Yay! What a great story, IrishPipes. :)

I couldn't believe it when you said you got "the call". My heart sank. It's funny how emotionally involved you can get even when you already know there's a happy ending.

Loved the detailed descriptions of your 80's outfits too. Hysterical! :D

I will go ahead and unveil the codes. I hope I don’t offend anyone by doing so. Please know that the descriptions in my story were only the thoughts of a very immature 17 year old, and should not be interpreted as my current thoughts about any of these organizations. I am sure these aren’t much of a surprise since I gave lots of information along the way, but the chapters were:

Carlow – Alpha Epsilon Phi
Clare – Sigma Kappa
Cork – Kappa Alpha Theta
Donegal – Zeta Tau Alpha
Dublin – Alpha Gamma Delta
Galway – Kappa Delta
Kerry – Delta Delta Delta
Kildare – Alpha Chi Omega
Kilkenny – Alpha Omicron Pi
Leitrim – Pi Beta Phi
Limerick – Chi Omega
Longford – Delta Phi Epsilon
Mayo – Gamma Phi Beta
Meath – Alpha Phi
Monaghan – Alpha Delta Pi
Offaly – Delta Gamma
Roscommon – Sigma Delta Tau
Sligo – Phi Sigma Sigma
Tipperary – Phi Mu
Waterford – Kappa Kappa Gamma
Wexford – Alpha Xi Delta
Wicklow – Alpha Sigma Alpha

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By the way, quota that year was 56, and when it was all said and done 17/22 chapters got it.

Results for the rest of the “cast” -

• Melissa ended up as my pledge sister in Kilkenny
• Jenn also pledged Kilkenny and we became life-long friends.
• Shar was devastated at not getting Kerry, but was very happy eventually in Leitrim
• Kristen from high school pledged Dublin, where she was an in-house legacy
• Kim pledged Galway – her favorite since first stage
• Pam pledged Cork, along with legacy girl and the 2 girls across the hall. (I must mention that Pam and Joelle both wore PROM DRESSES to pref. I laugh about that still…)
• Joelle pledged Mayo
• Missy rushed again sophomore year and pledged Mayo

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After I learned more about Greek life, I always assumed I was a snap bid. Then, after doing bid matching I realized that a lot had gone wrong in my process. I should not have been eligible for a snap bid from either Kilkenny or Wexford because I suicided. I just recently found out from AOIIGal, a GCer who rushed me, that it really was a computer error that no one was allowed to discuss, and very few people knew about. I wasn’t a snap bid. That was the first year that computers were used exclusively in rush and there were some problems, including girls showing up at bid night parties who had not really gotten bids to those chapters, and a few girls, like me, who showed up as unmatched. Even 20 years later, it was a comfort to know what really happened.

Also, despite my happy ending, I would not have done it the same way if I had to do it again. I would not have suicided. There is a time to suicide, I really believe that, but it should be when you would rather not be Greek than be in one of your preffed chapters. While I was unsure about the chapters I preffed, I would have gladly accepted a bid and tried it out. I just didn’t know what I was doing and was too proud to ask for advice from the Rho Chis.

I also realize how different my rush would have been if I had waited until my sophomore year, which many girls at U of I do. I knew so little, and it really affected my rush, both positively and negatively. I was WAY more concerned with what other people thought about the chapters I visited than what I thought about them - that is, until the very end. I was also amazed at how many people I knew in sororities. I would have been a lot less intimidated if I had known about them ahead of time.

Another observation: It seemed like a deliberate tactic at many chapters to have at least one rusher kind of follow you through at least the first 2 stages and then maybe again at prefs. I think this helped us make connections at those chapters and avoid them just being lost in the crowd. On the downside, that one rusher had a lot of influence on whether or not you liked the chapter. I think that is why I didn’t like a lot of the chapters that my friends liked – I happened to have a bad rusher and they got a good one. It also made me believe that I fit in at 2 chapters where I may not have.

To tie up any loose ends, Gerri from Waterford called me not too long after rush and told me how happy she was that I was a Kilkenny. She said that she had really wanted me as a little sister and she fought hard for me all through rush, which explained a lot about how I got as far as I did there! I realized how important it was to have an ally inside the chapter. I found out much later that she had even secured a rec for me.

Tracy from Limerick taught aerobics at the Union, and I took her class! We weren’t close friends, but we would see each other around campus at parties and such and we always enjoyed talking.

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That is my retro rush story! Thanks for reading!

I L L I N I !

Irish, your story was wonderful! I am so glad to hear that it ended up just being a computer error, and you spent your collegiate years where you wanted to be.

And an AOPi story, too!

I still can't get over how many houses there are on that campus! Mine had FOUR

wow! thank heavens everything turned out all right, even if it took a little longer than it should have.

Yes, it makes rush quite hectic, even moreso when you are an active. Worse than keeping 22 chapters straight is keeping 1200 PNM's straight!

:eek: That is the most amazing plot twist EVER. Computer error???? Oh my stars - that's almost as bad as those poor students whose SAT scores were messed up . . .

Yes, but remember this was 1987. I don't think the computer age was perfected at all yet. We didn't even have personal computers at that point. (In fact, I was always loaning out my electric typewriter to friends who had papers due.)

My word - I'd have had my heart in my mouth if that happened to me! I'm SO glad that you got the house you wanted, and that it truly was a computer error!

Hahaha, well, I can tell you that they didn't work out all the kinks in 12 years!

My parents bought me an electric typewriter when I went away to college(in 1987).....:)

What a great story! It was very well-written and engaging, not to mention exciting because of 22 chapters. I was convinced you were lying because I was so sure that Kilkenny was AOII and I couldn't believe it when you said you didn't get a bid. "Congratulations" 20 years later on AOII! I would love to hear more stories from the 1980s complete with outfit/makeup/hair descriptions!

Me too, since the only clothes I can remember from the 80s are maternity clothes......

I'm not in the is picture, but it is the same year - it is the AOII seniors at Bid Night 1987. (Got this from AOIIGal.) You can see that some of the girls are wearing their Mickey Mouse ears from first stage.

http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/a...eniors1987.jpg

And she shared this one of the 1985 pledge class on their Bid Night.http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/a...LEDGES1985.jpg