incoming freshman non-legacy from Northern Virginia (even the folks in Richmond think we are a separate entity). Quite a few of our Northern neighbors living in the surrounding Washington, DC area.

We knew nothing about recruitment or recommendations. After much research, we learned about recommendations, but we did not know many local alumnae. So, we went on-line to locate local sorority alumnae associations and national sorority headquarters staff. They were incredible! Alumnae offered to have coffee or lunch with my daughter, then eventually offered her encouragement during recruitment itself. One offered to speak to my wife just to discuss the sadness associated with sending your oldest daughter away to college a zillion miles away. Their recommendation letters were outstanding! If we could not find an alum, another an alum from another different sorority would help us track one down - anything to help Kristen. In one case, a very high up staff member at a sorority national headquarters office offered to write my daughter a rec because she realy was interested in her sorority. Best of all, the tips these alumnae gave were outstanding to the unitiated! Clothes, conversation, manners, protocol, you name it.

Her recruitment at the very competitive University of Alabama (I heard they set an SEC record this year) was an awesome experience and she is now with Delta Zeta, which I understand is a well-respected Bama sorority. If we can help, just let us know.

Fir the third time, at least, I wish to express my admiration and appreciation to all the fantastic alumnae out there in sorority world who made the difference in my daughter's successful recruitment. I am not certain she would have won a bid without the assistance of these total package alumnae. Am I grateful? Yeah!

[AlphaFrog]

WOW BamaDad!!!!

I bet that helps your heart knowing that there is a network of women who will be "taking care of your baby" while she is at college. There's nothing like coming home to a sorority house and knowing that when you get there, you're never alone.

[KillarneyRose]

BamaDad, your daughter is probably one of the girls on the list that inspired me to start this thread!

Congratulations to her; she's part of a wonderful sisterhood!

[AlphaFrog]

Originally Posted by KillarneyRose

she's part of a wonderful sisterhood!

And you're not the least bit biased, are you??

[KillarneyRose]

Originally Posted by AlphaFrog

And you're not the least bit biased, are you??

Who, ME?????

[alum]

Now that we have the internet, it may be easier than before to get the scoop on recs, proper dress, etc. If the girls are willing to do the research, a ton of information (and misinformation) is out there. The websites of the nationals of course focus on the wonderful philanthropies that they support while individual chapter websites provide a quick peek into the way the girls look and what they do.

I came from the northeast which was very anti-greek in my area. Nobody's sibs or parents were greek, or if they were, it wasn't discussed. If I had gone to a deep Southern school, I would have been lost and probably cut on Day 1 from everybody because I would not have been able to prepare properly. Then again I would have been lost anyway at a really big school.

The new Alabama DZ is the perfect example of how careful research can help. As related by her dad (with his formidable atty research skills ) they were able to do all the necessary prep work.

[BamaDad]

Kristen is really into DZ. She is a Northern Virginian looking to quickly make friends with her new (mostly) Alabama sisters at a fine Southern University. From all indications everything is working out perfectly. It may be tougher to win a sorority bid in the South, but the rewards offered by a strong Greek system appear to make the effort worthwhile.

One interesting note. My wife's best friend wrote a rec and asked the Bama chapter "not to hold the fact that Kristen was from the Northern Virginia area against her." Not too diplomatic perhaps, but likely founded on perceptions real or not that recruitment challenges for the Northern-born are more difficult.

[NUBlue&Blue]

I know we don't get the publicity that the SEC gets, but there are a lot of the midwestern schools where rush is very competitive....just not so "openly competitive". You know how we are, we don't like to attract attention to ourselves !!

I said this in a different thread that sometimes being from out of state is a big advantage....it's a big feather in your hat to have an out of state girl in your pledge class in some areas where everybody is from the same place. I remember one girl in our house who was from Chicago......oooh aaaah, very cool!

So while sometimes you could be a fish out of water, a lot of times just being different is a good thing. And I do agree that the internet and cable tv has made the world very, very small, so we're really not so different as we used to be.

[33girl]

There are lots of transplants in NoVa - I know that our alumnae chapter there is huge, for that reason. It has members from literally across the country (which isn't always the case w/ our alum chapters).

[FloridaTish]

When I was checking out the Alabama pledge list Carnation was kind enough to post the link to

Where was the Alabama Pledge list link that Carnation posted? I would love to see it!

[alum]

Nothern VA is definitely an eclectic place. It seems as if nearly everybody is orginally from someplace else. This isn't terribly surprising considering that the District is just across the river.

I have been a member of several of my sorority's alumnae associations across the country due to GEN Alum's reassignments. As a brand-new 2LT wife 3 weeks after graduation, I joined the Louisville alumnae association. They were the sweetest, most welcoming women. Most had graduated from UK with a couple of IU and Vandy grads as well. KC was like this as well where most of the members hailed from the state flagship schools. Other associations in Boston, Northern VA, and Westchester County, NY had alumnae from many areas.

Each of these alumnae associations has been wonderful in their own way. Whatever group my daughter joins this spring (if she even goes through recruitment at all) will hopefully have a strong alumnae network as I did.

[Speechpath]

I takes research and planning if you "aren't from around here" to know what to expect. I had a very similar situation, growing up in northern VA and going to UGA. Luckily, my brother had attended UGA and hooked me up with his friends who were greek. They were an invaluable source of information as to what to really expect. I'm not sure, if I hadn't had their advice, I wouldn've made it through rush. I must say, however, that I had several pledge sisters from out of state. I think it just takes education on your part to know what to really expect and I think in these situations, recs are really essential. My mother spent a good part of the summer getting one for every group on campus via any avenue she could.

[OleMissGlitter]

You see lots of out-of-state girls going Greek at Ole Miss. I know AOII has girls from CA, VA, NC, SC, PA, VT, NH...other houses are the same way. I think it is totally possible for a Notherner to have a wonderful recruitment.