Auburn University Recruitment - Fall 2010
 

I'm driving my daughter to Auburn today for the start of sorority recruitment at Auburn University. Move-in day is tomorrow, with the intitial "optional" Panhellenic meeting tomorrow evening.

Convocation will start at 9:00 am on Sunday followed by the first day of ice water teas. (Am I the only one to wonder why they have to start rush on a Sunday?)

I don't know if this is normal, but I think that I am more nervous about this week than my daughter. I was a member of a GLO myself, so while I am very much aware of the positives and benefits of being in a sorority, I also fully understand that there can be some real negatives as well, particularly with regard to the recruitment process.

My daughter seems to be very relaxed about this week (too relaxed in my view), but perhaps that is a good thing. Just to give you an idea...yesterday, she finally got around to buying some shoes to go along with her pref dress which she's had since the beginning of the summer!

Anyway, she is very open minded and has no preconceived notions about a particular sorority, so I'm hoping that bodes well for her.

If I get enough cooperation, I will do my best to provide updates on how things are going throughout the week.

Best of luck to your daughter, AuburnDad! My dad was very supportive of my rushing too and was a great help to me through the whole process, as I will be if my incoming freshman Pike legacy son decides to rush. If she follows the rules and is open to what each chapter has to offer, she'll do fine.

dad, tell daughter this sorority advisor said to be sure to wear those pref. shoes a little everyday-preferably after the days parties are done and her feet are slightly swollen. she needs to break those new shoes in.

good luck to daughter and please keep us updated as you are able.

Take a deep breath Auburn dad! I know I would be feeling just like you right about now, but things have a way of working out.

Keep us posted.

Hey! I am so pleased that your daughter is relaxed; we give that advice often. It will help her recruitment if she is relaxed and herself; her happiness will shine through. Being nervous and tense doesn't let anyone be his/her "best self."

And being open-minded is another good sign.

Would love to hear from you if you're so inclined to share with us. Sending good wishes for a great recruitment.

Good luck to you and your daughter! I was in your position last year and am so glad we never have to do that again! My daughter had some ups and downs but had a happy ending. I hope you do, too.

I look forward to following this year's Auburn recruitment! SEC Recruitment is like the Superbowl of the greek world!

I was exactly where you are now two years ago, much more nervous for my girl than she seemed to be, and yet everything worked just fine. It's great that your daughter has an open mind about recruitment, that will make her experience much better. Best of luck to both of you and keep us updated.

Thank you all for your positive and supportive comments. FSUZeta, I told her about your suggestion for breaking in the new shoes - I'm hoping she'll try it.

We're in Auburn now, and will be moving into her dorm this morning.

I'll tell you a little bit about my daughter, but will have to be fairly vague with details - I'm sure you'll understand.

For this thread, I'll call her "Emma".

She is from out of state, somewhere within 12 hours driving distance from Auburn. She has excellent grades, was a varsity athlete, and has an extremely well rounded high school resume. Most people would describe her as very outgoing. I would imagine that many of the PNM's coming to Auburn have similar credentials.

She has met only one current active, whom she knows through our family. Thanks to GC, we were very aware of the importance of rec letters. Yesterday, an Auburn alumna told me that over 90% of PNM's coming to Auburn will obtain letters of recommendation. Fortunately, Emma was able to obtain at least one rec letter for 15 of the 17 houses on campus, with double recs for many of them.

This is expected to be a very competitive rush. I heard that there were more than 1400 PNM's registered! Whether that is accurate or not, this freshman class is expected to be largest and brightest that Auburn has ever had.

Obviously, with those kind of numbers, there will be a premium on making a quick connection during the opening round.

So we can have Bid Day on Saturday so relatives can be off work to come?

AuburnDad, I would be EXTREMELY cautious about what I posted. It would only take 1 or 2 more tiny details to identify your daughter.
Live recruitment threads make me cringe...you never know what will happen...it could be wonderful, but it could also not.

Good luck to your daughter and please keep us updated. Some times I think that the girls that come in from out of state are in better shape since they don't have preconceived notions about who is "good" at Auburn. I grew up in Auburn and I was thinking the other day that when I went through rush I really only knew about three groups - one that I think every one of their alums live in Auburn, the one that my mother was an advisor for (she was initiated when they came to Auburn) and then the last group - I only really knew about them because my mom had a store in Auburn and three of the girls in that group would come in and buy stuff from her. Mom just mentioned that they were nice girls and that she had told them to look out for me when I went through. So guess which one I pledged - yup the one that had the girls that shopped at my mom's store.

Hey, which shop did your mom own?

When I went through recruitment (9 years ago!!! :eek:) Bid Day was on Sunday and classes started the next day. This meant no New Member sleepover. :( So the next year Bid Day was moved back to Saturday. As far as I know, the Recruitment hasn't been changed since then.

Betsy's on Ross - Cabbage Patch dolls paid for my soriority dues and then Beanie Babies for my youngest sister

I had this feeling that you were going to say that--I was over there a lot when I taught at Auburn! I still have some miniature dollhouse food (the kind you show and don't play with!) that I got there. I loooved that place--is it still there?

AnchorAlumna, I will certainly take your words of caution to heart. The specific information I've given so far about Emma is probably all that I will provide.

Emma went to the "optional meeting" last night where she joined a huge throng of other PNM's who waited outside the Student Center. I hope to post a picture my wife took of the PNM's later tonite or tomorrow. Probably due to the huge numbers of girls that Panhellenic was processing, it took quite some time. As they stood waiting, most of the PNM's around Emma exchanged small talk and talked about the heat. It was still around 92 degrees even at 6:00 in the evening.

Emma met her Pi Chi and Pi Chi group and was assigned a number. Apparently, for this week, instead of being known as Emma, she'll be identified by sorority actives as number 123 (not her real number, of course)

Several suitemates are going through rush as well, so she is walking with them to meet with their Pi Chi groups prior to Convocation. After that they will start their first round of Ice Water Teas.

By the way, if there are any other dads, moms or pnms that want to add to this thread to talk about this year's Auburn recruitment experience, please feel free to join in.

I'll try to update again tonight after day one of Ice Water teas is over.

Good luck to all of the Auburn PNMs today!

No, Mom closed I think two years ago - she decided that she wanted time to go and see grandchildren. I think it killed her when I had a boy- not a whole lot of stuff that he could use.

Good luck to all of the rushees today- I know it is hot and humid here in Atlanta - and I am sure that it is probably worse in Auburn.

dad, hoping "emma" is doing alright in the heat today and that you will be able to update later tonight how everyone did this very first day of recruitment.

Update
 

We got an update from Emma during her lunch/snack break. She said that she had already visited five houses and that it seemed to go by very fast.

The other thing she said was that so far it was hard to differentiate between them.

Hope to have more later.

that can be hard! if she can make notes after each party, that might help her remember them easier. back in my day, we had a rush booklet that listed each sorority with a photo of their house and general info. about that chapter, and a place for us to make notes, which we did in between parties. don't know if they still do pass out recruitment booklets to the pnms, though.

Good luck to Emma!

Encourage her to take pictures (where she can) of this experience! It's such a fun/hectic/emotional time and most people only do it once, she'll definitely want to remember this crazy-fun time of her life!

My mom suggested I carry a little notebook with me during recruitment so I could keep notes on each house. I still have that notebook, and my first impressions really make me laugh now.

Auburn does have recruitment handbooks with a TON of information, including space to take notes on each chapter. You can view this year's book on Auburn's Panhellenic website.

Recruitment Handbook

I still have my notes from when I went through recruitment in 2001. To help me know which chapters I liked best I gave each one a score 1-10, just like in the Olympics! It really helped me remember which ones I liked better than others.

The young lady I wrote a rec for at AU is having a blast! I'll keep ya'll posted!

OleMissGlitter, the young woman that I wrote a rec for at AU said the same thing! She absolutely loved today! But of course is a bit tired!:)

Final update of first day
 

Just finished talking with Emma. She is having a great time! Although it was hot, it seemed to get cooler later in the day. She drank plenty of water so she didn't feel the effects of the heat too much.

Being a huge baseball fan, I have decided to use major league baseball teams to represent the various sororities. These are completely random, so please don't assume that there is any correlation between a sorority and baseball team.

Here goes. Today she visited the following:

Dodgers
Orioles
Pirates
Astros
Cardinals
Yankees
Red Sox
Blue Jays
Rays
Reds
Brewers

She did take some notes in a notebook she had with her, and she found a connection with many of them, but she still struggled a few times remembering which one was which. Generally, most of them made a favorable impression on her. Probably the three which stood out to her most today were: the Pirates, the Blue Jays, and the Reds.

She likes her Pi Chi group and her Pi Chi is really nice.

Oh...she already has a monster blister from the shoes she was wearing today.

Tommorrow she visits the final 6 groups and then she and the other members of her Pi Chi group will fill out their preference forms for use for the first cuts.

Yay! Emma likes the Pirates and Blue Jays, my two faves! :)

So glad she had a great day, I'm hoping she sees the Giants tomorrow ( I'm a baseball fan too!) I look forward to hearing more!

Finally! I've been dying for an update all night :)

I hope she has fun tomorrow visiting the rest of the chapters!

Good luck to Emma, it's great news that she is having a good time, but a shame about the blister. Here's to another good day tomorrow for her, as well as all the Auburn pnm's. ;)

Good luck to all!

And I know that this won't surprise anyone: Go Dodgers!

Hi,

Glad to join this thread. My daughter, "Cassie" is also a PNM. Today she visited 10 groups and will visit 7 more tomorrow. She said that it was very hot, but a good day. She liked all but about 2 of the groups. Two or three groups made very positive first impressions on her. In general she liked the groups that made an effort to have you meet lots of people more than the groups where you met only one or two members.

On a less positive note, she is very stressed out over her new roommate.
They are polar opposites. The new roomie has already said she likes to smoke, drink and sleep with lots of boys. My daughter is pretty much a straight arrow. Any good advice?

Regarding that monster blister...does she have those special blister bandaids that replicate skin? They stay on better than regular bandaids and fit comfortably inside shoes. They totally saved my life at Live 8!

A *straight arrow*? Then she should go Pi Phi. :D

Just kidding! She needs to quietly confide in her dorm mother; there may be other girls in the same situation or maybe someone in a single who needs a roommate. Good luck!

ETA: We only had to do this once when one of our twins was assigned to room with a girl who was 4 1/2 months pregnant. The girl would have false labor pains and moan and groan all night and after a month, our daughter was a basket case!

Good Luck mom to you and your daughter! I hope she finds an org to call home.

As for the roomie, that is a tough one. It all depends on the dynamics at the school and the ability to make changes at this point. I remember I had a "polar opposite" roommate as well. My suitemate and I adored one another and we wanted to make a change. Both of our roommates would not agree to a change. Looking back, there were rough times, but after pledging and finding a new home it didn't matter as much. She will be so busy and life will be exciting with her new sisters. The time moves along rapidly. This is all about growing up, maturing, and life learning experiences. You daughter won't always be able to have things the way she would prefer and the roomie situation is just one of the first to come.
It all works out in the end. Sure, she will have rough patches, but it will be ok. She will survive! lol (After all, she needs some things she can complain about to her mom...just kidding)

Sorry she has to deal with that. I had the same problem my freshman year and it can be brutal. In this case, communication is KEY. If you daughter doesn't want her smoking/drinking/sleeping around in the room, she needs to SAY SO. If her roommate subsequently blows her off, she should check with her residental advisor. Hopefully she won't end up physically removing drunk boys who pass out in her room (and I mean litterally picking them up and dropping them in the hallway) at 3am when she has 7:30 am classes the next day! It's a tough experience, but that's part of college. Just remind her that it's only for a little while and then she'll get to pick her roommates. And pretty soon she'll hopefully be so busy with her new sisters that she won't have time to think about it! :) Best of luck to her!

Nine years ago? Try 30 years ago :eek::eek::eek:!