Yes. :D

Yes, the Terrace refers to the Memorial Union Terrace. The Memorial Union dates from 1928, and the back terrace opens to Lake Mendota. There are colorful "sunburst" chairs by the hundreds, and it is THE gathering spot for students, alums, visitors and residents alike. The Union itself features, among a million other things, homemade Wisconsin ice cream and Der Rathskellar (think German beer hall with pub food). Pitchers of beer from the Rathskellar on the Terrace are a favorite, plus sailing, plus swimming, plus lakeside movies, summer stage with live music 5 nights a week. It's pretty awesome.

Here's another view, this time of the back of the Union, from Lake Mendota:
http://photos.uc.wisc.edu/photos/105...jpg?1286762668

I'm curious, do the affiliate sororities participate along with the NPC sororities during recruitment? (No offense, but personally I would think the benefits of an NPC sorority are greater especially in the long run and post graduation) Are the girls required to attend parties for all sororities? Or can you opt out of the non-npc sororities?

As far as I know, the affiliate sororities do not participate in FR. AOEforme would have better info. Didn't your chapter participate in round one (or maybe tabling?) at one point?

But the number you've all been waiting for is 786. That's how many women are currently registered. It's up over 10% from last year (and quota was 48 then).
Parties start Sunday! :D

Except those two piers are no more :( The swim one was pulled out about 2 weeks ago and the concrete one is blocked off. They're doing serious remodeling around the union so the terrace space is decreased by about half. Oh well. We'll make do. We're happy we still have plenty of beverages ;) and a bit of a view of the lake.

My chapter opted to not participate in formal, because it's difficult for our membership selection process to be adapted to formal recruitment. Some chapters of Alpha Omega Epsilon choose to participate in formal, but we have opted to always participate in select rounds (like kchaptergphib said).

aside/ In terms of the long term benefits of an NPC, Alpha Ep has very similar programming. We have really active national alumnae organizations, alumnae chapters, social groups, scholarship programs, conventions, etc. I've noted my alumna experience to be near identical to that of my friends in NPCs, except that the science concentration persists. The only thing I have noted is that my sorority is not as well known as my friends in Chi Omega or Delta Gamma (for instance).

Basically, what I am saying is that non-NPC is not the same as a local sorority. Even in that instance, a local may still have amazing programs for graduates.

Wow! That's amazing. Any word from the first days of recruitment?

Another aside: I miss the terrace. Horribly.

OMG...this needs a huge like!!!

My daughter's had very little time to fill me in (she's an active). She said first round Sunday went really well, lots of great girls, but a super long day and didn't finish up til 2am. Then right back at the house Monday at 11am getting ready for 2nd round. Now they start school and try to focus on that and they're excited to see who comes back for pref on Friday!

At Convention in 2010 my friend who is a UW alum joked with the UW collegians: "Have one on the terrace for me!" and they all laughed. So, I figured this might be the iconic spot. Thanks for enlightening me, UW friends! :)

Can't wait to hear more about Wisconsin recruitment.. Love the campus there.

I wish so, too. It's our Beta chapter. And Madison is indeed a great city.
And AGDLynn could come to visit me en route!:D

I'm going up for the Illinois-Wisconsin football game in a couple of weeks and can't wait. I always have so much fun in Madison. But I have learned the hard way to pace myself on gameday, especially at my "mature" age.

Not sure who to root for - Illinois grad with a Wisconsin kid!

Good luck to all the houses and PNMs with Pref tonight and Bid Day Sunday!

@ILAnchorGirl:

That's funny. My mom is a UW grad and my dad is a UIUC grad. When I was little, we'd always go to the Badger/Illini game at Camp Randall each year. My dad always made sure I was wearing navy and orange. LOL But, now that I'm a Wisconsin grad, I only cheer for the Badgers, of course. ;-)

By the way, the only thing I've really heard about rush this year is that it's going pretty well. Oh, and that there seems to be a lot of sophomores (many of whom are transfers) rushing this year. Looking forward to hearing about pref tonight and bid day on Sunday!

I'm outnumbered in my family. My husband went to UW (Fiji) and now my daughter. My uncle (Delta Upsilon) was the captain of the UW basketball team in the 50s. I'll admit I've become quite a Badger fan, but it will be hard for me to root against my own alma mater. Illinois football hasn't been too impressive of late (almost a complete reversal of the beatings they used to give the Badgers in my day), so I'm just hoping for a competitive game. ;)