University of Illinois Sorority Recruitment 2013
 

Even though it's pretty hit or miss on whether we get Illinois PNMs or moms around here, I figured I would start a recruitment thread for my alma mater. We had pretty active U of I threads for the last two years and I believe we're still one of the largest Greek systems (in terms of number of chapters--somewhere in the 90s) in the nation, so why not!

This is the first year for me where all the women who were in my chapter as an active have now officially graduated! I feel old! ;) That said I'm sure my information sources will be a bit more few and far between.

Illinois has 19 NPC chapters, which includes Phi Sigma Sigma, a recolonizing chapter this fall. The chapters include:

Alpha Chi Omega
Alpha Delta Pi
Alpha Epsilon Phi
Alpha Gamma Delta
Alpha Omicron Pi
Alpha Phi
Alpha Xi Delta
Chi Omega
Delta Delta Delta
Delta Gamma
Delta Zeta
Gamma Phi Beta
Kappa Alpha Theta
Kappa Delta
Kappa Kappa Gamma
Phi Sigma Sigma
Pi Beta Phi
Sigma Delta Tau
Sigma Kappa


I can't find any information about Phi Sigma Sigma's recolonization process because of the God awful Illinois Panhellenic website, but I can only imagine that it will be like many colonization where they participating in round one and then hold their recruitment events after bid day.

Although the Panhellenic website does say Recruitment 2011, it is updated with dates for 2013. Per the website, here's the schedule:

Friday, Aug 30 & Saturday, Aug 31 - Open House - PNMs visit all 19 chapters (which leads me to believe Phi Sigma Sigma participates in this round)

Sunday, Sep 1 - First Invite (our Sisterhood Day--the campus typically uses the terms, "First, Second, and Third Invite" instead of Sisterhood, Skit, etc) - PNMs visit up to 13 chapters

Saturday, Sep 7 - Second Invite (aka Philanthropy Day) - PNMs visit up to 7 chapters

Sunday, Sep 8 - Third Invite (aka Preference) - PNMs visit up to 3 chapters

Monday, Sep 9 - BID DAY!

Based on the fact that the recruitment group list posted on the Panhellenic website, there appears to be 1,362 PNMs. I don't know how this compares with last year. The Greek Life office used to keep this awesome recruitment statistics page up to date, but it appears they stopped in 2010. But based on those numbers, it looks like registration is a bit up from recent years.

Quota has ranged from 45 to 57 over the last 7 years, with no consistent trend up or down. I predict quota around 50 this year, due to the fact that there's a chapter colonizing. It looks like there were a similar amount of PNMs in 2008 when AXiD colonized, and quota was 53 that year.

About 70%-75% of women who sign up for recruitment receive bids. There are a considerable amount of drop outs based on the fact that while Greek life is HUGE at Illinois, there's still so many other ways that students get involved. Based on that link I provided, 96%-98% of women who stick with the process get a bid.

Finally, Illinois is its own special kind of competitive. Despite the size and the popularity of Greek life, this is not a "must have rec" school. As always, they are great to have but it's just not part of the culture in that area (or in the areas where many students come from). They are certainly not unheard of, but I know plenty of women who didn't know a thing about Greek life, didn't have recs and had very happy endings. It is still "competitive" in the sense that it is popular and upperclassmen have a tougher time.

That's about all I have to share! I did just find out that I have a connection to a PNM--my cousin is getting married and her fiances niece just transferred as a sophomore and will be rushing. She's standing up in the wedding as well and while I would have loved to have written her a rec, I found out she was rushing last weekend and I have not met her yet, haha! (You better believe I'll be checking up to see where she ends up though!)

Any Illinois PNMs, moms, friends, alumnae...please share if you'd like :)

I'm currently going through recruitment at Illinois (I'm planning on posting my story after recruitment ends!), and Phi Sigma Sigma is indeed present for the first round of recruitment and they will be holding their rounds after formal recruitment ends.

WOO HOO!!

Good luck and have fun!!

Thanks so much! It's been absolutely wonderful! :)

Thank you posting the recruitment dates! I had a hell of a time finding the dates when I was writing a rec for someone.

Good luck to all involved! Will be keeping an eye on this thread. :) If it helps, in 2012 there were 1181 registered PNMs, which was reported as an off year because recruitment was a week or so earlier than in years past. In 2011 there were 1402 registered.

Looking forward to following a Big Ten school since no one seems to be posting about Purdue's rush that is going on this weekend, Bid day for them is Tuesday, I believe.

Which Big Ten schools are summer/fall recruitments and which ones are deferred?

Summer/Fall: Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Purdue

Deferred: Indiana, Ohio State

I'm so excited about the recolonization, I'll poke around the PhiSig site and see what I can find.

Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan and Michigan State are all in the fall.

Not lying- I don't know who's in the Big 10/12/14/190 anymore

Thanks for the info, lovespink! Interestingly, there were about 1200 PNM's most years that I was in school, and quota was usually around 50, so not much has changed up or down in the last [cough] years or so. Back then, however, it was the largest in the country, so everyone else has outgrown us.

Illinois is interesting, as mentioned above, because the tiers really can change based on a couple of strong recruitments (and sadly, the opposite is also true). There is one chapter that was in numbers trouble and then turned it around via COB, and is now solidly in the middle of the pack. What's more, the sororities/fraternity mixing is pretty fluid; I can remember quite a few instances of a weaker sorority doing football block with a strong fraternity or vice-versa because it just happened that a bunch of members lived on the same dorm floor as freshmen and then became officers in their respective groups. So, there are chapters that are classically strong recruiters and some that are classically weak recruiters, but virtually any chapter will give women a similar experience.

One more for the Big Ten: Northwestern University is also in the Deferred category (January 9-14, 2014).

I believe Penn State is in the fall, a bit deferred.

Seriously...you need a score card to keep up! :D

So...

Summer/Fall: Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Purdue, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Michigan State, Penn State

Deferred: Indiana, Ohio State, Northwestern

We'll worry about Rugters and Maryland when they actually join.

So there sadly isn't much on the PhiSig site except for the link to register for colony recruitment.

It's changed so many times that most people think Penn State was in the original Big 10.

Whenever I forget, I go to my friend, Wikipedia for the current scorecard. I love how they refer to Johns Hopkins as a future "affiliate".

Interested to hear how it's going. I know a lot of girls starting at Illinois this year, and I'm sure most are going through recruitment, but I agree with whoever said that, although Greek Life is popular and somewhat competitive, recs are not necessarily a must.

Separately, University of Wisconsin (Madison) recruitment begins today. I was told (unofficially) that around 900 girls are going through.

No kidding...don't get me started on the Big 10 - 11 - 12 -14, whatever we are now. Ugh, this conference jockeying drives me nuts!:p

My D completed the round of 13 yesterday. She got 11 of the 13 she preferenced, and then two from her bottom 5. Said that her schedule had her criss-crossing the campus between Urbana and Champaign all day. She then preferenced her top 7 for next Saturday. Sounded like a fun and very long day.

One small surprise is that one of the two she preferenced for the round of 13, but didn't get, was a house she had a recommendation for.

^^I wish something could be done about the crisscrossing all over Champaign-Urbana when it's back and forth throughout the day. I still remember hearing from sisters about their treks during all the rounds, but pref was the worst! Woe to the women who have the furthest house in Urbana, then the furthest house in Champaign as back-to-back houses during pref. Of course they are opposite corners as well, just to make it extra fun! If you get one of the mid campus/quad houses as your middle party, then it's not too bad, but it doesn't always work out that way. Good luck to your daughter!

Good luck to your daughter! Make sure she has band-aids in her bag for the side effects of those long treks! That is a pain - for pref round I had one of the Lincoln Ave Urbana houses, one in Urbana at the Quad, and one in Champaign. It was a lot to manage, especially under stress! :)

This is not an insurmountable problem. (is that a double negative?). The computer should be able to add a function that blocks certain chapters with others. It might not match right for every girl, but there shouldn't be a problem for a girl to have Urbana chapters in the morning and Champaign chapters in the afternoon. Especially with more girls not having full schedules, blocking them in 2 and 3 chapters together at a time shouldn't be a huge problem. This isn't the old days with a bunch of old ladies trying to figure this stuff out in 10 minutes before invitations go out. And as I recall, U of I has its share of computer geeks, no?

7 houses
 

When do the girls find out what 7 houses they visit next Sat and does the order they visit houses mean anything?

My friends daughter is going through recruitment too! Good luck!

They will find out their schedule immediately before the parties start. And the order doesn't mean ANYTHING so don't let her apply meaning to something that isn't there.

The one thing party order can do is if it's the first party she can be extra nervous and not be her best self and at the end of the day she can be tired and not her best self. The sorority members have the same problem but it's not them getting voted in or not. Remind her to keep her energy up all the way to the end. And if she has gaps in her schedule, use them to her benefit to rest, get some water, get off her feet, think about something positive, etc.

Thank you DubaiSis. She had 12 visits yesterday when she said most of the girls she knew only had 6 - 8. I told her it was because she is so awesome! When the PNM puts the houses down are they in order? Can you tell I'm not getting much info from our daughter LOL

Yeah, it's slightly more complicated, because it's not like all Champaign houses are together and all Urbana houses are together, though. I mean, you could go from Alpha Phi (Champaign) to Delta Gamma (Urbana) in a few blocks, but Sigma Kappa (Champaign) to Delta Zeta (Urbana) is a probably close to a mile.

Yes, they rank the chapters they have each day.

I was just thinking the same thing. Clemson doesn't have houses but Skit and Pref rounds were held in three different buildings on campus, so they provided buses for girls who needed to get from one location to another very quickly. Made it a lot easier than tottering in four-inch wedges up and down the hills on campus.

Ranking
 

My D said that after the visits, they ranked as follows: 13 houses ranked #1, without regard to order, remaining 5 ranked 2-6. Is that how they do it when you preference 7 - 7 ranked #1, and then 2 - whatever?

Phi Sigma Sigma
 

has a really good facebook page dedicated to their recruitment at Illinois.

Am I understanding this correctly uofi doesn't provide busses for pnms? wow that's crazy. How do the rho grammas (whatever they are at uofi). Keep the girls together if they're wandering all over? Iowa busses girls to central stops and a pi chi gets off with each group and escorts the group to the houses. Uofi is so spread out!

On another note I'm hoping to hear good news from my coworker about her daughter!

My co-workers dd had a great time and got invites back for 10 houses several that have some high school friends. She's very happy and knows cuts can be heavy!

Yep, you've got it :)

After open house, everyone has separate schedules so there's really no need to keep the girls together. IIRC, you get your schedule from your Gamma Chi before the parties start with instructions on where to meet back after all the parties are done so you can meet with you Gamma Chi to rank. I believe there's also designated classrooms where you can take a break if you'd like, but you are really free to do whatever during your breaks.

Regarding bus issues, I honestly don't think buses would be any improvement. The quad & academic buildings are very much in the middle of everything that you'd have to go around them to get to Champaign or Urbana. I feel like it would take just as long on the bus than it would walking, unfortunately.

God bless the PNMs who had Alpha Xi Delta followed by Delta Zeta (or vice versa) on their schedules, lol

ETA: JK--Sigma Kappa and Delta Zeta are the farthest apart--1.3 mile walk per Google.

When I was there, it was five minutes between open house rounds (when the order of houses made sense), ten between first and second invite rounds, and fifteen between prefs. There were campus busses you could catch if you *really* had trouble walking it, but as lovespink88 said, they wouldn't save you any time...maybe just some blisters or sweat.

And of course, as an active, you could try to guess which chapters the PNM's had just come from if they were late ;-)

LOL I was thinking about this as I typed my last post. Heck, you didn't even have to guess--a lot of times PMNs offered the info on their own since they wanted you to know why they were late!

Looking forward to hearing how recruitment at Illinois is this year. I actually don't have any rec girls going through this year. My 3 pref parties were close. I had my house right off the quad in Urbana and then 2 houses right of the quad in Champaign. I had a lot of friends running all over campus though. Some of the houses are so far from each other, and imagine not knowing your way around campus and getting lost.

I had three prefs in Champaign, but during first invite, I had a long walk and was late to a chapter, and the woman who had to host me was NOT happy that I showed up to interrupt her break.

PNM Totals
 

Based on the Recruitment Group List you can download from the UofI Panhellenic Council site, there are 1361 PNMs registered.