There were all kind of rules like that when I was an active....no smoking while walking around. A KD lady could only smoke while sitting down and with a roof over her head. No curlers in public. etc.

One chapter had a rule that members could only use the main impressive curviing stairway when they they had a guest. If they were just hanging around the house, all members had to use the back stairway (SAVE THE SHAG CARPET!) I heard that after I graduated, my own house had a "enter the back door unless you have a guest" rule as well.

I hope your daughter has a fantastic time and she finds a wonderful home. You are a good mom. It's so much harder for us to watch, isn't it?

Thank you all for the good wishes! I just woke up with a pressing question (see, I REALLY am wound up about this!). The first round of parties is this weekend - Open House and First Invitational. After the First Invitational round, when the girls rank their top 7 choices, will they get their invites back at the end of the weekend, or will they have to be on pins and needless until next Saturday? Okay, the question really is, will I have to be on pins and needles?:confused:

I swear, I really am NOT a helicopter mom ...

Sadly, they have to wait.

I think you and scrapkat can commiserate. She just went through this with her daughter at Iowa and had a lot of questions and a LOT of concerns that she was the heli-Mom with the rainbow pooping snowflake. I look forward to hearing your stories! Just make sure you don't talk bad about any chapters and keep your daughter completely anonymous.

:( Thanks, DubaiSis. I hope I will be able to get through the week!

Yes, you have to wait for the party lists, but I'm pretty sure that, if a woman is released entirely, she is notified sooner than that.

My chapter, too.

No chewing gum if you're wearing letters or your pin.

No drinking alcohol if you're wearing letters.

Don't drink any alcohol out of a bottle or can. Put it in a glass.

i got a book when i pledged that my bid day buddy had made(all the pledges got one) that had the address, phone #, what sisters were in what room, lunch and dinner times-just general information.

there were also tips for pledges: " A Zeta lady does not smoke, chew gum,eat or drink while walking across campus(or anywhere else)." "Zetas are not allowed to be barefoot downstairs." "When on phone duty, answer the phone as follows,"Good morning(afternoon, evening). You've reached Zeta Tau Alpha. How may I direct your call?" "The actives appreciate it when a pledge asks if she may take their lunch plate into the kitchen."

There was also the no drinking in letters. Pledges should come up the front sidewalk to the house-the side sidewalk is for initiated sisters.

The glitter has all fallen off and the construction paper cover has faded so badly, but I still have(and cherish) my little book after all these years.

The Formal Recruitment Orientation at Illinois was last night, and today the Panhellenic Council posted the 2011 Recruitment Booklet. I didn't get a chance to talk to my daughter about the orientation - it turns out one of her good friends from high school who is at UIUC had an emergency tonsillectomy this week, and that's all she wanted to talk about before she said, "Oh, I'm really busy with school work. I gotta go!" I talked to her earlier today, briefly between classes, and she was looking forward to recruitment tonight. She is supposed to call me when they are done, so I will be up until at least midnight, I'm sure!

Anyway, here is the link for the Booklet if you are interested:

http://www.illinoisphc.com/#_p.Recru...ment%20Booklet

thank you for posting the link to the recruitment booklet. The page of advice for preference was very clear and good information well stated.

Yeah...an Illinois thread! I have a close friend's daughter going through right now and I am so excited as well! The Greek system there is amazing and I truly mean it when I say all of the houses are great! Both of my parent were in the Greek system and they loved it as well. Most important is to keep a very open mind. I felt like I loved different things about each one and they all have something special and unique about them. I am so looking forward to hearing how your daughter enjoys herself and if she keeps a very open mind I truly believe she will enjoy the process more. I always tell myself that I'm not nervous, I'm excited and sometimes those 2 feel very similar.

Ah yes so the stress begins! I tried to remain neutral throughout my daughters recruitment but it is sooo hard especially when they tell every detail! I just felt like a pressure cooker for the entire two weeks! Iowa divides recruitment over two weekends, I believe it is to torture everyone involved! I just kept teilling my daughter "don't fall in love with one house" but they always do....

To quote Kevin Bacon in Animal House "remain calm, all is well"

You can blame Illinois for Iowa's change. Illinois has a very successful, very well-done recruitment with limited drop-outs, so when Iowa needed a big change, they started following their method.

Those statistics speak volumes. The part I'm surprised about is there isn't an instant blip of girls getting cut for grades. Maybe they aren't allowed to register if they don't meet at least some chapters' minimum GPA.

Illinois is an extremely competitive school that is very hard to get into. Any freshman that is rushing will already have higher GPA than the sorority minimum.
I can only speak for my sorority there, but we never really talked grades because it seemed like everyone had a 3.5 or higher. The young lady I wrote a rec for has a 4.2 on a 4.0. The grade cuts happened with sophomore or juniors, but in 4 years I was there we never had to let go of a freshman because of grades.

That was not usually the excuse given by the VAST number of Chicago people at Iowa, but I figured that was why a lot of them were there (a few would be honest though). That, and it cost less to go out of state to Iowa than to stay in state at U of I for not much of a travel time savings.

Ain't that the truth! Having a perfect 4.0 is more the norm than the exception. All the NPMs at Illinois are smart and accomplished, otherwise they wouldn't be there. That's why I am so nervous ... err, excited. If my daughter isn't invited back to whatever house for whatever reason, I'm afraid, to her, it will feel like a very personal rejection. And we all hate for our daughters to feel that!:(

Hopefully, my daughter can keep the great attitude she has right now through the whole process, once the cuts start. I, on the other hand, will continue to be totally wound up ...