Alabama's runs from Satruday thru Sunday of the next week. And I've done the mock recruitment with other chapters or we've also used alums. It's much better practice than talking with your sisters whom you already know.

We've had Alpha Gam chapters who are near each other do that, but not other sorority chapters from their own campus. For example, our EMU women sometimes go to the U of Michigan and vice versa. Alumnae are often used also. Sometimes alumnae pose as "difficult" PNMs too- which is the most fun thing ever- as an alumna. I posed as a PNM with a squirrel phobia...lol.

We never did mock recruitment with anyone other than ourselves. It would have been nice to get some outside feedback, but there was absolutely no time for it in anyone's schedules. There was no way the sorority could require anyone to be back on campus before New Year's Day (or, more likely, Jan 2) and classes (and recruitment) sometimes started as early as the 4th! So we crammed everything into 2-3 days, depending on timing.

Dress checks were done in October or November (so people had time to go home over Reading Days/Thanksgiving for replacement clothes and get them checked before Xmas Break. Why would you have dress checks too late to make any changes? Honest, nonsnarky question)

I mostly remember going up and down and up and down and up and down our stairs. We often took a sister-as-PNM with us, which was super helpful for me to have practiced the time I ended up with a PNM a full foot taller than me!

I've also heard of chapters having a parents or family event at the end of work week and practice rushing family members.

We called it Spirit Week! It was a week of practicing conversation, skits (back in the day), songs, door chants, clothing checks to make sure we had the proper attire for each round to match whatever theme was going on that day, learning about the PNMs, workshops on membership selection, working on decorations and props, and bonding as a chapter. Our alumnae brought us dinners, and at some point we'd have a mock recruitment sponsored by Panhellenic where we'd pair up with another sorority and mock rush one another at our respective houses.

Our week culminated in "Pi and Tea" where we invited alumnae to the house for a brunch. We gave them a sneak peak at our skits/videos/songs, and we'd take them on house tours and practice conversation. It was a great way to connect with the alumnae and they often gave us practice recruitment tips or shared stories about their experiences in college.

After the alumnae left, we'd make our final preparations, and then we had a special chapter tradition called "Pass the Lion." We'd all sit in a circle in the chapter room and pass around a stuffed lion. When you got the lion, you had a chance to speak about your experience with the sorority and your reflections on the past week/summer. One of my favorite chapter traditions. :)

Spirit Week was intense, but it was nothing compared to the adrenaline rush of Recruitment Week!

Ditto to all of the above. The two Oregon KD chapters are about 45-60 minutes away from each other and the spirit weeks are usually the same week, which is the week before school starts and a lot of it is moving in and preparing the house. The chapters visit each other and hold a mock recruitment. I loved visiting Alpha Kappa or having them visit. It was fun to see the similarities and difference between chapters.

The chapters at my school did not have houses so we spent that week practicing our conversation skills, getting our outfits approved, preparing our decorations and props, etc. Usually we were not allowed to begin setting up our rooms until the opening day of recruitment. I think practicing with another sorority or even fraternity guys would have been a nice way to expand our conversational skills.

I appreciate all the responses.

I cannot even comprehend a "dress check" either - but there's a good deal on GC that make me realize I'd not be Greek at a good many schools even when I rushed, or at most schools today.

Glad I joined when I did <grin>.

Where I advise (UCLA), classes don't start until September 25 (quarter system), with Recruitment starting 9/23. Members come back on Sept 9th. So it's TWO WEEKS of work weeks!

Practicing, decorations, flowers, more rehearsals, dress check, sisterhood events, the occasional break when there's a home football game, an all-Greek or all-Panhellenic activity (like a beach clean-up), Bruin Bash (activities fair with all student organizations represented -- GLO's too, free food, & concert on the Sunday before school starts: http://dailybruin.com/2012/09/21/bru...hift-in-music/) and Mock Recruitment with the Alumnae.

We actually did two dress checks when I was an active. The first was toward the end of the spring semester, so that, if you had an outfit that was deemed inappropriate (say, a pref dress that showed too much cleavage), you had all summer to find something more suitable. The second was during work week. The purpose of the second dress check was twofold. (a) If you'd been told back in the spring that you had to buy a new outfit, it had to be approved. (b) All your outfits were re-checked for fit, since an outfit that had fit properly back in May might not still fit correctly if you'd gained or lost weight. Having an initial dress check in the spring meant that fewer people had to make mad scrambles to find appropriate outfits within a short time span, and more people were available for actual work during work week.

Anyway, we also used work week to practice skits and songs, make decorations, decorate our room for open houses, practice conversation skills, and go over MS procedures.