Rock Chalk! University of Kansas Recruitment
 

Fall Formal Recruitment starts tomorrow morning at KU. The girls meet with their RCs at 8am, and then 1st round parties run from 9am to 9pm. The PNMs will then enter their rankings at 930pm.

KU has 13 sororities and the schedule is as follows:
Day 1: Open House. PNMs see all 13 chapters on Monday.
Day 2: Philanthropy. PNMs can return to as many as 10 chapters on Tuesday.
Day 3: Skits/House Tours. PNMs can return to as many as 7 chapters on Wednesday.
Day 4: Preference. PNMs can pref up to 3 chapters on Thursday.
Day 5: Bid Day! Friday is Bid Day, and then the kickoff to Hawk Week.

It's a very compact, busy week for these girls! My daughter and her roommate and suitemates will be participating, so I will be posting updates on their recruitments. There aren't a lot of KU threads on here, so I thought it might be nice to have a recent one.

By the way, the chapters at KU are:
Alpha Chi Omega
Alpha Delta Pi
Alpha Gamma Delta
Chi Omega
Delta Delta Delta
Delta Gamma
Gamma Phi Beta
Kappa Alpha Theta
Kappa Delta
Kappa Kappa Gamma
Pi Beta Phi
Sigma Delta Tau
Sigma Kappa

Thanks for your post ollie dog. There have been very few recruitment stories this year. Usually we have some good ones from UGA, Bama, and Auburn. Totally none from them this year (calling Dramadog and Carnation). Miss the days when Bamadad and others posted their stories live.

KU is so beautiful! I had cousins who went there and always thought it was so gorgeous. Old chapters there, too! Good luck to your PNMs.

Good luck to your DD! One of my good friends is an active in AXO at KU.... and she is always yelling "rock chalk". Haha. Truly a lovely, lovely girl- however annoying the rocking and chalking may get.

Yeah!! Rock chalk! DH and I were back on campus this spring for a reunion. It's as beautiful now as it was when I first arrived for rush in 1989. Good luck to all the pnm's!

So is it wrong to be kicking myself now, after I told my daughter to leave her phone in her dorm room for the day? I am anxiously awaiting updates! For now, I have to be content in stalking KU Panhel on twitter.

The girls received t-shirts to wear the first two days. Day 1 says "No Matter the Letters We're All Tied Together" and has bows in each sorority color/symbol.

A bit of trivia, 7 of the 13 chapters are single-letter (not counting Pi Phi). KU has a very long, well established tradition of Greek life and I'm excited for these girls to potentially become a part of this. Even if not, they are sure to make good friends throughout the process.

I've decided to make code names representing things around Kansas City! In no way do these line up with the alphabetical listing of the chapters though :D
Arrowhead Stadium*
Boulevard Brewery
Crown Center
The Fountains*
Hallmark Cards
Liberty Memorial*
Oklahoma Joe's*
The Plaza*
Power & Light*
Sporting KC*
Swope Park
Union Station*
Westport
* = recs my daughter was able to secure. She's also a legacy through me to one of these, but I won't be revealing which one. At least, not yet.

More updates to come!

http://instagram.com/p/c94Ww2ON4l/#

Good luck to your daughter!! Looking forward to reading her story.

I have 3 from my rec crew going through at Kansas!

Yay! I especially love stories where I might end up with a new sister at the end! Good luck to your daughter. :)

[QUOTE=ollie dog;2232478]

A bit of trivia, 7 of the 13 chapters are single-letter (not counting Pi Phi).

The Kansas Alpha Chapter of Pi Beta Phi would be a single letter chapter if we named our chapters in that manner. It was founded in 1873. Three of the chapter's founders had a sister who was a member of the chapter at Lombard College. The Lombard College Pi Phi heard that Beta Theta Pi was trying to start a chapter at KU and she persuaded her sister to get some friends together to start a chapter.

Additionally, three chapters that are not currently represented, Alpha Xi Delta, Alpha Omicron Pi, and Theta Phi Alpha, are also single letter chapters. I would love for my beloved Phi chapter to return, but I don't think that will ever happen.

Oh exciting, multiple girls going through! Good luck to everyone!

Interesting, the Alpha Chi Omega chapter is also Phi chapter! I recently rescued a badge from that chapter that is 98 years old. I was thinking about giving it back to them for their centennial next year.

wow! incredible.

Good luck to your girls! I hope they're having a blast up here!

nyapbp/JayhawkAOII/gatordeltapgh:

Wonderful and interesting history about KU! I remember reading in another thread about the KU Pi Phis starting the "cookie shine" tradition. And AXO, 100 years on campus... that is awesome.

Xi chapter of Sigma Kappa celebrated its 100th anniversary last school year.

Day 1: Open House (all 13 sororities)

The morning started bright and early for these girls after being roused from their sleep by football players running up and down the halls of the dorm while blowing air horns. My daughter (who I’ll refer to as “Sunny”) is NOT an early riser so didn’t find this as amusing as her suitemates and roommate did. The girls met their Recruitment Counselors at 8am, got their schedule for the day, and headed for the bus which would take them to their first house. I was kicking myself yesterday for telling Sunny to keep her phone behind, only to find out last night when she called that the PNMs are not allowed to have phones (or watches) with them at all during the day. I never thought I would be the anxious mom, but here I am.

Sunny and friends visited 4 houses, had a break for lunch, visited 6 houses, had a break for dinner, and then visited the final 3 houses. Preferences were entered at 930p, a brief meeting with the RCs at 10, and then back to their rooms at 1030 (when I finally got the update).

She couldn’t contain her excitement when talking to me about her day. I had a big grin on my face just listening to her as she talked through the notes she took on each chapter. She really liked every place that she visited and definitely thought it was hard to find something to help her with her rankings. Sunny is a very bubbly, outgoing girl who can converse easily with almost anyone she comes across and she loves meeting new people, so I think she was really in her element today. She finally decided to rank her bottom three based on the conversations feeling more “interviewy” or “a little awkward” and less “totally random… like talking about Shark Week!”

She really found something positive to embrace about each place, and even with her bottom three she said “I just think maybe the girls were nervous or not very good rushers, so I totally want to give them another chance if I get invited back.” One thing she did tell me was at one house she liked, the conversation turned to guys that the rusher was asking her if she knew. Sunny said “Mom, I wasn’t sure what to do, since we’re not supposed to talk about boys! But I told her yes I knew them and then kind of moved the conversation to something else.”

At the end of the night, her favorites (though she liked them all) were:
Liberty Memorial
Oklahoma Joe’s
Power & Light
Westport

She ranked (though she wouldn’t mind going back and meeting new girls):
1. Boulevard Brewery
2. The Fountains
3. Hallmark Cards

I asked how Roommate and Suitemates enjoyed their day and found out that they all had a blast. Apparently the 4 of them made an agreement to not discuss their feelings other than very generically so that they wouldn’t influence each other’s choices. What a mature group of young women!

Other random notes about Day 1:
Sunny said that she had a great time just meeting a lot of girls in her dorm and in other groups today. I was glad to hear that she was looking at the big picture and not getting caught up in “what did you think about XYZ” etc. It’s not too hard to hear KU tent talk around here, but to me it seemed like she did a very nice job thinking for herself and not letting that influence her in any way. She actually ranked a house that is considered very desirable, and really liked a house that is considered not so much. Her words: “I don’t care, the girls were awesome and I felt very comfortable in their house.” The RCs told the PNMs that it’s very rare to receive a full schedule of 10 parties for Philanthropy Day (which I think made Sunny breathe a slight sigh of relief, as she wouldn’t mind a break or two during the day!). She said she’d be happy with any number of invites and I’m pretty sure I believe her.

she sounds so mature and wonderful - such a testament to you!

My very good friend and her two sisters were Tri Deltas at KU..she loved her time there! Good luck to your daughter and hang in there..sometimes it's harder on moms than the girls!:o

I also have two recs going through at KU! I spoke to one of them last night who said "my" chapter was one of her favorites yesterday (I didn't go to KU)... but I am trying not to get my hopes up yet.

I can't wait to hear which chapter Sunny chooses. I enjoy the KC reference =)

I'm so excited to see this thread. I have a daughter who is a sophomore at KU. She is going through recruitment on the other side for the first time. Had a brief text last night she was exhausted. I think 13 parties is so many for all of the girls..wish is it was split into two days like it used to be.

Will be moving in my son this afternoon...Hope to hear a few porch songs as we drive through campus!

Good luck to Sunny! Sounds like she has her priorities straight:)

Good luck to your recs! I know what you mean about getting your hopes up... Sunny liked her legacy chapter but it wasn't in her favorites. I was slightly disappointed, but have stressed to her that she doesn't need to love that house just because I do.

When the booklet came out this year and we saw the party schedule, Sunny about died. She's definitely not a morning person and 8am-1030pm makes for some long days. I can't imagine what it's like for the actives! I hope your daughter finds a home to love! Please keep us updated!

My thoughts exactly. Isn't sleep-deprivation considered hazing on most campuses?

Day 2: Philanthropy Day (up to 10 sororities)

Another beautiful day in eastern Kansas… it’s been sunny and not too (read: August) hot, and no rain in the forecast for the rest of the week!

For Philanthropy Day, the PNMs were able to visit up to 10 chapters. Once again, KU Panhellenic provided the girls with t-shirts; this day’s shirt was red with a Jayhawk on the pocket. I really liked how they did shirts for the first two days this year as it seemed to cut out a lot of stressing about what to wear.

Sunny met her RC at 8am to pick up her list of invites. She was so thankful and felt very fortunate that she was asked back to her top 10 from Open House, although a little nervous because she was going to be on her own as far as traveling from house to house (as no one in her Rush Group had the exact same schedules). If you aren’t familiar with the KU campus, the sorority houses are sort of grouped in three general clusters (with a few random outliers) all at opposite ends of the campus. As a recap, Sunny returned to:
Arrowhead Stadium
Crown Center
Liberty Memorial
Oklahoma Joe’s
The Plaza
Power & Light
Sporting KC
Swope Park
Union Station
Westport

Philanthropy Day was something she’s been looking forward to as she was very involved with community service in high school. She said that most of her rushers asked about her volunteering, which I think was pretty prominent on her registration form and (hopefully) on the recs that she was able to obtain. Sunny told me she really was excited about several of the local and national philanthropies that she learned about today. At most places she visited, she was able to either make a personal connection to the cause or it was something that she already felt passionate about (or at least as passionate as you can be at 18). There were only 2 places where she felt they kind of downplayed it or didn’t sound super enthusiastic. I have no doubt that the length of the last two days may have had a little something to do with that, but it did make an impression on Sunny.

There was a little shuffle-up in her favorites tonight, and she sounded much more enthusiastic about a couple of chapters where she just thought they were ok the first round. Her favorites were:
Power & Light
Sporting KC
Union Station
Westport

Day 3 is Skit/House Tour Day where they can visit up to 7 houses, so she had to rank her bottom 3:
1. Oklahoma Joe’s (this was a hard decision for her as she liked them so much the first day)
2. Swope Park (she would be ok with returning here if invited)
3. Crown Center (she didn’t feel like the girls she met here today were interested in her)

Sunny’s roommate and suitemates continue to have a great time as well. Roommate returned to 10 houses (she had the same invites as Sunny except she had Boulevard Brewery in place of Sporting KC). Suitemate 1 returned to 8 houses and Suitemate 2 returned to 10 houses.

Random notes about Day 2:
Apparently the grade cuts were pretty harsh today, but reading some of the other threads on here, I don’t think that’s any surprise. Sunny knew quite a few girls who only had 5 or 6 invites today. I told her that it only takes one in the end, and she agreed. I also said that she needed to be prepared for more heavy cuts tomorrow and to remember that she needed to accept that whatever invites she receives are really the only houses she needs to think about. I wasn’t trying to be a downer or dampen her enthusiasm at all, just inject a little bit of reality and hope she retains it in the morning! We talked a lot about how House Tours/Skits would really give her a better feeling of how she would fit in at each place rather than trying to figure that out during the whirlwind of the first two rounds. Also, Roommate had a weird experience at one of the chapters where her rusher just looked at her and said “I’m tired, I’m sure you’re tired, let’s just sit here and not talk.”

I hope everyone’s daughters/rec girls are enjoying themselves just as much as Sunny and friends. Today should be a fun day for them, house tours and skits!

I'm enjoying your daughter's story, ollie dog!

:eek:Yikes!
What an awkward position to put a PNM in!

I am a proud KU Greek alumna! The campus is gorgeous, the tradition and Jayhawk pride is over the top and all 13 chapters are lovely. KU is truly an amazing place to go to college and to be Greek! I know active women and advisors at most of the chapters...so excited to see a KU thread.

ADPi celebrated 100 years in 2012. It was such an amazing experience for collegians and alumnae.

ROCK CHALK JAYHAWK! :)

Sounds like Sunny and her roomates are doing great! I'm anxious to hear how they like skit/house tour day. My favorite day by far!

My daughter is actually a first year active in a house. I probably was a little too vague trying not to give too much info away:) She is loving her new home and pledge class. I don't think she realized that the actives in the houses are just as nervous as the PNM when it comes to making a good impression:).

D'oh! I just went back and re-read what you wrote and yes, you were pretty clear that she's on the other side for the first time:o

I think I was MORE nervous my first year as an active than I was as a clueless PNM. Probably because I was completely clueless about the whole process when I was a PNM so I didn't know I had anything to be nervous about!

Day 3 Skits/House Tours (up to 7 sororities)

I answered the phone and immediately heard “Mom, this was the hardest day EVER. I don’t know how I’m ever going to choose after pref.”

The PNMs met with the Recruitment Counselors again at 8am to get their invites for Skits and House Tours. Sunny was dropped from one of her favorites from yesterday, but she said she didn’t really mind because she liked everywhere else that she was invited to visit. She was excited to see that she had a full schedule of 7 houses.

She visited:
Arrowhead Stadium – loved the skit, the physical house, and the girls she talked to today. She also really likes their philanthropy. She said she could see herself fitting in with these ladies easily.
Liberty Memorial – she really liked this house the first day, but it’s been just outside her favorites the last two rounds. She felt really bad because this was the last house she visited and being tired, she had to try to keep from yawning.
Oklahoma Joe’s – this is another house she really enjoyed on the first day, but hasn’t had it in her favorites since then. She didn’t really say anything about the skit, and she liked the physical house.
The Plaza – She liked the physical house a lot, but felt the skit really wasn’t her sense of humor.
Power & Light – this house has been among her favorites all week, but she felt a little let down today. She felt the skit here wasn’t really her sense of humor, and she said she noticed some of the girls watching her to see if she was laughing. She also felt that as a whole, maybe they weren’t quite as outgoing as she is.
Sporting KC – she absolutely loved the skit and the house, as well as the girls she met today. Sunny felt like she could fit in here very well.
Westport – this house has been one of her favorites all week. She said the skit was awesome and she loved the house. She was excited that one of her rushers today was someone she met the first day and adored.

Sunny had a really hard time making her preferences tonight and she said she had to get some advice from her favorite RC. She finally decided that for Preference Day she’d most like to go back to:
Arrowhead Stadium
Sporting KC
Westport

And she ranked:
1. Power & Light
2. Liberty Memorial
3. The Plaza
4. Oklahoma Joe’s

Sunny’s roommate attended 6 parties today and would like to return to Liberty Memorial, Swope Park, and Westport for Preference Day, with Oklahoma Joe’s as her next choice. Both suitemates returned to 5 houses today. Sunny is a little worried because they each only liked 2 of the 5 and decided if they didn’t get those 2 for Prefs, they would drop out. She’s hoping they keep a little more open mind, but said “if they aren’t feeling it, they aren’t feeling it.”

Random notes about Day 3:
Two of Sunny’s good friends from high school dropped out today: one because she felt like she couldn’t give a sorority a fair commitment with all her other activities and didn’t want to take someone’s spot only to have to drop out later, and the other because she said she didn’t like any invites she got. I mentioned in my update yesterday that it’s kind of hard to avoid tent talk sometimes and I have a feeling this friend completely fell victim to some of the negative talk. A lot of metro girls have their hearts set on 4 or 5 chapters and don’t want to “settle” for anything else. Fortunately KU has a lot of opportunities for students to get involved and Greek Life, while prominent, is definitely not the be-all, end-all of the Jayhawk experience. Sunny also mentioned she did hear of a few girls that got cut completely today, and she kept saying how bad she felt for them. I just have to say how proud I am of my daughter for not letting any of the talk get to her and for keeping a completely open mind to the houses where she receives invites back. At the end of the call she said “I’m going to be happy no matter what.”

Best of luck to Sunny and her friends today at Pref! Your daughter has an amazing attitude and will be an asset to whichever chapter she ends up in. Rock Chalk!

Anxious to hear what Sunny and her friends do today! Can't believe that bid day is already tomorrow...seemed to go so fast! Except for the PNMs and their mothers I'm sure:)

On a side note when my second daughter went through recruitment in '08 Pref was on a Friday and bid day was on Monday. Nerve-racking to everyone involved!

Sorry to hear that Sunny's friends dropped out. I know that KU is trying to improve their retention rate, but it does seem like girls from certain high schools are not very willing to branch out much. Don't know how you change that attitude. Just need more girls like your daughter who are open minded and experience recruitment with the right attitude:)

I agree! There are so many opportuinties to have a wonderful sorority experience at KU, and anywhere else for that matter. For women who are committed to being GREEK not just an XYZ, the system works. Those focused on a few chapters put all of their eggs in one basket and can end up elated or very disappointed.

It is hard for PNM's to see this long-term view of Greek life in 5 days. Recruitment is humbling, and people don't always get what they want/think that they should get.
I applaud Panhellenic for the wonderful job that they have done/continue to do to increase retention rates.

Day 4: Preference Day (up to 3 sororites)

Well, it’s finally the end of a long, fun, exhausting, stressful week for the Jayhawk PNMs.

The day didn’t start til 10am, so my absolute morning-hating Sunny was excited to sleep in, at least a little. I got an early text from her though saying that this week has ruined her for sleeping in and she woke up 15 minutes before her alarm went off. One last time the girls met with their Recruitment Counselors to pick up their invites.

Sunny’s final invite list:
Liberty Memorial
Oklahoma Joe’s
Sporting KC

She felt a slight twinge of disappointment at not being invited back to Westport, but she said she got over that pretty quickly because she remembered how much she had enjoyed herself at Oklahoma Joe’s and Liberty Memorial the first two days. Plus she was very excited to be returning to Sporting KC!

Liberty Memorial – she was preffed by the active who she really connected with during the Open House rounds. The actives shared stories of sisterhood, and Sunny said some of them were kind of sad. She left this house still liking it and would be ok with receiving a bid here.
Oklahoma Joe’s – she was asked here by one of the actives preffing her if she had a fake ID! Sunny was kind of shocked and a little surprised that she was asked this, especially during pref rounds. She said that their pref ceremony was more serious and she heard some more kind of sad stories. She left this house thinking that she probably did not want to accept a bid here.
Sporting KC – Sunny is absolutely in love with the girls in this house. She was preffed by a girl she hadn’t met yet, and the active told her she was so excited to meet her at last. She received an envelope with notes written to her by all the girls she had met throughout the week and was really touched. Sunny said the sisterhood stories were funny and she really feels like this is the place she is meant to be.

At the end of the day, she ranked:
1. Sporting KC
2. Liberty Memorial
3. Oklahoma Joe’s

One thing I should say about my daughter is that I have never seen her get sad during any sad movie (The Notebook? Marley & Me? Seriously, not a damp eye). I think the one time she cried was watching “Hoot” and she had mono at the time so she refuses to believe that was a legitimate cry.:rolleyes: In the end, Sunny just connected more with the upbeat fun mood at Sporting KC. She really looked at the other PNMs at the parties and liked them at each house. I asked her why she put Oklahoma Joe’s on her pref rankings after she relayed the entirety of that conversation. She said that she really wanted to maximize her options, and she HAD liked them up to that point, so she decided to go ahead and rank them.

Sunny’s Roommate ended up ranking only Westport and Swope Park though she visited 3 houses, and Suitemate 2 suicided The Fountains after visiting 3 houses as well. I really hope both girls end up with bids tomorrow. They are both real sweethearts. Suitemate 1 dropped out this morning. Sunny said she wasn’t too broken hearted about it though.

Random notes about Day 4:
I get the feeling that the placement rate at KU is going to end up being 60-70%. Even though this was the largest recruitment number ever (956 PNMs), Sunny said a LOT of girls dropped out during the week as well as some girls being released completely. I don’t really have anything else to add, other than once again, I’m so glad Sunny was as open-minded as she was throughout the week.

Bids are opened tomorrow at 245pm!

Good luck! Your daughter has an amazing mindset. If a member had asked me about a fake id at just about anytime during recruitment, I wouldn't have been happy. I hope that isn't my sorority!

I've been rooting for Sporting KC. I actually went to the Timbers vs Real Salt Lake game last night.

Interesting...My daughter's house does this :)....Can't wait to find out where Sunny finds her home!!

Hope the roommates receive bids, since neither maximized their options it will be a nervous day for them. Plus, it is always more fun to enjoy new member activities when your roommates have them also. So anxious to see how the day unfolds!!

For some reason, I thought I remembered reading bids opened at 1:45pm and clicked over to this thread. Nope, a little later, haha. Hope the day goes well!!

Well.... the girls opened their bids at 230!

It's a funny how things work out sometimes. My morning-hating sleep-in all day daughter could only be destined to join the sisters under the CRESCENT MOON of...


SPORTING KC!




Otherwise known as...
GAMMA PHI BETA!

I am so happy for her! She is on the bus heading to the house to meet the rest of her new sisters.

It was a very happy day for Roommate and Suitemate 2 as well! Suitemate SIP'd for The Fountains, and today is a very happy
ALPHA DELTA PI!!
Roommate opened her bid card and is very happy with Swope Park, also known as
SIGMA KAPPA!!!

It definitely was a long week, but the end result was 3 very happy suitemates. I can't wait to see all the pictures from Bid Day later!

Congrats to your daughter! She will love being a Gamma Phi! Congrats to her roommate and suitemate too. Love to see new ADPi's! :)

Loved this thread...thanks, OllieDog! Rock Chalk!

Congratulations to all!