Informal rush at Indiana U
 

Much like many other girls who went through formal recruitment at Indiana U, it didn't go the way that I'd hope. As a sophomore, I recieved heavy cuts and ended up with only 2 houses at 12 party, one of which I disliked. I went ahead and visited both, and was cut by the house that I liked following 12 party and thus dropped. I was wondering if anyone knows much about the informal process at IU, I was told by a few current greek friends that informal is generally better for sophomores. I don't want a top house, although one house that almost always does informal was a house that I did not like. Just wondering if anyone had any advice on informal at IU or chances for a sophomore during informal. Thanks! :D

KSU--

I'm not sure how much you know about recruitment at IU...I think there's a few other stories that girls posted so if you want to know how cutthroat it is, read those :]...I was told by several people that the reason I recieved such heavy cuts was because I was a sophomore (my grades are well above the cut off and above all individual chapters' requirements, although not perfect--that's what I get for pursuing a difficult major, haha) and that informal is better for sophomores. I know most of the houses don't do it, however, after going through 19 party and the like, I got an idea of which houses I liked and which I did not, and the houses I liked most tended to be what could be considered "bottom tier." I was really just wondering if anyone knew much about the informal process here at IU or whether they recommend it for someone like me. Thanks!

I think we all know how competitive IU's recruitment is. KSUViolet was trying to tell you, in a nice way, that you may be out of luck; the chapters may have hit ceiling/total after recruitment and therefore won't be looking for any new members this term. If you want to find out if any of the chapters you liked are doing COB, the best way may be to tell someone you know in those chapters that you're interested in any opportunities. You can also check with the greek life/student life office, but many times they don't know the details of COB.

I'm guessing that part of what makes them "bottom tier" is low numbers. Did those chapters not invite you back? I'm really confused by your statement.

I got invited back by only two chapters, although I won't say which ones, I will just say that they are considered 'bottom tier' at IU.

I was just trying to get my point across that I wasn't doing COB because I wanted a better chapter or because I dropped due to not getting a top house (which many, many girls do). I genuinely liked houses that have some bad stereotypes and again, I won't say what those are, but I'm sure you can guess. They're considered bottom tier (which I think is completely stupid, how is your house better than someone else's?) and that led me to believe that there could be a really tiny chance they were doing COB, even if it's just for a few spots in their PC.

I'm still confused. Are you saying the "bottom tier" chapters that you like have already made quota and bidded up to total?

I don't think she knows if they bidded up to total. She's looking for an answer on which houses at IU may be doing COB, and how she can get invited to the events.

OP, even if the chapter is "lower tier," they still might have big numbers. I am not familiar with the chapter sizes at IU, but I've always heard that all the chapters there are generally better-than-the-average-bear. Is it possible that even the lower tier groups are now above total following recruitment?

If you are still interested, go for it! As a fellow midwesterner, I know all about IU's recruitment and I'm sure a HUGE reason you were released from most of the chapters was dude to the fact that you're a sophomore. I think your best bet is go to your greek life office and ask which houses (if any, and hopefully there will be one or two) are doing COB and how you can be considered. They will have more answers than anyone on Greek Life (unless we have some IU Panel reps on GC). I have a feeling there are houses doing COB (at a school with only 4 chapters and nearly 800 girls rushing for 150 spots, we have at least one chapter that still does COB. Good luck, and keep us updated!

Does Indiana have a varying quota based on bed space in the house, or am I totally smoking crack on that one?

yeah, I reread this and clocked myself in the head - I forgot they have that funky quota/total thing there.

IUhoosiergirl, why did you go through recruitment as a sophomore? Did you rush last year? Are you a transfer student?

FrankSwim--

I'm not a transfer student and I didn't rush last year because, well, it's a bit of a long story. I knew no one that had gone greek either at IU or any other school, so I knew very little of the process other than the stuff you see in movies. Only one girl from my floor rushed last year, so that didn't help any either. I had considered rushing last year but was unsure, and felt that because I had heard rush was SO competitive, I didn't want to be another person for people to compete with when I wasn't sure. I didn't want to be at houses at 12 party, for example, when I wasn't sure if I wanted to be there, especially when there are other girls who know they want to be there or love the house. As cheesy as it sounds, I didn't want to take a spot at a party or a house away from another girl who genuinely wanted to be there.

However, this year and after seeing what girls in houses were really like and all the opportunities for philanthropies and things like IUDM and IU Sing, it made up my mind to go through and give it a shot!

I don't mean to hijack this away from the IU topic, but this seems impossible to me at any school. 800 PMNs? 4 sororities? Only 150 open spots making quota at about 37? If this isn't an exaggeration, something clearly needs to be done on this campus.

It is a "bed rush" at IU. There is no chapter total and no formal quota. Our chapter there sets their own quota which is really their goal number of PNMs.

I'm trying to see if I understand this correctly. I thought chapters at IU had a total but NOT quota.

Doesn't every chapter take as many PNMs as they need to reach total?

For example, if total at IU is 100, and Sorority A has 80 girls, then their quota is 20. If Sorority B has 60 girls, their quota is 40.

Someone please correct me if this is not right.

IU Recruitment
 

There is no set campus total or quota. Each chapter sets their own total based upon the size of their house, and in turn sets quota based upon how many spots they have to fill.

Thank you for the clarification. Since the quota isn't set by the number of PNMs attending preference (like most schools), it makes for a REALLY tough recruitment on the PNM side, as there are usually WAY more PNMs than there are spots in chapters.

I don't mean to hijack either but I think I might know the school she is at (it's been mentioned on here before) and the administration made a decision to cap the number of sororities and fraternities at 4 each, and I believe limit total as well.

Okay, I just wanted to know especially if you had rushed as a freshman. From hearing how things may go during informal recruitment, being in a sorority at IU. I have a feeling things will still be very difficult. I don't know, exactly, but only one or two spots, if that, are open a few houses, maybe more at one other. And, I'm only a freshman, so I don't know exactly, but I know a lot of girls are going to be going through informal as well, there's three on my floor alone.

But, hey, if you really want it, I say go for it. I'm just warning you, its still going to be super competitive.

Yeah, I figured it would be really competitive but it's something I really want to do. So I figured why not give it a shot? Worst thing that can happen is where I am now, as an independent. I just think it sucks that sophomores have like no chance unless you know girls in houses, and I know like 2. But it's the way the process works and it'll work out how it was meant to!

I know when I went to IU (graduated in 97), only three houses went through informal rush and at the time, you had to receive an invitation to come.

I believe quota this year was 37. Good work. I just heard the 800 thing somewhere but I'll look into it.
We also have a local, but they don't go through regular recuritment.

Figured I'd give you guys a bit of an update...I sent my info off to Panhel like my Rho Gamma suggested and never heard anything back, from either Panhel or any of the chapters doing informal recruitment. So it looks like my Greek story ends here :(

SO since my last post, things have changed and I just wanted to give you guys an update...I went through informal and have since accepted a bid to....




ALPHA DELTA PI!

Congrats to you and Alpha Delta Pi!

Enjoy your new member period and have fun with it.

Congratulations on Alpha Delta Pi!

Yay! Congrats on ADPi! I love that two of our members here from IU have tried again and have since found their homes :]

Thank you so much for coming back to give us this update. We love to hear that things worked out well!
________
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Congratulations to you and ADPi! Welcome to our sisterhood!!!

"We are trully sisters . . . known for loyalty
We can't be beat on friendship . . .its A D Pi for me."

congrats on ADPi thats so awesome that everything worked out for you :)

Welcome to ADPi!!!! :)

Cogratulations! Would you care to share your story? Even if it's brief, I like to hear COB stories (I came through via COB).

Hey, bare with me because I am super curious about recruitment here...do you guys move into the house immediately after recruitment? Or wait until sophomore year?

If you wait until sophomore year, does that mean that pretty much all the houses do informal to some degree (if a member drops out during pledge period, or even post-initiation)?

No, we don't move in the house immediately after or anything...a sophomore brought in through COB would move in during the fall of their junior year...freshman would move in during the fall of their sophomore year like any other freshman new member. We do deferred recruitment here, we don't get bids until the beginning January...which sucks. Haha.

Not all the houses do informal, it really depends on what their individual quota is, what they want to take in for a PC, how many girls they got bid matched, and if they have girls drop. Some of the top houses here do snap bid a few girls in if they wanted them and found out they didn't get them, or those girls have a bunch of friends in the house. Typically ADPi does informal almost year round, unfortunately (or fortunately for me :] ) but they took a bigger PC this spring than normal...~25 girls, whereas some houses took 40-50+ girls. Sometimes a few other houses will do it, but like I said, it depends on a lot of things. IU can be a little complicated, haha

I totally would, but at this point, I'd still like to keep my identity under wraps..and with like 10 girls going through informal at ADPi...it wouldn't be hard to figure out who I was, haha. I'll tell it after initiation :]

Congratulations to one of our latest Alphas! Be sure to "introduce" yourself in the ADPi Forum - we Y our Alphas!!

And of course, we won't "out" you! ;)

Congratulations to you and the sisters of Alpha Delta Pi! :)

Welcome to ADPi!!