auburnmom - do you know what their schedule was today? i was thinking they would be finished by now since they only had a few to visit today.

here's the link to the schedule from the Auburn Panhellenic site

https://fp.auburn.edu/greek/pnmschedule.htm

based on the schedule of the website, it looks like they will know tonight at 8:30 where they will be going tomorrow.

I think they may have altered that schedule slightly....

I think they are supposed to meet at 8:30pm tonight to rank the sororities they attended in this round (not to find out where they are invited back) and then they find out in the morning where they are going back. However, it appears as if the Pi Chi's have been given some freedom in moving around the time they meet with the PNM's as Kate has already met with her Pi Chi and ranked her sororities.

The reason I think that the schedule is referring to the meet and rank meeting and not the find out where you go back to meeting is that if you look at the schedule for Wednesday it says they were have supposed to have met at 8pm on that night to rank the sororities from the first round; however, I know Kate met her Pi Chi around 2pm on that day to rank her sororities and then recieved her invite list back on Thursday morning.

Just a thought, but I could be wrong.......

it looks like the sheduled is written for "accept/regret" style of recruitment and Auburn has moved to "priority" style.

Accept/regret is where you see all invitations you receive and accept up to the max allowed and regret the rest.

Priority is where the PNMs rank their choices after each round and panhellenic does "matching" of preferences.

Can anyone confirm that Auburn has moved to priority?

12 to 6 is quite a cut.

Can't wait to hear another update.

Sounds like things are going very well!

I was thinking the same thing. Yikes.

Based on what you described, Auburn has definitely moved to the priority style of recruitment!

Hello....

I just talked to Kate; she is still having a good time at rush, but I think she is beginning to get a little tired and I think the heat is getting to everyone! Tomorrow morning she'll find out how many parties she will be going back to and where she will be returning for round three (skit parties).

As mentioned a few times cutting from 12 to 6 sororities could be tough for some PNM's. Let's keep our fingers crossed!

I'll update tomorrow....

Thanks for the great updates!
 

As a northerner and a left coaster- I so appreciate the updates! I have a number of friends ( sorority alumnae) in the Auburn area and they are impossible to get any information from at this time.

Also, as a mom who has a daughter who went through recruitment I can appreciate how you are feeling. I think I was more nervous than my daughter and she only had 5 houses not the large numbers like Auburn!

Thank you for your time in communicating to all of us! I look forward to hearing Kate's results each day! Best wishes....:)

<Waiting with great anticipation for an update and hoping that Kate got great invites back!!!!>

I wonder how many she got invited back to?

I hope it's good news!

(I think it would be really hard to write a real-time recruitment story unless by some odd chance a girl stuck with her earlier favorites all the way through.)

Waking up on the left coast ... hopeful
 

I'm excited to hear about Kate's results today!

Also, I wanted to mention my daughter is home and leaving for school today. She is president of her sorority ( they have deferred Recruitment) I shared this thread with her and she was impressed as am I with the wonderful Panhellenic spirit is on this thread! Go KATE and GO GREEK!!! :) Thank you Auburn Mom for sharing your daughter's experience with us all!

About Auburn Recruitment NEED ADVICE PLEASE
 

My daughter has had a very disappointing time in recruitment this week. On the day they were to get 12 invititations she only recieved 4. Now those 4 have cut her down to 2. My questions would be this:
1. What do they base their cuts on? I have heard that the first cuts from 16 to 12 are based solely on GPA. My daughter has a GPA of 3.5. Is that not good enough to be in a sorority at Auburn? What other reasons could there be for being cut. Her Pi Chi hasn't been much help to her at all. She was really devastated that her favorite two sororities cut her. She has admirable career plans. She even has plans that fit exactly with one of those sororities philanthropies so she was really excited about that. In fact at the ice water tea she met more girls at that particular sororities party than any other. They REALLY acted interested in her and her career goals. I would just really like to know why she was cut.
2. my 2nd question would be - is there ANY chance if she drops out tomorrow after the prefs (if she even gets invited back to any) that one of these sororities that she likes would consider her during COB? I just really need some HONEST answers from someone who has been through this at Auburn, please?
We are devastated. She is a very good girl with great character and skills. She has been a leader in our community and also in our Church and has done many volunteer projects. She plans on being VERY active in organizations during her time at AU and also continuing her volunteer work there as well as being actively involved in a local Church in Auburn.
I am not going to mention the name of the Church.
I was of the idea that her resume looked excellent and that she is an excellent young lady that would add a lot to any sorority she decided to join. I would just like to know what y'all think. Was her GPA not good enough? Could it strictly been based on her personality? Which I happen to think is great. She is an attractive girl too.
Please we need to know what to do about this. Should she go ahead and accept a bid or wait it out for COB? What if she doesn't get a bid in COB? Does she stand a chance later on? She really wants to be in a sorority to be in a dorm next year and also it helps with her resume to be in a sorority as she will be applying to Med School eventually. Besides, she just wants to be apart of things at Auburn and make friends. She has heard so much about the sorority experience from her Mom (me).
Although my sorority is not at Auburn.
She also had letters of recommendation for each sorority at Auburn.
Ok, I will wait to see if anyone can help me with this.
Thanks

Ok, appreciate it
 

I know that no one can tell me the EXACT reason the sororities cut her but I was just hoping for and idea of what to do.
Isn't it true, that sometimes a lot of the girls that pledge drop out of the pledge class before initiation and then that sorority can have more members join? Is there a chance she would then be picked up?
Also, during COB, if she lets the girls in her dorm that pledged the particular sororities that she wanted (about 5 of them she would really be happy in) know exactly HOW interested she is in joining one of those sororities wouldn't that help her chances of getting a bid during COB?
I am just wondering if maybe her shyness hurt her and the sororities didn't think that maybe she was interested enough in them?
Should I just go ahead and tell her to put the two down on her pledge card and take whatever she gets? Is being in any sorority better than waiting around to see if a particular few will express interest in you again?
Thanks
You are really helping me out with my sanity here.

I too am so sorry that your daughter has not received more invitations. So often when there are so many women going through recruitment really great women are released. What I do want to say is your daughter has two houses that do really want her and they DO see what she has to offer. While they may not be her first or second choices, can she see herself contibuting to the house and the sisterhood? Can she see herself participating in activities with these women? So often women will be happy in a house they originally didn't think they might like. And, it is only a suggestion. Best wishes.

I cannot speak specifically about Auburn, but it has been my experience as both an active and alumna advisor that very few girls drop out of pledging. If the sorority is at total, even if pledges drop out they will not COB.
IMHO, her best bet is to see recruitment through to the end. She can only pledge ONE house, so all she needs is ONE house. As long as she doesn't absolutely hate the two houses she has left, I'd be willing to bet that she would be happy in either of them.
Please remind her that there are two houses on the campus who obviously think very highly of her. It's easy to get caught up in the ones who cut you - but focus on the two who really like her.
If she is shy, it may very well be that some of the chapters thought she was not interested. I cannot say - but please assure her that there is still a place for her. As was stated earlier, if she doesn't get a bid at all, she can still COB.
I wish her the very best of luck. I know she is crushed - but she is lucky to have a mom who is so concerned. Tell her we are all rooting for her to find her new sisters - hang in there!

It just depends on which of the groups the five she is interested in are.

The majority of the groups at Auburn will be over total, I think, once they have their new members classes, which basically means they will have no room to offer your daughter a COB/COR bid.

Other groups may have room because they are below chapter total. I think that the number of groups who do COB/COR is probably pretty small, and that if your daughter's favorite groups are also other rushees favorites groups, it's unlikely that they will be the ones to COB/COR.

On the other hand, if your daughter still likes her two groups, remember that if she gets a bid from one of them, that's the maximum that any girl can get.

Will her recruitment counselor tell her which groups did COB/COR last year?

Momto2gals,

Your daughter sounds like a fine young woman and she should be proud of her accomplishments as well as her future goals. As an alumni from a southern school that also has a very competitive recruitment, I would advise your daughter to stick it out. Based on the info provided in this thread, there are a record number of girls going through recruitment and it is likely that all of the chapters will end up above or at quota. Also, remind your daughter that even though she was cut from her 2 favorites she may end up finding a home with another sorority. I went through a similar situation during my recruitment experience and I now that I look back I ended up right where I belonged. I couldn't imagine being anything but a Theta!!! Best of luck to your daughter... and I hope that this reply helps with her decision.

What is TOTAL for the sororities?
 

I kind of know the numbers the sororities have now as I have been checking out their websites and such (although a few of them you can't tell) What is the TOTAL number of sisters a sorority at AU can have? I know the most I have heard of is one has about 222 and the least (based on what my daughter told me she has heard) is one that has 100 members. So if a sorority has lets just say the big one with 222 members. They can't accept as many pledges as the one with 100. Is that correct?
oh and by the way. Thanks so much for being so understanding. I went to a university that only had 3 sororities at that time and had a very hard time just getting women to go through rush so I had no problem getting a bid from the one I wanted. This is all very different and scary to us. I have another daughter coming up although she is still quite young. What advice can I give her. What do the sororities at Auburn look for? Is that GPA a BIG issue? Do you need a 4.0 or higher to be considered by the bigger sororities? And if there is a problem with so many going through rush at Auburn, then why don't they have more chapters there? I know at Alabama for instance there is about 18 or more, right? I have been telling my daughter to just pray about it. I will tell her her chances are not that good at being picked up during COB by the ones that she wanted. She should probably join one of the ones she went to today. Thanks for all y'alls help!!

Total at Auburn University is 160 according to my most recent membership report. Last year, quota was 58. That means that every chapter could take 58 women no matter what. If, after taking those 58, they still had fewer than 160 members, then they could COB. Quota is fluid from year to year, based on the number of women going through recruitment so it may be higher or lower than 58.

My thoughts about the sororities with huge chapters like Auburn are this..

No matter which one you join, if there are 100+ members, you are going to click with/get along with some group within that membership. With that many members, there are going to be scholars, partiers, socialites, athletes, etc. I think she should stick it out. You will see, if you read a lot of these recruitment threads, that sometimes the sororities do a better job of picking who fits best with their membership than the PNMs do and MOST women who accept a bid from a chapter that may not have been their first choice all along still find a wonderful home in that chapter.

So, I agree with the poster who said that she can only accept ONE bid and there are TWO sororities who see her great qualities right now, so why not see how it goes with one of those? COB is a rarity at Auburn.

It's really hard being a PNM. It's really hard being the mom of a PNM (veteran of 6 rushes here). It's awful being cut as a PNM but it's devastating watching your daughter being cut.:(

As an Auburn alum, I would advise your daughter to go all the way through pref parties and see what happens. If she doesn't end up with a bid, she should register immediately for COB. I corresponded with an Auburn mother last year whose daughter went unbid and then at the end of the semester, she received invitations from 3 or 4 sororities to come to informal parties. She ended up with a sorority she loved!

Thank you
 

Thank you all so much for your help. I don't even have any idea which two parties she went to today. Her Pi Chi didn't know (or didn't tell her this morning) I guess she found out when she went to pick up her schedule which was right before her first party which was at 3 I think. I haven't heard from her yet either so I am kind of worried about how it all went. She said of the 4 she had been to during Philanthropy she was going to drop out of rush if one of the two wasn't such and such. I am going to try to convice her to stay in and accept a bid from whomever. It sounds like her chances for COB aren't guaranteed. I appreciate all the help. You have all calmed down MY nerves quite a bit!

How your daughter feels is really normal, but it's important that she try to give the groups that want her a chance. Unless she's sure that she'd rather not be Greek than join the ones she has left, she should probably just see it through.

Not that my experience is particularly wide or well-informed, but I don't think that most girls at SEC recruitments get snap bid or COBed by their first round (or even second round) favorites if these groups released the girls early on.

No offense but she certainly shouldn't just accept a bid "from whomever" if she doesn't want to be there. Leave the spot for someone who actually wants it.

-Tell her to hang in there! I only had 1 party on pref day and I ended up getting a bid to the one sorority that not only liked me but that I really liked also. If for some reason it doesn't work out in her favor, I know it will be hard. But I am a firm believer of the old saying ' when one door closes and other door opens'. That door usually opens sooner rather than later and usually it leads to something better. However, you can only accept one bid, so one invitation is all you need!

I agree. If she really thinks she'd rather not be Greek than to be in that chapter, then she shouldn't accept a bid from them.

So sorry for the long delay.....
 

I was away from my computer for the entire day...

First, Momto2gals, I am sorry about the hard time your daughter is having at Auburn's rush. I hope that today went well for her and that she will be invited back tomorrow (for pref) to the 2 sororties that she attended today. I wish I could help you more, but the only advice I can give you is to encourage your daughter to stick with it and let's see what happens with the 2 sororities she's still attending!

I will keep my fingers crossed for you and for your daughter!

now for Kate's news....
 

she was invited back to 6 parties today for skit round.... yeah!!

She went back to

Austria
Ireland
Netherlands
Belgium
Italy
Monacco

2 out of her top 3 sororities from last round invited her back for this round. She was thrilled! I haven't talked to her since this morning so I don't know how the day of skit parties went. I am anticipating her call anytime and I will update with her feelings about today at that time.....

I have an unhappy update to my little sister's rush experience at Auburn.

First, I wouldn't take your daughter being cut as any reflection on her character/likeability/etc. AT ALL, especially after the people I know who have been cut this week by various sororities. Second, being in a sorority is not the be all and end all thing of all things. Your daughter can have a great collegiate experiance whether or not she pledges and definitely shouldn't just pledge any group that offers her a bid if the only reason is just so she can be in a sorority. That is a recipie for disaster, trust me.

On to my not-so-happy story and hopefully this will make you feel a little better about your daughter. I can't/won't re-write my earlier novel/post, so please reference that for any background. LOL My sister got cut from Sorority C today. Obviously, I was not pleased to say the least. I really can't understand what is going on at Auburn this week based on some of the things I've heard.

To give my sorority, along with the others, the benefit of the doubt - Auburn must have the most outstanding group of rushees ever to step foot on that campus. I say this because of the amazing credentials my sister, along with her best friend have, and the sororities they were cut by. Both had a 4.0, were involved in practically every activity possible in high school, great personalities, and very attractive (i know this shouldn't matter, so plz no one post a question asking me why i noted this). Today, the best friend was cut by Sorority A, which her sister was an active member of just last year. **I have no knowledge of "sister's" standing, etc. in Sorority A when she graduated, so for all I know "sister" could have been a negative** However, remember that best friend was also cut by Sorority C the first day. My sister was also cut by A today, along with several others. I believe she said she has 5 left, one being Sorority B, which is also the only one she said she would even consider accepting a bid from anyway and she's not even sure of that. On a good note, best friend was also kept by B today and they are hoping to get to return together tomorrow, but who knows at this point.

I can assure you that from what I have been told, 4.0 GPA's can't be what all of the sororities are looking for b/c they are cutting people left and right with perfect GPA's and high ACT scores, not to mention legacies. According to my sister, there has been a mass exodus of girls from rush as of this afternoon from what she can tell. Since I am a little confused, to say the least, at some of these developments, I asked her about the girls who have been kept by Sororities A & C. She said she knows NONE. Now, obviously there have been many girls kept by these groups, but she is as confused as I am about what's going on, if not more.

I'm beginning to wonder if this may be one of those years where many sororities "screw themselves." What I mean by this is that I think some groups may have been a little too confident about which girls they may have had in their "back pocket," so to speak, and were a little too loose with the early cuts of girls who they may now wish they could have back. Of course, this may not be the case at all, just one of the few things I can think of to rationalize the things I am hearing. As others have said, there are a lot of things that go into deciding who to keep and who to cut that are private and known only to each sorority, so there are other things that may add to my unhappiness that I won't mention.

And also to keep in mind that with release figures, most sororities are given a target number of PNM that they can invite back each round... so while there might have been 1,000 perfect PNM's who ABC thought would be amazing additions to their sisterhood, if ABC can only invite 400 back to the next round, then 600 amazing women are being cut from that group's invite list... :o

(On the flip side, I know that means that if ABC can only take 70 women, then it's a good thing that all of those women aren't getting their hopes up only to go bidless on bid day... but I can only imagine how much it hurts in the meantime...)

Don't Rush To Judgement
 

I also have a daughter at Auburn who is rushing this year. Her experience has been a good one so far. She has not spoken of a "mass exodus" but has mentioned only one of her group that has left rush. This is to be expected. The reason being was that this particular girl was cut by the only sororities she would consider joining. My daughter has kept an open mind throughout this process and while she was cut by some of her top choices, she said she would be very happy at any of the six that she visited today. I asked her how she would feel if she got a bid from her last choice and she said she would be truly happy because she has met people in each one that she likes and she has found characteristics in each sorority that she likes. Yes, the girls that are getting cut are fantastic girls by any measure, and many sororities around the US would gladly have them! But Auburn only has 16 sororities for a very large student population so the competition is strong. There is no easy answer except to know that Auburn isn't all about being part of the Greek system and if you aren't a part of it you will still have a fantastic collegiate experience! Greek is not 'life' at Auburn, and all of these girls will hit the ground running come Aug 16!

First and foremost, Elaine, I am sorry that your sister was cut from your legacy sorority (that has got to be tough); hopefully, with her attending 5 parties today, one of the those sororities will work out for her.

I talked to Kate tonight. She is fine and still having a good time (I feel guilty even telling you all this as I feel so bad for Elaine's sister and Momto2Gals daughter).

Tonight after they finished their skit parties, they ranked the sororities that they attended in order of their preference for pref day. Tomorrow they meet right before the first pref parties to get their list. They will attend up to 3 pref parties tomorrow.

Kate has a definite favorite at this time and we're both hoping that she is invited back to that one tomorrow! Other then her definite favorite, she liked 5 out of the 6 sororities she attended today and said she could see herself fitting into any of them.

Even though Kate's rush is going well, I continue to stress about it and I think Carnation's comments about how a mother feels about her daughter's rush is so accurate.

I should know by noon tomorrow, I'll update then.....