Eh, I think I learned more about my chapter sisters & what their sorority meant to them at 4am decorating sessions than at the dinner table.

Times two!

A lot of people seem to forget that most PNMs are what, 17-19? Most have not decided on a philanthropy that will define their lives, or even what type of person is really their style. I think we need to give OP & the other PNMs kind enough to share their stories a bit more slack! I can remember making decisions based on whether everyone wore the same thing on their composite or not! :rolleyes:

Or was she cut simply because she is a junior, like everybody predicted? Not even the least socially intelligent girls, from the ones I've met in my experience on campus, would say those things to girls faces or make it bluntly apparent...and if they did as a junior, I'd wager a guess that they'd have less than 6 parties to attend. Just like in the case of many many many other Greeks (and the shallow comments apply just as much to fraternity rush...can they play football, pull girls, are 6'3" and drink a lot?) shallow comments at the beginning show more about their naivete in the situation than it does about their character...give them a bit of time as actual sisters and they will understand it comes down to sisterhood. Give her some slack, I know some incredible girls who got incredible returns who expressed MUCH worse opinions than what she's said. It's not mature but it's certainly not rare.

And in my above post I meant fraternity rush on the rushers side, not the actives, before anybody twists that.

I find it hard to believe that even a Jr would get cut first round from 12/18 just for class status alone. UofI is competitive FOR THE MIDWEST, but it's stil the midwest, and not SEC.

Actually, they can. I know several schools in the midwest that are that way. Not all of them, though.

Does anyone know if UofI uses the new release figures? That would make a difference as well.

Maybe they read Greek Chat and connected the dots?

Nah, just kidding.

Yes they do, they are using RFM- and I don't want to say much at all but I know my chapter is seeing things this year numbers wise that they haven't in the past.

This chapter is strong but not one of the "face" houses (as they are known) and in the middle of the pack and would take a junior. It seems that RFM is going what it is supposed to do - give everyone a chance - and I think we are going to be gearing up for a very interesting recruitment.

I'm seriously curious to see how this is going to play out!!! Both with the university and with LMV.

If you want more info - PM me. I just don't want to say anything on here that might get them in trouble or blow it before recruitment is over.

I'm genuinely surprised at the posters on this board calling this girl out for being shallow and indiscreet, when most of them have been far meaner to a girl they don't even know, and, in one case, much more indiscreet, than she has been to anyone. I'm not really going to defend her shallow rushing criteria, but I also doubt she's making cuts based on toenail polish. More likely, I'm guessing that she made her decisions based on the total package -- personality, appearance, reputation, conversations, their perceived interest in her -- and is simply being more candid about the ones she's chosen to dismiss. I'm sure there are some girls in the face houses with chipped pedicures, too. ;)

I also think it's absurd that you guys are all threatening her with a bad rush because she was candid about her choices on the internet. True, it's never going to hurt you to be discreet in a rush thread. But the chances that it will hurt you at a school like U of I are slim. Here's why:

1) At big Northern schools, girls are too busy to check up on GC in time to make cuts. Membership selection meetings are held immediately after parties in order to maximize the likelihood of actually remember all the 1200 girls that went through. By the time a rushee has time to post her story on GC, MSM is already taking place. If the sorority women have any time to log onto GC, it won't be until after membership selection has taken place -- so even if a rushee suffers cuts because of what she wrote on GC, it wouldn't possibly be until after Second Round (for things she wrote after First Round parties). Therefore, those of you who are speculating that this girl got dropped because of what she wrote on GC? Highly unlikely at this point. Furthermore, the big Northern schools tend to hold recruitment while school is in session, making it increasingly unlikely that any active sorority member is going to have the time to pop onto GC, figure out what a PNM wrote about her sorority, decode which rushee out of 1200 this girl actually is, and convince her sorority to drop her. She'll be too busy doing homework.

2) Northern rushes do not tend to have the large alum presence that Southern rushes do. My house (at a school very similar to Illinois) had exactly three alumnae involved with our recruitment -- our alum advisor, our alum recruitment advisor, and one other one I forget. We didn't have alumnae calling the house day and night asking for updates with recruitment or anything. If an alum had called up the house saying, "Some girl wrote something bad about your house on the internet, you should cut her!" we would have thought that alumna was a psychopath. Unless you're one of the few alumnae who is really involved with the chapter on a day-to-day basis, the chance that the chapter is going to allow you to dictate who to cut is almost non-existent. Alums don't have the kind of influence in the north that they have in the south.

3) Rush at schools like this is simply TOO big to know who this girl is. Yes, she's a junior transfer, but I can pretty much guarantee you that there is at least one other junior transfer rushing this year. Sometimes rushees who post rush threads like this leave other identifying details (clothes, hometowns, majors), but as far as I can tell, this one hasn't -- and any house that cuts every junior transfer student "just in case" would prove themselves to be completely ridiculous.

So yeah, the chances that an indiscreet rush thread is going to hurt a U of I rushee? Pretty much non-existent.


That said, I hope this makes it obvious to all PNMs posting here that -- and this goes even for plenty of the more discreet rush threads, too -- even if you use code names, it is obvious to anyone familiar with your campus's Greek system which group is which. When girls from my school used to post rush threads, I'd instant message my GC buddies and tell them exactly which house was which, just from the recruitment thread descriptions. That's why I think that it's much more important not to post things that might identify YOU rather than things that won't identify the houses. The houses are identifiable to anyone who knows your campus anyway, and with GC, you never can tell who's going to be offended by what.

Clappity clap clap. I agree.

Come on y'all. Have you never met someone before and thought "wow, her outfit kinda sucks" or something to that effect? We all pass judgment on people. And I'm sure most of us even did it during rush. We may have walked into a house and said we would never join it for completely shallow reasons. I think there's even a thread in the recruitment forum dedicated to stupid reasons why we didn't want to join a certain house. I sure am glad I never posted my rush story when I was a freshman because I'll admit right here that I thought some very shallow things when I went through.

I agree that maybe she needs to be more discreet because she's posting her story on GC. People have odd ways of finding out who you are without you giving any information. Still, wishing a bad rush on someone just because she didn't like a certain house based on what you think are shallow reasons....not cool.

ETA: There is such a thread about dumb (and some shallow) reasons why we cut a house. http://greekchat.com/gcforums/showthread.php?t=20725

I don't think anyone is wishing her ill because she said some silly and shallow things about toenail polish. I think it's more that people don't want someone who's so lacking tact and discretion in their sisterhood. A 19-20 year old college junior should really know better.

And after rereading, I find it really weird that she mentions that she liked #10 because "the valedictorian from a year ahead of me in HS" was in it (although she didn't like her conversations with the other girls at all). I mean, after 2 years of college I could have cared less about HS things like that.

melongirl, I'm thinking you're right.

thanks 33girl.

the rest of the quote reads: "She is completely gorgeous, but obviously very smart. She is also SUPER sweet! When I came to a mostly sophomores and seniors speech class as a scared freshman in high school, she turned around in her seat to talk to me and make me feel comfortable."

LMV...nice to see you back! How are things going? Well I hope! Give us an update.

yeah, but did you talk to her at rush at all? Is she still your BFF or something? Does she even know who you are?

I mean, it's nice that you think so highly of her that you're willing to overlook the "boring conversations" you had with her sisters, but for all you know she could have turned into a total jerk over the past 3 years.

Just doesn't make sense to me.

I don't think PNMs choose a chapter based on it's philanthropy. For some PNMs, a chapter's philanthropy might have personal meaning (i.e. Mom had breast cancer or she is interested in becoming a cardiologist), but if the PNM doesn't click with the chapter, she won't join just because she likes their philanthropy. If it were based on philanthropy alone, I wouldn't have chosen my chapter. Besides, if a cause is that important to a PNM, she can always get involved with a group to raise money/volunteer for that cause.

lol way to be positive? i didn't place a huge emphasis on her (at least when pref-ing, maybe on here it seemed like it a little more because i didn't have much to say). i wouldn't join a sorority for one girl (especially if the convos weren't that great), but it just gave me a positive outlook on that sorority going in because she was so fantastic.

oh, and about the philanthropy- they're all good causes, so i definitely wouldn't choose a sorority based on that. we get to learn about the philanthropies today though, so i'm excited!

But Alzheimer's research is a very worthy cause and a lot more interesting that Arthritis;)

one positive thing about both is that by the time i (and the other girls in the chapter) get old and have to worry about those things, hopefully they will have been cured because of our philanthropy; so really, we're just helping ourselves! it's perfect!

lol kidding :-p.

all of the philanthropies here not only seem like great causes, but the ways they raise money for them seem like alot of fun and a good way to bond.

Ahem...ever had arthritis?;)

Actually, there was a girl in my pledge class that was a diabetic, and had been nearly all her life. Our philanthrophy was Juvenile Diabetes. She always said that was the reason she pledged. I can only take her word for it.

Surely she liked the girls in the chapter as well?

I think so!:)

I'm confused...are you just being argumentative? She's saying that a woman she has respected for a very long time is in that chapter and she viewed that as a positive. Maybe I'm weird but that makes complete 100% sense to me, if there was somebody I respected in a chapter it would definitely make me take a second look at it.

Are people wishing her a bad rush or just expecting her to have one based on what she has said and the standards she is using? We think her results will be disappointing to her more than they'd be disappointing to us.

Here's what I think we are going with: often the very most desirable chapters are the ones who are most attractive and have great rushers with cute personalities, great pedicures, and campus involvement.

These are also, unfortunately for LMV, the chapters least likely to bid a junior, unless the junior quota/free juniors really changes things.

So, when she's writing off chapters left and right for being boring and so-so, she's setting herself up, and when she and others defend the "we all judge by appearances" outlook and "all PNMS are superficial," which I don't dispute but don't think are really worth defending either, she will basically face a pretty good probability of getting a bid that she's already talked herself out of.

On the upside, if she is real, she's now showing the forsight to hold her posts until she knows the outcome.

One other thing: I don't think anyone in this thread was "threatening" to expose her on campus and ruin her rush, they are warning her how easy it would apparently be, and the poster than I think was being accused of being less discreet is an alumna. Barring saying something offensive to her group, she's got nothing to worry about.

Oh yeah, no doubt, tons of people have lot grandparents to Alzheimer's. But it just wouldn't stick out to me as my favorite cause. I think my favorite philanthropy was Alpha Chi Omega's support of victims of domestic violence.

Obviously she had to have meshed well with the chapter, so it was a bonus that AGD has a philanthropy that is important to her. :)

There is a junior quota this year. If she is getting released, it has nothing to do with her class standing.

...

What dots do you want me to connect because I'm not seeing anything?

Admits she doesn't know, then claims she does...????

Well, she might know more now that two rounds of cuts have been made. You know that she has tight connections on your campus, right?

But, no offense, there's really no upside for you with either scenario is there?

It only takes one, so yes, I'd say there is.

Years ago, one of the high school kids I worked with at a dept. store pledged Phi Sig 'cause she had a kidney condition, and that was their philanthropy.

I hope it works out. I just didn't get why it was helpful to point those posts out.

Actually DBB kinda said the same thing twice, she doesn't know how likely you are to get a bid is what she's saying I think. Quota is kind of confusing unless you've spent a lot of time dealing with it. What she's saying is that in the past at Illinois, juniors were factored into overall quota. For example, quota was 45 - and this included all freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors participating in recruiting. Consequently, juniors (and seniors) are often cut hard. This year, juniors are considered free - not a part of quota - common practice at some of the large southern Greek campuses. You'll often see quota displayed on threads like this for those campuses: ABC took quota of 45 + 3 juniors, or something of the like. Juniors not factoring into quota works to your benefit.

One would think that it would, but does anyone know what the junior return rates look like? (I guess I mean invite rates)

The chapters may not know how to work things if the OP only went back to six of ten possible.

I am APPALLED to see how disrespectful and plain rude most of the posters on GC have turned out to be...not only on this thread but so many others. It is really disappointing that so many greeks are using this website not to promote and enjoy their chapters, read about others' experiences and perhaps reminisce about their "glory days" but instead as a forum to make fun of others and stomp on others' self esteem.

And UGA Alum, I wasn't meaning you in particular..I just meant overall.

I understand what you mean, but in this particular instance, the OP herself quoted two posts to call attention to them, and it's hard to see why that was a good thing for her to have done.

Why does she want to call attention to the possibilities that either only a few chapters will consider her as a junior or that she got cut heavily when junior status wouldn't have been the reason.

I wouldn't have pointed it out myself, and I was genuinely perplexed that she did.

I don't think I am usually one of the rude posters on the offensive, especially with new people, not that it matters, but having been so direct about many of the groups, can this OP expect others to treat her with kid gloves?

[quote=UGAalum94;1515281And you might be advised to turn down your self-righteousness as well. It's hardly in the spirit of good will and kindness.[/quote]

Pardon?

I deleted that section because I saw your follow up post.

But yeah, if you're going to lecture people, you probably won't get a better response than you've been seeing. I know that from personal experience with the issue here.

There are some longtime regular posters who are really sassy. It seems mean, but they you kind of get used to it.

If I made all the rules, I'd like people to be sweeter, especially to new people, but most of the sassy folks have been on here the longest, so it's kind of their ball game.

We can play by their rules or go home.