That's ThetaPrincess24's chapter! :)

Congrats on pledging Kappa, kbelle. Your username really fits now (k for Kappa, belle like in a South Carolina southern belle). :)

Love reading this thread! Just a little bit/piece from the West Coast--I've been poking around Facebook and have noticed quite a few seniors in the Facebook group for our university's recruitment this year (they are invited to join the group and write on the wall with questions, etc. after they register online). At our university it's common for sophomores and even juniors to rush (chapters either have a separate quota for juniors or juniors aren't counted in quota, not 100% sure), but it's not as common for seniors to rush. This year I know our house had one senior in our fall pledge class and a couple of other houses pledged 1 or 2 seniors each, but by the looks of this Facebook group, it looks like there are at least 10-15 seniors going through recruitment this year. Just a curiosity--has anyone else noticed a spike in seniors going through recruitment at their schools?

I think you're seeing the increase in seniors interested in recruitment due to the economy. Students aren't hurrying to finish a degree in four years so they can enter the job market. Often students are staying in school 5 years or longer to add minors or changing majors to something more economically friendly. In our area, many education majors are staying in longer to pick up different/additional certification areas in hopes of being more marketable. Business majors are picking up foreign languages to make them more marketable internationally, etc.

Yay, I didn't think of that! I like that. :)

I didn't know that! That's awesome to hear!

I usually just lurk around here and don't post, but I thought this story from the SK field consultant at Washington State was so touching I just had to share!

http://sklconsultants.wordpress.com/...a-sigma-kappa/

I teared up a little when I read this. What a wonderful story! And I'll say it again - I love quota additions!

I love happy Sigma Kappa stories!

The LC who wrote this comes from my chapter. Proud of her, proud of the Alpha Gammas!

One heart, one way!

Now that an appropriate amount of time has passed...

I lovelovelove this year's pledge class for my chapter. <3 it's a little smaller than some girls were hoping for, but we have a lot of really strong, dedicated girls this year and I think it's going to work out great!!

Plus, I'm super-happy - I hadn't gotten the chance to meet one of the new girls in recruitment, but I got to show her around today after our bid day pictures and we clicked immediately and eeee, I'm just all-around happy. This is going to be an awesome, awesome semester.

good for you, crosscaravan!

Haha! Thank you. I've been logging in and wanting to post that for days now, but I finally got the OK so I spammed it. Eeee.

Things are going really, really well. I hope everyone else is just as happy with their new members. :)

What I learned this year on the "other side" of recruitment:

PNMs, if you're interested, show it!!!! I met a girl during the round before preference, she was very nice and polite, but generally did not seem interested in going Chi O: she didn't ask any questions, and gave pretty minimal answers to my questions. She did not seem to want to open up. But we decided to invite her to pref anyway, and I wound up preffing her. About 15 minutes into the party, she started crying hysterically. I figured she was upset at having been cut elsewhere, but then she told me she was so glad to have found a sorority like chi omega where she felt at home and would be accepted for who she was etc and if she did get a bid she was so excited that we would be sisters. I was dumbfounded but incredibly touched!! I wish she had shown her interest earlier, I would have communicated that to my sisters before pref. So PNMs, you obvs shouldn't say "omggggg I love XYZ SOOO much!" at round 1, but asking questions and showing your excitement for sisterhood goes a long way in your recruitment. If we think you want to be here, we want to know that!

Rush Crushes: I didn't understand this concept. How can you fall in love with a girl after 10 minutes of conversation? But oh boy, it happens. There was one PNM whom my chapter LOVED, and on pref night we found out she had dropped and we were all crushed. PNMs, chapters are inviting you back because they want you to be there, especially by pref round. We see something in you that we love- nobody is forcing us to invite you back (usually). We genuinely really really want you there and when you drop out of recruitment it makes us sad :( Always always give chapters 2nd and 3rd chances. You might be surprised just how at home you feel when 100+ women are ecstatic to see you on our lawn for bid day!

I'm hearing from other sources that cuts are being made based on the rushee's expressed interest. Other than the girls who are being outright cold, this seems kind of new to me. The chapters are trying to find the girls who want them right from the get-go. This is no time to play it cool! The trick is to find that balance between expressing interest and gushing. A simple, "I've really enjoyed being here today and hope to come back tomorrow" could go a lot further than you think! But make sure it's authentic.

With RFM, the strongest recruiting chapters don't have invitations to waste on girls who may not rank them high enough.

Unfortunately, some of this is out of a PNM's control...if she went to X high school with all of the girls in ABC, XYZ and DEF may write her off too soon, even if she says she loves them.