<p>Hi! I recently visited the UA and fell in love! I was wondering what my chances were of being accepted into a sorority? I have a good GPA (4.07) but neither of my parents were involved in the Greek system… I know that Alabama has the best Greek life in the country so it is very competitive, so I was wondering what my chances were for being offered a bid? Thank you!!!</p>
<p>Hundreds of new members whose parents weren’t Greek, or didn’t even go to college, join every year. Your chances are very, very good! Start by reading through the Alabama Panhellenic website, uapanhellenic dot com, especially the recruitment pages. I also recommend www dot thesororitylife dot com, a website operated by the National Panhellenic Conference, which is a national umbrella organization for most of the sororities whose houses you saw. There are different types of fraternal Greek organizations, too - fraternities, multi-cultural groups, historically African American groups, Latino groups, even co-ed groups (none at Alabama, though). Reading through those two sites is a good start.</p>
<p>My D just went through recruitment. It’s brutal at UA. She also has no relatives who were Greek. My advice is to do whatever you must to attend the Panhellenic Preview Day. Start lining up recs early! You’ll want two per house. Read everything from the blog sororitygirl101. Contact the woman who writes the blog. Get your resume ready. Set up a meeting with your local UA Panhellenic assoc. Ask everyone you know for a rec. Teachers, church members, employers, etc.</p>
<p>@bigdaddy88 did she end up receiving a bid? I am in the same boat, having no relatives who were greek. I am really worried about rush even though it is a year away.</p>
<p>Typically, about 90% of girls are placed in a sorority. Most of the girls not placed are dropped because of low high school grades (below a 3.0), no recs, not interviewing well, or choosing to restrict their choice of houses. Girls are also dropped because of inappropriate social media postings (ie selfies with beer cans or tweets professing the love of only one sorority). The 10% not placed also includes those girls who choose to drop out because rush/sorority life style isn’t what they expected or wanted. The process can be nerve-wracking, but the majority of the girls end up happy. The bummer about having rush before school starts is that freshmen girls think they will have no social life if they don’t end up in the “right” sorority. As all us non-sorority moms know, college can be plenty fun without being Greek. At UA 75% of the students are not Greek. I’m pretty sure they manage to have a good time and rich social experiences during their time in T-town.</p>
<p>Thank you so much everyone!!! </p>
<p>@borog2015 Yes, she received a bid to a sorority that she loves. She described bid week as the most fun week she never wants to do again! Also, I find the numbers regarding Greek life a little off. This year approximately 2200 girls went through rush. If 90% of those girls received and accepted bids! then about 1980 freshman girls joined a sorority. The entire freshman class was about 6800 kids of which half or 3400 are girls. So doesn’t that mean that almost 60% of freshman woman are Greek? Where am I going wrong with my calculations? All I’m sure of is that Greek life is huge at Bama. </p>
<p>I think that when UA calculates the greek life percentages they are talking about greek life for not just freshman. I think that if UA displayed just the freshman class numbers, you would be right. UA probably calculates it that way because they don’t want freshman to think that they must go greek. </p>
<p>That’s probably true. My gut tells me that Greek life is growing at UA. Lots of OOS are coming to UA for the total experience which includes being part of the best Greek system in the world.</p>
<p>My son showed no interest in going Greek before arriving at UA this summer, but decided on his own to pledge a fraternity.</p>
<p>Although about 50% of current freshmen females are now Greek (based on stats that I have read in various places), not all of them will remain in sororities for the long term. Of course, many of them will. Also, I would love to know some ballpark figures for the guys. I’m guessing that maybe 30% of freshmen males are currently Greek. When UA mentions that 70-71% of the students are not Greek, that is most likely looking at the entire undergraduate population.</p>
<p>Yes! That is the entire student population. The percentage is higher for freshman women, but as you stated, some find that Greek life is not for them and they resign from their organization. It’s a fairly low percentage, though. </p>