recruitment questions

I was not hazed at all and neither were my friends (from multiple sororities) can't speak for everyone but that was my experience

I personally was not hazed, though a few friends were made to feel really uncomfortable during their new member period (idk if they would define it as hazing, but they told me they felt weird about some things they did)

Also one chapter asks their new members to take their shirts off for bid day photos which I would define as hazing but they all seem to have a good time so...

I think most sororities have a GPA cut off, where they won't take anyone with a GPA below a certain number. But a lot of people struggle with the transition to college, so unless you did absolutely terrible in a few classes take a deep breath. But also know that a sorority and new member period take up a lot of time second semester, so you might get a little overwhelmed. My GPA dipped a little the semester I joined my sorority, although once I got better time management skills it became easier to do well in school and be involved in my chapter.

If your GPA is high enough to meet the Panhel and (sometimes slightly higher) chapter cut-offs then I've never heard of it being an issue. As long as a PNM is eligible for membership, my chapter never discusses GPA as a selection criterion.

^^ exactly what they said, it's more of a criteria for eligibility versus actual selection. If you are eligible for recruitment, its the same gpa eligibility for most chapters to go past Arete. Some chapters have slightly higher than the panhel requirement.

On that note, if any chapter brags about the top GPA during recruitment (and for some reason multiple chapters seem to think they have the top GPA every year), the sorority GPAs are separated by thousandths of points. So while it may sound like a big deal to have the best GPA, the reality is all of the chapters work hard in school and top GPA gets passed around pretty equally between sororities.

^^ yes yes important

I don't think that info is widely known....I don't even know the cutoff for my own chapter. If you gpa is above the panhel minimum youll probably be fine for most chapters. Any way its not worth worrying about it now. Just give it a try!

This is a totally valid question- obviously you want to know what you're getting yourself into when you're choosing between chapters. However, as a another poster on this site has said, "under a cloak of anonymity people say awful things." This question, on this site, the week of recruitment, is most likely not going to give you an accurate response. The truth is that, just as you put your best face out during recruitment as a PNM, the chapters are doing the same. Pretty much everyone will play up their strengths and gloss over any weaknesses, just like you would do in a job interview or something.

But, there's hope!

Rumors are rumors, and greek rank is greek rank. To echo many a poster on this site, take most of what's on here about chapters with a grain of salt especially stuff posted recently, this is all recruitment fueled. Likewise, know that yik-yak isn't an especially kind or reliable source and that gossip is not always accurate. With that being said, the stuff you hear about over and over again, the stuff posted on here for years and not just in the month leading up to recruitment, that kind of stuff you can view as having a little more accuracy and take into account as each chapter will most definitely gloss over less strong parts of their sisterhood during recruitment. Things like hazing, judicial issues, deactivation- not even stuff you would have to gloss over or cover up, they simply wouldn't have a place in the party anyways.

Furthermore and most importantly, these things that you're talking about, the things you want to take into account because they obviously aren't going to be a focal point during recruitment, are all rooted in underlying vibes and components of a chapter. Every chapter has their pros and has their cons- the thing is in which chapter do the cons matter least to you, and where the pros mean the most.

Even though the less-positive components won't get discussed during rush, the underlying components, like sisterhood (good or bad) will be evident either explicitly or just begin in the room with the entire chapter. And these underlying components ARE the kind of things you get a sense of during recruitment.

People can fake things like a stronger sisterhood/etc than is maybe reality, yes. That's when you keep wayyyy back in your head the things people say on campus over and over again but MOST IMPORTANTLY when you make your own decision based on how you FEEL during the conversations and just sitting in the room, honestly.

I saw this last night and was trying to come up with a good response, but you got everything I was going to say and said it better so thanks.

I cannot emphasize the importance of trusting your gut and feeling the vibes in the room. In one chapter, I happened to look around during the presentation and saw two girls laughing/whispering and pointing at another girl sitting near me. I didn't want to go back to them after that, and even though I went to them the following round I knew it wasn't a chapter I wanted to be in.

BUT you should also be comfortable with changing favorites throughout recruitment. Just because something doesn't feel perfect the first day doesn't mean you should immediately write that chapter off. On my first day, I visited a chapter I was lukewarm about and one I absolutely did not like. But by the second round I really liked both of them and then loved a third chapter and ended up preffing all three of them (I'm a junior, so we had 3 prefs parties back then). Prefs really changed things for me, and I ended up ranking the original lukewarm one first knowing that that was the chapter I needed to be in, the one I really didn't like second, and the chapter I thought I loved third. I joined the chapter I ended up wanting and haven't looked back. So trust your gut, but don't fight it when your feelings change because it happens, and you might be missing out on something if you do. And of couse this also goes for things you've heard about pre-recruitment!!

I completely agree with what the posters above are saying, but I also understand that there are some things you want to know upfront before joining. I won't name names, because you'll probably figure out who it is on your own, but there is one chapter whose Bid Day celebrations involve a lot of partial nudity - shirtless pictures, body painting, half-naked "traditions", etc. - and drinking. Just important to tell because two years ago a new member of that chapter who wasn't expecting it called Panhel in a panic and tried to change her bid.

Just to make it clear, kappa (kkg) is the sorority with the half naked pictures and all of that. If you dont feel comfortable with this, dont join.

pi phi has been on and off probation every year or so since about 2011 for hazing and alcohol-related things. alpha phi was on social probation the beginning of this fall after sending several girls to the hospital from post-thurtene last year. that (plus their inability to bring home any trophies in years) is a big reason they quit thurtene this year and decided to a "booth" with sigma chi instead.

Kappa like makes you get shirtless for pictures, its so strange in my opinion

sure it's weird, but from my understanding it's just a silly fun tradition. for girls who don't have a problem with it i say don't let others' opinions bother you; if you're not comfortable with it you probably wouldn't be comfortable in kappa anyway.

Can we not name names? It defeats the purpose of having a wall where we try to answer questions about recruitment in general. We don't need to start another stereotypical Greek Rank wall about which sorority is better, which sorority is nicer to PNMs, etc. PNMs have to figure it out for themselves, just like we have to figure out which new members we want.

I get where you're coming from with naming names, but I think it's okay in this instance since there were shirtless, painted kappas walking around campus while school was in session in broad daylight. It's not like this is something one or two people have heard of/saw, this is something that a lot of people on campus have seen happen. So it's not hearsay or anything.

Yes i agree with the above poster. Many of the drinking allegations below are rumors but I saw this with my own eyes and pnms should know. I know the girl who called panhel to try to switch to another sorority because she was so uncomfortable with this tradition

Depends on what you mean by "forced". NO sorority at WashU hazes in the sense that there is actual unavoidable pressure to drink, as part of new member/Bid Day events or otherwise. But Kappa and Pi Phi, as well as Alpha Phi and AEPhi, have different unofficial "hazing" events where members who CHOOSE to attend and participate are pressured to test and sometimes exceed their comfort zones. So, no, there is no sorority in which drinking is unavoidable, but there are some in which you may feel left out not drinking in specific contexts. My advice would be to find your fit regardless - if you really click with a chapter I wouldn't let this stop you from choosing them.

two of my good friends almost went to the hospital this fall from one sorority's (not kkg or pi phi) "sophomore hazing night", after half a dozen of their girls almost died from alcohol poisoning at an event in april. like the poster above me said, i don't think any sororities make you to be at events where forced drinking happens, but girls who decide to go can be put in dangerous situations.

Okay so the reply by "drinking" needs to be addressed...

Regardless of which chapter the poster was referring to (I think most actives know so I won't name names), at no point last year did any chapter hold an event where "half a dozen of their girls almost died from alcohol poisoning." Think about it: had that actually happened, do you think the chapter would still be on this campus? Do you think SIL would've given them a slap on the wrist and a simple month of social probation? The answer is no. That kind of endangerment is worth a chapter losing its charter or its recognition by the school.

While hospitalizations do occur in the Greek system, they are usually isolated events and (hopefully) do not reach the point of "almost dying." I don't want to discredit the first part of the post about the chapter's "sophomore hazing night" (because that very well may have happened), but the rest of the statement is most definitely an exaggeration. Please be careful with the use of this kind of inflated language; it makes the entire Greek system look like a death trap.

The truth is, drinking in a sorority is just like drinking anywhere else. People will offer you drinks at events, and you are 100% allowed to say no. If you do say yes, know your limits and have friends looking out for you. I've never had an issue with forced drinking or hazing in my own chapter, and as long as you look out for yourself and for others, I doubt you will have any issues in any other chapter.

I agree that saying girls "almost died" is a cavalier exaggeration, but the commenter wasn't too far from the truth - a chapter did send several members to the hospital (at least in part due to severe alcohol poisoning) from post-Thurtene last year. They were able to get their punishment softened by striking an agreement with SIL regarding other chapter initiatives.

To address the original question: all of these stories are true (or rooted in truth), but I think they distract from the clear answer that no member of any sorority is ever forced to drink. KKG and Pi Phi may be among chapters that have more events where drinking/certain types of drinking is highly encouraged for all who attend, but consumption of alcohol is never required or coerced. Most, if not all, chapters on this campus have members who choose not to drink, and I've never heard of it being a problem.

Kappa recently got in trouble because so many fake ids got taken at their date party and also one of the members was so drunk she fell and got a serious concussion so nationals made them cancel their semi formal.

This is my first and last post on this site, but it's important that some one who ACTUALLY has experience with being a non-drinking member of a chapter speaks on this subject.

First of all, no sorority that I know of makes you drink. As a member of one of the "top tier" sororities, I don't drink, and haven't since high school due to personal/medical reasons. My sisters fully support my decisions, always have always will. No one has EVER forced me to drink, and my pledge sisters all understand my choices and love me regardless. I still have fun with them, go out, and have really close relationships.

Drinking is a personal choice and just because I don't drink doesn't mean I'm any less of a sister to my friends who do drink.

Don't let rumors influence your decision or scare you aware from one sorority or another because people on this site tend to vilify certain sororities based on allegations and speak on things that they don't really know about. These scare-tactics used by other posters are totally bogus and in my opinion petty. I've never been forced to do anything I don't feel comfortable doing and would NEVER force some one to do something they aren't comfortable with, same goes for the rest of my chapter. It's true that some chapters drink and go out more than others, but that doesn't mean that YOU have to drink, or will be looked down upon because you don't. Trust me, people are way more concerned about their own drinks than yours.

This. Dirty rushing breaks the integrity of the process. Recruitment is about finding the sorority that is the best fit for you on your terms, not because you were coerced by actives into making it your top choice. If you are at all uncomfortable or weirded out by a sorority texting you throughout recruitment (which you should be, honestly...while it's flattering on some level it's also pretty creepy and a little desperate in my opinion), PLEASE report it!