Bama Sorority Recruitment 2010
 

My daughter is going through starting Aug 8th this year as a freshman. I am starting this for other Bama Mom's to talk about the process and somehow RELAX!

I talk to one friend and hear how my daughter needs to get into only a "top" sorority - whatever that is. No one will define.

I talk to another friend and hear to just have her pick the girls she is most comfortable with and who she could sit around watching TV with no make-up on and be totally comfortable.

Any thoughts and information is helpful!

I know there are lots of moms out there for Bama rush this year - there are over 1500 girls registered!

Looking forward to hearing comments!

Here's a comment! War Eagle!:D

But seriously, y'all are going to have another great recruitment season. Can't wait to hear what quota is!

HaHa! Me either. It was about 72 last year...

I have a good friend who's daughter is rushing at Auburn. I wrote her a rec & am looking forward to hearing how all that goes!

All of the chapters at Bama are great. When people throw around the term "top," it usually means different things to different people: the girls with the best grades, most involved on campus, etc. Every chapter on the Bama campus can be considered a top chapter, depending on which criteria you use.

Your second friend is very right... your daughter needs to focus on finding girls who could become friends for life.

My daughter has recs for all the houses except 1 signed, sealed and delivered. She can't wait to get to Tuscaloosa and meet her roommate that is also rushing, and all the sorority women too. She had only positive things to say about all the houses after visiting on preview day. The only question now is which houses think the same about her.

Thanks for starting this thread, and wishing all the PNM's and sororities a great recruitment.

You said "Hail State" to me the other day! You just love bustin' chops, don't you?

Squeal Day
 

Anyone going? My husband and I got a hotel room for the night before (since we are 4 hours away). We decided to be there early in case my daughter is one of the few who get that sad phone call between 7 & 9am saying they have fallen through rush.

Other than that, we are looking forward to the adrenaline rush of bid day and being on Sorority Row with several thousand of our new best friends melting in the sun!

Comments?

Bama moms: recruitment aid (for you, not your daughters) below.

http://www.gtdm.mn/english/images/st...ktail-8959.jpg

We are doing the same Tidemom. I'm not sure my husband is convinced that this is that big a deal and that we should be there. I don't know why he would think that though. All my daughter and I have done all summer is talk about who in our town was in which sorority, and would they write her a rec. Of course they all did.
See you in Tuscaloosa...

That's recruitment aid for advisors!! :)

Does anyone have the number of registered PNM's to date?

Thanks for the recruitment aid posted above, make mine a double please.

PLEASE write about the process. My daughter pledged last year at a different,highly competitive west coast university. I wasn't nervous at all...until Pref day/Bid Night. And we live 20 minutes from campus.

I highly recommend margaritas. The fresh lime is a real pick me up (again for you and your husband). Good luck to all the PMNs!

Aint that the truth!
 

I have to say though, on the Advisor end, recruitment has gotten easier. There are times though, I would like to strangle my recruitment chair:)

I can not even imagine being on the other side while my daughter is going through recruitment at a competitive school. I have had my fair share of phone calls from Mom's- most by the way are pretty pleasant. They usually just want to know what happened. Good Luck and keep us posted on your dd's going through. I love a good recruitment story.

Violet is so right about this.

I'm not trying to PR my own thread or anything, but I think it might be helpful for the Bama moms to read the Bama rush thread that I did for my sister a few years back... it definitely shows that the cuts will come, but all that matters is finding the "right one."

http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/sh...ad.php?t=89547

LOL!

BS-Auburn
MS-Arkansas
PhD-Mississippi State

And remember that not everyone else actually has a full schedule. Even if it feels like it.

Bama recruitment
 

Thus far there are around 1600 women signed up for recruitment...about 300 more than last year. I would think that quota would be a bit higher than last year's just based on that (as long as all show up and participate in first round).

Please remember, mamas, to encourage your daughters to accept a bid if offered - even if it is to their last choice house. Remind them that this is their ONLY chance to go Greek at an SEC school. Only. Ever. No exceptions. What do they have to lose by going through the new member period and then deciding? Nothing...but they lose everything by giving up a bid.

A-to-the-freaking-men girl! Make mine a triple!

Well, I wouldn't go that far. Many of us SEC veterans have seen women pick up an open rush bid or get one in the spring or even rush successfully the following fall. Usually, though, the PNM has made herself notable by raising her grades or getting involved in some great activities or perhaps she's gotten to know several members of one sorority. Sometimes this bid comes from a group that has cut her before.

How many times does that happen, though?

I think it's more than fair to say that the vast majority of women who drop out of recruitment never end up going Greek. There's a lot of talk about how if you aren't a freshman, be prepared for heavy cuts right off the bat.

I don't think that it's realistic for any girl to be told that declining a bid will mean she has a decent chance of getting into a chapter she really liked in the following year.

It's definitely not rare. I don't know many SEC women who wanted to be Greek who stayed independent.

Sophomores who re-rush often do get heavily cut at first but they still may be left with 6-10 out of 18 or so and that gives a woman many more choices than to hastily accept a bid to her last choice her freshman year. I would tell a woman who absolutely knows that she doesn't want her last choice not to sign the card and then do all the things that I've listed: raise your grades, get involved in some big-name activities, get to know sorority women, especially if you're from out of state. Then see what your choices are sophomore year.

Several GC PNMs who dropped out of recruitment or who were dropped from recruitment have later contacted me to say that they proudly accepted a bid from ___ sorority later on in the year. This month, I've already heard from 2--one went Kappa at Auburn and one went DZ there. They were glad that they stepped back and signed up for open recruitment while doing some things I suggested.

ETA: sometimes a girl's friends who rushed with her (from high school, etc.) will get her into their group the second year.

Cheers to that!

::raises hand::
I dropped out of recruitment after round 3 as a freshman and pledged as a sophomore to a house that had cut me after round 2 during my initial recruitment. It does happen. I would think pledging as an upperclassman is probably much more common at schools which now have a separate quota for upperclassmen.

However, if a girl goes all the way through and refuses to accept a bid, she should know that she risks going through the next year and being remembered by houses for refusing to accept a bid to ABC. Because you can be darn sure that ABC will remember and will cut her right away the next year, and if they have friends in other houses and word gets out that the girl thought she was "too good" for ABC, she'll be cut from them, too.

I always tell any PNM whom I counsel to keep her options open, to consider everybody, even the groups that (gasp!) no one from her high school is in. I encourage them to go to as many parties as possible and to avoid suiciding if at all possible.

However, sometimes a PNM has gamely followed this advice and still knows that she really does not want that one last choice. In that case, she shouldn't put that group on her card because she'll be bound to any group who gives her a bid for the next year. (Remember CutiePie2000's recruitment story?) If that's her choice, she should rush again later.

There's no set answer for everyone. Many girls who re-rush will find it much harder the next year. However, many do find their home through COB or upperclass rush.

Oh, true. For most re-rushers, it'll probably take some earnest work for the next year.

Thanks for the posts regarding Bama rush. I guess the worst case scenarios have all been covered, recs sent, clothes purchased, etc... Gotta think someone gets through the process and is happy at the end of the week. With the huge pledge classes, someone is getting a bid, and must be pleased.

I know a PNM from several years ago at a different SEC school went into recruitment unprepared and unwilling to follow my advice about not pre-choosing a house. Her parents had not attended college, so they were as clueless as the daughter. Guess what? Released by all but 2 houses after open house. Mom called me upset, and didn't know what had happened. I told her daughter was a grade risk and did not have enough recs. Both of these things were covered in her Recruitment manual, but the family didn't think they would apply to their daughter. ( less than 3.00 high school gpa) She did pref both remaining houses and accepted a bid. As they say on GC, it only takes 1!!

My daughter did rerush at Bama several years ago. She did have more to offer the second time. She had made the Dean's List, gotten involved in several organizations and made lots of friends in the chapters. She ended up with her first choice. I think the key was that she brought a lot to the table for the houses.

Bamamom13, Are pledge retreats overnight? My daughter wants know if she will miss some of the WOW events if she should have a bid day retreat.

I think that all pledge retreats are overnight- I know that mine was. I skimmed through this year's recruitment manual earlier this summer and I believe that it says what night each sorority holds their retreat on as well.

Most if not all pledge retreats are overnight. Bamababe is right, they are posted in the recruitment guide. They usually occur right after Bid Day activities or the next day. I am not sure what the WOW events are, but your daughter will have lots of fun on her pledge retreat and will bond with her new sisters so she will not feel like she has missed anything. Also, go to Bid Day!! It is a not to be missed event on Bama's campus. Also, pre-order a Bid Day gift or gifts from the Trunk. They will be the first to get the bid lists and will put together the items you have chosen for your daughter's chapter even before your daughter opens her bid. They then deliver to all of the houses during the Bid Day Festivities. It is so crazy to see the Trunk delivery people trying to make their way through the madness on Bid Day.

it is as crazy as it sounds. Sorority Row is on two streets that form a horseshoe with houses on both sides of most of the two streets. On one side of part of one is the stadium. The streets are lined with parents, grandparents, siblings, alum, and fraternity guys. Fraternity pledges have roses to give the girls as they run past on their way to their new house. In the middle of everything, the Trunk folks are driving like riding mowers pulling trailers holding all of the Bid Day packages. When we went for my daughter's Bid Day, we were shocked by the scene. It was lots of fun. She invited us back the next two years just to enjoy the fun.

Thanks for the replys everyone. Daughter revisited the bid day page of the recruitment book, and it did not mention overnights, but did mention who held retreat on bid day.

I guess I'll call the Trunk sometime during the week when I have better idea of how recruitment is progressing. If I were a frat guy, I'd get a job delivering for the Trunk. A guaranteed visit to check out all the the new sorority members:)

Actually, the guys, if they are not pledges, go from house to house just to eat. All of the houses serve food for the members, new members and their families. The guys go and take advantage of the situation.

I would recommend against placing an order with The Trunk or any other store for bid day. The year my daughter went through many of those orders didn't make it to the houses until the next day and some were lost forever! I just waited until after the bid day festivities for parents were over and while my daughter was celebrating with her new sorority sisters I walked over to the Trunk, picked up a sweatshirt, lavalier (yes they still have those!) and some other items and took them to my daughters room and laid them out on her bed. She was thrilled when she returned to find all her new "stuff"! And she was one of the first ones to get anything!

It worked very successfully for us.