UVA rush
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Anonymous
I was in a big sorority at a state flagship in the south (not UVA) and we had regional alumnae chapters send us food during rush in support of their local rushee/PNM which probably was completely against the rules. I remember getting a huge chocolate chip cookie pie (when those things were super popular) with a girl’s name written in icing on it who was rushing from OOS. Was hilarious. She had no idea it was sent. She did end up getting a bid because she was super funny and everyone liked her. We got other random stuff at the house like fruit bouquets, etc. But no directly from parents. |
Anonymous
California Tri-Deltas sharing a knowing look and awkward smile at this classification. Yep, cool. |
Anonymous
why are you so high and mighty, do you work for the algorithm maker? I just TOLD YOU THAT IT DID HAPPEN. Tri Sig at UVA had exactly three people show up to bid day. You can ask anyone. The parents have posted in it on the FB pages, there are PICS of the three people on their insta. It happened, so stop being so stupid and condescending. Normally the bottom house is GPHI and they get maybe 8 on bid day. They did not participate in formal rush as they have too few members so now Tri Sig took their spot and the least popular. but THREE? Absolutely crazy. Everything went haywire this rush and WAY more people dropped out than usual. |
Anonymous
Not PP, but 100% as membership-based organizations, sororities rely on membership (and dues from its members) to sustain operations and growth. The US is full of thousands and thousands of adult women who are alumnae of these various sororities, and who benefitted from collegiate membership (some socially…which is the part that non-Greeks focus on; some academically—Greeks in average have 10-20% higher GPA than non-Greeks, so they tend to be a peer group that cares about academic success; some philanthropically—most groups have signature philanthropy events that are completely student organized and run, so it teaches about importance of lifelong giving and community impact; some leadership-oriented—serving as a sorority officer is a solid leadership experience with budgeting ($20K-$100K budgets), management of people and committees, conducting meetings, etc.) So the PP who encouraged that daughter to stay and see if there is a group she would feel comfortable joining likely just recognizes the value that her own sorority membership brought to her life and wants to see that continue to impact other’s lives in that way. And she probably knows sororities can only continue through dues-paying memberships. Sure, you can get campus involvement, social connection, philanthropy activity, and leadership from joining any other club—but sororities are women supporting other women in all of the above…and for life. Truly as silly as it seems, sharing all that plus the initiation ceremony (that is over 100 years old at this point, for nearly every sorority group) during those 3-4 formative years of growth is meaningful for many women. |
Anonymous
Not the “high and mighty” poster, but that seems like a reputation issue that an algorithm can’t fix. |
Anonymous
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Midwest middle-aged Tri-Delt here.
This is so eye-opening! |
Anonymous
Agree. Either Tri-Sig significantly under-invited during every round, or their reputation was externally or internally damaged enough to cause the women who had no other options but Tri-Sig to withdraw from rush or decline their bid. Sounds like from prior posts that it was an external hack job on social media that caused potential members to flee. That’s sad. |
Anonymous
DP. The complexity of this process is laughable. (To say nothing of the ridiculous rules they have to follow once they’re in.) All this just to make some friends? I get it purely from a keeping up appearances standpoint, but it’s really report pathetic as far as building authentic relationships. |
Anonymous
Sororities are a replacement for the home family life that college students left behind and pretend they don't need. |
Anonymous
Tri Sig is a "low tier" house, they absolutely invited back everyone they could. They never had a "reputation issue" until this year where a character assassination seems to have take place which was completely unwarranted. Girls did not accept Tri Sig bids because they didn't want to be associated with the sorority that was being maligned all week. Who would have a vested interest in even starting that discussion? They were no threat to anyone, they don't take bids away from any other house, and always had a good group during rush that didn't fit the traditional sorority girl model, but still wanted to experience being in a sorority. I don't see it as a "reputation" issue but more of a social media attack that got them this week. They literally have no reputation, they are just a group of assorted nice girls with no main characteristic and they have done absolutely nothing wrong to cause them to be attacked in this way. No my DD is not in this sorority but she knows people in every chapter on groups, including Tri Sig, who are very nice girls who deserve to be left alone. |
Anonymous
Understand. And this is semantics. They don’t have a reputation that they did anything negative to perpetuate. But they still carry the negative reputation of being the least desirable group with which to affiliate. Again, not their fault. It’s a hierarchical system that has girls ranking and selecting where they want to be most and has sororities ranking and selecting who they want most to least. And then that results in that hierarchy being discussed and known. The “reputation” of each sorority in terms of desirability of membership is perpetuated by outsiders and potential members themselves as much as it is by insiders. This part isn’t new. But it wasn’t always that big of a deal to be in a group that was not as sought after by the masses, as long as the emphasis was on finding “your people.” As evidenced by the current influencer culture, this particular generation is quite susceptible to being influenced by others—even and maybe even especially if it’s people they don’t know. |
Anonymous
Part of the reason GPAs are higher is they keep prior tests and answers to tests for the girls to use. It is systemic cheating of the system and is not only allowed but encouraged. Many teachers use the same exact test each year, the schools know the sororities have the cheat books, and they allow professors to keep using the same tests. How this is allowed is beyond me. And happens a lot at schools that claim they are equity focused… |
Anonymous
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I read this article last night and thought of this thread because it touches on drug use among frat and sororities members, at "top" schools, nonetheless.
https://www.theassemblync.com/education/higher-education/overdose-death-student-unc-duke/ |
Anonymous
I think PP’s point is that unless they under-invited, the algorithm would not have matched them with only three women on bid day. So the only other way to explain only three women showing up on bid day, women who were matched to that sorority would have had to opt to drop out rather accept their bid and show up to that house. And it sounds like you are saying that yes, that is what happened. This is a system problem. It’s not just an [insert name of current “bottom” chapter] problem. And I hope the whole system recognizes that. Because if they don’t work together to help erase/combat the stigma they’ve created and reinforced that does NOT support “all our chapters are strong and full of amazing college women” then this result will be repeated until chapter “on the bottom” will continue to decline and fall off due to lack of membership, until suddenly there are only three groups left and that third group starts to wonder how they came to be known as “bottom tier!” My unsolicited advice for any members of the very “top chapters” who are reading this is to use your position for good. Reach out and offer to support these groups for the good of your whole system. Hold partner philanthropy events with them, host small social events with your group and theirs plus two fraternities. Use your strong reputation to assist in combatting this issue and begin to build a culture across your Greek system that refuses to engage in tearing down other groups who only want what you want——a support system where they can find encouragement and friendship with other women. |
Anonymous
80s trope. Where are these test banks??? I attended a large SEC school and we had the second highest GPA on Greek Row. No test bank or old-test collection. More likely is that they recruit for high GPA, meaning they factor grades into the selection criteria to begin with. Granted it’s probably third on the list after some beauty metric and fun personality, but top groups can easily add a grades cutoff and still get members who carry the look they are going for. |