I know that at the University of Washington in Seattle recruitment begins about two weeks before classes start! During recruitment the pnm's are temporarily housed in dorms--all together. Kind of a fun experience for all of the pnm's and they really do bond and form friendships. On bid day the new pledges move in to their sorority house! Many parents are there for bid day and they help their daughter's move from the dorm to the chapter house. Also, families can tour the chapter house etc. Then there are a couple of days with no school events--but I think that sororities have retreats, sisterhood bonding events, etc. Then, mid-week the week after recruitment all of the other new freshman arrive/move onto campus, etc. and "Dawg Days" begin (they are the Huskies)!! After welcome week activites, classes finally begin. So, by the time classes start the new sorority pledges have already been away from school for 2+ weeks! The actives for at least 3 weeks!
I know all of this because my daughter almost went to UW.

My point to all of this is that recruitment at UW does not interfere with classes or welcome week! Nice!

I don't think most women in this part of the country even consider going through recruitment until they meet greeks during the welcome week kinds of festivities. They get to school, they see bits and pieces of greek life and then they say "I think I'll try that and see what it's like."

I was driving through Greek Row in Ann Arbor last night on my way to the bars. Holy crap. There were SO many girls. They were all wearing exactly the same thing though, colored skinnies cuffed up with flats and a sheer, flowy button up. They didn't seem to be being lead by their Rho Chi's though, they were just kind of walking aimlessly in the street. I almost hit like, 5 girls. Woops. Hope your UM girls are doing well Dee :)

Exactly. There are certain girls that know they are going to go through recruitment--mainly the girls from the coasts, suburbs of Chicago, certain suburbs of Detroit. But otherwise, unless you know about Greek life prior to coming to campus, it's not on the radar. I think that's why there are so many sophomores that go through it. I knew I was going to rush as a freshman because I had friends at other schools who did it and I was a legacy (not where I ended up). The freshman in my pledge class were in similar circumstances to me, and the sophomores waited because they had no clue what it was like and didn't want to jump in to it.

I am going to tell the recruitment story of the girl I will call Rebbie.

Background: Rebbie was in day care with Hypo when they were 2. At age 3 1/2, their day care closed and they went their separate ways. On the first day of kindergarten, Hypo came home and informed me that Rebbie was in her class. They were very close friends until sometime in middle school. At that time, Hypo realized that Rebbie did everything she did, liked everything she liked. It irked Hypo. Rebbie never left Hypo's side and was trying to be exactly like her. Hypo started to separate herself from Rebbie but they still hung out in the same "crowd". Hypo observed that Rebbie has no personality of her own, doesn't know who she is and essentially becomes whoever she is hanging out with most. Rebbie and Janet, the other PNM are roommates, but were in different Rho Gam groups.

Rebbie's cuts were harsh. For second rounds, she was invited back to:
Diana Ross- This was her least favorite group. I believe the words were "I hate them"
Marvin Gaye- This was Janet's favorite group, therefore, it was also Rebbie's favorite group
The Four Tops- She felt neutral about this group. She liked them, but not as much as she liked Marvin Gaye.

They received third round invitations tonight and Rebbie was only invited back to Diana Ross . She has decided to drop out of recruitment.

This will make for interesting dynamics because Janet is still going through recruitment and is having a more successful experience so far. They are high school friends and roommates (which most predicted would be a disaster in the long run).

So, recruitment is over for Rebbie. I will post Janet's story when she is finished .. hopefully with a happy ending.

Good luck to Janet. Of course I can't wait to find out which group is which!

She had an invitation to her favorite group and she decided to drop??????

I don't understand her.

Oops, I messed up. She only had an invite to Diana Ross so she dropped.

I know I went through recruitment a long time ago, but I find it hard to believe that you can "hate" any group after two parties. I know that there were a couple of houses that I didn't feel completely comfortable at, or just didn't click with, but "hate"? Wow.

You can't. All you can have is a keen ear for tent talk.

This struck home. My Debbie had a high school friend who could be the poster child for this. It eventually caused a huge same crowd brouhaha as some girls called her out on it and others thought it was no big deal.

Well, it definitely affected her recruitment. She really can't be her own person. I hope that while she's in college, she "finds" herself. And, that is most definitely the kind of woman that listens to "tent talk", right?

Any word on last night? Do 3rd rounds continue tonight?

Looking back, I was so clueless. The only "tent talk" I heard was that I wouldn't get into the one I liked best after both the 1st and 2nd sets because it was a "Jewish" sorority and I am not Jewish (I had no idea there was such a thing). I'm kind of glad I was so blissfully ignorant. :)

Janet is still very engaged in recruitment and third rounds were both last night and tonight :) She sent me texts last night with her impressions and I expect the same will happen tonight. I can't believe bid day isn't until the 30th though!

I hope it went well! They should absolutely have been able to be done by now so they could have Bid Day tomorrow--at least then they could have a football game together next weekend. I feel for all the girls involved on both sides. It's sooo long and tiring.