<p>DD2 has expressed interest in UA. She was very impressed by the administrators she met at the prospective students reception she attended, and had great informative conversations with the current student and alum she met that evening. </p>
<p>Her big concern is, can a young woman in the honors college and engineering be successful in a sorority as well? And, if she were to lucky enough to be accepted and recieve a scholarship that included on campus housing, will the desire to use that scholarship preclude sorority membership? Does honors college participation preclude membership in a sorority? Can a young woman balance engineering studies with sorority life?</p>
<p>The young man she talked to had been awarded a generous scholarship to attend UA. He belongs to a fraternity but lives on campus (across the street from fraterity row?) due to his on-campus housing scholarship. He said he was successful in his fraternity life without living in the house and experienced no problems from his fraternity brothers. </p>
<p>DD is wondering if a young woman would be equally as successful. Can anyone provide some personal insight?</p>
<p>There are plenty of women who are in honors and also a sorority. Throw engineering into the mix…of course it’s possible. It does take some time management skills and a bit of maturity. The first semester is the most time consuming for sorority new members. There are extra meetings and of course history and knowledge about the sorority to learn. That learning continues on another level after initiation. From what I’ve read here, honors students do not HAVE to live in the honors dorm. Now, if she decides to wait on sorority, that is also possible. Plenty of sophomores pledge, although not at the same rate as freshmen. It’s something she’ll have to think very seriously about.</p>
<p>So many opportunities at UA - we want our kids to participate in all of them! I’m starting to wonder if my son would be able to handle honors, engg, CBHP and marching band.</p>
<p>Thanks, Southlander, I too think this is a lot to take on. Her older sis is a D1 athlete and in a sorority, so she is aware of the realities of strong time management and prioritizing to succeed. An engineering student would be under even more pressure.</p>
<p>my daughter in in the honors college, engineering and a sorority. if you do it your first semester (when they encourage you to take a lighter load (12ish hours) i think it is more doable. my daughter knows several engineering girls in sororities. my daughter didn’t join until this year (her second year, but she has junior standing) and she was taking 17 hours. she was SWAMPED all semester. between meetings twice a week and swaps once or twice a week, she just didn’t have time for it all. she has managed just fine, but this semester was NOT fun!</p>
<p>she has a directors position in her sorority now, and that will take up some time, but idk how much. </p>
<p>as far as talking advantage of the housing scholarship, i think you can still do that (live in the dorm and participate fully in the sorority). (my daughter lives in ridgecrest) just do not get a sorority position that requires living in the house. in my daughter’s sorority, 60/250 people can live in the house, so not everyone gets a chance to live in the house anyway.</p>
<p>so, in conclusion, yes, it is doable, but your daughter will need the self control to play when she has time and buckle down when she needs to, and just keep up with things, in general, because there really is not a lot of time to catch up if you get behind.</p>
<p>MereMom, I was a female engineering student (honors) at the University of Texas. My freshman roommate was a Chi Omega pledge. I remember thinking, “Wow, she spends a lot of time on sorority stuff. I’m glad I’m not doing that!” I was an excellent student, but still found honors engineering as a freshman to be really demanding. The honors classes were tough since most people in them were so danged SMART! The profs moved fast and expected us to keep up. I made a 45 (!!!) on my first exam, in honors physics, at UT. I was devastated and thought I would flunk out!</p>
<p>Of course, this was many moons ago, but I thought I would share my experience. Oh, I should mention that school did get easier after the first year. I graduated with high honors, too!</p>
<p>^^Wow, your D sounds like an amazing young lady! I didn’t realize the 60/250 ratio - that is encouraging. </p>
<p>DD has already looked at the ME and ChE curriculums in light of her AP credits to see if she could do a lighter class load 1st semester. Sounds like she is looking at this the right way.</p>
<p>Regular Honors, as opposed to CBHP, has little to no bearing on your workload. You can participate as much or a little as you like, and generally any Honors courses are in place of your “regular” ones (ie. Hon. Calc II vs. Calc. II).
Engineering is the biggie, but I’m sure there are plenty of Greek Engineers.</p>
<p>MerMom…doing honors, living in honor housing AND pledging a sorority is certainly doable. I would echo everyone above that it take good time management skills. I would also suggest if she’s serious about pledging that she might take a slightly lighter class load first semester. There is A LOT of sorority commitments first semester…for example, Pledge meeting Monday night, campus wide Panhellenic speakers Tuesday night, Chapter meeting Wednesday night, SWAPS Thursday night and then of course Game Day activities on Saturday. For almost all of the houses the pledge meetings, Chapter and Panhellenic speakers are required unless you have a class that meets at that time.
Also there are required study hall hours (those can be done in a variety of places…depends on the sorority. Homecoming is VERY busy especially for pledge as there are required hours for pomping a float prep.
I would not suggest that your D wait until her sophomore year. Mike’s daughter did but she did not go through recruitment but helped colonize a sorority that came on campus…it was an entirely different situation. All of the sororities will have an upper classmen quota in addition to their regular quota determined by Panhellenic. This will not be a large number (for example one sorority had a quot of 5 upperclassmen this year and 79 freshmen). It is much harder to do…doable but harder.
There are many women who are in sororities that are also Honors College girls and some that also do engineering.<br>
Pledging a Fraternity is different that pledging a sorority. My DD was pre-med her Freshman year. When she went to Bama Bound a pre-med boy who had pledged a fraternity told her to go ahead and take her pretty intense schedule…she was swamped!!! It was not a good semester for her grade wise and she is no longer pre-med (her choice). It can be done…just a lot of work!!<br>
Finally housing…Mike’s right about 60 girls get to live in the house each year…mostly girls who hold Executive positions. My DD will live in starting this Spring and continue on for all of 2012-2013…she holds and Executive VP position. You do not “HAVE” to live in unless you hold one of those positions (and I have found that most houses have no trouble filling their beds so there is little or no pressure to live in). You do however have to pay dues whether you live in or not, which include a fee to live out as well as chapter dues, food, parlor fees, national dues and several one time fees for fall semester and initiation. These generally tend to run between $2500-$3000 a semester. Just wanted you to know for budgeting purposes. They can be divided up into 3 monthly payment each semester if that’s easier.
Good luck to your D…would love to have her as part of the Bama Greek family…feel free to ask more questions!
Roll Tide!!!</p>
<p>If your D pledges as an incoming frosh and has AP credits, it should be do-able.</p>
<p>If she can skip Cal I (due to AP) and skip Frosh Comp, then her first semester can be rather light. When my older son was a frosh, he only took 14 credits because he had enough AP and he wanted a light load for adjusting to college.</p>
<p>What AP credits will she likely have?</p>
<p>Is your D a likely NMF? You mention a housing scholarship.</p>
<p>She is a potential NMSF (took SAT as a soph - 2240, soph ACT score - 34) We must wait a bit longer to confirm - school holds scores till after holidays - grrr!</p>
<p>She took APUSH (5) and Stats (5) last year, is taking Physics C, Calc BC and Bio this year, and registered for Eng Lang, Spanish, and Psychology next year.</p>
<p>The ME flowchart is confusing, but she believes she can AP out of English, Bio and Calc 1, leaving the 4 one credit engineering intro classes, calc 2 and physics 1 for first semester - 12 credits. She thought she could delay taking Chem until 3rd semester as it is a pre-req for a class she couldn’t take till 4th semester (i.e, switch chem and science elective on the flowchart). </p>
<p>She hasn’t gotten a full plan laid out for Chem E - it seems that the curriculum might be less flexible. </p>
<p>She is a born leader type and has learned excellent time management and strategic planning skills (i.e already looking at curriculum plans!), so I think those skills will translate to college. </p>
<p>Your excellent responses are making me feel more at ease with her plan. It sounds like a motivated student who plans ahead can make it work.</p>