yay
 

Woo hoo!
cant wait to hear what happens!!
love
ashley

AHH, its getting closer!! I'm so excited!!

I can't wait to hear!!
 

...where you are going next!!!!

Go Gamma Phi !!

Second Rounds Finally!!!
 

Finally second rounds! I ended up getting to go back to my top seven, so I was really happy but at the same time it's overwhelming because now I'm just afraid I'm going to confuse myself and be sitting with my rho chi on preference night for a long time! Anyway, the houses I'm visiting during second round are in no order: Delta Gamma, Gamma Phi Beta, Kappa Kappa Gamma, Alpha Chi Omega, Kappa Alpha Theta, Pi Beta Phi, and Chi Omega. Anyway, I won't reveal how I numbered them, but I'm going to keep using those same numbers as I go through this. So, this is how tonight went:

#1- What a coincidence, the first house I visited was the same in both first and second rounds! Anyway...I liked the house again and I had great conversations as we toured the house and did their little philanthropy project. I was surprised that their themes changed, given that I don't know much about recruitment...it was "Under the Sea". However, I wasn't as comfortable as I was first round and though it's a great house with great girls, I probably won't be preffing them.

#4- I really liked this house again, definitely. The girls were really easy for me to talk to and they had a cute little _____ Cafe theme. Their house is absolutely gorgeous too! Since I definitely felt comfortable in this house, I could definitely see myself being here and it'll be a tough decision come preference round...if I get into it though, I know I'll feel good about it.

#10- Oh, I loved this house again! Right away I saw the same girl I had talked to (the only girl I talked to) during first rounds, so we said hi and waved though we didn't get to talk again. (Side note: one of my rho chis said the same thing happened to her, how she talked to one girl and felt so comfortable and she ended up in that house...maybe the same will be for me???). They have a nice house and I just love the energy they have for their sisterhood and everything! They hade a 50's theme, "Happy Days at ______"

#8- My god, gorgeous house, right on the lake! But anyway, I felt so comfortable at this house too, no wonder it was one of my favorites last round. The girls just seem so down to earth and easy to talk to. This will be another house that'll make it difficult to rank and when preference round rolls around!

So...4 down, 3 to go tomorrow! We rank tomorrow night too and then we will find out Friday which houses we will be visiting that night for preference round! After that, we rank and get our bid Sunday...I can't wait!!!

Congrats on your invites and best of luck!

oh gosh oh gee....
 

... I wish I knew where Gamma Phi was in all these houses!

You sound like you are having a FANTASTIC rush UWgirl -- keep smiling and ENJOY!!!

Yippee - I'm so excited you are going back to Alpha Chi! Sounds like you are having a blast - have fun at your parties tomorrow!

Good luck uwgirl! Don't worry about how long you may take for preference, no one is going to rush you to make your choices. It's your decision! Keep posting your impressions (because writing things sometimes makes decisions easier and of course so we can read them too :)) and follow what both your brain and heart tell you. It sounds like you could be happy no matter what you choose!

Can't wait to hear what happens next for you!

Christin

Finally! Girls going back to Theta!

*cheeeeeeer*

:D

Good luck and have LOTS of fun!



Greekgrrl

Im glad you are loving so many of them but i do have to say: GO DG!! Anyways, sounds like you've got some tough decisions in the next few days to make about which houses are your fav and stuff. Good luck and keep us updated!

I just wanted to say "Congrats!" on your invites. I hope you continue to enjoy your recruitment experience, and thanks for telling us which houses you'll be going back to! LOL Good luck!

Erin

PS. I'm happy to hear you're going back to Pi Phi! Whatever happens, I just want you to find your home. :)

Woohoo! Second rounds are over! I thought that maybe this would clarify things or confirm my rankings...WRONG!!! It confused me a lot! Some of them I knew which I didn't like as much, but one I liked so much better and it confused me. So, here I go:

#2- I actually liked this house so much better than last time! I had great conversations and the girls were nice, the house was nice, everything! I'm glad it went better than first round, but I think the only reason I didn't like it as much at first was just the fact that one of the girls was kinda like "yeah, so..." all the time.

#7- It was a nice house, but overall, the house's personality just didn't match mine. Conversations went pretty well, just it wasn't anything that really kept me interested. The chapter's definitely interesting and it sounds like it's very strong, but it's just not for me.

#5- Wow, I really liked this house too! I felt comfortable in it last round, but I really felt comfortable this time too, moreso than before! The girls were just really nice and had great personalities.

In the end, after a big talk with one of my rho chi's, this is how I ranked the seven:
10, 4, 8, 2, 5, 1, 7
Preference night is Friday night so I'll give you a report either that night or Saturday sometime...it's almost over!!!

Glad to hear you're keeping an open mind. Can't wait to hear about pref!

Will you tell us which chapters you're preffing when you find out?? I'm dying to know where all you Madison girls are going!

TONIGHT IS PREF. NIGHT!!! Aaah, I've been waiting all week for this...and then Sunday is BID DAY!!! (Can you tell I'm excited???) I'll give you an update either tonight when I get back or tomorrow, and with that, I'll tell you what three houses I'm going back to!

Hey, hon! I'm so happy for all you Madtown Girls. I wish I could be there with you. (Even though I'm happy to be back here in Applecheese with my sisters, I miss Madtown.) I can't wait to hear all about Pref (and I want details!) and where you've gone.

It's a long story, but basically I'm not finishing recruitment. I got invited back to one house and I visited it, but it's not what I wanted and I didn't want to dedicate myself to something when my heart's not really in it. I'm ok with this in a way because I realize it's the right decision for both myself and the sorority that invited me, but at the same time I'm really upset because this was something I was really looking forward to. My rho chis talked to me and said that things like this happen because of quota and not being able to invite the girls they all want back. I'm considering COB or informal spring rush if there are houses that I want to join doing so.

I am sorry to hear that things didn't work out. :(
I really hope that COB is great for you...you seem to be an asset to any sorority. I wish you luck.

It sounds like you made the best decision for right now...if you really can't see yourself with a certain group, then it's best not to join them. I'm glad you're keeping your mind open to COB though because I think you'd make a great sister. Best of luck!

Good luck with COB!:D

Your rho chi is right. The girls in the chapters you loved may have loved you, too, but, for example, the number of legacies going through may exceed quota.

I'm glad you gave that one house a fair chance by returning to its party.

And you never know what could happen with COB. It seems like your situation is happening to a lot of good girls this year.

My inside info at Madison tells me that there are definitely chapters who plan to COB even if they make quota.

Okay, now I am confused!
 

DeltaBetaBaby, how can a chapter that makes quota do COB???Are they under the prescribed campus house total? Is that how?

If a chapter made quota and were under campus total, then yes they are able to COB to total. (Example: ABC made quota which was 20, bringing their total membership to 45. Total is 60, so they can COB 15 more new members.)

If a chapter didn't make quota and were already at or above campus total, they could COB to quota. (Example: DEF got 15 new members during recruitment, bringing their total membership to 65. Even though total is 60, they can COB 5 more new members to attain the quota of 20.

If a chapter didn't make quota and weren't at campus total, they could COB until both quota (first) and campus total (second) were achieved. (Example: GHI started recruitment with 30 members and got 10 in recruitment, total is 60 and quota is 20. They can COB another 20 new members, the first 10 would count toward quota numbersand the next 10 would get them to total.)

Crystal clear, right ;)

Christin

Can you guys explain to me exactly how you go through the process of COB? I think I understand the concept, but at the same time, not really.

Oh, DeltaBetaBaby, I sent you a private message about your post...I really look forward to hearing from you soon!!! :)

You sure? There is nothing in my inbox.

Hmm...I guess it didn't work or it's slow?? Anyway, I'll just ask it here and then if you want you can just reply here or send me a PM. I was just wondering if you could tell me which sororities you knew were going to do COB. Also, I know what COB is, but I don't know the process, so I was hoping that maybe you could tell me how I'd go about COB-ing. Thanks for your support and I hope to hear from you soon!

COB-ing?
 

Can anyone tell me how COB works? I've heard of it, but I don't know what the process is like. If you get offered a bid through COB, do you still go through pledge period and get a big sis like if you went through formal recruitment?

The way that we do COB, you receive a formal bid, attend all new member meetings, have all the same ritual ceremonies, get a big sis, everything. Last spring we had about half of our new members join through formal recruitment and the other half through COB. Nobody was treated any differently than anyone else...I think COB is the way to go if you're truly interested. From my perspective, you're not really going to miss out on anything, but, as I said, that's how we do it. I can't imagine that it would be really different anywhere else though...

I don't know much about COB but the pledge period and big sis stuff is still all the same as if you went through formal recruitment. COB is just the same without the pressures and time spent. Good luck with COB and sorry I couldn't be more of a help! Enjoy!

I believe that if you COB this week, it'll be just like you had joined on Sunday except you won't get to participate in Bid Day activities. I know there are girls checking out COB right now -- call your Rho Chi's and hopefully they can help you out!

I'll let somebody else who is more informed than I am explain the specifics to you, but I do know that there are several chapters at Madison that are COB-ing right now.

Hey sugar and spice, can you e-mail me with the chapters that are cob-ing??? I'm really interested in finding out if you know some or if you have a contact that could better help me...my e-mail address is nikkis02@hotmail.com and if you want, I use both msn and aol messengers under that e-mail address! I e-mailed the sororities I'd be interested in, but I'm going to call one of my rho chis tomorrow!

and thanks to you 2 girls that just responded about cob! :) You really were a help since I really don't know anything about cob! Thanks so much! :)

COB = Continuous Open Bidding, also known as informal recruitment.

For a chapter to be eligible for COB, they must either be under campus total or did not make quota during formal recruitment.

hey UWgirl - any updates on your COBing?!? What chapters are doing COB? Which ones are you interested in? Best of luck to you - you'd be a great addition to any chapter :)

I haven't filled out a withdrawal form for recruitment yet, but I gave my info to the panhellenic recruitment chair, so I have gotten two phone calls so far from Tri Delta and Kappa Alpha Theta. I decided to e-mail a few of them that I am interested in, and so far I've heard back from three out of 5. Gamma Phi Beta doesn't know if they will, but they will get back to me. Pi Beta Phi gave me a contact phone number for their advisor. I look at these as good signs because they would turn me down if they knew definitely they couldn't do COB. But I do know Alpha Chi Omega is not doing COB. I haven't heard back from Chi Omega or Kappa Kappa Gamma, but they're popular ones to get into, so I doubt they would be doing COB, but I could always hope. There's no real news so far, but I will keep you updated if/when I find anything out and if I go to any COB events!!!

I will talk to my Pi Phi friend tonight and see what she says...and I'm so glad you're still considering Gamma Phi! :)

I'm pretty sure that Eta Chapter of Kappa at UW is at total. They usually are. So they probably won't be COBing. :( But I know that other chapters will, so just stick with it! Good luck!

Well, I know that Tri Delta and Kappa Alpha Theta were doing COB, but I really wasn't into being in their sorority. However, I found out that Pi Beta Phi IS doing COB so I'm going for that!!! I'm really excited, but pretty nervous because there is only 2 spots open I guess. I don't know if any other houses will be doing COB but Gamma Phi Beta said they would contact me when they know if they will or not.

I'm glad to hear that youre giving COB a shot! Be open to all of the sororities; what you know of them now is probably based on a few 20 minute conversations during one of the most stressful weeks for all: rush week. You would be surprised how much more at ease, relaxed and themselves the girls are once rush week is over and it's onto more informal COB parties!

Best of luck!!

Hey, thanks for the support! :) Does anyone have any suggestions for people like me going through COB? Any tips on how to get a bid that you want? THANKS SO MUCH :)