<p>I am transferring to a university as a sophomore and am thinking about joining a sorority.
Is joining a sorority as a sophomore too late? And I am thinking about joining the sorority Alpha Xi Delta, but I do not know how the Xi is pronounced. Does anyone know?</p>
<p>Not a girl, but some general pointers from what I’ve found out from being heavily involved in Greek Life:</p>
<ul>
<li>Being a sophomore is not too late, but at the most competitive schools, this can put you at a very slight disadvantage as you’ll only have three years (as opposed to four) to contribute.</li>
<li>Keep an open mind about sororities; every chapter is different on every campus. If you’re going thru formal recruitment (usually in the fall), you will be required to check out every chapter while the list gets narrowed down as you go.</li>
<li>Xi is pronounced “zee” (as in “fuzzie” or the letter “z”)</li>
</ul>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Looking at your previous posts, you seem to have a low-ish GPA, which may hurt you during recruitment. What is your current GPA? Activities?</p>
<p>I wouldn’t try to join a specific chapter, you usually have to rush them all, unless you’re doing COB (you’d know if you were). Keep an open mind like others said, it is a mutual selection process meaning they can choose not to accept you.</p>
<p>Being a sophomore will hurt you at the top chapters at the very competitive schools, but other than that it shouldn’t be much of a problem.</p>
<p>My GPA is fine to join, psych. I have a 2.7 GPA, and the average GPA to join a sorority is between a 2.3 and 2.5.</p>
<p>^That seems low to me. I’m not in a sorority or anything, but I’ve heard that lot of sororities require you to have at least a 3.0 and prefer that you have something higher while rushing, but I guess every school is different.</p>
<p>Uh, no. I looked at your U’s website and 2.3 is the * minimum* to sign up for recruitment. Individual chapter and (inter)national policies may require higher GPAs. And anyway, the higher GPA, the better during recruitment–minimums or no. At most schools, a sub-3.0 GPA will raise eyebrows during recruitment. You may very well get a bid, but you may face some GPA-related cuts as well. Regardless, I wish you the best of luck!</p>
<p>^One nitpicky thing - there are no international policies because there aren’t any international sororities, it’s an American thing :)</p>
<p>There actually are international sororities, just to list some off the top of my head: Gamma Phi Beta, Delta Gamma, Delta Zeta. Having chapters in Canada makes it count.</p>
<p>GPhiB actually calls itself a sorority (instead of a women’s fraternity) too!</p>
<p>What excelblue said… my sorority has chapters in Canada and therefore is international. We also have alumni (this is correct, as my sorority does have one male member–now deceased) groups in the UK, FWIW.</p>
<p>To psych, uh no. A girl currently in a sorority got in touch with me through facebook, and when I asked her the process to joining a sorority, she mentioned that you need a 2.3 GPA to join, but the sorority that she’s in requires a 2.5. And as opposed to you looking on my universities website, (and how do you even know which college I’m going to?) my source of what my GPA should be is actually in a sorority.</p>
<p>Xi is pronounced zye, rhymes with eye.
NOT like zee.</p>
<p>Let me preface this by saying that I am talking about NPC sororities (which AXiD is a member of), not traditionally African American, Latino or Asian sororities. Most NPC sororities have a minimum gpa requirement. That being said, most sororities at most universities prefer a potential new member (pnm) to have a strong gpa, either in high school if a freshman, or in college for 2nd years and up. It DOES count, and you may face cuts due to your current gpa unless you have a blockbuster college resume (campus, philanthropic, etc. involvement). Maybe not to all sororities on your campus, but to some. In addition, if you go through formal recruitment, you will be required to visit all sororities-and then go through the recruitment process which not only gives you the opportunity to look at all the sororities to see if you would like to be a member, but it gives them a look at you, and to see if they want you as a member. They have to feel that you would fit in, you have to feel that you would want to fit in with that sorority. It is a mutual selection process. Don’t get hung up on one sorority, you might find that although you like their website/facebook page, you don’t “fit” with the group on your campus when you meet them in real life, and that there are other sororities that you like better. Or they might feel that way about you. Don’t set yourself up for heartbreak, and keep an open mind. Sorority recruitment is a totally different animal as compared to fraternity recruitment, where you can target and visit only a few fraternities during the process.</p>
<p>Joining a sorority as a sophomore is not that big of a deal. I go to a school with one of the most competitive recruitment processes in the country and all 19 NPC chapters take sophomores in their pledge classes. I think you should definitely go for it if you’re interested; at least rush and go through it and see if it’s something you’d want to do. You have nothing to lose! (except for some time, of course) </p>
<p>Also, be open minded during recruitment. Even though you may be interested in 1 sorority right now, keep your options open because you can end up falling in love with a completely different house.</p>
<p>LOL i am super curious as to the proper pronunciation of “Xi”. Is it possible that the two schools pronounce it differently? haha</p>
<p>^It could totally be like that. At my school there’s a chapter of Alpha Phi, which people pronounce “fee,” but then there’s also Alpha Epsilon Phi, which people pronounce “fye.” When I was rushing someone asked about it and all we got were shrugs and people saying that’s just the way it was.</p>
<p>As both a classics major and former fraternity president, i can tell you that the traditional pronunciation of chi, phi, psi, and xi all rhyme with “eee” however pretty much everyone bow pronounces them as though they rhyme with “eye”.</p>
<p>I always heard “Kai.”</p>
<p>From what I understand, it depends on whether the sorority/fraternity national organization prefers the original Greek pronunciation or the Anglicanized version, or might even use both. Alpha Phi is pronounced Alpha Fee, Alpha Xi Delta can be Alpha Zee Delta or Alpha Zai Delta. Chi Omega is always Kai Omega.</p>
<p>OP, your GPA may or may not be a deal-breaker at any individual sorority. However, a sorority is usually limited in the size of the pledge class it is allowed to take, and if your gpa is either very high or very low in comparison to other potential new members, it could make a difference. Most houses like to brag about their members’ average gpa when compared to other houses on campus, so a potential new member with a gpa likely to bring down the house gpa may not be favored unless she brings something otherwise special to the house. For example, is she a talented thespian, or varsity athlete or beauty queen (just loose examples).</p>
<p>If you bring something special to the table the house may be willing to overlook a marginal gpa.</p>