Well, my BFFs daughter, who is from Pennsylvania, did round 1 at Bama yesterday! Overall, she was impressed with most of the houses. Got her list back this morning and she has 11 out of 12 invites, and her top choice is still there! She’s a happy camper 😍

Looks like with the addition of SDT in formal recruitment this year, there is now a maximum of 13 houses for Philanthropy round! A super young lady that I have been advising (more like a sounding board, not really advising anything since my chapter isn’t at Bama) has 5+5+3 parties during Philanthropy days. She said it should still be only max 7 for Sisterhood round.

Some of the chapters posted their first round videos on Instagram!

If anyone can share, I'd love to hear details of how the virtual portion goes - are they zooming with just one active, are they with several members, etc.? I believe the first round are the PNM's viewing pre-recorded videos from each chapter.

First round was just pre-recorded videos, on both sides. This round is Zoom with individual conversations. The young lady I am helping said in her 1st 2 parties, there was an active member assigned to talk to her after their philanthropy video. On one, a girl bumped in part way (came into the the physical room & took over the conversation from active #1’s computer). In the other, there were a 2 active members on the Zoom call and another bumped in. Not sure if that was a physical or virtual bump. Hope that makes sense.

Either way “my” PNM is having a lot of fun! I’m sure it is more fun for her because she has a full party list, but I don’t think she is missing any of the “feels” that she would have from an in-person party.

Heard from one of my PNMs that the system crashed earlier today. I would love an update from someone on the alumnae/adviser side.
BTW, she said that first round was wonderful and she enjoyed herself very much.

All this talk about Alabama and I’m wondering...are they going to be on campus in the fall? If so, it’s going to be hard to keep the group sizes small if the girls are living in and doing chapter, etc...just curious.

Yes, the campus is open

This is interesting! When was this decided and how did it all come about (I'm assuming it's Covid-related)?

Good for SDT! I hope they do really well.

Any updates on how things are going? This is my first year without any rec girls going through. Hoping that the first day of Sisterhood round went well! Any feedback from PNMs?

I know of several who dropped out when they got their results.

It's been near 90 daily in Tuscaloosa according to the weather app on my phone, I, for one, am happy that the zoom and video calls are happening because I couldn't imagine how terrible it would be to be out in the heat, dressed up, hair done, scurrying from house to house, wearing a mask, and taking Covid-19 precautions. Same with the rain, it's on the forecast on sisterhood round 3 and maybe preference and I couldn't imagine the mask, the humidity, the makeup smearing everywhere, and the dampness of the rain. Very grateful for zoom recruitment and I'm sure that things will go back to normal soon :)

Wondering if anyone here has background on the “optional” videos? A girl that I am helping is having a phenomenal virtual recruitment experience. She’s adorable, checks all of the resume boxes, had alumnae recommendations AND MADE A CUTE VIDEO! And got back 13 Philanthropy parties and 8 Sisterhood parties to some very traditionally popular chapters........ Talking to some of the girls on her hall it seemed that the ones that did the optional video had more invites to Philanthropy. Optional does not really mean optional!

Any word on how many PNMs went through recruitment?

Sounds like your mentee was well prepared. You made such an interesting observation about the optional video. Is your mentee from OOS?

I relayed to a group of moms whose daughters' schools had not begun rush yet, tips I had heard about unfortunate judgement calls by Bama PNMS. Like the PNM who remained in bed for her video chats with chapters. Or the girl who turned off her video and audio feed for a couple of chapters. Or the PNM who did her video chats in her pjs with bed head. Of the one who was eating during her virtual visit with one chapter. Or the one who started carrying on a conversation with her roommate and ignored the sister trying to talk to her.