Going thru Rush as a Sophomore/Junior
 

I am interested in what other GCer's think about women who rush as a soph or jr and then don't get a bid? How many rush threads have we all read from sophs or jrs who are so worried about how their class year will affect them in rush? Why does it have to be that way? Why should these women have to even worry about something like that? Maybe no freshmen should be allowed to rush, period! Maybe there should be a quota for each year group for each house! I get almost physically ill when I read threads from women who are wonderful in every sense of the word and would make any GLO proud but they don't get a bid just because they are a soph or jr -- that is a crime, in my humble opinion (more so than even those diabolical shameless plugs some of us on GC have been known to toss into various rush threads from time to time;) )

What do y'all think and can anything be done to help the sophs & jrs out for future rushes?

I think at some schools, the sororities are allowed a certain number of "free" juniors. That is, the sororities could take x number of juniors and that number would not count against quota.

So if quota was 50 and chapters were allowed 5 free juniors, they could take 50 (quota) + 5 juniors. That is helpful. I am not sure if all (or even many) schools do this though.

TechAPhi, I think....
 

...that sounds like a good policy; I wish it covered sophomores too. I guess I am just south of you in Peachtree City!! How is Tech these days?:D

I'm also curious what people have to say about this? I'm a sophomore who is about to start rush (less than 3 weeks!!), and I'm pretty nervous about the whole sophomore thing. I know that sophomores are given bids, but it doesn't seem like it's as frequently as freshmen. Is it common for upperclassmen to be overlooked for bids? And is there anything I can do to help my odds of getting a bid? I'd appreciate any advice - thanks!!

I think this may be one of those things that varies from school to school. I've never known someone to not get a bid because of their level in school. I think that all three NPC organizations here have bid seniors, as well as sophomores and juniors.

There are some threads....
 

...in the rush forum right here on GC that indicate sophs and jrs do indeed get bypassed in favor of giving bids to freshman unless the sophs or jrs practically walk on water...I hate to sound so negative but it sure seems like many sororities nowadays prefer quantity over quality -- e.g. they'd rather be getting four years out of a member rather than more wisdom/experience that comes with a soph/jr new member

Again, that is just what I have gleaned from several GC rush threads -- it was esp true this year for instance at UGA -- check out that rush thread from the beginning...

Well, I'm living proof that you can get a bid as a junior at UGA and I certainly don't "walk on water." ;)

I knew going into it that there were several houses I wouldn't get very far in and that was okay. It wasn't anything personal. I'm not saying I agree with it though. In my experience, sophomore and junior pledges were some of the most dedicated members while a lot of freshman dropped out or didn't make grades.

I think the soph and junior quota idea is great!

Bit of advice...

KEEP AN OPEN MIND. GIVE EACH AND EVERY SORORITY A CHANCE!!!! If you have your heart set on the top house, you will probably end up disappointed. Everyone wants to be in that house so they will most likely fill up their new member class with freshmen.

If you are a junior but will be in school for more than two more years, TELL THEM! When they ask the inevitable "what year are you" question say "I'm classified as a junior but since I changed my major (transferred in or whatever the case) I will be here for three more years." It will make a difference if that is the reason they were not considering you before.

Also, research alum programs and factor that into your decision. If you join as a junior you will be a collegian for only two years but could be an alum for 70 years or more! While freshman may be focused on house reputation and partying, as a junior you are starting to think about career and networking. Make sure the groups you are interested in have the opportunities you will want after college.

more living proof...
 

of a successful rush experience as a Junior.

Initially I was nervous just because I thought I would be so much older than everyone else and I wouldn't get along with the freshman in my rush groups etc. However, when I heard it was harder to rush as a Junior, I was petrified.

However, I had a very successful rush, and was invited back to every house all the way through, but then met other girls who had hard tmes as sophomores going through the same rush!!

I did find out later though that the house was allowed 2 free juniors, and so myself and one other girl didn't count against quota. However, I still feel lucky because I know how many other juniors there were out there during rush, and they could only take 2!!

I understand now, and I didn't before, that it is largely a financial issue, so I agree with UGAgal for this reason and others, mention that you will be there longer if that is the case!

:rolleyes: ;) :) :D

Honey

Well, I rushed as a sophmore, but it's ok since NO ONE only spends four years at SDSU, so I kinda got a lot more time to live Delta Sig.

But yeah, I rushed as a Sophmore and I turned out ok.........oh wait....

I think it all depends on the "competition" at the particular school. At my school sophmores are never a problem, juniors are rarely a problem, and seniors can even get bid (but generally they have to have more than a year to go). I understand chapters not wanting to be "top heavy," but I completely understand why some women would want to experience college life and concentrate on their grades their first year.

At the more competitive schools, do sophmores/juniors fare better in COB?

Fortunately our school takes everyone, including seniors. I rushed and got a bid when I was a sophomore, with no regrets about waiting a year.

But, I can see at bigger greek schools how this can be an issue.

It is more difficult going through rush as a sophomore or junior. We always had a handful of sophomores and occasionally one or two juniors going through formal rush, but sadly, they tended to get cut heavily. There seemed to be an unspoken question - why didn't you join a sorority as a freshman?

We did bid a couple of juniors and a bunch of sophomores via informal rush, and they turned out to be some of the best additions to our chapter. So, juniors, don't lose hope :)

I think SC Honey is right - it's a financial issue. If you have a 70 person house to fill, you want to pledge as many people as possible who will be there for as long as possible - that is, freshmen. And if Greek life is popular and you can, you will.

At smaller schools, with less popular Greek systems and without big houses, I echo what everyone else has said - your class year really doesn't matter at all.

I think the emphasis on freshmen at the sophs'/juniors' expense is cruddy too, but then again, I've never had to fill a 70 person house.

I didn't realize that classification mattered at my school until a couple months ago! Thank God I didn't know that I when I went through rush, because I was a sophomore and I'm sure I would have been petrified. Basically, it's only the bigger groups that tend to prefer freshmen...I still had a full schedule of parties every day when I went through, but I was cut from the biggest house on campus the first day (which is OK--I didn't like it anyway! :p ), and then was gradually cut by the other two or three big ones all the way up until Pref. I remember being disappointed that I didn't get invited to Pref at one house in particular, but I just assumed it was because they didn't like me...but now that I know they only take two or three sophomores each year, I'm kinda annoyed. I mean, that's a stupid reason to cut someone! But I fit in here at DZ better than I would there, so it all worked out. :D In a way, I think juniors have it a little easier than sophomores (at least here), because juniors don't count against quota and so they're less likely to be cut because of their classification, while sophomores are competing with freshmen...and many sororities do prefer freshman because theoretically they have more dues-paying years than sophomores do.

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.

Here's a thought from an "oldie" <g> going through a self-created "second rush" as an alum.

The point of sisterhood is supposed to be a life-long process. It doesn't end at four years. Any sorority that told me "what's the point, you're graduating in a year or so", I would say to them, "If your sisterhood expires after only four years, it can't be much of a sisterhood."

Just some food for thought.

--Adrienne
:)

Hey all :) just thought I'd update you on "wannabegreek101" The funny thing is, i actually know her, she goes to Iowa with me - but didn't realize it by her posts!

after she accepted her bid - she informed me that she had been posting on gc after i told her about it to get some tips for informal rush :)

she just registered as Tri-Delt_Phi, but she hasn't recieved her confirmation email thingy so she can't post yet.

As you can see from the name she chose, yes she's a Delta Delta Delta! I'm so happy for her, she has wanted to be greek for awhile!

I agree - up to a point. Imagine if a chapter only gave bids to seniors. After a year or two, everyone would graduate one spring and how would they rush next fall?

Now obviously that is an extreme case. But for some chapters, rushing only freshmen is a matter of practical economics.

Let's say ceiling is 100, and just about every chapter on campus is close to that. A chapter just has to take in 25 new members once a year to be at ceiling. Generally speaking, quota will be around 25 or a bit higher - if it gets a lot higher total will be raised or another chapter brought on.

What happens if you give bids to only seniors? You'd have to give out 100 bids a year. Basically, the older your new members are, the more often you have to rush to replace them to stay at ceiling. But you can't take much more than quota through formal. That means you have to do COB. But if no one else is doing COB, people say, "Oh, they must be in trouble." Paradoxically they are in trouble, PR-wise, if they don't do COB, since they are the "small chapter."

You could say, "So?" But if the chapter has a house, they may need to keep it almost full in order to pay for it - unless they just want to rush based on income, which I think we can agree is a bad idea.

So on certain campuses, if the standard is to just bid freshmen, and a chapter can maintain their size by doing so, the system practically forces them to bid only freshmen. That's certainly not the case anywhere, but it is some places. To someone in a system like that, rushing as a senior is unheard of.

Now that still doesn't excuse that person for thinking "a year isn't worth it," but in fact the majority of alums are not involved. They stay friends with a few sisters, but that's it. They don't use their sorority to meet new people in new cities, they don't contribute monetarily or in volunteer time, and to them their sorority is "just a college thing."

It's kind of like saying, "People under 21 shouldn't drink." It may be true, but it doesn't stop the majority of college students from drinking, even people who generally consider themselves law-abiding. Just because a sorority says their duty is to be involved for life doesn't mean most sisters really believe it or live it. It's one of those cases where ideals clash with reality. Most of the alums you see here on GC are obviously exceptions.

But most people are only in it for college, and if you think sorority life is a college thing, saying, "One year isn't much," does make sense.

VERY well said Fuzzie Alum.

Something else to remember - at a lot of schools, the notion of graduating in four years is a complete fantasy. Either because of problems getting into a class or probs w/ $$$ a lot of people will be there 5 or 6 years. There are instances where someone is just barely a full time student, taking only classes in her major, and for the first time has gotten her act together and finally has time to give to a sorority. These can be some of the most awesome members you have!

Sorry it has taken me so long to post, but I have been very busy with school, work, and my new sisters! In case you missed Nicole's post, I am no longer a "wannabe" greek, I am a Delta Delta Delta now! It is still so surreal to me! I can't believe they offered me a bid, especially since I am a junior! I was so excited and happy and shocked when I found out. My sister ended up faxing the chapter here a legacy form, and we both know a few Tri Deltas here, so I think that helped! DDD is probably one of the best sororities here at Iowa (that's where I go! I think someone sent me a message asking) so I still can't believe I got in. Although they were at total, apparently a couple of their pledges dropped and that made room for me! So thank you to everyone who gave me advice and supported me!

congrats to you and Tri-Delt!

a few things to add
 

I actually have a few things to add being that im a junior who went thru formal rush this quarter and was cut heavily. it sucks..and leaves u slightly bitter for a long time, at least in my case, because you're left wondering, was i cut because i was a junior, or did they just not like me? how come THAT junior over there with the tiffanys necklace got invited back every night to all the houses and i didn't? i thought we had a good conversation and they really seemed to like me, what went wrong? did i say something wrong? should i have told them i might be here longer or will they think im a slacker? should i really try again in informal or will i just be embarassing myself? is it, if they didnt like me then, why would they like me now, or was it a financial thing and they thought i was great but they had plenty of freshman to choose from and could only take a limited number of juniors? ill have even less time as an active than now so why would they still want me!?!

i couldnt control the fact that i transferred to my school and didn't join before. i started out at University of Florida and went through rush there but I had a feeling I wouldnt be staying all four years, so I dropped out of rush very early. In some ways, at least in a greek perspective, it was the worst thing I couldve done because ive always wanted to go greek and now it seems like it's too late. i'm a minority, and have checked out nphc, and multiculti orgs, but i still feel more attracted to npc because when i look to the members in them, they are more representative of my friends back home and the types of people i'm used to. i came from a very urban, diverse town where all kinds of people mix just fine for the most part and i come to my university and see a definite divide. no one here is blatantly racist and i really feel if more minorities rushed here, thered be more in the npc orgs, yet, i see people in my race shunning me for not hanging around with enough blacks, or on the other hand, some blacks or mixed blacks who won't look at me and who go on record as not liking blacks and automatically prejudge me.

it's really very rough because i have such an open mind and open heart but what's sad is that some people are so quick to prejudge. i felt very disheartened being cut by a lot of top houses simply because i was taking it as "wow, if they couldnt see me as their "type" or as their "sister", who would?". when i would talk to each girl in each house i always tried to envision which girls id normally gravitate towards, whether i knew they were greek or not, and thats what made my decision for which houses were tops on my list and to think that perhaps it wasnt reciprocated is really hard to swallow. But, at the same time, I can look at it in so many different ways, my class standing, being matched up with the wrong girl...it just leaves my mind in so much of a state of indecision and stress...it was all worth it, perhaps, but I still ask myself if, come this spring for informal recruitment if i should give it a shot or throw in the towel. it becomes hard to know when to say when when u dont even know where u stand...am i making sense?

It can be tough LeilaniMoon but....
 

... I would say that if you REALLY want to be greek bad enough, then do try for informal rush...and this time give ALL the sororities a fair chance....while I know that there can be some prejudgements made by the sororities simply because of your year in school or maybe even something else, but from the rush threads I recall reading -- yours included -- the rushees also make prejudgements about where they think they should go -- WPISweetie's rush thread is about to close but if you take a moment and read it all the way thru. you will see the transformation she underwent during her rush...admittedly her school seems to have one of the LONGEST rushes on record (and that can be a good thing I guess) but she really did try to do her best with keeping an open mind, and she did!
So all I can say is to YES try informal recruitment and if you will be around longer, you can find a way to work that unobtrusively into the conversation...but really really really give ALL the sororities who do informal rush a fair shake -- (check out WPISweetie's thought process around the time she got her bid and signed her pref card...) GOOD lUCK! and keep us all posted!
P.S. I rushed as a junior -- not even a transfer student either -- at Southern Cal -- so it CAN be done!!;)

my only thing about giving them all a fair shot is that the informal rush period tends to be a lot shorter, with all houses having their open houses around the same time and only maybe 2 sessions tops. oftentimes, too, i think how it goes is u go to the first one and then are INVITED to the second one, so if u miss the first one because u were at another party, too bad! most of the sororities on campus are pretty darn good. for me, it's not "xyz or nothing at all because i'll be a loser otherwise", no it's more about the general feeling i got in each house during formal rush because some that i didnt "feel" it in are considered THE BEST by some ppl i know and a few i really do like dont always garner a lot of respect from some people.

oh, yea, i dont know if i ever posted it on here, but when i first transferred to my uni back in january, i went to DG's spring informal in april and was not offered a bid but i really like the girls. should i rush them again or move on? i really don't want to waste people's time if they cut me for a reason, but i also don't want to sell myself short. that's what is so conflicting for me, is feeling comfortable being told "no" and knowing when to focus on something/somewhere else. btw, kudos to you on your successful rush at USC, i know it's competitive it is there and how big greek life is there.