It also seems like it's good for the university to spread out the move-in days and relieve congestion.

I wish my University had done this. Freshman move-in was obviously the week before because of Welcome Weekend and Orientation things. Everyone else was mandated to move-in the SATURDAY and SUNDAY before school started. It was pure chaos. Too many cars. Not enough carts. Nowhere to park. Only like TWO staff members available to check-in an entire upperclassman dorm, which = super long lines for keys and stuff.

I remember being SOOOO HAPPY when I moved into my sorority house because it meant I had multiple days to move in and could do it like 3 weeks before the other 25,000 students came back and crowded the roads.

Alabama 2014 Fall Formal Recruitment Guide
 

U of A Panhellenic 2014 Fall Formal Recruitment Guide now available online:

http://issuu.com/alabamapanhellenic/...052583/8685533

Link to U of A Panhellenic site and other dates/info:

http://www.uapanhellenic.com/main.html

Why don't they hold convocation after rush if they have four open days? I am most familiar with convocation being a formal event. It seems odd to attend in shorts and a t-shirt per the recruitment guide. Is it a regional thing that convocation is informal?

Convocation for NPC recruitment at Alabama is essentially a large meeting for PNMs that covers info for the upcoming recruitment week -- like schedules, procedures, Rho Chis/rush groups, recruitment shirts, etc.

Since move-in is also happening for many on this day, the dress is very casual.

Squeal
 

What time is Squeal on Saturday?

10:00 AM

Squeal
 

What time is Squeal on Saturday?

Still at 10:00 AM.

:p

Just some observations on the "Greek Chic" booklet, as a PNM mom, active NPC alum, and local APH officer (I mention all those just to point out that I have 3 slightly different perspectives on the book):

- I always love Bama's guide best. I wish other schools took a literal page from this publication. The financial info, map, parents info and move-in/parking info all in one place, along with fashion do's/don'ts is so very helpful.

- That said, I hope it was distributed to PNMs before now? Late July is pretty late to be getting this info, at least for the PNMs I know who are rushing or have recently rushed at UA. I'm guessing it is just now getting up online?

- The note about how "letters of support may be common in Texas" was funny to me; before I got more involved in the last few years with SEC recruitments, I'd never really known LOS to be a big deal, much less be common here.

It has just been published online and it is my understanding that it was delivered to the printer several weeks ago. I agree that this is very late -- hopefully all registered PNMs have received a copy by now.

I also hope PNMs have read the 2013 version and other presentations on the Panhellenic site before now, since some of the info in the 2014 Recruitment Guide, especially info on recs, for instance, may not be very useful at this point considering the time remaining.

I apologize in advance if this is explained in a million other threads, but I figured I'd ask here since the Greek Chic 2014 booklet is linked here.

On page 21 it says "Only Potential New Members who maximize their options and list ALL of the chapters they attended during the Preference Round are guaranteed to receive a bid for membership during formal recruitment."

I want to get this straight (and word this question correctly :rolleyes:). If a PNM makes it to Pref Round in three houses, and maximizes her options by listing all three, there is absolutely no way that she will be cut from any houses? Or basically making it the Pref round a chapter is saying that they want that PNM in the fold?

Once again, I apologize if I sound clueless! Coming from the NPHC side of the house, I'm very interested in learning this process as I would love to work in a capacity with Greek Life someday. I am hoping to help with recruitment at the University I currently work at this fall, so I can see how everything works.

That guarantee means that if a PNM is invited back to at least one house for Preference Round and lists all sororities whose party she attended in some order after Preference then she is guaranteed a bid from at least one of the houses she listed. If she does not appear high enough on any sorority's bid list to match normally, she will be placed at the discretion of those doing the bid matching in one of the groups that she listed. This is called a quota addition and is sometimes why you see that groups take a number over quota during formal recruitment. Each campus differs on how they place quota additions-some place the PNM with her first choice, some place her with the group that has the lowest total, etc.

The policy is meant to discourage girls from Intentionally Single Preferencing (ISP), or not listing all the groups whose parties they attended. A PNM who was dead-set on XYZ and was unwilling to consider a second or third option might reconsider only listing one group if she is told that she is not guaranteed a bid if she only lists one or two groups. Note that this policy is not mean to punish a PNM who was invited to less than the maximum number of parties she could attend: for example, a PNM who was only invited back to two parties out of a max of three would be guaranteed a bid from one of those two groups since she couldn't list a third.

Bid matching is a confusing concept that a lot of people don't fully understand, so you don't sound any more clueless than many:)

ETA: you asked whether making it to Pref round meant a chapter wanted a PNM. This is correct to some extent. All PNMs who attend a pref party with a group must appear somewhere on their bid list, with the exception of very special circumstances like a PNM slugging the active in the face during a party (purely hypothetical!). How the chapter sorts their bid list is up to them, but any PNM who attends a pref party could theoretically receive a bid from that group.

Basically, you are correct. Keep in mind though, if Penny PNM is a rude you-know-what or they find out at the last minute that she was close friends with, ;), the whole debate team, then she won't get on their list. But that's a rare happening. What maximizing your options means is that you will be placed with one of your pref groups if you attend all parties for which you have been slated and list all the ones whose pref you attended on your bid card (MRABA). But it may be your last choice.