AnchorAlumna, you are a wise mother!^^

lol. I fixed it. I always get yinz mixed up. :)

I don't remember the exact figure but Greek Life is making some changes in the system this year to insure that more women are placed.
Please, please get as many references as possible.

My apologies on getting a bit confused. We are indeed talking about 2 seperate types of events.

Some of the gifts I've heard of people getting are insane, too. As in, coach day planners in the sorority's colors and things like that. :eek:

All of this talk is laughable at best. The sixteen year old is probably someone's sister. I would say that maybe 1-2% of girls are recruited as juniors and 85% of those most likely have an in-house (biological) sister. The biggest gifts given this year were koozies and the chapter that gave those out was told not to do that anymore. Yes dirty rushing happens, but a lot of what has been said on this thread is about as true as Phi Mu's checking your calf muscles...

Checking them for what? :confused:

Hi everyone, thanks for the advice, I guess I'll have to work out my calf muscles before rush?? :)

I have another question, the only orientation I can attend is on philanthropy day. What time during the day are the recruitment activities? I'm assuming it's an all-day thing, and if I have to I can skip orientation because I really only need to register for classes. Also, what do you do if you can't come for a day during rush?

Based on what I've read here on GC, I'd strongly suggest against missing a day for rush. Set aside August 10-17 just for rush if you have to. If you can't, I'd suggest calling the Greek Life office listed here: http://www.uapanhellenic.com/recruitment.php

Rushing there is competitive enough as it is and many consider it very serious business. Missing any event or any of the days could possibly hurt your chances.

Do not miss a day of recruitment! We knew a great PNM who had to miss the first 2 days because she'd been overseas as an exchange student. Normally, she would have been in great demand but only one group asked her to come to that third day..she didn't even get a chance at the rest. She pledged for about a week and dropped out, feeling like she never got a real shot at the sororities.

Contact the orientation people and let them know about your conflict. If they can't help, then call the Greek office and tell them. The Greek office will probably work to reschedule your orientation since they know you cannot miss a day of rush. If neither office is overjoyed to help, call the orientation people every other day until they tell you there has been a cancellation that you can fill. The squeaky wheel gets the grease.

Sidenote: If you don't register until August, your choice of classes is going to be severely limited.

To my knowledge the recruitment schedule for party times has not been finally approved by Panhellenic yet. Typcally they start around 9am and end no later than 6:30pm. The later rounds usually start a little later, but end around the same time.

If a PNM must miss one or more parties you must inform Panhellenic. They will regularly update each chapter with an absentee list. Make sure you tell them why so they can pass that along too. There is no set Panhellenic policy on how to treat absentee PMNs. It is left up to each chapter to decide how to handle them.

Now for my personal 2 cents. With a recruitment this competitive, a PNM better have a darned good reason for missing a party/round. I'm talking about something that is unavoidable, unable to be rescheduled or scheduled for another date/time, and incredibly important. Even though the party times aren't yet set in stone yet, they are always roughly the same every year. The dates have been announced since early spring. This allows PNMs, and chapter members for that matter, plenty of time to arrange their schedules to attend.

Well I hope my excuse is valid, lol. I'm coming with my parents from Orlando and it really is stupid to fly over for a day for orientation in July, then drive back in August for move-in week/Rush. So, we'll make one trip and arrive the 10th, the day before rush week starts. The 14th is the only orientation day in August, so it cuts right into recruitment, but logistically, it makes wayy more sense.

Basically, I only need to be at orientation to register for classes. I'm going Honors so the classes can't be totally horrid, and I'm coming in knowing exactly what I want to take for each semester and I'm not picky about class times.

I am aware that when you only get to meet with the girls for a few minutes a day, missing one day is a big deal. I'm thinking that if I just go to register and come back for recruitment it shouldn't interfere or that hopefully I won't miss anything? When do activities on philanthropy usually start?

Is there any way you could register online? Maybe you could see your academic advisor and tell him/her what you plan to take (assuming those classes are open and everything fits) and you could just register yourself when you get to Tuscaloosa (or maybe before when you're still at home)?

If you can afford/are free that weekend to go to orientation in July, I would go. Orientation is fun! You meet so many people, become acquainted with the campus and its amenities and facilities, and of course, register for classes. Do you not spend the night? I thought orientation would be boring and stupid and pointless so I put off registering for it, but I had a great time at my orientation!

I'd call Panhellenic and your academic advisor about this and see if something can be resolved. I would not recommend missing any part of recruitment if you can avoid it. Your philanthropy round chapters can't guarantee you an invite (it would be unfair to the other PNMs), but there's no guarantee you'll be cut (unless Panhellenic considers it unexcused).