A friend of mine pledged at U of I as a sophomore and her roommate as a junior. It is competitve but as someone earlier said its more important to be greek than which greek you are since the campus has like 30K students.

I have worked with our chapter at Illinois and honestly dont worry about the "top" house... they change so often go where you like it and try it out, if nothing else you will find some friends and if you got cut ( maybe for numbers reasons) you can COB, many many of the chapters do have COB. Try it, Illinois is agreat place and you can find many many things to do!

I know I have already posted here, but I feel I have to again. A lot of advice is good on here, but with all due respect, the greek scene at U of I is a bit different than at any other school I have been associated with. Now, I was there a while back, so a lot may have changed too. When I was there, there was no "top house." There were really good houses and then there were good houses. The system as a whole was very, very strong. Even chapters that may not have been considered over-the-top desirable at U of I are probably considered one of that GLO's top national chapters. Most sororities have been on that campus for close to a hundred years and have had lots of time to build up great alumnae bases, reputations, and legacies. I honestly did not feel the pressure to pledge a certain GLO for its reputation. That is NOT the case at any of the schools here in Oklahoma where a select few GLOs dominate the greek scene. At U of I, the emphasis was more on the system than on the particular house. I felt like every house had a fair share of brainy girls, musical girls, hefty girls, skinny girls, beautiful girls. It just is not a cookie cutter system where if you don't have a particular resume you have no chance at certain houses. This is not to say that some rushees don't drop out when they are cut by houses THEY wanted, just that every rushee is not after the same few houses.

Also, unlike some campuses, it is EXTREMELY common for sophomores to rush. Many, many houses on campus routinely bid sophomores - lots of sophomores. So, being a junior isn't as far off target as in some places where even being a sophomore makes rush difficult.

I would throw out a word of caution here. When I was at U of I, I had never even heard of informal rush. I had no idea what it was or that any chapters participated in it. I realize now that some do, but as an earlier post mentioned, it would be very risky to hold out for this as your chances for getting a bid would be greatly diminished because very few houses would be participating, and they would be the same ones who would have no problem extending a bid to you in formal. To say that the emphasis at U of I is on formal rush would be a HUGE understatement.

Also, even the professional fraternities (in the school of business anyway) at U of I are EXTREMELY competitive and nearly impossible to get into. (Unless things have changed recently.) So, it isn't as easy as saying if you don't get into a social sorority just join a professional one.

Just to add again that like ZILLINI I was there in the late 80s so lots may have changed, but those are my impressions from my time there.

ILL!
INI!

I have worked with our chapter at Illinois since the mid-90's and have friends who advise oher GLO's at Illinois. You are totally right about the assessment of greek life with 2 exceptions:
1) COB: in the past 6-8 years about half of the chapters particiapted in some spring recruitment (mind you there are like 22 national chapters their) but most only took about 5-8 girls not alot compared to a fall class of 52 (fall 2004 quota). Many GLO's there had not made quota in 3-4 years and so some, albit small, COB. its not like some schools that COB for a few weeks, you may only have 1-2 COB events to attend and then the chapter is done.

Professional: they are competitive but not as cut throat as they were. Many have "rush" like activities but they are not too difficult (not easy either)

Let me add my good wishes! I pledged as a junior well before my campus began excluding juniors and seniors from quota and it was hard. However, I got my first choice and was very involved for the two years I was there and became very involved as an alum.

I think it will all depend on your outlook. If I had it to do all over again, I would have made sure on that first day to emphasize my interest in getting involved and being a very active member. There were girls in my pledge class who were freshman who dropped out or went MIA after the first year. So who was the member that contributed the most - me or that freshman who never really did anything.

Most sororities are looking for women who will make positive contributions to their chapter no matter the year. If all they are looking for is x amount of freshman (and there were groups on my campus who might pledge 3 or 4 sophmores forget juniors) then that is probably not the group for you. But, if you make sure to emphasize the amount of time you will be on that campus and the involvement you want to have in the organization, I think you will end up with the right group for you.

Best Wishes!!

Thank you to everyone who's wished me luck! I can't wait til recruitment starts!! I am officially registered and now I'm just counting the days :-) Whatever happens, I'm going to have a great time going through the process and I can't wait to share it with everyone. I will be starting a rush thread in another month or so when school starts - Rush doesn't begin until the first or second week of September, so I still have a while. Now...what to wear?

there are plenty of threads regarding what to wear for recruitment. you'll find more than you probably would care to read if you do a search. you might also check with any friends already in sororities at illinois .

Hijack...I'm shocked to hear that many haven't been making quota at Illinois. Just like Irishpipes said, back in the 80's COB was a completely foreign concept because practically everyone made quota and was significantly above total. Any particular reasons why? Did too many PNMs drop out? Was quota being set too high? Has Panhell gone to the new release figure system yet? If so, has this helped or hurt the situation?

Another tangent, at UofI we always called it "Panhell" but when I came to Bama folks looked at me like I was nuts and possibly even insulting the organization. Far from it, that was just what it was called then because the word Panhellenic is so long.

/hijack

Zillini: I do have some old rush stats but I am going to see my girls this weekend for our annual convention and I know rush will be a topic.

I know tuition has increased at Illinois--alot in the last few years- more than typically b/c of education budget cuts. I know that when rush is done is also different and being so long with all the chapters I know not as many show up as in previous years over all. I will find my rush stats and see what I can find.

No fears: Illinois greek system is very very strong. But I know that in January some of the chapters do have COB events, not many, but a few to pick up more women and there are some fall events for those who dont make quota in the fall right after formal rush.

The do a quota plus system and I want to say Panhell (I call it that too.. must be a midwest thing) is redoing how is factoring quota.

Sucker4ya-

It must be getting close to time for you! How exciting! Are you getting an apartment, or are you going to live in the dorms? I lived in Barton Hall - that's in Champaign near the 6-pack and the Illini Orange. It was awesome because it was really old so the rooms were big with high ceilings. I don't even know if they are still using it as a dorm though.

I hope your planning is going well and once again good luck!

Yes! Time is definitely getting close!! I really lucked out and found 3 girls who had an open room in their 4 bdrm apartment. I move in in a month and 2 days!! I'm so excited, and def excited for rush!

There are a lot of reasons for this that I won't go into on this board, but let's just say rush isn't necessarily being run as well as it used to be.

Sucker4ya.. where did you transfer from??

Sucker4u,

How's recruitment at U of I going? Tonight was 2nd invite with 6 parties, tomorrow pref with 3 parties.

2nd semester junior...
 

I went through recruitment in 1999 as a junior transfer at UIUC. (I wasn't going to be graduating "on time" and made sure everyone knew that.) Obviously it all worked out for me. :) The advice that everyone gave was super and on target for what it really is like at Illinois.

I have been watching my calendar like a hawk for the last two weeks since I know recruitment is going on. At this exact moment, I know there are very excited PNMs and emotional sisters since they're about half way through third invite right now...more like pref "night/afternoon", but you get the idea! I'm on pins to see where everyone goes and how all the houses did.

Sucker4ya, I hope you're enjoying yourself. Have fun and take it all in. It's such an exciting time!! Let us know what happens.

Rush has been amazing so far...I will tell you all about it tomorrow! for now, it's hw time :-)

*whew!*

I've been wondering if you disappeared! It's so good to see you - enjoy the rest of rush!!

Any news?? (I know...so demanding of me considering there are probably ladies still at the Union right now.) Why oh why am I 750 miles away?! I wish I was there. :)

Over 1,400 women signed up for recruitment. Most houses had to drop 900 or more after open house (20 parties over 2 days). First invite was last Sunday with 10 parties. Quota is 54.
Bids were given out at noon (central standard time) today at Huff Hall. Sisterhood parties are planned from 1:30 to 6:30 today. If we haven't heard from sucker4ya then she is busy with her new sisters! (I hope, I hope, I hope!)

hope recruitment is going well for you sucker4ya!!

I am sure sucker4ya is very busy with her new pledge class! (Yes, she DID get a bid.) She swore me to secrecy during her recruitment, but I doubt she would mind now that I tell you that she and KiwiJuice are the same person. For the sake of anonymity she thought it wise to start a fresh thread.

sucker4ya/KiwiJuice - I hope I'm not out of line here! Congratulations!

Very wise of her and in that case... per the recruitment threads...

Welcome home to Alpha Delta Pi, sucker4ya also known as KiwiJuice!

Kiwi's Recruitment Story

Hehe I don't mind that you told them irishpipes, I was going to, but I completely forgot to update under that name! So yes, all the details of my recruitment experience are on my other thread!

You are TOO SLY!!!!

We're going to have to keep an eye on you, girl!! ;)

Obviously I PMed you before I checked this thread - glad to hear everything worked out! :)

Well, this makes it even that much more exciting that everything worked out! I PMed you under your other name, but I'll publicly say congrats to Alpha Delta Pi & YOU!! I'm happy for you. :D