Well it's for the PNMs whole senior year of HS - not just before recruitment.
Alabama has a PH Preview Weekend in the spring and that is supposed to suffice for getting to see houses and introduced. The coming down for every football game and staying with your BFF in the house or dorm is not allowed.

As far as venting to the moms, so true. I remember mom & I having a conversation along the lines of "but I thought you hated Kari? You came home complaining about how mean she was to you." "Oh Mom, I was just mad, and anyway that was last week."

The difference is I think I had this conversation when I was 10. By the time I was in HS I wouldn't have dreamed of letting her in on the ins & outs of my friendships. It's nice that kids are more open with their parents nowadays I guess, but the parents have to remember that they are talking to an adolescent, not a peer, and take what is said accordingly.

I had the conversation where mom yelled at me for declining the invite from her legacy house, but I think that was about it.

My mother was/is the total opposite of a helicopter mom. I went through rush (yes it was eons ago) in order to move out of the house early. She tried to manipulate me into dropping out before I started since she wanted me home for another week to further destroy my non-existent self esteem. She reminded me I would not be invited to join any house because 1) I was not pretty enough for her so the girls would not think me pretty, 2) I was not smart enough for her. I have dyslexia and did not have a 4.0 like she did and the girls would not like that, 3) I am Jewish and there was no Jewish based house on my campus and the other houses all hated Jews, and 4) I was the HS geek/nerd/unpopular girl and no one was going to like me so I should be home so she could remind me of this. Of course, I ignored her for the first time in my life and went through rush. After I signed my preference card I called home:

Me: Hi Mom, if KD offers me a bid tomorrow may I break my dorm contract and move into the house?

Her: What???? You are still in rush?????

DaffyKD

Love it. So what did she say when you actually got the bid?

:D So, did you get to move into the house?

Yay for gaining your independence and joining KD! Sorry to hear what you had to go through though. :(

Yes. Lived in the house all 4 years!

DaffyKD

((DaffyKD)) Yes!!

((KD)) Are we cousins? My mother was crazy unsupportive both times around (AXiD and Gamma Sig). She didn't even want me to go to college. Kudos to those of us who did it on our own!