Graduate Student and AI

[scarleteriberry]

Hi everybody

I just joined GC a few days ago and have been fascinated by the threads in this Forum!! It's so great, and I'm so happy I stumbled upon it!! So much more informative than reading for school!! I think this is going to be a tad long

So here is where I am....
I just started my first year of grad school in Atlanta and was really excited to join a sorority. I went to a recruitment event a few days ago at ABC and everything went great! We all had great conversations and it was a really fun time. A few days go by and I get an email from the chapter's president. She said that since I was a grad student, they were not allowed to offer me a bid. I don't know if this is a chapter/school or national rule.

On the positive side, in the email she gave me the email of a woman who was very active in the local alumnae chapter of ABC and reccomended that I contact her about becomming an AI! (This was the first time I had heard of an AI...and here I am!) I emailed them both back, and so far no response back

So here is my dilema....
I thought it was maybe just that chapter and called the Office of Sorority and Fraternity Affairs. One employee said grad students can join and another said they couldn't. The VP of Recruitment said that I can't. But don't certain sororities allow grad students to join? What should I do?? All suggestions would be appreciated

Right now I'm just researching online and I plan on stating to call inter/national HQs soon.

Thanks everyone!!! Sorry that was so long

Erin

[LPIDelta]

I think someone may have responded to you re: this in another thread but I'll reiterate. There are three possibilities:

1) The school could have a rule, either the administration or the panhellenic, that grad students are not eligible for recruitment.

2) The sorority iteself, either nationally or locally, may not accept grad students.

3) Not likely, but its possible the sorority was using your status as a reason to let you down easy.

In terms of what to do--if you really want to "die on this hill" I would start with the school and make sure they do not have the rule. Ask a recuitment counselor or an administrator to assist you in determining local and national rules.

In terms of AI--read the READ THIS FIRST thread at the top of the AI forum. Discretion is your friend.

Best Wishes!

[Jen]

You could also email the sorority headquarters yourself to ask what their official policy is if you discover it's not a school rule.

[AChiOhSnap]

Originally Posted by ariesrising

You could also email the sorority headquarters yourself to ask what their official policy is if you discover it's not a school rule.

...but what if she did find out that it's not a school rule? Isn't recruitment already over? How would that change her situation?

[AChiOhSnap]

Originally Posted by scarleteriberry

So here is my dilema....
I thought it was maybe just that chapter and called the Office of Sorority and Fraternity Affairs. One employee said grad students can join and another said they couldn't. The VP of Recruitment said that I can't. But don't certain sororities allow grad students to join? What should I do?? All suggestions would be appreciated

Right now I'm just researching online and I plan on stating to call inter/national HQs soon.

Well here's how I see it. Recruitment is already over, right? So until the next COB period/formal recruitment, you can't join an undergraduate chapter. If you're looking for next semester, then you might have a shot at another sorority whose official policies don't preclude graduate students from joining. The VP Recruitment for that sorority would/should know the national policy about graduate students being offered bids for HER sorority...the people at the Greek Life office don't always know or have the right information about specifics of each sorority on campus. My gut feeling is that you're not going to have much luck with this particulate undergraduate chapter you're looking into.

If you want to try AI, you've made the right step -- you were contacted by a member and you've contacted the appropriate channels for information. Now it's time to play the waiting game Get used to long delays between emails...if the other stories on this forum are any indication, you play long, slow games of communication tag in the AI process. Don't get discouraged, but don't get frustrated by long delays between emails. Sometimes no news is good news....but sometimes no news means "No"

Good luck in whatever you decide to do.

[KSUViolet06]

Also, a chapter may choose NOT to take a grad student, even though they are nationally allowed to . Why? Who knows. They don't "have" to take anyone. There could be other reasons why you weren't extended a bid. I guess what I'm trying to say is, calling national HQ's and asking them if they take grad students is kind of pointless. If you find out they do, then what? For example, sororities are ALLOWED to take women above certain GPAs, but do they take EVERY girl with their required GPA? No. So I'm guessing they don't take every grad student.

[Ocalagirl]

There is a thread on here on which nationals let graduate students join, but I believe then it has to be ok with the local chapter and/or college panhellenic rules. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong...

[LPIDelta]

Originally Posted by liltrixx

There is a thread on here on which nationals let graduate students join, but I believe then it has to be ok with the local chapter and/or college panhellenic rules. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong...

Yes its in her other thread here.

[PeppyGPhiB]

I'm going to be a little blunt here. Why do grad students want to join chapters full of undergrad women 18-22 years old? I guess if a woman was a young grad student (22 or 23) I could understand some of the appeal, but older than that I just don't get it. A woman that's in her mid-late 20s and has already done the whole college thing wouldn't have very much in common with a pledge class of 18-year-olds. Chapters select women they think would fit in well with the group, and admittedly, grad students probably don't fit in.

[sugarplumfairy]

Originally Posted by PeppyGPhiB

I'm going to be a little blunt here. Why do grad students want to join chapters full of undergrad women 18-22 years old? I guess if a woman was a young grad student (22 or 23) I could understand some of the appeal, but older than that I just don't get it. A woman that's in her mid-late 20s and has already done the whole college thing wouldn't have very much in common with a pledge class of 18-year-olds. Chapters select women they think would fit in well with the group, and admittedly, grad students probably don't fit in.

Did she state her age?

[AlphaFrog]

Originally Posted by sugarplumfairy

Did she state her age?

I think we can safely assume that she's not Doogie Howser.

[_Lisa_]

Originally Posted by scarleteriberry

On the positive side, in the email she gave me the email of a woman who was very active in the local alumnae chapter of ABC and reccomended that I contact her about becomming an AI! (This was the first time I had heard of an AI...and here I am!) I emailed them both back, and so far no response back

This is your best hope for a good fit. If it doesn't go anywhere with the Alumnae chapter I'd recommend moving on. Good luck!

[33girl]

Originally Posted by PeppyGPhiB

I'm going to be a little blunt here. Why do grad students want to join chapters full of undergrad women 18-22 years old? I guess if a woman was a young grad student (22 or 23) I could understand some of the appeal, but older than that I just don't get it. A woman that's in her mid-late 20s and has already done the whole college thing wouldn't have very much in common with a pledge class of 18-year-olds. Chapters select women they think would fit in well with the group, and admittedly, grad students probably don't fit in.

Not all pledge classes are solely composed of 18 year old freshmen. One of the women on here was a chapter founder at I believe age 27 or so.

Please let's put to bed the notion that sorority pledge = 18 year old freshman. On some campuses that may be true, but on others most emphatically NOT.

At any rate, to suggest AI to the OP when what she wants is active membership in a collegiate chapter is most definitely NOT cool. It sounds like the chapter president was just trying to get the OP out of her hair and push her onto the alumnae chapter.

[WCUgirl]

I don't understand what the big deal is about the word "grad student." Seniors go through recruitment all the time and nobody makes a fuss about it. There's a guy here in my entering law school class who just graduated from college in May and he is 20! A lot of grad students go straight from college, so there's a chance some of them could be 20 as well. What's wrong with a 20-year-old going through recruitment?

[_Lisa_]

Originally Posted by 33girl

At any rate, to suggest AI to the OP when what she wants is active membership in a collegiate chapter is most definitely NOT cool. It sounds like the chapter president was just trying to get the OP out of her hair and push her onto the alumnae chapter.

Thats not what it sounded like to me. It would be easier to push the OP off on another organization that may take grad students, but instead she liked her enough to want her in her own organization, even if only through AI.