[BlueBayou]

So when we left off... my daughter at joining West. Better know as...
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Delta Zeta


This also happens to be her cousin's sorority, so her only female first cousin is also her sister!

I've talked about "competitive" vs "non-competitive" recruitments in another post. But I was really surprised to learn that people in Flower's Rho Gam group dropped out after not getting the invite they wanted back - and they had a girl SIP (single intentional preference) and not get matched.

This is not what I was expecting from this "non-competitive" school.

So while the trapping around this recruitment (what the school population thinks about particular GLOs, references/recommendations, wardrobe, family connections, knowing members in chapters, etc) is way more relaxed than a typical SEC school, I would argue it isn't any less competitive in terms of membership selection.

The academic standards and type of student this school attracts is different than your typical school. It is mainly a STEM and business major school. If a chapter values grades - and pretty much expects high school GPAs unweighted to be 3.9 or above - can you say that is not competitive? No. It's just placing membership selection value on different things.

It's the difference between having a certain scholarship being a quality that a chapter regards highly VS a chapter actively seeking to pledge the most number of students with certain scholarships.

As somebody that worked the other side of recruitment in arguably the most popular sorority on campus (Was considered top 2), that had the highest pledge and active GPA - the first round cuts at my daughter's school looked like a straight GPA cut by the highest performing GLOs. There were rush cycles back in my day - where half the people going through recruitment did not have our grade threshold and had to be released. There was no exception. At Flowers school the two chapters that have the highest return rates have to make the deepest cuts first round and released many of the same girls.

This school seems to have 4 very solid, thriving and growing sororities.

From looking at the tent talk and talking with alumnae - I believe there are two sororities on her campus that would be a good fit for Flower and Delta Zeta is one of them. I am so happy she landed where she had the most comfortable conversations. As much as I was complaining to Flower's dad about her not trying to make a good impression, I have to admire her for being true to herself in terms of what she was looking for.

It's hard. I was raised by of mom who didn't feel you were "dressed" to go outside without putting on at least lip stick. And frankly, I don't think I would have ever worn my letters in the 80s without slapping on a little bit of makeup. So I wanted Flower to put her best self forward. But why does that "best self" have to include acting or becoming what you think people want to see or hear? I kind of cringed when Flower told me what she talked about (Stranger Things, The Marvel universe) but it turns out she was finding her sisters, people who share the same interests or at least care to hear what she is interested in.

Flower now has her "Big" and from the social media posts I've been able to see, it looks like they had a wonderful sisterhood retreat.

While I'm disappointed that she did not find sisterhood in my GLO - I know in my heart Delta Zeta is where she found HER home.