Rush + OOS

For any OOS PNMs reading this (because I know I was when I was a HS senior) here’s what I didn’t know when I was in your position.

Top house doesn’t mean best house. Top just means hard to get into. Top just means LESS SPOTS available to get in because their members & alumni are pulling for SO MANY girls. Each house gets a number of girls they HAVE TO CUT during recruitment. The bigger the cuts the harder it is to get in. Top houses might have to cut 75% of the girls before they even meet them. They don’t have as many spots to fill, so it ends up being girls they ALREADY KNOW or girls with tight connections or legacies. This makes the exclusive/hard to get into rep continue YEAR AFTER YEAR. Girls in these houses already know each other really well from high school (MAJORITY=big city HS/Private HS girls).
For example, If you move from OOS to a high school where you don’t know anyone your senior year & everyone else has been friends since elementary school, it’s naturally going to be harder to fit in. It can be done, but it’s harder. This is how recruitment is. If you don’t have SEVERAL girls fighting for you in a house, it is really hard to get asked back. If a top house can only invite back 500 (round 1) & a mid/lower house can invite back 1000+ (round 1), your chances are greater of being 1 of 500 if you know SEVERAL girls. Remember there’s 2200+ PNMS and UARK is the biggest state school in Arkansas = a lot of Arkansas girls (many are legacies &/or well connected ARKANSAS girls). If you’re from OOS they’re not going to waste one of their spots (200 bids per house) on someone no one knows. It’s just easier to be 1 of 1000+ because there are more available spots. A random OOS outstanding PNM has slim chances of getting a spot.
Top doesn’t mean “best sisterhood” or friendliest, happiest, wealthiest, prettiest, &/or smartest (there’s a mixture of ALL TYPES in each house). It just means hardest to get into. In fact like the high school example, you’ll probably fit in better/feel more comfortable with other people who haven’t known each other forever & who have also recently moved to Arkansas. The top houses don’t have very many OOS girls. The mid/lower houses have more OOS. IT’S MATH, because if you’re in state you prob went to high school with a lot of girls in the top houses so they help you get in = CONNECTED.
What I learned the hard way is you need connections (which you’ll hear over and over again on GR) & if you don’t have them then you probably don’t really want to be in that sorority where so many of the girls already know each other. Trust me it is HARD to break into groups of girls that already have a history from high school, camp or whatever. There are some girls w/no connections, and yes some no connection girls make friends, but that hasn’t been my experience. Also keep in mind it costs $400+ per month to be in a UARK sorority and it’s time consuming, CHOOSE the best financial & time investment FOR YOU.
If I could give any advice it would be to prepare yourself mentally for brutal cuts that have less to do with your resume/appearance and more to do with not being connected. Something else I’d advise is if you’re transferring maybe do COB it’s less stressful and less expensive, all but the 5 oldest sororities take a few extra girls after bid day. With all this said if being in a top house is a priority to you 1. stay in your state or 2. join a sorority with a strong presence in your home state (for alumni purposes).