And you don't want to be known as the girl who passed out!

Regarding recruitment photographers: I don't think the actual practice is as bad/intense as what you all may be thinking. Remember the UGA recruitment photos that were linked a few years ago? The student paper went around a took photos outside the houses of the PNMs, mainly before or after rounds when the girls were going back out at the end of the party.

I don't think anyone has photographers actually in the parties; I think it probably violates recruitment rules about who is permitted at parties if you randomly have someone walking around talking professional pictures.

Carnation, were your photos from inside the parties?

As far as mixers and such, it was very much the school culture at UGA back in the day to have picture man photographers walking around at almost any event that you'd have guests. It wasn't a whole camera or backdrop kind of thing with formal posing. Just a brief, take a minute to smile with a group of your friends or date and order them later.

Yes, I have photos from inside and outside all the parties except not inside prefs. Of course, I have a ton for Bid Day!

The picture men were at all major events! They weren't at mixers, though.

To the bolded: maybe a regional/school thing? I believe you and I are of the same generation and I assure you that we had a stinking shirt for pretty much every time someone sneezed. Three date parties a semester, chapter retreat, rush, bid day, any greek wide contest (Derby Days, etc), homecoming, supporting the athletic teams, generic shirts (I <3 Theta, etc) and on and on and on. And yes, everyone pretty much bought them all- it wasn't just the freshmen.

As for the photogs- yes we were in that big time too. There was a campus-wide business ("Flash!") that would photo EVERYTHING. Pretty much everything that I mentioned that there was a shirt for above, as well as football games, all campus events, etc. We did not allow photographers into the house during rush, but we did have "Skit Night" prior to rush where we practiced/showed off our skits (note plural) to our local alumnae, and the photographers came to that.

Obviously this was in the days before digital photography, so every Monday we all would go over to the Greek store and scan hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of negatives hanging on the wall. You could look at your events as well as casually mosey on over and scan through other chapters events (pretending to have been a Fraternity date of course). Always fun to smirk at how trashed and un-lady like some of the other chapters were at their parties, ignoring the fact that there were several of our own negatives that we conveniently tore off the display.

Back to your regularly scheduled Auburn thread...

One of my favorite pms ever--justamom messaged me once and said she carefully chose recruitment pictures of her daughter from one of those negative sheets and when she got her large pictures in the mail--that girl wasn't her daughter!!:D

Wow. It surprises me that they were in the parties. I don't think we did that at UGA, but I may just misremember it.

I'm in my early 40s. We all had multiple letter shirts and sweatshirts and of course the big thing was jackets. But as far as event shirts were concerned...we had shirts for Derby Daze and Greek Week, and a one-off for one year when Theta Chi had an all-sorority mixer. That was IT. We never thought of getting shirts for date parties...why would we? They were semi-dressy affairs that lasted one night, at the houses or very near campus. Formal favors were usually glasses or squeeze bottles.

When I go back now everyone has homecoming shirts, but the thing is they have a lot more places to get them from nowadays. We only had the campus bookstore or the sporting goods store in town. And neither was exactly cheap.

Honestly, I think wiser heads before us probably evaluated the Clarion weather (cold and rainy for the majority of the school year) and decided jackets were a way better investment than a bunch of t-shirts we'd be wearing under sweatshirts anyway.

we had professional photos taken before or in between parties on each theme day. the same photographer went around to all the houses and all the sororities knew the schedule for the whole campus. there were no photos taken during actual parties.

of course, not many people had their own cameras back then, but even if you did, you didn't have to worry about it during rush.

Back to the water- if you played spring/summer sports, you know that you should start drinking water the night before-a glass of water an hour before the day's activities isn't going to do it. Besides, who wants to feel woozy, yucky and headachy because you are dehydrated? So drink up and good luck! (The daughter of a good friend is a junior in at Auburn and the girls in her sorority so excited to meet all this year's PNMs!)

Another tip about water...

Drink about a cup of water if you are anxious or nervous. It will help calm your nerves. (I learned that one in my public speaking class in college.) A good tip if you are nervous right before a party.

Haha--My daughter has been known to pass out from the heat and had actually done it at a concert not long before recruitment began. This was exactly the advice I gave her-don't be that girl!

She must have kept pretty cool and well-hydrated. She didn't really complain about the heat too much. For their longer breaks between parties the girls can wait in the Panhellenic suite and cool off a bit.

Recruitment starts tomorrow!!!!!

GOOD LUCK, PNMS!!!!!!!!!!!

So Agree! Best wishes to all the PNMs and to all of the Sororities! It reminds me of a a song we use to sing--

Rush, Rush , miss your meals lose some sleep , SMILE
what's your name , what's your major, who's the guy , why?
Gee rush is hectic but I'd do it all again for Gamma Phi ,yeah, YEAH!!:)

Oh my gosh - I remember this, too!

eta - Did y'all do a kinda hand jive to this?

PNM Number at Auburn....
 

Does anyone have the number of pnms registered for recruitment at Auburn? The last number was an expected 1200. Is that number accurate?

Best of luck to all sorority members and pnms!