My daughter is also getting very nervous about the other side of recruitment for the first time. She moves back to Columbia on Saturday and has been crafting for her future little sis as well. Unfortunately that means I have been crafting, too. So far I have sewn a pillow case, added a pocket of Lilly fabric to a t shirt and inhaled enough mod podge fumes to cause brain damage. We have had to get the outfits for each day, complete with shoes and jewelry, it kind of feels like last year, except now we are told exactly what to wear on each day! When she goes back to school, i think I'm going to stock the fridge with wine again this year!;)

Mine is hanging out in MO with friends right now, but we load the car up to make drive and move her in on Sunday. Thank goodness she has not asked me to craft, as I might be even worse at it than she is. Though I saw a pic of one things she did, and I was impressed. Hoping the more talented girls will help her with more stuff.

I still have to get some jewelry on the list of things to wear.....

We can all toast throughout the week :p

We made paddles for our little sisters and pillows for the big sisters back in my day. What is the trend today? So fun!

Paddles, due to hazing concerns, are out most places.

Ah right. That's sad but understandable.

Mine had painted and decorated a canvas.....so wall art. The kinds of gifts she got from her big leading up to the reveal - crafts, tees, tote bag, hat, sweets. They do get spoiled!

Momoftiger, there are some new alternatives to paddles, that have the cute crafty aspect without the negative connotation. I suppose it depends on the sorority, but I know we have a lot of women who decorate a wooden crescent. As an example: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/225039312603318423/

In other news, I am so excited for recruitment to start!!! I'm going to miss the beginning of work week as I'll be out of town, but will hopefully will get to be with my ladies for a decent chunk of time during work week and recruitment. I love the energy, the anticipation. Definitely one of my favorite things about being an advisor, especially on a campus like Mizzou.

Best of luck to all the PNMs and actives!!

That is super cute!

Okay Mizzou moms--from your daughter's experiences, what time of day was preference? Afternoon? Evening? I want to make sure she is not over or under dressed. The pictures on PHA for preference seem pretty casual. Any thoughts on clothing per day and if you have an estimated time of day for each round? THANK YOU! How do people get through this without this type of support?

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SNRf4UPd4t...icture+008.jpghttp://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xP8ayKq46T...icture+007.jpg
You could make something like this ahead of time and put the monogram on at the last minute. Or simply center the letters vertically as well as horizontally and no monogram will be needed. If you don't want a sorority symbol, you could do the school letter or logo such as the Washington and Lee trident.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_tbMXvrgoy3...+Trident+B.jpg

Not a mom, but... :)

Last year there were up to 5 preference parties held at each house. PNMs go to no more than 3. There was an all PNM meeting from 8:00 (am) to 8:45. First party started at 9:00, last party ended at 2:10. I haven't seen this year's schedule, but that should give you an idea of what it could be, assuming it's the same format this year.

Most days start around 8:00 or 9:00 am, and will end by around 4:30 or 6:30 pm. PNMs may still have some activities after that, and the nights when they have to input preferences into the computer system (Tues, Thurs, Fri, Sat) can be a bit time consuming.

There is a recruitment schedule that kind of outlines everything in general terms, on page 5 of the Recruitment Book: https://orgsync.com/100308/files/806459/show

Yes....the parties were not night time events. I do agree about the pictures on PHA somewhat. I don't know that I'd go strapless for preference. You don't have to go super dressy. Mine wore a tank sort of shift style dress - in a crepe material to give it a little flowiness. Nude dressier wedges. Accessorizing jewelry.

I don't have any PNM pictures, but if it helps at all, here are some Gamma Phi actives from last year's preference round.

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3852/...a0b61b477e.jpg
https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3900/...8d334ee472.jpg

Thank you! This was very helpful

Last of recruitment stuff bought. Seem to have lost the gold belt we bought just for recruitment, and I think I just bought the same one :rolleyes:

Hitting the road for Como in an hour!

The Michael's store near my house has added a whole aisle of stuff just for wood crafting. There's a ton of cool stuff that would be good for sorority women in there. I saw some super cute owls and a really cool anchor.

I'm sitting in a hotel room in COMO waiting for move in time at the house to help my daughter get settled in her new room. Being here in this same hotel is bringing back memories of being here last year getting ready to move her into the dorms and send her into recruitment. It is a time of such incredibly strong emotions getting ready to send your baby off to college, and when you add recruitment into the mix it can feel pretty overwhelming. Reading this site helped tremendously. Moms of PNM's I hope we can be of help to you as you support your daughters through recruitment. For me the waiting was the hardest part. Sitting in my office waiting for the text with the houses she was invited back to felt like eternity!

One thing that really helped me and also allowed me to help her was hearing from other moms that it is not only common, but really inevidible that every girl will be cut from one or more houses that she really likes. Almost no one has a "perfect recruitment". It helped me be prepared to support my daughter when that day came, and it helped her to not take it too personally when she was cut from a house she really liked. In the end she received her bid from the house that was her favorite from the first day, but there were some bumps along the way.
Looking forward to hearing your daughter's story and hoping with you that she will have a good recruitment experience and find just the right fit for her.

That's going to be us in a week. So many emotions.

Will she be living in her sorority house? If so, that's pretty exciting :)

:)

If you are looking for fun wooden letters, www.mossijossi.com is a great site. Some cute stuff! Official Greek Licensed vendor too!

Work week has begun and the girls are working 12 hour days getting ready to welcome the pnm's to their houses! It's so exciting for all of them. This week is a special bonding week for them.
I miss her. It seems that it doesn't get easier to send them off. Best wishes again to all the moms and daughters! Here's hoping a greek home is found and the girls make their houses what they want it to be!

Momoftiger,
Just checking in to see how you are holding up. These last few days before taking them to school can be so emotional! I cried way more in the few days before I dropped my daughter off freshman year than I did afterwards. Somehow the anticipation was so much more anxiety provoking than the reality. She was so happy right away at Mizzou it was much easier to deal with her being far away.

This year moving her into the house was a whole new bundle of feelings. She is in my legacy house, although I attended a different SEC school. It still brings back so many memories of my own sorority days. Hearing about all the prep they are doing for recruitment is very exciting. They work so hard to make it a good experience for the PNM's.

Wishing you some special moments with your daughter as you get ready for this big life transition. Also hoping recruitment will be a great experience for her (and you!). Please keep us posted on how everything is going for her.

You are so kind! I have been trying to stay busy with getting her packed and prepared to go to keep those tears away, but they come when least expected. The reality that we will be leaving to take her to Mizzou on Saturday is hitting big time.

I know recruitment will be an amazing experience. It really seems that every house at Mizzou has something great to offer. I will definitely keep you posted on how things go.

Thank you for checking in. :)

Getting great pictures and stories from work week. Going to MIZ tomorrow for mock recruitment to practice and help out. So exciting and fun!

Oh that's so fun! My daughter is getting excited! We leave tomorrow for her move in on Sunday!

Momoftiger prepare your daughter for some fun! The skit I saw today left me in tears from laughing. Hope she has such a good time and keeps her mind open to all the wonderful houses Miz has to offer. They have been working so hard to welcome all the PNM's.

Oh and btw, move in at the dorm is supposed to start at 10 (I think) but you can go earlier or later and you won't have the chaos. Wish I had known that 3 years ago...

Hope all the moms of actives had a great time at mom rush today!! Moms of PNMs, there is so much excitement and anticipation from the actives right now. They cannot wait to meet your daughters!!

Mumom what fun that you got to be there today. I was wishing so much that I could be a part of it, but we live out of state and I just couldn't make the drive again this weekend. It sounds like you had a great experience.

Good luck with move in today!! I remember so well :)

Good luck to all the PNMs and houses at Mizzou this week! Last night I went to Mock Rush for my daughter's house (and my old house) and it was so much fun! The girls did a wonderful job and they are all SO excited to meet the PNMs. What a wonderful (and emotional, and sometimes rough) week this will be. Thinking about all you Moms of PNMs--it's only been a year and the memories of waiting, wondering, and listening to the fears and ups and downs are still so vivid. Hang in there! We'll be there for you and look forward to reading your stories!

We got my da all moved in. She has her tee shirts, her pi chi group, and went to orientation tonight. She sure enjoyed driving around and seeing some of the houses last night. We saw lots of people outside of houses...must have been the mock parties. Sounds so fun. She is very excited and nervous. :)

Just got a photo of my dd at her house ready to welcome all the new darlings! Now's the time to take a deep breath. It can be very overwhelming when those air horns blow, doors swing open and the chanting begins! Hope your girls enjoy the week as crazy as it is and enjoy the experience. Thinking of you mom's!!!

I got a photo too - they are excited.

I remember mine - seeing her very first door chant - thought it was kind of the oddest thing. Now she is in the door stack. Ironic.

I think the first party starts at 9 am! Almost time :)

I think again the most important thing for girls going through, is to keep an open mind and think for themselves where they feel a fit. I know there is chatter among the girls about tiers and some are devastated when they get cut from that heralded chapter or chapters. But all the chapters at Mizzou are fantastic. And to remember it's OK if you like ABC, and your roommate or Pi Chi friends like DEF or GHI. I know my daughter has friends (close ones) in different chapters.

Can't wait to hear how they thought today went!

Keeping an Open Mind
 

NorthernMom is SO right on! These words are worth remembering and passing along to your daughter when she calls home (because "tiers" are irrelevant to where she will feel most at home, because what feels like home tends to change throughout the week, and because almost EVERY girl will get cut by at least a few of the houses she likes--that's the nature of Rush these days). Those cuts, painful as they may be, are all to the good because they encourages girls to let go of the houses where they aren't going to match and they can then focus on the houses that will be the best fit. Rush isn't perfect (what is?) but the system really does seem to work for the vast majority of people who stick it out--and that means beyond Bid Day too. Investing themselves in the house where they end up and being open to new friendships and possibilities. Sisterhood doesn't happen overnight!

My daughter, who's going through recruitment as a member for the first time, also texted me a picture this morning as she was waiting for the first group of PNMs to arrive. She's so excited! The active members have been working so hard to prepare for this week. I'm really looking forward to hearing stories from the Moms, PNMs and actives as we go through Recruitment.

Just a reminder for Moms of PNMs (and PNMs too): it's best not to post about particular houses that your daughter loves (or doesn't) by name as she goes through recruitment. Save the house name for announcing her Bid on Bid Day! You just never know who's lurking on this (or any) chat room or other social media outlet and you don't want people to somehow connect your daughter to a particular thread (as remote as that possibility may seem).

Thinking about all you Moms today! Keep breathing! :)

It's also important not to take it personally. We are not from the area, and my sorority experience was light years from this. We had done some homework - gotten recs to most of the houses and read up a bit on SEC recruitment. But I think we were unprepared in some ways for just how resume driven recruitment really is. My daughter was very involved in a sport - but it was outside of her high school - because it was much more competitive at that level. However, because she spent most of her free time in that sport - and had to get to practices at a distance right after school - she didn't really participate in anything at her school. On paper, she looked pretty one dimensional. And she was not an academic standout in HS, though much better in college. So after the first round when she was cut pretty heavily, she was upset. She didn't understand why ABC that she loved so much, and really clicked with the girl she talked to, had cut her. She struggled to figure out what she was doing wrong? I wondered what was going wrong? We thought perhaps it related to being a transfer, and perhaps some of it did, but I think the reality was that her "resume" just didn't seem that impressive. Once you realize that, it seems less "personal".

There are girls with amazing resumes, and your girls may be among them. But if they experience cuts - it may be because on paper, they were not exactly what the chapter was looking for....not because they didn't like them personally in some way.

Once again am in total agreement with Northernmom--and even the girls who look amazing "on paper" can experience what seem to be inexplicable cuts (at least from their perspective). It's impossible to know for sure why anyone gets invited back or released from a particular house so there's no point on dwelling on it. It's normal to feel slighted and hurt and confused, and then the girls have to find a way to shake it off and move on, focusing on the houses where they will be returning.

Hoping all the girls going through recruitment had a great first day today. I'm sure they are exhausted.

There is so much good advice being shared here! It is so true that at Mizzou the girls have friends from multiple houses. I love that about the school. My daughter's boyfriend goes to a big ten school. She came back from a visit with him saying how different it is there because the girls in sororities only socialize with girls in their own house. It is highly frowned upon to have friends in other houses there. At Mizzou it is more the norm to have friends in many different houses.

Walk in the Woods and NorthernMom are so wise in their counsel about dealing with cuts. It hurts when the cuts come. No doubt about it, but it is often a way of helping a girl to focus on a house where she is a better fit. As a mom it is so hard when your daughter is sad, especially when they are far away and you can't be there to dry their tears. But, in the end if they keep an open mind they will most likely find a great fit. Mizzou sororities are all so strong and have so much to offer.

Just got a text from my duaghter that there is one more social today. MomofTiger looking forward to hearing how things went for you daughter today. Most people choose a theme and refer to all the different sororities according to the theme i.e. TV shows, designers, food groups, etc. It will be fun to see what you choose.

I know it was raining today - at least at one point. Haven't heard much from mine, but if you have Snap Chat you can follow MizzouPHA and see little clips from recruitment.