<p>hi! i’m a high school senior and i’m trying to decide what college i want to attend next year; one of the factors in my decision-making is the school’s greek life. i love the idea of being in a sorority and becoming best friends with the other sisters and going to all the events and everything. i was wondering if there was anyone who was experienced with or knowledgeable about the recruitment process and greek life in general that could help me get a feel for greek life at UA. some of my questions include:
-how difficult is it for a girl from the northeast to get a bid?
what is the social scene like?
-is the partying out of control or are there some sororities with a good balance of socializing and other activities (philanthropy, etc.)?
-is there a wide range of interests between the sororities (as in, do all of the sororities basically act the same but have different letters, or are they varied?)?
i know these are very vague questions, but being from the north i know almost nothing about greek life in the south! i’m very interested in participating, but i want to get an idea of what i’m getting into before i sign up. i would deeply appreciate any and all information and opinions!
please feel free to message me or answer right on this thread. thank you!!!</p>
<p>also, does anyone know about the panhellenic preview day for 2011? i know it’s on march 26th but am i still able to register for it/how do i register?</p>
<p>I believe the registration for the Panhellenic Preview Day has not begun. It should be on the Panhellenic website when it is ready. My D went to the weekend last year and I don’t think she registered until February.</p>
<p>One of the most important things for any girl going through a competitive recruitment is that you have your recommendations in order for each sorority. There is information about the recommendation requirements on the panhellenic website. If you do not have a recommendation for a particular group, don’t be surprised if you are not invited back to their house after the first round. </p>
<p>Partying is not out of control. There are many girls who are active in Greek life who do not drink at all. Most houses put a heavy emphasis on scholarship, philanthrophy and campus involvement. There are parties and maybe a few people who are out of control - but not much different than you would expect on a college campus. </p>
<p>The chapters at UA are huge and have c.200 girls in them with pledge classes of 80 - 100 each fall. They all do homecoming, intra murals, mixers, philanthropy, study halls, retreats etc etc etc… focus on getting to know the girls in the houses at Panhellenic Preview and during rush and keep an open mind. You will hear lots of tent talk, esp from girls who are from AL or nearby states, about ‘old row’ blah, but you need to ignore it. One, being from OOS, you are less likely to get a bid from an ‘old row’ house because these houses typically already know a LOT of girls from the current sisters’ high schools and hometowns (and would you even want to be with a load of girls who all talk about spring break and prom back in HS and reference people that you don’t know, rather than being in a more mixed group?) And secondly, and more importantly, with chapters that large that all do the same thing, you are bound to find a group within your pledge class that you like and get on well with. Even if some in your pledge class are big partiers or bible studiers, not all of the 80-odd new members will be like that. </p>
<p>You can maximise your chances of a bid by doing the following:-
Get recs for ALL the houses - not having a rec is an easy first round cut
Make sure your HS GPA meets the minimum for each house. Panhellenic will set a minimum to rush, but each house will have it’s own minimum. Not meeting this is again an easy cut. Minimums are 3.0-3.3 depending on the house
focus on improving your resume to include all your extra curriculars, sports, volunteer stuff
if you are shy or have trouble making an instant first impression, maybe practice convos with parents or close friends, e.g. asking open questions, not answering a question Y/N, talking about what you did in the summer, your sport, etc
make sure you follow the dress guidelines - most girls wear dresses/skirts/tops for each round except philanthropy where a panehellenic tshirt is worn with shorts. Practice hair and make up so you can look your best, bearing in mind you will have very long days in very very hot/humid weather
be interested in each house, friendly, open etc. The behavior from PNMs that made me not want to invite them back typically centered on them acting uninterested in my house or sorority life in general. Maybe they were shy? When you have a 15 minute first round conversation timeframe, there is no chance to investigate this, which is why point (4) is really important
Stay in recruitment all the way through even if you don’t like your invites back to each round. You may change your mind. You don’t have to turn in your pref card, you don’t have to accept your bid and you don’t have to initiate. But I would advise that you do go through the new member period of the house that bids you
Freshman formal recruitment is the BEST chance of getting a bid. Your chances decrease considerably after this. Therefore, don’t drop out even if you don’t get your favourites back
Delta Gamma are colonising this fall and this is likely to take place after formal recruitment ends. If you don’t get a bid, this could be an option for you, but remember that this is a different process and experience from joining an established chapter</p>
<p>Oh, and clear up your facebook profile, twitter, blog etc. Put it on private and have a nice profile picture of yourself. Actives will be looking!</p>
<p>wow thank you so much! that’s so much good information, i really appreciate it!
i’m pretty sure i want to rush, it’s just nice to hear some feedback from people that are actually involved.
soccergirl, thanks so much for the list! it doesn’t seem to ridiculous for me to meet most if not all of the items you mentioned…
i’m worried about one thing though: i will be a member of the university honors program at alabama, and during the week of recruitment, there’s also alabama action. i know some people have done both alabama action and recruitment, but it doesn’t seem to realistic to do both. since i’m from so far away (northeast), i’m counting on either alabama action or recruitment to make some friends before classes start. however, i’m afraid that if i don’t get a bid, that i will start off the year rough because i won’t have a sorority to fall back on, but i won’t have made friends with some of the honors students at alabama action. i would rather go through a successful recruitment than do alabama action, but at the same time i don’t want to have an uneasy start in such an unfamiliar place.
i know that no one can guarantee that i will get a bid, but it would be nice to know some of your opinions!
some things to consider:
my GPA is definitely sound. i’m not super outgoing, but i have no problem looking interested or engaged and am easy to talk to. my resume is decent i think; i’m involved with sports, art, music, and i volunteer every week. i’m working on getting recommendations for every single sorority if possible. and i am totally open to the idea of joining delta gamma if recruitment doesn’t work out for me.</p>
<p>thanks a million to anyone that has taken the time to read and respond to my post! i can’t tell you how much it helps :)</p>
<p>AES I think SoccerGirlNYC gave you some sound advice.</p>
<p>My D did both Alabama Action and Recruitment in 2009, she is a current sophomore.</p>
<p>She loved both programs! And it was a long crazy and hot week!</p>
<p>I would confirm with Greek Life that it is still possible to do both programs at once!</p>
<p>She loved AA, she has always tutored at home so this was right up her alley. She is still friends and in contact with members of her team. It is a great way to start at UA!</p>
<p>As a member of Alabama or Outdoor Action the Greek Life office held a reception for the Recruitment Chairs to meet her (she was the only person rushing and doing AA).</p>
<p>During the breaks of AA she would rush over change clothes and try to fit in a few houses.
It was difficult, but she kept an open mind and really liked many of the houses on campus.</p>
<p>The end of AA was when final parties started so D really got a good look at the houses she was still invited to and her potential pledge sisters. She has enjoyed every aspect of being Greek. She has pledge sisters from accross the US. It was a great way to meet people since we are from OOS and knew no one.</p>
<p>So you have a few decisions to make. They are all good!
But because recruitment is more difficult as a sophomore I might lean towards recruitment if you don’t want to try doing both programs at once.</p>
<p>Could you swing AA Costa Rica? We have heard that is a great program!
That would be in the spring!</p>
<p>I agree with Omama that you should really rush as a freshman - this is your best chance. I think it is up to you whether you do AA and Rush in the same week, if Panhellenic offer this option. Rush is exhausting both physically and emotionally and I can’t imagine doing this and AA at the same time - kudos to Omama’s daughter! Also bear in mind that some houses will cut you for not attending the normal first round parties. I know this isn’t fair, but some houses will need to cut large numbers of girls after the first/second rounds and not attending the regular parties can make this easy for them. Omama will have more info on this from her daughter’s perspective. </p>
<p>I assume you are in Honors housing and not Tutweiler? In that case you will have roommates/suitemates etc from the Honors Program and of course, you can spend time with them in the evenings. Lots of Honors girls will be rushing too. But the benefit of not being in Tut means you should get a bit of respite from all the craziness of Tut during rush</p>
<p>There are lots of Honors activities and chances for you to make friends, as well as rush, so my advice would be to go through recruitment. If you can do both, then think about whether you can manage both physically and emotionally and understand that it could limit your options with some houses.</p>
<p>wow! doing alabama action AND rush seems intense, it’s awesome your daughter could do that!! personally, i don’t think i’d do well under that much stress, so i think i’ll probably stick to one or the other.
yeah, i want to live in honors housing even though tutweiler is the dorm sorority girls prefer. i’m going to try and possibly find some suitemates that want to rush too so we would have that in common. oh, i didn’t even think of that-it will probably be good for my mental sanity to be able to get away from the craziness at night and stuff. thanks!
yeah, i definitely do NOT want to limit my house options!!! i want to do everything i can to maximize my chances of getting a bid if i decide to rush.
thank you everyone so much! i can’t tell you how much all of your advice is helping me!!</p>
<p>You have lots of great advice from everyone who has posted. My daughter went through recruitment at Bama last fall (2010) pledged a house and is very happy. The process was exciting, exhausting, stressful but all in all a great experience. The sororities are large at Bama …most of them have over 200 girls with pledge class of 85 or more. That being said I am sure that you will find the house that best fits you and will make lifelong friends in your sisters. My daughter began this journey a year ago…getting her resumes, recs and attending Preview Weekend. She was a legacy to two houses but at Bama that just gets you back to the second round of parties. I can’t begin to tell you how important recs are! For many houses if you do not have a rec on file you will be dropped after the first round of parties. My daughter said to tell you not to worry about being from out of state especially if you are smart and have good grades. I am happy to tell you all about Preview weekend, the different activities that the house s do, what recruitment was like and bid day. It was so exciting and fun and I am very lucky that my daughter and I are quite close and so we enjoyed the ride together. Interestingly her views of the different houses changed as she went through the process. The houses she loved at the end of Preview Weekend were not the same ones she loved at the beginning of recruitment and she surprised us all at the end with the choice she made (lets just say she did not go with either of the legacy houses which was fine but she had said she had wanted one of them right up to preference day). She loves her house and is on exec for next year…already planning for recruitment (the first teas are actually this weekend!) So Tell me what you want to hear about…am happy to share all that I know. If you have questions about recommendation packets, resumes, head shots, move in preview weekend ask away. Good Luck!</p>
<p>I think that it is beneficial to attend if you can. Attending does not guarantee you a bid to any of the houses but what it does do is give you lots of information about the process of recruitment. Saturday of Preview is busy and fun. You will sign in at Bryant Denney Stadium. You will have the opportunity to buy a t shirt (last year there were two…we bought both)…hint…the girls at Bama wear their shirts over sized so buy the shirt a size bigger than you normally do…that with a pair of Nike running shorts is what a lot of the girls wear a lot of the time. The houses will have “brag” tables set up where you can walk around and see pics of the activities they participate in, their philanthropy, t shirts for swaps, zap books and there are 4 to 5 girls there to meet and greet. In addition they will have some sort of take away paper that will tell a little about them as well as the financial obligation. There will be a general meeting for parents and daughters. Lots more info as well as a fashion show about what to and not to wear for recruitment. Girls then are taken and split into Rho Chi groups (this is done alphabetically) and off you go to visit each house for a brief 10 minutes! Parents stay back and get more info as well as a question and answer session. When the parents are done they can go meet their daughters on sorority row. Last year the girls were still visiting houses and so we parents got to watch that process. It was fun to watch the different groups of girls and to try to find my daughter. When we finally connected back there was a big barbecue at the back of sorority row for everyone. It was a lot of fun!!! My daughter was so excited and met several girls whom she met back up with during recruitment so if you can go go…if you have more questions let me know. My daughter loves her house and even though we are 12 hours away I have been to T-Town several time this past fall for football and fun. It is a great environment. My daughter is very involved in Greek Life and so I am able to answer most questions you have about recruitment, recs, move in, ect…ask away. We were just chatting thismorning that this time last year we were in full recruitment hoo haw…up to our ears in rec letter preparation. What fun. If you do decide to go book a hote room soon…they tend to fill up fast.</p>
<p>My daughter and I are flying to Huntsville (flights more reasonable and we will get to see more of Alabama ) then driving to Bama for the weekend. We are from PA. And daughter will also be in the Honors College. Looking forward to it!</p>
<p>The drive from HSV to T-town is not bad at all…just I565 west to I65 South…and then I20 west…then exit at McFarland Blvd and go north… then take the University Blvd exit. It takes about 2 1/2 hours.</p>
<p>If you need any restaurant recommendations, let us know. </p>