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Sorority Recruitment Recruitment event and bid day ideas, membership retention, publicity, recruitment policies, etc.


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  #1  
Old 11-24-2008, 01:06 AM
ohsunny ohsunny is offline
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Should I mention my aunt was a memeber?

Let's start out by saying that I'm a junior in high school, it's true. So there's a lot of time until I go through recruitment. I've been wanting to be a part of Greek life since I was probably about 10 or 11 due to the stories that my aunt used to tell my sister and I about her times in college (she was greek).
So hopefully greek chat will be around in 2 years so I can tell my story about my experience through rush at one of the Big XII schools.

But to my actual question...
I know that in order to be a legacy your immediate family has to have been in a sorority. Well my aunt is an alumnae member of a sorority that is at the school I plan on attending, definitely making be NOT a legacy.
When I go through rush should I mention that my aunt is an alumnae member or no and will it just be overlooked?

I know I get no kind of special privileges, but I'm just wondering is that a big "no no" to mention to that sorority?


Thanks y'all.

Last edited by ohsunny; 11-24-2008 at 01:09 AM.
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  #2  
Old 11-24-2008, 01:08 AM
KSUViolet06 KSUViolet06 is offline
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Note: Whether you are considered a legacy depends on the policy of your aunt's sorority. Not every sorority considers neices to be legacies.

There's no real need to mention it during recruitment. The best thing to do is have your aunt submit a recommendation form on your behalf when the time comes (the summer before recruitment). That's the standard way of letting a sorority know that you have a family connection to the sorority.
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Last edited by KSUViolet06; 11-24-2008 at 01:14 AM.
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  #3  
Old 11-24-2008, 06:25 AM
violetpretty violetpretty is offline
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Some NPCs consider nieces to be legacies. I know mine is one of them. Also, legacies aren't necessarily immediate family members. Many NPCs consider stepdaughters, stepsisters, and stepgranddaughters to be legacies as well.

The legacy policy (stating who their legacies are) may be available to you on your aunt's sorority's national website.

Even if you are not a legacy, you should absolutely have her write you a rec, especially if you end up at a Big XII school. Recs are a way to allow the chapter to get to know you before recruitment. At some Big XII schools, they are a necessity, others, less important. In any effect, who better to write you a rec than someone who knows you well like your aunt?

Besides, mentioning that your aunt is a sorority alumna shows that you have knowledge about what Greek life entails.
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  #4  
Old 11-24-2008, 08:13 AM
jwright25 jwright25 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by violetpretty View Post
Besides, mentioning that your aunt is a sorority alumna shows that you have knowledge about what Greek life entails.
You know, we always used to look at this. I originally came from a school with a small Greek life where people tended to transfer or leave school after a year or two. Then when you add in the women who didn't know what they were getting into, retention wasn't always a high percentage - across the board. So we considered it a "plus" that a PNM had Greek family members. It showed that they had at least a fundamental introduction to sorority life and probably were aware that it was more than just a club.

OP - there will be a place on your application to list family relationships to sororities. There has been much discussion over whether listing these relationships helps or hurts. (Hurts in that there is a possibility that some chapters will release you because they assume that you want to pledge the relative's sorority.) I can see both sides of the argument, and without knowing you or your school cannot give an opinion on your situation.

So I agree with the above posters when they say to get a rec from your Aunt. And be sure to get recs to all the other chapters too. Since you have a year and a half of HS left, you have plenty of time to build up that resume, gain leadership experience, make good grades, and have fun!
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  #5  
Old 11-24-2008, 05:24 PM
ohsunny ohsunny is offline
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Originally Posted by jwright25 View Post
OP - there will be a place on your application to list family relationships to sororities. There has been much discussion over whether listing these relationships helps or hurts. (Hurts in that there is a possibility that some chapters will release you because they assume that you want to pledge the relative's sorority.) I can see both sides of the argument, and without knowing you or your school cannot give an opinion on your situation.
Last year, my sister went through rush but decided it wasn't for her (she's attending the same school I hope to). When she filled out the recruitment registration form it didn't have a spot for family Greek members. It only a spot for legacies and under that it had a place for either your Mother, Grandmother, or Sisters name. So what would I do then?

Quote:
Originally Posted by jwright25 View Post
So I agree with the above posters when they say to get a rec from your Aunt. And be sure to get recs to all the other chapters too. Since you have a year and a half of HS left, you have plenty of time to build up that resume, gain leadership experience, make good grades, and have fun!
How soon is too soon to start looking for recommendations? Five out of the eleven chapters at the school I plan on attending, I have no connections with any alumnae. Would it be rude to ask my teachers and staff at my school if they know any sorority members or alumnae?

Thanks, you've been a lot of help.
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  #6  
Old 11-24-2008, 05:49 PM
FSUZeta FSUZeta is offline
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you can ask teachers(present and former), neighbors, friends of your parents, parents of your friends, your parents co-workers, members of your church.

incidentally, your greek aunt may belong to a city alumnae panhellenic association-if so she might have contact with members of other sororities and could help introduce you to those ladies. she may also have had college friends who are members of other sororities who could write a rec. to their sorority for you.

there may be an alumnae panhellenic association in your city. if so, they may host a recruitment information meeting. they usually hold these in the winter or early spring. you'll learn all about recruitment in general, with more in depth information on the colleges in your state. often they encourage attendees to bring a resume which they collect and then they assemble recommendations for the pnms. during your senior year, keep your eyes and ears open for one of these meetings. many of the alumnae panhellenics have websites where that information would be posted, and often they place a notice in the local newspaper.

it's not that important that all the sororities know that your aunt is a member of a sorority, so don't worry about the recruitment application. it is important that the chapter of her sorority know.

if any of the other sororities ask you you if any family members are members of greek orgs. you can certainly say that "your aunt is an "ABC", and listening to her college stories was a big reason that you wanted to go thru recruitment."
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  #7  
Old 11-25-2008, 01:45 AM
violetpretty violetpretty is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ohsunny View Post
How soon is too soon to start looking for recommendations? Five out of the eleven chapters at the school I plan on attending, I have no connections with any alumnae. Would it be rude to ask my teachers and staff at my school if they know any sorority members or alumnae?
What I know about recs is almost entirely from Greek Chat. I have no personal experience with recs, so any GCers who are more familiar with recs, make any corrections.

Really, there is no such thing as too soon to ask around and find sorority alumnae. No, it's not rude. Sorority alumnae will want to help you out! You already have a good start if you know alumnae from 6 sororities. You don't need to ask them for a recommendation until you know for sure where you will be going. The more alumnae who know you personally, the better, so use now until April (or whenever you get that acceptance letter) of your senior year to simply find alumnae (and look for ones that may be at other schools you are applying to, just in case). April (or whenever you get the acceptance letter) is when I would ask alumnae to actually write the recs.

FSUZeta gave a good list of women to ask. I'd also ask your sisters' friends and friends' sisters, women from your job, female sponsors of activities, etc as well. And, don't forget men! If you know of any men in fraternities, they may know of sorority alumnae in your community. Also, some, but not all NPCs allow collegiate members from other chapters to write recs, so if you have friends in sororities at other schools, they may be able to write you a rec.

Many alumnae Panhellenics have deadlines for rec requests, and chapters may also want them well ahead of recruitment. They'll have less time to read them if you get a rec in the day before recruitment starts. Peruse the APH website/call/email the APH president for any deadlines, and note if any chapters have specific deadlines for recs on their websites. Request recs through APH only once you have exhausted your personal contacts. If you have at least 1 quality (ie alumna knows you very well) rec from XYZ, you don't need to ask the XYZs from APH for one.
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Last edited by violetpretty; 11-25-2008 at 01:53 AM.
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  #8  
Old 11-24-2008, 03:02 PM
Kansas City Kansas City is offline
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I'd have your aunt write a recommendation, especially if she is an alumna of the chapter at the Big 12 School you may attend. Although recruitment for you is still a few years away, I'm not sure that I would initiate a conversation about it during rectuirment but it should definitely not be hidden either.
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  #9  
Old 11-24-2008, 09:25 PM
jwright25 jwright25 is offline
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^^^ What she said. I wouldn't worry too much about the app. Most Big XII schools have decently strong Greek systems where my reasoning for liking Greek family members wouldn't apply. The applications can be customized for each campus, so apparently this campus chose to ask about sister, mother, grandmother only. No biggie!

And it probably wouldn't hurt to go ahead and ask about connections at this time. I wouldn't ask for recs yet - but if you find out through casual conversation that a teacher, mentor, friend of family is a member of a sorority, go ahead and say that you've been considering recruitment and would love to hear about their experience. Then when the time comes, they may offer to write one for you, and you don't even have to ask. Plus they'll know more about you and can write a better letter....
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  #10  
Old 12-01-2008, 06:58 PM
Smile_Awhile Smile_Awhile is offline
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At our chapter (small, Midwest university with small Greek life), we have a legacy in my pledge class who was the niece of a famous alumni from our specific chapter. There was a spot for aunts on our Panhellenic application for rush. The girls immediately wanted her very badly- and obviously got her! So notify them!
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  #11  
Old 12-01-2008, 07:01 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Smile_Awhile View Post
At our chapter (small, Midwest university with small Greek life), we have a legacy in my pledge class who was the niece of a famous alumni from our specific chapter. There was a spot for aunts on our Panhellenic application for rush. The girls immediately wanted her very badly- and obviously got her! So notify them!
What may have worked at your chapter may not necessarily be the same for others.
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  #12  
Old 12-01-2008, 07:41 PM
LΩVE LΩVE is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Smile_Awhile View Post
At our chapter (small, Midwest university with small Greek life), we have a legacy in my pledge class who was the niece of a famous alumni from our specific chapter. There was a spot for aunts on our Panhellenic application for rush. The girls immediately wanted her very badly- and obviously got her! So notify them!
On our campus it can work against the PNM though. For instance if she lists a close legacy (sister, say) from XYZ then ABC and DEF, who have to drop a fairly large number of girls during the first cut, often drop her for that, assuming that it is too risky to keep a girl that likely wants to follow her sister. It's great if she really did want XYZ, but she often gets pigeon-holed and isn't left with a choice. I know a large number of girls who have experienced this and most of them ended up happy, but they did wish they were given a choice as they were also interested in other sororities. I'm sure at a large school with many sororities that isn't such a common occurence, but it can be when there are few sororities and the dynamics are such that girls in that position aren't worth the risk. I found out recently that my own chapter considered dropping me for that reason. I had a cousin in ABC and listed her (though not as a legacy, obviously, but there is a space for family members in greek organizations). She's my mother's age and wouldn't have influenced me at all, but they didn't know that. I just got lucky that they decided to take the risk that year.
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  #13  
Old 12-01-2008, 07:49 PM
Smile_Awhile Smile_Awhile is offline
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So maybe the best solution would be to mention it while in conversation during recruitment rather than on the application? That would seem to have the best outcome?

I'm still learning about all of this- I'm still a fairly new member to my GLO.
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  #14  
Old 12-01-2008, 09:42 PM
KSUViolet06 KSUViolet06 is offline
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Originally Posted by Smile_Awhile View Post
So maybe the best solution would be to mention it while in conversation during recruitment rather than on the application? That would seem to have the best outcome?

I'm still learning about all of this- I'm still a fairly new member to my GLO.
I would think that having the family member submit a rec would be sufficient. It doesn't guarantee anything, but it does let the chapter know that that PNM has a connection to the sorority.
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  #15  
Old 12-01-2008, 07:06 PM
Smile_Awhile Smile_Awhile is offline
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As to why I put in the precursor of small Midwest university with small Greek life. When you only have a few houses to chose from and a small percentage of girls going through rush, things are obviously different from a SEC school, for example. And nothing always works identically, so sorry if I offended!
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