Registration for Florida State 2013 Fall Recruitment Announced

[FSUZeta]

Panhellenic Association at Florida State University

We are proud to announce that 2013 Formal Recruitment registration will open April 8th, one month from today!

[VintageKey]

Do you by any chance know the dates for recruitment? I know that classes begin Aug 26th and I am hoping that recruitment starts the weekend before. Any info would be appreciated!

[FSUZeta]

Recruitment is traditionally the week prior to classes starting, with Bid Day either Saturday or Sunday before the first day of class.

[VintageKey]

thank you sooo much FSUZeta. My daughter will be participating in recruitment and is so excited. She spends so much time on Pinterest finding the right look for her as well as for her dorm room! I'm excited as well as my greek affiliation has a chapter at FSU. Things have really changed since I pledged back in the 80's lol. Do you know if parents can be there for bid day? I would love to be there even if it is across the street with my camera ))

[FSUZeta]

Ordinarily FSU doesn't do the parent thing like schools such as Auburn or Bama. Some alumnae may be at the houses to assist, but they are most often chapter advisors and local alumnae. Of course, no one can stop you from being across the street with a camera-lol! When my daughter rushed (at a college out of state) I was able to check with some of the local alumnae to see if mothers attended bid day, and was told that typically they did not, so I stayed home. I did attend her initiation though!

Most sororities do hold a tailgate, brunch or bar-b-que a few weeks later during parents weekend and you definitely should attend that-and the football game! Parents weekend will be designated on the FSU football schedule-it may already be for all I know.

FSU Greek Life will have a digital "Meet the Greeks" sort of magazine later in the semester or sometime during the early summer. The link is usually provided on the Greek Life webpage. It is very well done and you and your daughter will learn a lot about the parties and FSU greek life in general. She really can't go wrong at FSU. Good luck to her, and please let us know how everything goes.

[FSUZeta]

UPDATE from Florida State University panhellenic:

2013 formal recruitment registration will be open THIS coming Monday, April 8th at 9am!

[irishpipes]

Formal recruitment dates are August 18-25.

[seminole_love]

I will be a Junior at Florida State this fall. I started at FSU in the spring of my Freshman year, and wanted to wait for the full fall recruitment so I could get to know which sorority I would feel the most at home in. I decided to focus on academics my Sophomore year, and make sure I really knew myself and had a good GPA before I decided to rush. Now I’m worried that it is too late. I understand that FSU has an upperclassman quota – how will that benefit me? I do not want to miss out on the wonderful experience, and hope it’s not to late for me yet! I plan on rushing this fall – any advice? Thank you

[FSUZeta]

Get recommendations for each sorority. Be open minded and roll with the punches-even if you have just one invitation, accept the invitation and go to the party-it only takes one and you can only receive one bid, so why not?

Alpha Omicron Pi will be colonizing this fall. It is not any easier avenue to a bid- even though a colony usually wants an assortment of new members from freshman, sophomores, juniors and seniors-but it is an added opportunity this year at FSU.

[Fsu2016]

Hi everyone! I just had a few q's about 2013 rush at fsu and I didn't see a thread about it. I'm a new member though so maybe I'm just not searching right lol

I'm rushing as a sophomore and I've managed to secure two recs which I'm so proud about! But I'm a little nervous about my GPA. My first semester was really tough for me and I ended with a terrible GPA but I managed to kick butt this year and raised my GPA a ton and even got very involved (lots of leadership positions). However my fsu GPA is not a 3.0 but above a 2.75 (sorry I'm being so ambiguous! I've just heard that sorority girls do lots of stalking and I don't want them to possibly recognize me from this post!)

What I'm basically asking is will this hurt me significantly? Even though I've had lots of involvement and have, I think, a very amiable personality?

Another q I had was a money one. Sororities cost and even though I think that the dues are very reasonable considering everything, I'm worried about how I will be able to afford membership. One of my sorority suite mates says that there's scholarships and financial aid but she didn't go into any details and I just wanted to know if anyone here knew how the financial aid worked and if it really helped or was it minimal? (The scholarship process I assume is just like any other. And may I clarify, I don't mean to sound ungrateful by saying "minimal." Any aid is helpful but with some dues being $2500+ the 1st semester, a financial aid award of $200-300 is barely a dent.)

Thank you so much for any help everyone! Being the only person in my family to ever go Greek and having only one Greek friend (my old suite mate who is very hush hush!) I really need some help!

[ladybug12]

Speaking for only my GLO, you must have at least a 3.0 GPA to apply for a scholarship..and most that are awarded (in the spring for the following school year) are awarded to women with very high GPAs, like 3.8 or better. Financial aid is awarded on a case-by-case basis, and often involves life altering issues like cancer or natural disasters.

In my opinion, based on your information and questions, Greek Life at FSU may be a stretch for you. I never try to talk someone out of going Greek, but I think the possibility of a scholarship or financial aid is something that you should not count on. The FSU Greek system is huge...and I am willing to bet that the dues and social fees, meal plans, etc. are much higher than a system where the average chapter size is 50 and they don't have houses.

[Fsu2016]

I see. Perhaps, as FSUZeta mentioned, rushing Aopi might be a better choice. Would it also be better financially? I can't imagine their dues being too astronomical since they don't have a house/meal plan/etc

[greekdee]

I don't know if this is the case at FSU (and FSUZeta can probably address this) but some sororities have payment plans. Most of the PNMs I do recs for are in the SEC and the financials have been a concern for some of them -- but they were all able to use a payment plan option for managing their dues and fees.

[Fsu2016]

So I did some research and was able to get my typically quiet ex-suite mate to crunch some numbers with me and explain the financial aid. She told me that if I got aid, at least for her sorority, it would be very little. I'd have to pay everything plus the other fees for t-shirts, big appreciation, and philanthropy paraphernalia. She said the payment plans do help but after calculating everything I'd still have to take out loans to afford membership and the loan debt would be around 15,000 (using the median dues&misc fees range of 2,500 a semester. 2 semesters {$5000}over three years=15000) and I just can't afford it

She was quite saddened on the phone when she told me her advice and it was to consider either AOPII (though she said their dues would be less the first year but increase significantly, in her opinion and assumption) or forfeit being in a sorority altogether.

I'm also very sad because it was something I wanted soo much and I was so excited about but I don't want to be more in debt than I already I am.

[irishpipes]

Originally Posted by Fsu2016

I see. Perhaps, as FSUZeta mentioned, rushing Aopi might be a better choice. Would it also be better financially? I can't imagine their dues being too astronomical since they don't have a house/meal plan/etc

I would not assume that a new colony would have lower dues. They may have a meal plan. Even without a house, they want colony members to bond and may have meals at a dorm or other location. You would not be paying room and board as you would if you were living in a chapter house, but would still pay parlor fees (just like a new member or out of house member of any other chapter.)