<p>So I am officially a member of the class of 2016, but I was wondering about sororities! My mom was in a sorority so I officially qualify as a legacy at a specific w&l sorority. But does this mean anything at w&l? And if it does, how do I let the sorority know that I am a legacy?</p>
<p>Your mom should log on to her national/international sorority website (have her call their HQ if she’s never done this and they can help her). She should download the official legacy introduction/recommendation form, which she can fill out for you. Then she should send it to her chapter at W&L when school starts this fall. She could also send it now, but I’d just be sure to do it when school is in session so it doesn’t go astray over the summer. </p>
<p>I don’t know which sorority you mother is in, but there may be two separate forms…one that is a simple/short legacy introduction form, and one that is a longer, more involved recommendation form. Or, they may be combined. Have her send a senior picture along the form, and perhaps a resume. </p>
<p>It’s fairly standard NPC practice that legacies will be invited back for the first invitational round, at the minimum (in other words, the second set of parties). Some sororities end the courtesy at that stage, and leave it to the chapter to decide whether to continue inviting the legacy back. Every sorority has a policy on this at the national/international level…but generally, membership selection is private and you may not be able to determine this if you are not a member. Your mother should be able to determine what her sorority’s policy is toward legacies. </p>
<p>Regardless, I would not recommend having your mother “pester” her W&L chapter. Sending the rec. form/legacy intro. form will alert them to your status. Ultimately, you stand on your own merits in making a good impression and building friendships, especially with deferred recruitment in January. Also, keep an open mind. My daughter will be a first-year at W&L this fall, too, but my sorority does not have a chapter on campus. I am sad that she won’t have a chance to be my sister, but in some ways that takes the legacy pressure off and will enable her to (hopefully) find a sorority where she feels at home! </p>
<p>That being said, it would be great if anyone could chime in with any W&L specific recruitment advice, suggestions, etc.!</p>
<p>yeah I checked out the website and those forms are all there! I was just wondering if there was anything specific that w&l did or if the process was a little different because it is such a small school? I wouldn’t want to seem presumptuous/ offend anyone</p>
<p>I graduated about three years ago, but as of then, there’s really nothing that you should specifically do. The sororities (all of them) will know you’re a legacy and where. If anyone (esp. from one of the non-legacy sororities) mentions anything, say something along the lines of, “Yeah, my mom’s an XYZ, but I want to make my own decision” or something.</p>
<p>Legacies at W&L don’t carry a ton of weight. It can help, but I would say at least half of all legacies pledge somewhere else (can’t say if that’s their choice or the sorority’s–obviously it’s a case-by-case thing).</p>
<p>Your best bet is to get to know as many girls in as many sororities as you can, and keep an open mind! And have fun, because Fall term freshman year is a blast!</p>
<p>If you are a legacy, people (everyone) will know. Just mention it at any party during o-week and you will be garnered with attention, especially from the boys, as long as it’s not chi o or pi phi then you’re fine.</p>
<p>Boys couldn’t care less about sorority legacies.</p>
<p>britta852,
There’s really no reason for you to go out of your way to bash chi o or pi phi either. I can think of plenty of chi o’s who garner attention from guys and I’m 100% sure that it’s not because of the sorority their mom was in.</p>
<p>Seconded. As someone who no longer goes to this school or would have received a bid at either sorority (if looking of anonymity, refrain from using your actual name in your username), please keep your incorrect opinions of the greek system to yourself.</p>
<p>Class of 2015</p>
<p>kaleighd94,
I’m also a member of the class of 2015, and am in a sorority. sciencewoman is definitely giving you good advice about the process of letting the sororities know about your legacy status. That part is up to your mom (although if you ever get a form during recruitment that asks about legacies, make sure to include it there, too). beautyistruth 's advice is great, too. </p>
<p>Don’t worry too much about legacy status. It more or less means that if the sorority your mother was in is represented on campus, that sorority will know your name sooner. However, this doesn’t mean that you will not be rushed by other sororities, nor does it mean that your friends who are not legacies anywhere are at a disadvantage. I personally had zero legacies in my family and still had a great experience with rush. </p>
<p>The best advice I can give you, based on my own experience and based on watching others’ is to be modest and friendly through the entire process. Even though it may be appropriate at bigger schools, I would strongly advise against ever saying “I really love XYZ sorority” even if you do. During fall semester especially, girls (and sometimes boys, too) are paying close attention to your behavior. As long as you are a nice person this is nothing to worry about. Be enthusiastic about all of the sororities and go on rush dates with all of them. </p>
<p>I know previous posters have addressed this, but just to back them up, I disagree with britta852’s advice. I think most sorority members at W&L would tell you that this is not true. You might receive attention from name dropping, but it is not the kind of attention you want to attract. Contrary to britta852’s suggestion, everyone at W&L knows that sororities vary from school to school, so no sorority legacy is going to influence anyone’s opinion of you, no matter where that may be. People will get to know you during freshman fall based on what you have to offer as a person. I didn’t even know until after rush who in my pledge class was a legacy. Boys most definitely do not care about this. Focus on what a great experience freshman fall is, and don’t be too apprehensive about rush.</p>
<p>Based on your question though, it sounds like you are already thinking the right way about rush (making sure you don’t step on anyone’s toes or come across as arrogant)–good luck!</p>
<p>lexisthebest,
My daughter heads to W&L in the fall and the SEC girls around here are in the packet stuffing, rec requesting mode. WHEN does she need to send recs to W&L sororities? The sorority websites haven’t been updated, so she doesn’t know the rush chairmen for each. If they are sent this summer will they be lost in the shuffle? Should she wait and send packets to alums in September? Someone suggested to go ahead now so the girls will have her info as soon as they arrive back at school. Others have said to wait. We would love to hear, from a sorority girl, the right thing to do!</p>
<p>jwb123,
As an incoming sophomore, I haven’t yet taken part in recruitment as a rusher as opposed to a rushee, so my advice here is just based on my impressions and what my experience has been so far. I just sent my sorority’s rush chair an email asking about this, so I can give you better info. That being said, I sent in my recs all through the fall, some as late as Thanksgiving. Some girls send theirs much earlier. Nothing that I’ve heard about this process suggests that there is a magic formula with timing. Recs are given less emphasis at W&L than they may be at SEC schools. At SEC schools, and other very big schools, recs are essential to help sororities sort through hundreds of girls. Luckily, at W&L, in any given year, there are only around 200 freshmen girls going through rush. I believe that this is a real advantage for any girl, because numbers-wise, every sorority has the time to get to know lots of girls based on their personalities through rush dates rather than who they know (having rush second semester is great for this reason, too). If you have the recs ready, I would go ahead and send them, especially if she is a legacy of some sort-- because the chapters really want to be aware of legacies. To the best of my knowledge, you shouldn’t worry about them getting “lost in the shuffle.” As far as informal recruitment in the fall is concerned, if your daughter knows any current sorority members at W&L (girls from her high school, camp, or home town; family friends; older sisters of friends; etc.), they have very likely already placed her on their informal rush lists, which means that she may have rush dates earlier in the fall than girls going to W&L as freshmen who don’t have any acquaintances that are already in sororities there. On the other hand, if she doesn’t know anyone, this is nothing to worry about. She may not have a rush date the very first week that informal rush gets going, but this is nothing to worry about! She has an entire semester to get to know the sororities before formal recruitment in January.</p>
<p>Right now, we’re going through a transition with who will oversee recruitment. Clay Coleman is the Head of Greek Life. His contact info should be easy to find on the W&L website, and he’ll be able to tell you who to send your daughter’s recs to.<br>
Sorry if that was a little more than you were looking for, but in summary, I’ll say this in case it’s helpful: I know more than a few girls who had a very, successful rush experience who didn’t submit a single rec. I also know girls whose mothers kind of went about things the more SEC-typical way and had everyone they possibly knew writing letters from the moment their daughter got in, and that didn’t seem to help or hurt them. The most important thing is to make a good impression in person. </p>
<p>Best of luck to your daughter this fall! Freshman year is a blast. Let me know if you have any more questions!</p>
<p>My daughter went through rush at w&l as a legacy. She was cut after the 2nd night. She really did not know anyone well in that sorority but was very upset about being cut. She later found out that because there were so many legacies that year for that sorority they decided to take only legacies who had a sister who was in the sorority at w&l. This is actually not following national policy. She did end up pledging another sorority. She did have recs. for all the sororities. These things do not matter at that school. They pledge who they want and it is usually friend groups which is different from other big schools. The “top” sororities know who they want before formal rush. I feel that formal rush is a joke and they should give out bids at the end of the fall term and save the rushees all the additional stress. The greek system is very different than the big school. Some how every girl will get a bid to a sorority which is not the norm. They will get a bid to a “lower” sorority and then they can decide if this is for them. It is almost a must to pledge for a social life. There is a strong attitude of superiority for the girls in the “top” sorority. They will have nothing to do with girls from other sororities and frats will not associate with girls from certain sororities. This is how it really is and it is sad because the school is excellent from an academic standpoint. My daughter has only a year and a half left and she is looking forward to getting away from this social structure. If anyone else says other wise about the greek life at w&l they are not telling the truth because everyone knows it is the truth. Hope this helps.</p>
<p>Someone is clearly bitter.</p>
<p>…but yes, there is a social hierarchy for fraternities and sororities. Some students start rush at the top and get cut until they land as high up on the ladder as they can. Some students are smarter and aim for the best fit. </p>
<p>Thing is, if you go into it as a girl demanding to be in one of the top two sororities or as a guy demanding to be in the big three (well, the idea of the big three is dead as Kappa Sig is no Phi Kapp, but same gist) then you are incredibly shortsighted and are going to have a bad time. One way or another there is a niche in the social scene that you’ll be a part of.</p>
<p>No, not bitter. Just telling the truth and trying to prepare people for what to expect so they are not unhappy. Sounds like you know exactly what I am referring to in repsect to how people are treated based on which sorority or frat one decides to pledge! It would be nice if at some point someone would have the maturity to address some of these issues. But I am sure most will continue to ignore it and go on with things as usual.</p>
<p>Happygolucky001, regardless of what you say, what you’ve posted here demonstrates some degree of bitterness. What is truly sad is that you give the impression in your posts that your daughter was somehow entitled to a bid from your sorority simply because she was a legacy. Maybe if you didn’t instill some warped sense of entitlement in your daughter she would have had a better experience. What issues do you feel need to be addressed, exactly? That your daughter didn’t get a bid to the sorority she wanted and that somehow demonstrates some huge injustice? Seems to me the only problem here is that someone with the mindset of a shallow teenager raised a daughter, who surprise surprise, has a shallow teenager’s mindset.
Kaleighd94, the truth is, like other schools of similar size, there will be a social hierarchy that kids like happygolucky001’s daughter will buy into and allow to negatively impact their entire college experience when things don’t go the way they wanted. WLU2013 has provided sound advice, aim for where you fit best. What’s the point of being in the “best” fraternity or sorority if it’s not a good fit?</p>
<p>hi! so i am applying to w&l next year and am interested in rushing. my mother and grandmother were in different sororities, and both of these sororities are present at washington and lee. i am just wondering if a legacy through your grandmother is as meaningful and will get you as far as a legacy through your mother. (i know from this thread that legacies do not at all guarantee a bid)</p>
<p>justwondering, most sororities define a legacy as a daughter, granddaughter, or sister of a member. Since W&L did not accept women until 1985, there are few (if any) current students whose mothers are W&L alumnae, and since Lexington is a small town, there are not lots of local alumnae. Add to those factors the prevalence of Greek affiliation (75-80% of W&L women are Greek, many of whom would have been unlikely to rush at other schools), and the result is that sorority recruitment and life at W&L are somewhat different than Greek life at other schools. While no one is ever guaranteed a bid, legacy or not, I have not heard of an instance where a girl who behaved herself during the fall semester, had a decent GPA, and maximized her options during rush did not wind up with a bid. </p>
<p>My sense is that legacy status at W&L does not determine your affiliation the way it seems to at some of the SEC schools. As a legacy, you would be extended the courtesy of an invitation to the second night of recruitment, but it is not a fait accompli that you will affiliate with the legacy chapter. The legacy chapters, along with any other chapters that receive recs on your behalf, will certainly be looking for you. January recruitment means that you will have had the fall semester to get to know upperclasswomen and go on informal rush dates, and you should accept as many invitations as your schedule permits (some sororities are more intentional about rush dates than others, but any time a PNM is invited on a rush date, she will be encouraged to bring a friend). Keep an open mind, because a sorority at your home state university may be very different from their chapter at W&L, and you may find your best fit in a house that is not one of your legacies.</p>
<p>While recs and letters of support are not required at W&L, they never hurt, especially if you are from a state like Alabama, Mississippi, Texas, Georgia, etc. where recs are the norm. (W&L sororities may wonder about you if you don’t have them.) Since there are only six sororities at W&L, it is seldom difficult to find someone you know who is an alumna of each (and you already are 1/3 there with your mom & grandmother!).</p>