Sorority Recruitment Coach/Consultant

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Recruitment is different at different schools. Engineering schools tend to have down to earth no frills recruitment. If you are presentable, you’ll find a home.

SEC schools are on an entirely different planet.

This! Those doorchats alone would have freaked me out.

[Anonymous]

*Chants* sorry.

[Anonymous]

Excellent post, 14:06. Thank you for providing this.

[Anonymous]

Dear sorority people, how has this stuff even made your life better after you graduated?

to an outsider, it all sounds pretty pathetic

[Anonymous]

I was in a “top-tier” sorority at a college where Greek life is huge and very competitive. We had a list of our top 150 recruits well before rush for a pledge class of 50. It didn’t matter how perfectly polished you were, if you weren’t known before rush, you didn’t stand much of a chance (or any). Most sororities at my school recruited from certain high schools, including OOS high schools. I didn’t know of any DC girls but it would be like all NCS girls (who were well-liked) pledged Kappa,Holton girls pledged Chi O. The members who attended those schools weighed in on whether they were XXX material or not. Our alums pushed certain girls but their input didn’t matter that much.

Consultants didn’t exist at the time so I have no opinions on whether they’d be helpful. I suspect they may be helpful with advice on what to wear, etc, but won’t be able to help you get a bid if you don’t already have the right connections.

As for the comment about intelligent women not being in sororities, I beg to differ. We played hard, but we worked hard too. I’m an attorney and have sorority sisters who are doctors, accountants, worked at the White House, business owners, etc. Many SAH. I wouldn’t say being in a sorority helped or hurt anyone’s career prospects but it definitely enhanced the college experience in many ways.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was in a “top-tier” sorority at a college where Greek life is huge and very competitive. We had a list of our top 150 recruits well before rush for a pledge class of 50. It didn’t matter how perfectly polished you were, if you weren’t known before rush, you didn’t stand much of a chance (or any). Most sororities at my school recruited from certain high schools, including OOS high schools. I didn’t know of any DC girls but it would be like all NCS girls (who were well-liked) pledged Kappa,Holton girls pledged Chi O. The members who attended those schools weighed in on whether they were XXX material or not. Our alums pushed certain girls but their input didn’t matter that much.

Consultants didn’t exist at the time so I have no opinions on whether they’d be helpful. I suspect they may be helpful with advice on what to wear, etc, but won’t be able to help you get a bid if you don’t already have the right connections.

As for the comment about intelligent women not being in sororities, I beg to differ. We played hard, but we worked hard too. I’m an attorney and have sorority sisters who are doctors, accountants, worked at the White House, business owners, etc. Many SAH. I wouldn’t say being in a sorority helped or hurt anyone’s career prospects but it definitely enhanced the college experience in many ways.

Oh god...I was hoping the "work hard play hard" platitude wouldn't be played. I'm happy this was great for you but the process (any you, sorry) sound positively insufferable. It's a study in superficialiality, prejudgment, and I think it is truly anti-women. It is women promoting the worst of human nature and perpetuating every stereotype that works against us socially and professionally. It sound like you are still gung ho on this social structure and that makes me sad. I can't imagine being proud of this, less encouraging a dd to take the same antiquated path.

[Anonymous]

This just scared the ever-loving crap out of me: I had to google "door chant" ...Being a liberal from New York, educated in the NE, this just didn't happen. And where are the minorities?



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUkRBRvwD0k

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This just scared the ever-loving crap out of me: I had to google "door chant" ...Being a liberal from New York, educated in the NE, this just didn't happen. And where are the minorities?



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUkRBRvwD0k

In our own historically-founded sororities and fraternities with a whole different intake process and panhellenic lifestyle.

[Anonymous]

OP, hopefully by now you can see that haters gonna hate. You've gotten some good advice from people who have BTDT. I hope your daughter has a wonderful rush experience and lands at a house she loves. The girls, now women, who were in my house have been with me through thick and thin, and I with them. I wouldn't change my experience for the world. Best wishes!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This just scared the ever-loving crap out of me: I had to google "door chant" ...Being a liberal from New York, educated in the NE, this just didn't happen. And where are the minorities?



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUkRBRvwD0k

Few fraternities and sororities are truly integrated, even in 2019.

There are also Black sororities and fraternities but theirs is a very different culture and experience.

[Anonymous]

7 pages later. It boils down to:

If you can spend the money and your DD really wants it and is going to a big Greek school in CA or the South, get a consultant. It will make DD more confident and Rush will be less stressful.

we all have SAT/ACT tutors; Athletic camps/coaches; private violin lessons — it’s just another thing we do to help our kids get ahead...

If my awkward DD really wants to go Greek when she goes to college , I will 100% get a consultant. I was in a sorority and i wish I knew what to expect before jumping in.

Just stress that Rush is about finding friends you like, not social standing.

I got my first two jobs out of college based on connections from my sorority.

[Anonymous]

OMG - some of these posts make me ashamed I was in a sorority.

Don't get a damn consultant.

[Anonymous]

This idea is absurd. Grow up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I'll give you advice for free.

1) Letters of recommendation. Google the school your daughter is attending to figure out how many letters per house your daughter needs. Does she have any legacies (sister, you, grandmother, aunt, stepmother, stepsister)?

2) Have your daughter work your/her network to secure the letters she needs. She'll need a "rec packet." This will include her resume, a portrait, a copy of her transcript, a copy of her SAT/ACT scores, and a preadressed and postage-paid, large enough envelope for the person writing the rec to mail all the materials to the sorority. If the rec is being submitted electronically, the person might still need a packet. It depends. You can put everything into a pretty folder with a nice label with your daughter's name.

3) Lots of Panhels have Pinterest pages for recruitment. Use these to brainstorm outfits. Go onto the sororities' Instagrams to see what the actives wear. Make sure your daughter understands and follows the dress code for each round, but also make sure she loves the clothes and jewelry she's wearing. Get everything tailored. Have plans for inclement weather.

4) It's important that your daughter goes in with an open mind. She's going to get rejected from at least one sorority she loves and she's going to gradually fall in love with a house she initially hates. She shouldn't listen to or participate in tent talk during rush.

5) There's nothing about rush small talk that can't be practiced at home. She will have the same conversation 100 times in a row, and she just has to look active and engaged and positive. No controversial subjects. Practice how to respond if a situation makes her uncomfortable.

6) I think it's unwise for her to drastically alter her appearance. She has pink hair? Don't dye it natural brown. She likes to wear rings on four fingers? Don't knock it down to two.

I realize the confines of the event encourage artifice, but as much as possible, she needs to be herself.

Tiers exist, but they're hardly the end all and be all of the Greek experience. Better to be oneself at a "lower" house than maintaining an exhausting facade at an "upper" house. Also, the upperclassmen care far less than the underclassmen. And the alumni networking equalizes everything.

With as much respect as I can muster, this post might be helpful at some schools but, not others. This advice makes my skin crawl with nightmares of reading mean Greek Rank posts geared towards the pageant mom crowd. My DC went through rush with their dignity intact and found their home not using information from the pearls and prunes crowd.

Well I was in a “top” sorority at a super nerdy engineering school in the Midwest and all of this rings true to my experience. I made it through knowing nothing and not having any sisters, aunts or a mom who were Greek. I would have loved to have this solid advice.

Clearly, some don't like my post. Okay. My only point is some houses have their lists are created before rush by the alumni. If they need filler girls, they'll take a look and if, as a previous poster noted, you cross all your ts and dot your Is your daughter will be considered as space allows. One thing parents of alumni told me over and over was a high GPA and connections were essential. And, yes, our DC in this area are lucky to have highly honed social skills by the time they go to rush: they aren't going to discuss controversial topics. Our family, relatives, and friends provided us with enough information so, by the time we spoke to a stranger, the advice seemed obvious and we knew the "truth" of filler girls from OOS with poor outcomes.

We purchased all the proper clothes for each round, makeup, jewelry, etc ahead of time so, she was fine and landed in the house she wanted. She was blessed with the assistance of relatives and advice of any out of state parents who warned me of SEC pitfalls since I was in a house in the North without ties to the school my DC attends.

To the PP who got in a top house at their school,without connections: good for you! The houses I am referring to would never, ever accept an unknown. They don't have to when thousands are rushing.

I guess one of the things that makes me uncomfortable about this is how involved you are, as the mom. I went to a very different type of university which did not have anything like this, so I have no experience of it and it all sounds completely bizarre to me. It makes me think of beauty pageants and show-biz moms and... yeah. This is for a very different type of person. I genuinely wish anyone doing this the best of luck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was in a “top-tier” sorority at a college where Greek life is huge and very competitive. We had a list of our top 150 recruits well before rush for a pledge class of 50. It didn’t matter how perfectly polished you were, if you weren’t known before rush, you didn’t stand much of a chance (or any). Most sororities at my school recruited from certain high schools, including OOS high schools. I didn’t know of any DC girls but it would be like all NCS girls (who were well-liked) pledged Kappa,Holton girls pledged Chi O. The members who attended those schools weighed in on whether they were XXX material or not. Our alums pushed certain girls but their input didn’t matter that much.

Consultants didn’t exist at the time so I have no opinions on whether they’d be helpful. I suspect they may be helpful with advice on what to wear, etc, but won’t be able to help you get a bid if you don’t already have the right connections.

As for the comment about intelligent women not being in sororities, I beg to differ. We played hard, but we worked hard too. I’m an attorney and have sorority sisters who are doctors, accountants, worked at the White House, business owners, etc. Many SAH. I wouldn’t say being in a sorority helped or hurt anyone’s career prospects but it definitely enhanced the college experience in many ways.

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This is exactly what happened with my college-age niece attended who attended a well-regarded private in another city.