<p>D is a freshman and considering going through rush. She's not set on it (sees pros and cons) but is intrigued. I have been encouraging her to at least go through it to see what it's all about, but I have some questions I was hoping someone could help me with.</p>
<p>First, how much time does it take to be in a sorority at Elon? She has several other activities that she's more excited about than Greek life, and I'd hate to see her get squeezed out of those.</p>
<p>Second, how influential are grades in getting a bid? How about wealth or lack therof? </p>
<p>Third, is there a lot of pressure to conform once you're in (e.g. "we wear pink on Wednesdays" (speaking figuratively here), or "we don't date guys from x fraternity")? </p>
<p>Fourth, she's very outgoing, fun and social and loves meeting new people but doesn't drink. She goes to parties sometimes to hang out with friends but comes home once everyone is wasted. She also really tries to stay away from drama. Is Greek life a good match for someone like her?</p>
<p>Funny that my freshman D just went through the same decision making process. She is active in so many other areas (tennis club, soccer club, hillel, sierra club) that she decided to avoid the additional activities that come with greek life. </p>
<p>We encouraged her to rush since her best friend is interested, but she just informed us that she decided against rushing herself.</p>
<p>My daughter came into Elon absolutely sure she wanted to join a sorority, but decided that she doesn’t want to, after all. Part of it is that her studies take a lot of time (as do everyone else’s, too!) but most if it is the heavy partying/drinking culture she has seen at some frat parties she has attended. Like supruwoman’s D, mine isn’t thrilled with being one of the only non “wasted” people at parties, and doesn’t like being put in the role of being the “mom” to friends who get trashed. I think that, for her, she has made a good decision.</p>
<p>Being from the North, I never expected to rush but because such a large percentage of girls rush at Elon (70% i believe) I decided to try it out. I ended up joining a sorority and discovered that the commitment is really whatever you want it to be. There are girls in every sorority who have dedicated their entire 4 years at Elon to their organization and then there are girls like me who only go to the social events. Last year i was a Pi Chi, which is a recruitment counselor for the freshman girls going through rush. I learned through that experience that every sorority is different and that there’s no way to judge until you’ve spent recruitment week getting to know the girls. Of course there are some sororities that fit the stereotypes that you mentioned, but in the end the decision is up to her and she should be able to get a sense of the type of people in each after a week of getting to know them better. Also if she ends up getting a bid, but decides during the pledging process that Greek Life isn’t for her then she can always drop out. As for the drinking issue that you mentioned, it totally differs between each sorority. She may feel out of place not drinking in some organizations where as others may encourage it.</p>
<p>1) The amount of time is pretty much whatever you want it to be after pledging is over, and even pledging wasn’t burdensome. There is a weekly chapter meeting that is about an hour or so, and they’ll want the girls to help out with a few philanthropic events in some way. But you can be about as involved or uninvolved as you want to be.</p>
<p>2) As long as you have the minimum GPA required to rush, some sororities will not look beyond that. Others may consider GPA as a factor. </p>
<p>Wealth? Most sororities won’t care, but there are one or two that are known for having sisters who are always dressed in expensive name brands. Other sororities have girls who dress stylishly but may buy their clothes at TJ Maxx or Forever 21. Still others don’t really care at all.</p>
<p>3) Conforming once you’re in? Not really in D’s sorority. The only time they all “dress alike” is during recruitment, where they have a different assigned outfit each day. (There are a lot of events for which they order custom t-shirts). Certain sororities do associate more with certain other fraternities, but I don’t think there’s a “we don’t hang out with them” type of thing.</p>
<p>4) Drinking will depend on the sorority. As for drama - any time you have 100+ girls in a group, there will probably be some drama. But the sorority, with its committees and leadership structure, gives them a framework for working it out.</p>
<p>My D says you can get a pretty good feel for the vibe of each sorority during recruitment - by the way they dress, how seriously they take it, etc.</p>
<p>Thank you both!! Lafulum that’s a great synopsis! It sounds like there is a place for everyone and I’m very relieved to hear that. It sounds like your daughter has had a really good experience :)</p>
<p>Yes, my D loves her sorority. She’s very close with the girls in her pledge class. The sororities at Elon are so huge (well over 100 girls each) that usually girls end up closest to a sub-group of the sorority, often the girls they pledged with.</p>
<p>The 9 sororities on campus each have different personalities, and under the recruitment system there should be a place for everyone - at least that’s the theory. They take the total number of girls going thru recruitment and divide it by 9, and that’s how many girls each sorority is supposed to offer bids to. In reality, this system doesn’t guarantee that every girl will get a bid, but it’s really rare that someone gets cut by ALL the sororities. What often happens, though, is that a girl has her heart set on one or two sororities and if she gets cut from those groups during recruitment she may drop out of the whole process. Those who do stick with the process often find that a sorority that didn’t initially interest them turns out to be a great fit. You just have to give all the groups a chance.</p>
<p>Well, recruitment is over for this year. I think now I can answer some of my own questions but thought I would post here for the benefit of others who may be interested, since I had a hard time finding information when I was looking for it. </p>
<p>As BLK16 said, the sororities are very different. Based on my daughter and her friends’ experiences and people they’ve talked to, grades do matter for some of the sororities, and not for others. If you’ve barely made the minimum GPA to rush you can get a bid, but you’ll get dropped from a bunch the first day, and your selection will be limited. I’ve heard that some of those who look at grades cut off at 3.0 or 3.25 and others are looking for girls with GPA’s around 3.5. I obviously don’t have first hand experience though, this is just what I’ve picked up (I’ve also heard 3.2 is the “magic number” for sororities generally). </p>
<p>Wealth does matter for at least one organization (conversation there included questions like “Where do you shop?” and “What does your dad do?”), but others are nice groups of sweet, fun, down to earth girls who are simply looking for girls they like. </p>
<p>There are a lot of tears. My daughter was told that almost every girl cries during rush; she didn’t believe it initially but found it to be true. Her Pi Chi told her that only 3% of the girls who go through rush end up being invited back to the maximum parties (7 the first night, 5 the second, and 2 the third), and most will get dropped from a house they like at some point during the process. It’s a brutal week, but a fun one if you’re prepared, stay open minded and don’t take it personally when an organization lets you go. </p>
<p>But, in the end, the girls all seemed really happy where they ended up, even when it wasn’t their first (or second, or third) choice, so the process does work.</p>
That was the kind of information I was looking for. That’s very encouraging. </p>