Nervous about deferred recruitment?

Texas20_12 · #1 08-13-2012, 06:05 PM

I'm going to a school with deferred recruitment and the more I think about it the more nervous I get about basically having to "impress" sorority women for the whole first semester.
What advice can you provide me?

Another question, out of curiosity, is it a big setback for me if I go through rush while classified as a sophomore due to AP and dual credit(college courses taken in hs)? I know you can't discuss membership selection but in general, would it make recruitment a tad bit more difficult?

WCsweet<3 · #2 08-13-2012, 06:11 PM

For the first one:
Get involved on campus. Don't be that girl at parties. Be yourself. STUDY AND GET GOOD GRADES! Make friends in your classes, dorm, and major. Have the college experience while not being a complete wild child.

Second one:
It's been a few years since I was recruiting, but I believe we saw when people were sophomores due to credits and sophomores due to years. I might be going crazy or it could just be my campus. Honestly, you can't change that now, so try to not worry about it.

Larkspur12 · #3 08-13-2012, 06:35 PM

My school has deferred recruitment! WCsweet hit the nail on the head -- don't be "that girl." You don't have to hide in your dorm room and never go out and do anything, but don't get yourself a bad reputation -- it will follow you into recruitment.

I would also advise that you also make sure you're on your "best behavior" during class, since that is one way you might meet active sorority members.

In my opinion, deferred recruitment is great. It gives you the opportunity to take a whole semester to make friends and get to know women in sororities while also pursuing your own interests on campus.

As for having sophomore "status," I'm not sure. At my school, I think we just know the PNMs' class years, not their credit standings.

DubaiSis · #4 08-13-2012, 06:46 PM

I don't think the AP credits are a problem if you're going through the first time. If as a chronological sophomore you have credits as a junior, yes, I think that could be a problem, but the way I would see those extra credits is you have some flexibility to not take as heavy a load, especially early. And by the way, since you do have those extra hours, I would take the minimum amount required your first semester. Adjusting to college is hard enough without any extra classes. Trust the girl who took 2 advanced classes and 16 hours total the first semester of her freshman year. It's not a good idea.

Regarding the first part, don't think of it as having to impress them. Be nice, friendly, don't do anything obviously stupid (sleep with the football team, vomit at a fraternity party), and get involved in at least one activity on campus, and you will make a good enough impression. And get to know your classmates. Even if they aren't sorority women, they know people who know people. This sort of behavior demonstrates your personality. Trying to impress anyone can come off as icky.

FleurGirl · #5 08-14-2012, 09:18 AM

I would worry less about impressing them and more about just being smart. Don't get wasted at parties, don't sleep with the football team -- what DubaiSis said. By all means go out and do things with your friends. Get involved on campus. Work hard in class and get to know your classmates. Be friendly to everyone you meet. And don't stress about recruitment just yet.

trisigma212 · #6 08-14-2012, 01:24 PM

I don't recommend the minimum credit thing. Take the amount of credits necessary for you to complete your major in four years. Of course if you haven't declared anything yet or don't know what you want to study, get your gen ed classes out of the way. I'm just saying this because I had a very demanding major in college and if I took the minimum, it would have taken 5 years. There were semesters where I had 23 credits, 20 minimum hours of practice time, and still managed to balance time with my sorority. You're in school to get an education- that should be your first priority.

In terms of "impressing" or whatever, make new friends and be nice to any sorority women you meet. Also be mindful of the friends that you do make- you don't want to come into rush and have members think "oh she's friends with so-and-so and they got wasted at a fraternity party, I bet she's like that too." This is a good time to see how Greek life is at your campus- how do the chapters interact, philanthropy events, etc. If they are holding philanthropy events or fund-raisers, it'd be a good idea to come out and support them. It'd also be a good idea to support fraternity fund-raisers and philanthropy events as well because sorority women may come out to support them as well. Be pro-Greek, not pro-XYZ.

And finally, get good grades. This will be the benchmark that sororities will look at, not your high school grades. Deferred recruitment is a different beast. I found it to be less stressful though because not everything is happening at once and less uncertainty is involved.