<p>My Daughter is applying to grad school and is wondering if listing a position held in a sorority is seen as a positive or a negative to admissions counselors? In other words, is being a member of a sorority at a “party school” likely to have the admissions folks conclude that my Daughter is a partyer, which she is not.</p>
<p>My Daughter listed her positions with the sorority and Panhel. She had great acceptances and ended up with a scholarship based on leadership. I would say list it.</p>
<p>For many professionally oriented ones like MBA or law, it is often viewed as a positive.</p>
<p>For academic grad programs…especially MA/MS/PhD programs in Arts & Sciences, it really depends which of the senior faculty members of a given department/program are reading it.</p>
<p>But for grad school, there are generally no “admissions counselors.” Decisions are made by the faculty of the department in which she plans to study. They are primarily focused on her undergrad GPA, her GRE scores, any publications she may have, and other experience in the field. “Extracurricular activities” are very very low on the list.</p>
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<p>LORs, research experience, publications are weighed alongside GPA.</p>
<p>There were very few places to list ECs on the grad applications I did and some even specified that they were only interested in those directly related to your field of study. </p>
<p>If it’s possible to put it on, I don’t think it can hurt. However, do not let it knock off a relevant experience.</p>
<p>If I saw one, I’d see it as a negative, unless the applicant had a way of convincing me that it had some relevance to her field of study.</p>
<p>But doesn’t her undergraduate institution, or her department, have folks that help with grad school applications, who can answer questions like these?</p>
<p>I think it’s a positive - not exactly the same but…</p>
<p>My son (2013 college grad) was told by 2 potential employers that they love to hire kids that were in fraternities/sororities, did well academically and held posisitions. They believe those kids are well rounded and balanced. One of his fraternity brothers just got a dream job with a dream company-his interviewer was also a member of his fraternity (different school) but they had an instant connection. He also held a position in the fraternity, which they discussed during the interview. </p>
<p>Good luck</p>
<p>dwhite, grad school acceptances are very different from employment offers. Grad schools are looking for serious academics. Companies are often looking for charming people, of which your son is one.</p>
<p>Veryhappy- I prefaced my response with the disclaimer that it was different. The point was, that I thought it could be a positive. Obviously, it requires serious academics to get accepted to a top grad program and being charming can’t hurt :)</p>
<p>I agree, dwhite.</p>
<p>Quest…does your daughter’s sorority leadership position have ANYTHING to do with her grad school course of study? If not, it won’t matter if she lists it…or not.</p>
<p>Oh, it if it doesn’t, it* would *matter to me. There would be a moment when I would question the student’s poor judgment in thinking that this would somehow impress me, and would make me wonder if she was so interested in, say, biology, why she put all that time into being her sorority’s social chair rather than into research. It wouldn’t be a big thing, but if I had 100 applicants for four places…</p>
<p>I agree with mini… for a lot of people (academics in particular) sororities have a primarily negative connotation.</p>
<p>None of the grad schools that either of my d’s applied to required any information other than accomplishments within the specific field you are planning to study.</p>
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If this applicant’s coursework and research were equal to that of the other applicants, perhaps one could conclude instead that her ability to combine a satisfying personal life and community involvement with top notch academics bodes well for her future as a functional human being AND her ability to contribute to your graduate program.</p>
<p>Would you have the same reaction if she mentioned other volunteer work or ECs? Or is this purely a negative reaction to sororities?</p>
<p>I have only a hazy recollection of graduate applications, but I don’t recall them including anything about ECs. Perhaps there are fields–MBA, MD, JD–where it is considered relevant.</p>
<p>I would look at ECs that were connected in some possible way to the course of study. Anything else I would look at with the same mildly negative (or quizzical) response - why is she telling me this? What doesn’t she understand about how graduate study works? Who is advising her?</p>
<p>And I would look at sororities the same way I would any other social club. Why are you telling me that?</p>
<p>I wouldn’t spend more than 10-15 seconds thinking about it at all.</p>
<p>I am a sorority woman, and I didn’t put it on my application for PhD programs either time (I transferred PhD programs after earning my masters). I think many in academia still have an “unacademic” view of sororities, which is odd considering that probably half of my sorority sisters have gone on advanced degrees. Like others have said, grad schools generally only care about stuff related to your field.</p>
<p>Mostly regional, IMHO. In the northeast, a lot of people look down on sororities. In the south and Midwest, different story.</p>
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<p>I think this quote is too absolute. </p>
<p>Many academics may not care either way or may even view the fraternity/sorority positions/work as an extreme positive because they were members themselves in the same or a different fraternity/sorority. </p>
<p>Risk comes from the fact SOME academics may view fraternities/sororities negatively and you only need a few key senior Profs reviewing academic grad apps to feel that way to sink a candidate who took the risk of listing their fraternity/sorority positions/work. </p>
<p>Thus…this is more of a highly risky YMMV situation when it comes to grad apps to academic grad programs…especially those in Arts & Sciences departments. </p>
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<p>Not sure about MD, but for MBA/JD grad programs…fraternity/sorority membership…especially in prominent officer positions was almost always regarded as a positive enhancing EC on one’s application.</p>
<p>In those fields…having been a fraternity/sorority member and especially an officer is perceived as proof of some social, leadership, and charm skills.*</p>
<p>*A.K.A.: BS Artistry skills among my hardcore engineering/CS HS classmates and colleagues who disdain what is often perceived as good social, leadership, and charm skills in the corporate sector and US society at large. A few colleagues/acquaintances who were Service Academy Graduates/former enlisted military also share this opinion to some extent.</p>