<p>there are many different scenarios that can play out. pretty much anything can happen.</p>
<p>“some stay in til the end and drop out at the last minute. those girls just go thru to make new friends”</p>
<p>could be true in some cases, but, i am quite sure, not all.</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>True…</p>
<p>some “suicide” and some don’t get their choices.</p>
<p>The houses just don’t have room to accept everyone. I feel for the girls who don’t get bids, but it’s mostly a numbers thing.</p>
<p>Panhellenic rush exists to give women the chance to join A sorority. It isn’t in the position to enable you to join a ‘top tier’ or whatever group. This is what leads to the fairly high drop out rate, including the ‘suicides’ after pref round. </p>
<p>Your chances of getting A bid increase greatly if:</p>
<ul>
<li>you have recommendations to all the houses (advice on doing so was provided on the UA panhellenic website)</li>
<li>you have AT LEAST the minimim grades for each house (these were listed in the rush booklet provided to all PNMs)</li>
<li>you have prior connections to some girls in the houses, either through high school/camp/ECs or if impossible because you’re OOS, Panhellenic Preview Weekend</li>
<li>you have experience and evidence of community service, athletics, honors, other ECs. i.e. you like joining in and being part of a group and contributing something</li>
<li>you are able to hold enthusiastic conversations with just about anyone, even if you’re tired/bored/hungry/whatever</li>
<li>you have taken the time and effort to dress appropriately, do your hair/nails etc</li>
<li>you keep an OPEN MIND about ALL the houses and don’t listen to rumor. Especially at Bama where houses are 200+ girls and there are 80-100 in each pledge class. When girls say ‘I didn’t feel a connection’, I am slightly suspicious because there are so many people in those houses, that there are bound to be all kinds of types of characters that she hasn’t met yet.</li>
<li>If you get a bid and you’re still not sure, I suggest going through the New Member period and getting to know the other girls better. If you are still not sure, then you can always drop before initiation. At Bama, unless you are super well connected, almost the ONLY time you can get a bid is through freshman formal recruitment. I know they have an upperclassman quota, but the houses don’t have to use it, and it is only 5 girls vs 80+ for freshmen.</li>
</ul>
<p>I think in 2009, about 50% of those who got bids were OOS so this is no longer the disadvantage it might have been in the past. I am sure that there are houses that take more OOS girls and vice versa, but a casual look at this year’s bid list will show girls from Wisconsin, Maryland, Conneticut, New Jersey etc etc getting bids at a range of houses.</p>
<p>Now, there was a spreadsheet on greekchat that had the numbers who withdrew and who were released at each round of rush in 2009 - I will return when I have found it!</p>
<p>yay - found it, in fact it was posted in response to a question by Mikewozowski on that site, so apols if you’ve already seen this:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.greeklife.ua.edu/docs/Fal...%20revised.pdf[/url]”>http://www.greeklife.ua.edu/docs/Fal...%20revised.pdf</a> </p>
<p>note that the numbers ‘released’ i.e. had no invites back whatsoever after fairly small and I can guarrantee you that a large proportion of those will be the girls that didn’t meet minimum grades or hadn’t got a rec for that house.</p>
<p>it is the much higher numbers of women who withdrew that is the concern. Some of these might well have decided that sororities were all mental and it wasn’t for them, but I bet you a good proportion dropped because their favourite houses dropped them. So rather than staying in the process and giving every house a chance they withdrew. </p>
<p>Like I said above, with 200+ members, you are bound to find a group that you get on well with and I think OOS girls often do well as they ignore all the tripe about reputations and tiers and Old Row this and that…blah… and just get on with it.</p>
<p>That’s usually what happens - a girl drops out because she thinks the sororities inviting her back are “below” her…which is stupid, because all the groups have members whoa re campus leaders and excellent students…and every group has some who, shall we say, pay too much attention to the party scene.</p>
<p>Another reason rushees are dropped is grades. The posted minimum grade may be a 3.0, but in reality, for instance, the sorority chapter is looking for girls with a 3.5 or higher. </p>
<p>All that said…after recruitment is over, girls in almost all the groups resign for one reason or another. Those spaces are usually filled by friends of sorority members. It wouldn’t hurt to register for “continuous open bidding” at the Greek Life office. </p>
<p>And a new group, Delta Gamma, will recolonize its Alabama chapter in Fall 2011. Another new group may be brought on a year or two after that.</p>
<p>Southlander: can you explain Continuous open bidding? I’ve never heard that term before.</p>
<p>Hi RobD,
COB is what we called open rush many years ago. The sororities that are under house total can extend bids to girls outside of the formal recruitment activities. If UA does this it probably won’t be until spring, and even then only a few houses will be able to participate. So many houses gave extra bids last week to get their numbers up, that there won’t be many spots in the spring. The PNM will need to register with the Panhellenic/Greek Life office, and the houses interested in meeting her will extend invitations to informal events. It helps to know girls in the house who can invite you.</p>
<p>Delta Gamma’s colony is highly anticipated next fall. Especially by me, since I’m a DG!!
It’s too late for my DD, but she found her home at AXO. DG nationals and surrounding chapters will do a great job of recruiting , and I anticipate a great pledge class. But then I’m biased :)</p>
<p>catfan</p>
<p>I’ve tried the two different links and the pages are expired. Looking for list of girls who were offered bids to the different houses. We are OOS, and are looking to see where local girls may have gotten in. Will the girls be listed by hometown?</p>
<p>[University</a> of Alabama News UA Sorority Pledges Announced](<a href=“http://uanews.ua.edu/2010/08/ua-sorority-pledges-announced-11/]University”>http://uanews.ua.edu/2010/08/ua-sorority-pledges-announced-11/)</p>
<p>Thanks so much for the link. We met a lot of girls at our send off party who were going up for rush, and we were excited to see many of their names on the lists. So happy for them!</p>