oh and don't forget that they are now provided t-shirts for every day of rush except pref night (which is NOON to five next Sunday in the heat). all in effort to "level the playing field" or whatever.....sheesh, put them in a uniform already! haha

There is a chapter on campus that has a reputation for severe dirty rushing and bid promising. It was so bad that a few PNMs reported them to the GL office last year because helper moms and alumnae were adding to the problem. So, that is why the ridiculous new silence rules for alumnae.

The trend is no-frills, not just away from skits. Skits are considered a "frill" during recruitment. I want to say it was something that NPC is encouraging campuses to do - though I'm sure someone else knows more than I do.

That is unfortunate because I never saw the skit as a "frill". You can tell a lot about a chapter by how they handle the whole skit process, how much effort they put into it and how the sisters interact with each other. My daughter commented when she went through rush that she was impressed at the houses that put a lot of time and effort into the skit and was unimpressed with the ones that didn't. She also watched how the sisters reacted to the girls in the skit, especially their reactions when they messed up. This was all so interesting to see it from her perspective since it has been quite a few years since my own rush!

I've spent the last few days just lurking around! My D is looking forward to being on the other side of recruitment. She has spent an exhausting week working at the house. She said there are a few more than 700 going through recruitment.
If there are any UARK PNM moms out there, if you can do go to bid day. I went last year on the Sunday before Bid Day. As I sat on the porch of Carnall Hall that sunny Sunday, I heard boys screaming and car horns honking. I realized that boys were cruising up and down Maple watching the girls go from house to house! Of course, they came down Arkansas to cruise past the AOPi house, too. I thoroughly enjoyed myself that day.

glad to have you back! any word on how the PNM's stack up this year? i've heard GPA is an issue for most houses.......?

Sue E,
Glad you are back!!!

Haven't heard a thing about GPAs or how the girls stack up. I don't want to grill my D so much.
I am so glad Panhellenic changed the timetable for recruitment this year. It was hard on the girls to wait a week to find what houses they were invited back to on top of their studies was hard. I think it was harder on the PNM moms.
I wanted to add something else about bid day. If is just unbelievable. To stand at the top of the Greek Theater and watch the sororoities file in in their colored shirts, myriad of balloons and the PNMs at the bottom with their cards in hand is incredible. When the signal is given and the girls open their cards the sound is deafening. Of course, the boys hanging around add to the sound! Take lots of pictures or movies because your daughter will be so excited as she holds her card that she probably won't remember the sights and sounds. I even got to walk with D to her knew home and took lots of pictures outside the house. Of course, then I was oh so politely asked to leave so she could be with her new sisters.
I'll come out of lurkdom from time to time, but will leave it to the more knowledgable Gurus like Elephant Walk and Irishpipes.

Having witnessed skits a decade+ ago that were ridiculously expensive and way over the top with professionally designed lighting, sound systems, costumes, etc., I agree with the notion of some no frills limitations on skits (and therefore budgets). However I don't agree with doing away with them entirely. A good skit can showcase a chapter's talents and talented members, their interests, their achievements and can (hopefully) bring a little bit of humor to the recruitment process.

I've been to Fayetteville, but never on Bid Day -- I would love to experience it!

(Sue, I do LOVE your name!)

It is UNBELIEVABLE! i'm so glad they changed it to the Greek Theatre, instead of girls sitting in dorm rooms waiting for a bid.......or maybe not to get a bid. It's SO much fun now!

Agreed. The Chi-O theatre just adds something great to bid day and with all the atmosphere, goodness.

just found out......after first round tomorrow, they won't find out who asked them back......until WEDNESDAY morning! so much for calming the stress of rush and classes at the same time! UGH!

There was a tornado warning/heavy downpour, some of rush got rescheduled to start at 2 now...no telling how long it will take them tonight.

yep, lots of messed up hair-do's and girls having to get those rush t-shirts dried in the dorms! haha think they made it to 3 houses before they called it off. going to be a long day/night!