Rushing at UF as a junior?

[FSUZeta]

If you get trained Bama style, you should be ok.

[anne15]

Haha lets hope so!
I tried searching about this but couldn't find anything; when putting gpa, activities, volunteer work, etc, would I ONLY be including what I've done during college?

[DubaiSis]

If you have something especially notable from high school, I'd note it (Miss Teen USA, for instance) but regular high school things should have been replaced by now with college stuff.

[anne15]

Okay, that's what I assumed anyways since my involvement since starting college is a more relevant indicator of the type of student and person I would be at UF. So I just guessed they would know that too, and not care about my high school stuff. Just wanted to make sure.

[UFsigmakappa]

Both my chapter and a few others have even taken the outstanding senior women who come through recruitment, so don't be discouraged as a junior!

[KSUViolet06]

Originally Posted by UFsigmakappa

Both my chapter and a few others have even taken the outstanding senior women who come through recruitment, so don't be discouraged as a junior!

Question (mostly for the benefit of others) -

Would you say that to get a bid at UF as a junior or senior requires that you be AWESOME?

Like, can your average junior/senior with a 3.0, no recs, etc. get a bid?

Or do you need to stand out in order to "compete" with the freshmen?

What sort of upperclassman PNM typically gets a bid at UF?

Point of said question: I hear a lot of "Oh, my school has upperclassman quota so it's gonna be all good. All juniors get bids." I wanted to know if this is the case.

[UFsigmakappa]

Originally Posted by KSUViolet06

Question (mostly for the benefit of others) -

Would you say that to get a bid at UF as a junior or senior requires that you be AWESOME?

Like, can your average junior/senior with a 3.0, no recs, etc. get a bid?

Or do you need to stand out in order to "compete" with the freshmen?

What sort of upperclassman PNM typically gets a bid at UF?

Point of said question: I hear a lot of "Oh, my school has upperclassman quota so it's gonna be all good. All juniors get bids." I wanted to know if this is the case.

No, not all juniors/seniors get bids. There is a quota for upper-class-women, but not all chapters participate in this (unless this has changed recently).

I would say that:

1) No, you don't have to be AWESOME, but you should know yourself as a woman and be strong in what you believe, etc. For example, being an active club member or something of the sort shows that you can balance school and extracurricular activities, and chapters love to bring on women who will be active.
2) From what I am aware of, most that we find to be women we want to bid do not necessarily have letters of rec. However a strong college-level GPA does wonders at UF, GPA ranking is done by the school and everyone wants to be on top.
3) I would say to not worry about the women around you also trying to join sororities, but be confident and sure of yourself at a valuable person in that crowd.
4) The women that my chapter has taken as upperclassmen have been (not to repeat myself) strong women who were well put together (in life plans, goals and attire - which I hate to say the last part, but it is true of all chapters to some extent) and understood what it meant to be a member of a sisterhood.

I hope this is more specific and helpful (and not confusing!)!!

[FSUZeta]

I just want to reiterate what UFSigmaKappa said concerning junior and senior PNMs at UF:

Not all juniors and seniors at UF will get bids. There are some chapters-dare I say most?- that will be concentrating on freshman, with a sprinkling of sophomores and who will cut juniors and seniors because of their class standing. That is not to say that juniors should not give it a go, more that they should expect cuts and perhaps less parties per round than most freshman. I would say that it is rare that seniors would participate in rush at UF and even more rare that they would receive a bid. No doubt that the majority of the chapters might miss out on a fabulous, more mature sister, but I don't want to give the upperclassmen false hope. As always, all PNMs, regardless of class standing, need to secure recommendations to help give themselves the best chance.

[KSUViolet06]

Originally Posted by FSUZeta

I just want to reiterate what UFSigmaKappa said concerning junior and senior PNMs at UF:

Not all juniors and seniors at UF will get bids. There are some chapters-dare I say most?- that will be concentrating on freshman, with a sprinkling of sophomores and who will cut juniors and seniors because of their class standing. That is not to say that juniors should not give it a go, more that they should expect cuts and perhaps less parties per round than most freshman. I would say that it is rare that seniors would participate in rush at UF and even more rare that they would receive a bid. No doubt that the majority of the chapters might miss out on a fabulous, more mature sister, but I don't want to give the upperclassmen false hope. As always, all PNMs, regardless of class standing, need to secure recommendations to help give themselves the best chance.

Thanks for your insight. I'd add that your invite list everyday is going to look different than Franny Freshman, just by nature of some chapters cutting juniors off the bat. Ex: you may not have the same shot at say, Phi Beta Popular as a freshman does. Does that mean you shouldn't go through? No. But you have to be real re: the fact that there are some chapters out there with little to no interest in you based on your class standing.

People ask all the time if they should bother rushing as juniors at places like Bama, UF, etc. My response is generally that if you can handle not being anywhere in the stratosphere of what Phi Beta Popular & Everybody Loves Epsilon want, then of course. You can probably get a bid to a GREAT chapter. Is it going to be to the house that you hear every other PNM in recruitment talking about how they just LOVE it? Probably not. You have to decide for yourself whether you want to be Greek, or do you only want to be in *insert certain groups here*

Note: Are there exceptions to this? Probably. If Julie Junior super well connected to Phi Beta Popular, she might be the one junior that PBP takes.

[DubaiSis]

Not to bring up a taboo subject for this kind of thread, but UF seems to have continued very large pledge classes (although not insanely large). Is there any expectation or even inkling about expansion? It looks like the last expansion was in 2003, but what I can't tell is if the chapters are at or close to parity.

[KSUViolet06]

^^^As far as I know, just from looking at numbers based on GC (quota and total data) they are not. Someone please correct me if I'm off base.

Also, UF is one of those schools that poses a housing challenge in terms of expansion. You need to really be able to bring your A game with housing, and that requires money and land.

[irishpipes]

Originally Posted by KSUViolet06

^^^As far as I know, just from looking at numbers based on GC (quota and total data) they are not. Someone please correct me if I'm off base.

They are pretty close. Last fall, the smallest chapter had 173 after FR and the largest had 215. The smallest took 51 new members and the average new member class was about 63. The historically "weaker recruiting chapters" have pretty strong numbers right now. I'm not necessarily advocating for expansion, but the numbers are pretty even.

[DubaiSis]

Thanks. That wasn't indicated in your AMAZING list, since several chapters' numbers were missing. But my perception is what you just said above. Here's my guess: there WILL be expansion within the next couple years. The justification for my guess is merely based on contemporary growth in other SEC schools. UF will want to keep up with all the excitement surrounding their compatriot schools. And keeping all things as equal, adding a chapter would only reduce quota by 3 or 4. And none of that has ANY basis in reality on the ground. Just prognostication.