Those fees sound really high, especially the high-end ones, which are probably for chapters in the huge, new, expensive houses, but they include a meal plan (the meal plan that all freshmen are required to have is $1715 a semester, and sorority members will not be paying that), and the live-in fees obviously include housing.
This can be googled. SMU:
I love the recruitment process at my Dās Southern LAC. Part of the reason they have such a high percentage of Greeks is that the system is very inclusive.
They rush second semester. Rush lasts slightly less than a week. Thereās not a lot of emphasis on dress. No recommendations are required because many of the sororities are local (the fraternities are mainly national with a few local). The girls are required to visit each house over the first two days. After that, they return to the houses THEY choose - the houses donāt cut them during the week. The last night, to be guaranteed a bid, they need to return to 4 houses. The girls preference the houses and then get their bids two days later.
Girls who donāt get their first or second choice sometimes drop and go back through upperclass Rush the following Fall. Itās unusual for a girl not to get her preferred house during upperclass Rush.
The houses have very different personalities and there seems to be a house to suit nearly everyone. A lot of girls who donāt fit the sorority girl stereotype (i.e. girls with green hair, nose rings, tattoos, LGBT, etc) find themselves in a sorority.
UT Austin Took me awhile to find it
Member Status/Semester Low Range High Range
New Member Fall Semester $1450.00 $2372.50
New Member Spring Semester $1231.80 $1921.00
Active Member Living In-House per Semester* $4385.00 $6118.75
Active Member Living Out-of-House per Semester $1185.70 $1635.00
Concerning Alabama, this school has seen incredible growth in enrollment in recent years as follows:
2015 - 37,000
2012 - 33,600
2008 - 28,000
2004 - 21,000
2000 - 19,000
With increasing enrollment, both sororities and fraternities have constructed new chapters. These tend to be large, luxury buildings with a high level of amenities, and they are very expensive to build. It is not surprising that sorority fees can be really high as the cost of the new buildings must be amortized and mortgages paid for.
And of course the value of that differs campus to campus. For example, for those who live out, a required meal plan at a Greek house may be great if the house is convenient / as convenient as the dorm cafeteria. But it may be a bad deal if the house is inconveniently located off campus / a schlep to get there so the student winds up missing the meals there or has to keep a meal plan at a āhomeā cafeteria.
Some systems require the live-outs to eat all their meals at the house; others require only a chapter dinner one night a week. The costs reflect that as well - another reason that it is very school-specific.
It took me a while, but I found this little blurb about costs of membership on the website at my daughterās campus. Iām not sure it clarifies much and probably just reiterates the YMMV caveats that have been suggested:
āCost also varies widely between each organization, though amounts can range between $0 and $700 a semester. Dues cover things like national insurance, leadership development, scholastic resources, and programming. Most fraternities and sororities offer chapter and national scholarships available to individuals with difficulty paying membership fees. Students are encouraged to ask questions about membership fees before joining an organization to understand the groupās cost structure.ā
Back in the day , my medium size university handed out a booklet to all girls going through rush which spelled out the cost of each. It was very important to me because I was on a limited budget. I lived in the house for one year (most girls lived in 1 or 2 years, some never did) and it was cheaper than room and board in the dorms. The food was a lot better, too.
EllieMom, I know a girl who is Greek at your Dās school. She is not at all the stereotypical sorority girl.
I much prefer second semester Rush. When students Rush at the beginning of school, theyāre likely to form fewer close friendships outside of their organization. Much of their time will be spent with the people in their house. With delayed Rush, especially when the Greek system is non-residential or only a limited number of members live in a house, thereās a greater tendency to form close friendships with members of other organizations and independents.
^Couldnāt agree more @overtheedge.
Question for the Greek experts. If a freshman decides not to rush, will there be another chance for him/her in sophomore year? I know every school is different, but what is typical?
Yes, but generally speaking itās harder to get in as a soph. Again the degree to which itās harder differs school by school.
Thanks for the explanation. You and Zinhead have both been very helpful. I have nothing against fraternities or sororities in general. I thought they were part of one larger organization with a group of clubs for women and another set for men, sort of like 4-H, I guess. 4-H groups can create their local club around whatever interests they want as long as they follow nationalās guidelines. So individual chapters are only as good as the people running them. I thought Greek houses were like that.
I actually didnāt think about the popularity of the houses at all. I wouldnāt know a popular sorority if I fell over it. Iām an introvert, so having to be āonā for 9 or 10 houses in a row would be a challenge. I picked houses based on how much of a mental break Iād have inbetween events. I assumed each would have a brief description of what sort of activities they sponsor, so girls who like outdoor events would ask to join a group that sponsors hikes, and girls who like to participate in service projects would ask to join a house that does a lot of that. But it doesnāt sound like thatās the way they work.
It sounds like rush involves rounds of parties where everybody gets introduced to everyone else and each side is supposed to pick based on what felt like a fit. So the difference isnāt in the activities they sponsor, itās just the individuals who make up the group? If thatās the case, Iām not getting why rush is so difficult. Are there so few spots that girls who pick based on where they felt comfortable wonāt get a bid, or is it that a lot of girls want spots at the same few houses?
Very similar to the college selection, girls get locked into ātop tierā houses and think anything but those houses is a failure.
āI assumed each would have a brief description of what sort of activities they sponsor, so girls who like outdoor events would ask to join a group that sponsors hikes, and girls who like to participate in service projects would ask to join a house that does a lot of that. But it doesnāt sound like thatās the way they work.ā
No. Because really, stripping it all away, on any given campus they pretty much do the same things. They hold mixers or exchanges with fraternities. They hold formals or other theme parties (barn dance, whatever). They do a philanthropy - each sorority has a national philanthropy (heart, blindness, etc). The makeup of these things may look different based on the campus (eg a campus near a big city might hold parties in a downtown hotel, which isnāt accessible to a rural campus; a southern campus might have pool or lake based activities that are inaccessible for northern canpuses). Itās the girls themselves who make the difference - but itās really not all that different. I hapoened to have gotten my first choice but I would have been equally happy with probably 8 of the 12 houses on my campus - I just would have made different friendships, thatās all.
And this is why the āhouse 1sā could be jocks on one campus, bookworms on another, socialites on a third. Or they could be super strong at college A and really weak at college B. So thatās why you donāt want to go in thinking āI want to be a member of house 1ā just because your mom or your best friend were. Glad this clears it up!
Pizzagirl has it exactly right. A sorority thatās top tier on one campus made up of the most conventiallly attractive and social girls might be the " nerd" house at another school and recruit based on a girls commitment to social activism. At Michigan, Chi Omega, a sorority whose national motto involves āChristian Idealsā, the pledge classes are often 90 percent Jewish.
ā¦ Which is why it is super frustrating on College Confidential that when the house 1s at College A do a bad thing or are portrayed a certain way, the houses 2-8 on the same campus get maligned, and/or the house 1s on other campuses. No oneās condoning bad things, but itās just nowhere near as centralized as people seem to think. The bleach blonde bubbleheads at College A could be the brainiac chapter at College B. How would each of them know?? I have no clue what my houseās reputation is elsewhere.
I read the first page of the thread and skipped right to the end, so I apologize if this question has been answered, but Iām hoping someone can explain something to me about all? most? many? some? sororities for which appearance is a factor in who gets accepted.
My understanding is that sororities are at least nominally designed to promote friendship and community and that one of the big selling points of Greek life is friends for life. What do looks have to do with it?
Over the course of my life the girls and the women I have known have varied in how pretty they are, how nice their figure is and how well they dress. And, of course, I can see the differences. But itās never been a factor in who Iām friends with. My friends are my friends because theyāre fun, interesting, smart, etc. I donāt want to sleep with them; I want to hang out with them. This was true in high school, in college and as an adult.
So Iām very curious to hear from people who belong to, want to belong to or generally support the idea of appearance being a factor in sorority rush. What on earth does appearance have to do with friendship?