The other thing to keep in mind is that at a big school, where release figures are used, much of the initial cutting is not necessarily personal. I know that at big schools some chapters have to cut 150 women in the first night. This just makes my jaw drop, as that's more women than are active in our entire sorority system here. But regardless, they have to look for a way to cut loads of women whom they've only met for ten minutes, so they use a lot of arbitrary standards like grades, class standing, and whether a woman has a recommendation. Yes, there's the whole "Why didn't you go through as a freshman?" thing, but I don't think that's entirely fair. A woman should not be blamed for taking time to find herself and figure out what she wants. Or grades may have been a factor, or a family situation, or she could have transfered, or, or, or... I agree wholeheartedly that a certain number of non-freshmen should be considered "freebies" at such big schools. I do not agree with the original assertion made by someone that no freshmen should be allowed to rush. That would be disasterous, especially to your weaker Greek systems. Besides, isn't the point to allow women to enjoy the collegiate experience as long as possible?

I totally disagree. What if one chapter decides to take more upperclassmen than there are "freebies"? Then, there will not be enough upperclassmen for other groups to get all their "freebies," and it would not be fair to them to only be able to take quota.

Besides, being an upperclassman is part of who a woman is. Would it be fair to allow a certain number of "freebies" for women with poor grades? Or bad haircuts?

I agree with you DBBaby, in terms of it being part of the woman you are recruiting. What if they divided up the upperclassmen and had that quota, separate from freshmen quota?

Could that work?

I think it depends both on the size of the Greek system and the strength of the girls going through -- I know that at my school, for example, that the biggest houses don't generally accept non-freshmen because they can have their pick of great girls. (And if there are two girls who are in all other ways equal, but one is a freshman and the other's a sophomore . . . it only makes sense that they'd pick the girl with four years of college life still ahead of her.) However, the houses that aren't at total generally have no problem with the sophomores and juniors coming through, and I know of a couple chapters this year who got really amazing pledge classes full of great girls because they nabbed the awesome sophomores and juniors who were getting cut from the bigger sororities simply because of their class standing.

I went through rush at my school as a sophomore, and while I'll admit that the sophomores I knew that rushed with me were a little bit less lucky than the freshmen when it came to getting asked back to houses, most of them still ended up in a sorority they loved. So here, at least, rush is more difficult as an upperclassmen, but it's by no means impossible to get into a good house.

I want y'all to know, I rushed as a sophomore, and it can work for or against you in SO many ways....

First off, if you're a sophomore who knows people, they can get you in. There was a girl who rushed with me as a sophomore, and not only did she have friends in the top house, but also she's very well-known and active on campus. She's in honors college and also does many things around campus. She got exactly the sorority that she wanted because of it. I know one of the girls in the sorority that I didn't go had already claimed me as her little sis way back in March because I met her at a fraternity party.

Some ways that it worked against me, though...
1, I had pre-conceived notions. I had already pre-ranked every sorority going into rush. I used one sorority as a "fall back" sorority and ended up getting cut first round because I didn't try hard to talk to the girl because I was SURE that they wouldn't possibly cut ME.
2, I was active on campus, but hadn't met any of the "top" people on campus, either. I knew a lot of guys, but hadn't really worked hard to meet the girls. If they don't know you, they tend to assume you sat on your butt freshman year and did nothing. I did know two girls in DG, though, that knew that I wasn't like that. Lucky me!! :-)
3, I knew girls in certain sororities, and instead of looking past liking them/not liking them, I judged the whole sorority on one or two girls. The reason I didn't go one sorority was because two girls that I went to high school with were in it, and I couldn't stand either one of them. They have since both dropped out. Not that I regret my decision, but I regret how I made it.

The lesson is, if you rush as a sophomore, PLEASE make sure not to have pre-conceived notions. Oh, and don't try to help out freshmen with their decisions by telling them your pre-conceived notions. It only hurts greek life as a whole. I hold the belief that competition only makes you better if it's GOOD competition, so everyone should work hard to make sure every sorority is in the same playing field.

OK, I'm stepping off my soapbox again. :-)

Hey everyone! My school's panhellenic council is having an informal recruitment event tomorrow! I'm so excited! I emailed the Panhellenic VP of Recruitment and she strongly encouraged me to come out for the events even when I told her I was a junior! She said many of the orginizations on campus are very open to having junior new members to share in their sisterhood! I'm not sure which orgs will be there - but nevertheless I'm going in with an open mind and very excited about the prospect of sisterhood and lasting friendship!

I'll keep everyone updated :D

good luck, WannaBeGreek101! You might want to start your own rush thread as some other women have. We'd also love to know where you go to school and what groups are represented there, although you don't have to identify which one is which. :)

The groups on my campus are:

Alpha Chi Omega
Alpha Delta Pi
Alpha Epsion Phi
Alpha Xi Delta
Alpha Phi
Chi Omega
Delta Gamma
Delta Zeta
Delta Delta Delta (*i'm a legacy to this house by my sister :) - I called her this morning to see if she can fax or email them a rec for me! Hopefully she can and hopefully they're participating in informal recruitment*)
Gamma Phi Beta
Kappa Alpha Theta
Kappa Kappa Gamma
Pi Beta Phi
Zeta Tau Alpha

Tell us....
 

...where you go to school?

we have at least 2 seniors in my "frosh" pledge class.. i think there are more soph, juniors and seniors than actual frosh in the pledge class... all super great girls! i am glad they are in my class/house

Just wanted to say that some people do graduate from SDSU in 4 years, including me :) (not there yet, but definitely on the 4 year plan)

Also, I rushed this fall as a sophomore and things worked out great :)

Wannabe,

I really hope that you enjoy informal rush, and that you find the sorority that's best for you! Have fun with the process, and hope you meet a LOT of good friends in every chapter!

honeychile

At my school it does not really matter what year you rush. My little that I just took is a Junior like me and I had joined when I was a sophomore. My big sis was a senior and married when she joined. (She was in the chapter for 3 semesters.) I am really glad that our school is that way though. It makes for a more interesting chapter when older people rush! And I think it is wrong that some schools older people do not get in!

I rushed as a freshman and got cut out of it after second round. I rushed as a sophomore and got a bid from my top choice! Most of the girls in my pledge class are upperclassman. OUr pledge class is 7 girls and only one is a freshman. 2 are juniors and the rest of us are sophomores like me. Even the biggest sorority on campus has a few upperclassman in the new pledge class so it just goes to show that it shouldn't matter event hough it might. They need to judge based on yoru character and personality rather than classification. Good luck to any upperclassman going through rush!

I think it really just depends on the school...I know at my school most of the groups if not all will take upperclassman during recruitment. The main thing is just that it depends on where you go to school. Here I think it would be a waste to allow groups to take over quota in juniors or what not. It is not nessesary.

I also just wanted to wish WannaBeGreek good luck.