<p>I’ll be attending Bama next fall as a freshman and I know that Bama is HUGE on greek life. I know the basic concepts of a sorority… That you’re kind of “selected” into one and do things with the girls in your sorority, but I don’t know much.</p>
<p>No one in my family has ever been in a sorority or a fraternity and they pretty much don’t know anything about them. My sister graduated from JMU in Virginia and said that they ones there were like “cliques” and it wasn’t as much as a big deal.</p>
<p>I’ve also heard that they’re very expensive and coming in as an OOS student already paying a lot of money for all the costs, I don’t know if I could even afford another large sum of fees for a group.</p>
<p>Based on what I do know, I’m actually really interested in trying it out, but I need someone that can really take the time and explain to me everything about it.</p>
<p>Here are some of the major questions I have:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>If I wanted to join a sorority at Alabama, should I be doing anything now or prepare to do something anytime soon? </p></li>
<li><p>I hear a lot of people talk about “letters of recommendation”, what are those and who do you get one from?</p></li>
<li><p>How much does the average sorority cost a year?</p></li>
<li><p>What do girls in sororities even do?</p></li>
<li><p>When is rushing/What do you do at rushing?</p></li>
<li><p>What is “bid day” and how do you get a “bid”?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I pretty much need to know everything because I am completely clueless and when girls talk about sororities infront of me, it’s like they’re speaking another language.</p>
<p>Have you browsed or searched the UA forum for sorority, recruitment, greek life, etc? Many of your questions are the same as some before you. Most of your concerns are addressed in posts by aphimommy. You can also search her name to read her informative posts.
Best of luck to you. You’ve taken the first step which is to speak up and ask lots of questions. Aphimommy also has a blog about Sorority life and everything that goes along with that. PM her for the blog address. She’ll be happy to share it with you!</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Try to attend Panehellenic weekend in March and work on letters of recommendation!</p></li>
<li><p>It is essential to get at least one letter of recommendation for EVERY sorority participating in formal recruitment at Alabama. This must be an alumni of the sorority, ie someone who has graduated and was in the sorority, but that person does NOT have to have attended UA. These are extremely important, as a lot of houses will cut you automatically after the first day if you do not have a letter of recommendation!</p></li>
<li><p>Dues vary from around $2,000 - $9,000 per year, depending on the sorority. You also have to factor in buying dresses for rush and other events, the Greek t-shirts that are very popular on campus, and a lot of other things that you will spend money on if you go greek.</p></li>
<li><p>If you rush during the fall, this is an example of the typical events for a week: Tuesday - Panhellenic speaker (all panhellenic sororities and fraternities go to the Ferg to listen to a speaker); Wednesday - chapter dinner and chapter meeting; Thursday - swap (a mixer for your sorority, usually at a fraternity house); Sunday - new member meeting. There will also be other events that aren’t weekly, like formals, philanthropy events, etc.
As you can see, this can all be really time-consuming. It calms down a bit after first semester because you no longer have Panhellenic speakers and you won’t have new member meetings once you’re initiated, but it is still a lot to keep up with on top of just adjusting to college and your classes.</p></li>
<li><p>Rush week is the week before classes start. You start out visiting every house briefly, and then each day you rank the houses in order of preference, and each day you will get a certain number of houses back (the ones that are interested in you). This week is hell for most girls, it might be the most stressful, difficult week of your life, but the overwhelming majority of girls believe that it’s worth it.</p></li>
<li><p>A bid is basically a sorority offering you a spot as a new member of their sorority. Bid day is at the end of rush week.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>There are several posts on this forum about Alabama sorority rush so I suggest you read them if you haven’t already</p>
<p>Then I recommend you go to greekchat.com and do a search for Alabama sorority rush and SEC recommendations and then read, read, read! There are multiple threads on that site regarding Alabama, rush, recs, costs, what goes on etc</p>
<p>That site has some of the most detailed info on how to go about getting recommendations, including: how to compile a resume, what to include in your info packet for alumnae, who to speak to, how to look for your local alumnae panhellenic</p>
<p>The alum on that site, and those of us here, will also repeatedly say: OPEN MIND, OPEN MIND, OPEN MIND. Read some recruitment stories on greekchat and you’ll see what we mean</p>
<p>I would also work on keeping your GPA as high as possible</p>
<p>I suggest you start by looking at the Alabama Panhellenic Association web page.</p>
<p>You will see links for a brochure called “Its all Greek To Me”, this gives info for Panhellenic Preview Day. Also on that page you can look at the Greek Chic publication. It goes over general information and recruitment week.</p>
<p>Don’t fret about being OOS. Over 50% of the girls are.</p>
<p>Recommendations are something you can be working on. They are letters from
past members who know you. There are 16 groups at UA and you should try to have 2 letters for each house.</p>
<p>blog.al.com and youtube have “Bid Day” videos posted from Bama and other schools. They will give you an idea of the how big envelope opening moment goes.</p>
<p>17 groups. These are NPC sororities that do the big fancy rush (except for one, which pledges at another time).
That does NOT include the Christian sorority and multi-cultural sororities (which do not have houses), or the NPHC (historically African American) sororities (which are, I believe, housed).</p>