anyone know anything about Indiana's informal recruitment?
 

I dropped before 8 party for a couple of reasons, the first and most important being that I felt no connection with any of the girls that rushed me. I was so upset that I dropped rush Saturday. Now, I regret my decision completely. My whole family was a part of the Greek community here and growing up I saw how devoted they were to their sorority/fraternity and I knew that I wanted to do it. But when my turn to get involved came around, it didn't end up going as well. Last night, listening to all the girls scream, watching them line up to get on the buses, was torture.

I still want to be a part of a sorority.

So my question is, how does informal recruitment work? Is there even a chance of getting a bid if the only people you know are members of the new PC? And should I rush next year if things don't work out?

You need to talk with the Greek Adviser to determine if any groups will be eligible for COR (continuous open recruitment) this spring. If not, some may be able to take upperclassmen in the fall. But only the GA can tell you that for sure. I don't know how it works at IU but you usually let the GA know you are interested in COR and she/he advises any groups participating that you are available.

My guess would be that the only chapters who might do informal would be houses that you *cough* "felt no connection with."

Out of 8 houses you only felt a connection at 1? Sounds like a personal problem.

Isn't "didn't feel a connection" code for "They weren't popular enough"?

With the situation laid out by the OP, yes, it has pretty much been shown to be that. There have been some people who believably said they didn't feel a connection with a popular house, but they are usually people who got bids to another group.

do we know the totals for each house? id love to hear!

Please put me in my place.... because I know I'm out of line... but I have to say something....

But I find it childish and a waste of time that people come and ask about COB after they dropped rush...

I am NOT in a sorority, but I stumbled upon this site and use it for its useful information, i.e. STICKIES! I have yet to go through formal recruitment, but I have used all the information this great website provides about Rec's, contacting Alumnae Association, What to ask, what to talk about, and what not to do. I have learned from the simple Recruiment stories I hear.

That being said, I find it very hard to believe that a PNM going through recruitment at a school like Indiana, didn't just stumble upon this site after she dropped recruitment. I'd put money on it that she may have been like me, lurking with out creating a user name, or making a user name, but researching before posting. (something I learned eventually). So WHY would you do something, DROP OUT OF RECRUITMENT, that almost every thread about recruitment advises against? Especially when its a school with a tough recruitment like Indiana. So why? After having such good, basic information available to you, why would some one drop out? And the do the whole, "I regret it" , "I shouldn't have listened to tent talk" thing.
Its a waste of time. If a person goes through recruitment, and thinks they know everything, or at least enough to know that the last EIGHT houses she had, didn't provide a "connection", then she should be smart enough to find out about the slim chance of Informal all by herself. If it meant enough to her, she would have stuck with it.

Alright... I'll go back into hiding until I go through recruitment...

LOL love this!

sisterhood1- Ok so you made a mistake and didnt give the chapters you had left the fair chance they deserved..COB will be damn near impossible right now but definitely go for it if spots open up. Keep an open mind and go to all events..if this is truly something you want, you will follow our advice.

when does informal usually start?

In general, COB or informal can start as soon as right after recruitment ends, though I can't speak for the general situation at IU. However, I do recall a few GCer's receiving informal bids last year. I believe one was Hoosierxgirl, and she's been known to give informed advice.

That said, I simply cannot understand why a woman who wanted to be in her sorority her entire life would drop out of IU recruitment (despite the fact that I think everyone pretty much unanimously advises against that). Recruitment is a few weeks, sisterhood is a lifetime. Instant "connections" (I too call bullshit on that) can occur, but often times they are something that must be cultivated outside recruitment. You had nothing to lose by continuing the process...what if that chapter you felt no "connection" to surprised you at their preference or on bid day? I don't need to give examples because it happens all the time...read the recruitment stories subforum.

That said, informal recruitment is great for many girls who don't thrive in the world of formal rush where personality is key and shyer girls can get overlooked. At IU, however, informal is not the most viable option.

I dont want to beat a dead horse but you knew that there were no obligations before Preference round. why would you drop before that?

If you had 8 houses to choose from, then you were better off than a lot of girls. IU doesnt have 8 struggling chapters, so that means you rejected houses a lot of women would have wanted to be a part of.


If you were hoping to get into a "top" house, the bad news is that you probably dropped from rush too early to get a snap bid, and thats even if the so-called "elite" chapters were short of quota.

a few houses might be participating in informal, but like someone said earlier, they're most likely the houses that you didnt want to be a part of.

This year, the house that historically struggled to get members pulled one of the largest pledge classes on campus (they should share their secret), so that should give you a hint about how good rush went for most chapters this years.

Your best bet is to talk to your Rho Gamma and register on the Panhel website ASAP. You may get lucky with informal if you're able to keep an open mind this time.

And there is always the option of rushing as a sophomore if things dont work out.

do the chapters who might have a few open spots hold informal recruitment in the fall for upperclassmen?

So if you get into a house via informal recruitment, are you like looked down upon or anything?? Do you still do everything the same as you would if you were to get in through formal recruitment?

you may be a member of a smaller new member class(pledge class) because the chapter can't take as many members, but your pledgeship will be the same-you will learn the same things, get a big sister, etc., just like the new members from formal recruitment do.

why on earth would an informal new member be looked down on? they would not have offered "you" a bid if they had not wanted you as a sister. they will most likely be delighted to have "you" as a new member.

To play devil's advocate, I kinda understand his question: since formal (when typically done in fall) is a huge deal on greek campuses (and even for a noncompetitive campus, fall is given more attention than spring), i would think that, in the eyes/mind of freshmen (or of the immature/naive/superficial) getting a snap bid or a bid through COB/COR during informal would been seen as like... lesser than?

i'm not phrasing it very positively, but I havent seen many threads on members getting super psyched and prepped for informal/COB, so while *I* know that a member is a member, regardless of when theyre given a bid, someone else (perhaps a die-hard older greek family member or friend) may think "oh, you got a bid after formal rush..." and weight it differently.

PS i am sooooooo sorry for resurrecting this gawdawful thread with this post.

At least in my experience, this isn't true. Part of the reason for the lower level of excitement on the part of members is because informal events are usually low-key, so there's less nervousness so you'll see fewer "OMG I AM SO EXCITED AND SO SCARED FOR FORMAL YIPPEE" posts. In many NPC chapters (save those at the super-competitive schools where chapters are at/over total a lot of the time) COB and informal recruitment is just part of doing business. Formal is exciting because it only happens once a year, whereas COB can happen anytime that school is in session and the Panhellenic Council says it can.

I joined through partially structured recruitment (it was called "informal" on my campus), and a few members were added to my pledge class in the weeks after bid day as the chapter held COB events to bid up to total. It was common (on my campus and in my chapter). It was also up to the New Member Coordinator, the new member class, and the chapter as a whole to catch those new members up to speed and initiate them all at the same time. Obviously, if you bid someone on October 29 and initiation is November 4 then you won't be able to do that, that new member will start her new member period when the next group is bid in the next semester.

Also, the way the quota system works, you can bid up to total (the total number of members a chapter can have), and if you didn't make quota, you can bid up to quota as well. So, say total is 40, and going into formal you have 35 members. At formal, quota is 12. You got 8 new members. You can still bid up to 4 more potential new members even though that would make your chapter size 47 (over total). We would always try to fill quota in the weeks after formal recruitment if we missed it, and at least while I was New Member Coordinator I never noticed any type of rift between new members brought in through COB and those brought in through formal or informal recruitment. The only real difference was that those brought in through COB didn't get the all-out Bid Day celebrations that the others did.

Indiana doesn't use the same system (with their wacky wonky bed quota system that Lord knows I'll never understand) but if I understand a little about their campus culture, it seems that they want every bed in their houses filled. I would imagine they'd be thrilled with getting 20 new members through FR and adding a few more as they go along, if they have the beds.

I could be off with that but this is just a really long-winded way of saying that in my experience new members brought in through COB are completely indistinguishable from new members brought in through formal recruitment, there is no stigma attached.

ETA: If freshmen or non-members thought of those brought in through COB, I did not see it. I forgot to clarify that this is from the view of the outside looking in. Especially because everyone was initiated at the same time.

I think the last 2 posts are talking about something different than the rushees posting are. They want to know if any groups at Indiana are doing COBs/informal rush NOW.

You are assuming that she is telling us the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help her God. Maybe she got cut completely after 8 party but is trying to save face. I don't see any reason why someone would drop out before they have to make a final decision either. Who knows this may be a troll anyway.

It happens all the time at competitive schools like mine. Just because you have a full party schedule doesn't mean you have a full schedule of "meaningful connections" houses. Lots of women will drop out immediately if they think their options are below them.

http://jonwye.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/ducktales.jpg

Couldn't resist.

DUCKTALES! WOO-OO!

D-D-D-Danger lurks behind you..there's a stranger out to find you!!

i wasn't going to say this, because i didn't think it was necessary, but now that i feel the need to defend myself, i will: i got invited back to four houses for eight party, all of them "upper tier" (which i personally think is bogus - no sorority is better than another because they have "hotter girls"). i got dirty rushed at two of them (and yes, i did report it) and the other two i didn't like based on OTHER factors besides the fact that our conversations were uninspiring. one of them had to do with their involvement (or lack of it) on campus, another had to do with their gpa. and i honestly can't say that i wasn't influenced by what i heard (reputations and such), but i can say that i gave them a fair chance despite it.

Of course you did.

As far as I know, there are several chapters at IU doing informal this year - and they're not the ones you would expect at ALL. Talk to your Rho Gamma, she can help you get into all the informal stuff.

And I do know the chapter totals for some houses at Indiana...Tri-Delt got 32, Gamma Phi had 61, Theta and Zeta have 39.

I'm glad I finally get to defend a "Popular" chapter. So you had "uninspiring" conversations with how many girls? Are these chapters filled with clones? Did you talk to every girl in the chapter? 3/4 of the chapter? 1/2? Less than 10 members? How do you really know how involved or uninvolved they are? Did you ask the "uninspiring" girl? Maybe she just doesn't know. She's probably a member like EVERY chapter has that must be FORCED to come to recruitment, doesn't know anyone or anything about any of her sisters. Maybe I'm wrong, but judging an entire chapter because of a few bad conversations is pretty silly.

As for a bad GPA...your GPA doesn't have to be effected by the chapter's GPA, and that is something that can be fixed rather rapidly. My chapter's GPA went from 3rd out of 4 to the top GPA on campus consistently while I was a collegiate. Chapter GPA is certainly not etched in stone.

Sorry if you felt attacked, but you spouted off a lot of code words that we all hate to hear.

Does anyone know which houses at IU are doing informal?

I figured it was about time I chimed in. :D Informal, to my knowledge, is over. I heard of many houses giving out snap bids if they had only one or two spots left and some houses you would never expect pulled in wonderful, full pledge classes. I think changing the party numbers really helped all the houses because people were "forced" to see more houses that they usually would've dropped based on first appearances. to the OP, I understand what it's like to "not have a connection" for BOTH of the reasons cited here. but if you don't even try to make it to preference round or bid day, there is nothing anyone can do. those four houses obviously saw something in you and unfortunately, I don't think you'll get another chance until next year. I'm sorry and if you have any more questions about IU, private message me and I can give you a more personal response. As a COR, I understand all too well how much informal is about a lot of luck and good-timing... Good luck and I hope you do rush again next year with a more open-mind. The sophomores I talked to during rush said even though it is a little harder, rushing a second time gives you a much better insight into the house you want and how you will fit into a house.

Blah, blah, blah. Next time you care to share your uninspired bullshit with Greekchat, do us all a favor and just talk to yourself instead.

Basically, you only had four houses left. And, you didn't want them. So, suck it up, sister.

You admit you didn't like them -- any of them... So, you feel remorse now? Which one of the groups that were giving you a chance (but that you felt no connection with) would you like to do informal with? Would you go for the two who "dirty rushed" you? Or the one with little campus involvement? Or the one who had a gpa that didn't meet your demands?

Wait... I bet you're gonna say that you're hoping for one of the OTHER groups? Lol. They didn't want you then. They won't want you now, even if they had an opening.

I know Adpi had 53 girls over for bid day and 48 went through the first ceremony. I believe they went through informal to grab a few more girls.

I'll speak for ADPi :) we didn't do informal, per say, we just extended ~5 bids to replace the girls who dropped! I'm proud to say we'll be at capacity next year!

Congratulations! What fantastic news.