An SEC rush
 

"Not sure if this is the right thread...but I thought I'd give you an update, and a mother's point of view, on the upcoming SEC recruitment and the craziness that insues.

As I have mentioned in other posts...my youngest daughter will be rushing at a large SEC school this fall. We are not originally from the South, so as you might imagine...that can work against you. She will be "competing" against girls whose families have been here for generations, and have lots of legacies and lots of connections. Her only connection is that her older sister(first NPC greek in our family) is an active at another school. We are not expecting that to necessarily help her much. She is a beautiful girl, but not petite and not blonde. She has above a 3.0 GPA, good activities, good community service, has at least one rec for every house on campus, and knows a handful of girls that are currently active at the school she is about to attend, but as you all know...so does every other girl rushing in the South.

I only tell you all that to give you some background info. so you know where we are coming from.

The journey so far....

We prepared her resume, made copies of transcripts, picked out her favorite senior picture, and placed one of each in a manilla envelope. We got all the addresses from the panhellenic site as to where the alumnae needed to send the rec, addressed above mentioned envelopes and added a stamp. We wanted to make it as easy as possible for the alumnae to send the rec in!

We started fairly early scrambling for recs. We had heard from different alumnae that some of the sororities had a July 1st deadline! Don't think this is common knowledge as it is not posted anywhere on the school's panhellenic website, or in any information packets handed out. When I say "scrambled", I mean it.

Not being from the south originally, we really didn't pay much attention to what friends were in what sorority in college. When my older daughter rushed, she did not go to a school where there were alot of GLO's, so it was fairly easy to find at least one rec for each house...but this is not the case with my youngest. We never even heard of some of the sororities that she would now need recs for. We looked everywhere...asked every teacher, every co-worker (bless my husband's heart), and every friend if they knew any alumnae in such and such sorority.

I must admit, my best friend probably suffered the most as she is a regional representive for her alumnae association, and tended to have "connections" in finding others. She helped my daughter out so much, and I can't thank her enough. Without her, it would have been nearly impossible to get as many recs as we did.

So to wrap up a long story...we got all the recs in(hopefully everyone that said they'd send one, did). All thank you notes written and mailed!

Whew! So glad that part is over...now on to the important stuff...WHAT TO WEAR!"

I reposted the above since it is the first part of my daughter's upcoming rush story, and thought it might be nice to have it all under one thread.

hooray southernyankee,

hope southerndaughter's first day of recruitment is going well!! can't wait to hear all about it.

What to wear!

We have the guidelines and are taking the advice of several GCers and going with the dressy end of the suggestions made by the school's panhellenic for what to wear.

No butt or boobs are exposed, no outlandish or too trendy styles were chosen. Jewelry is classy, but hopefully memorable. We have what we think is a good way to stand out alittle on philanthropy day,(universal shorts and a tee worn by all) but don't want to give that one away!

Cute, but comfortable shoes have been bought, and are being broken in as we speak!

One non-black dress for prefs chosen in a fit that flatters and fits her perfectly.

Rush pack (all the stuff everyone says to take for tent use) has been gathered.

Make-up updated, and geared toward hot weather. Freshened up haircut and color. Nail appt. made for last possible moment before leaving.

Have we forgotten anything!?

Wow, I can't wait to read the updates on this thread! Looks like you have everything except some rest time! :)

Tell your daughter Good luck for me! And make sure you stay worry-free; although as a mom it will most likely be nerve-wrecking!

It seems like you really have your stuff together. However, you need to stress to your daughter that if for some reason rush doesn't go according to "plan", life does go on.

After reading some rush threads in the past there have been a number of instances where we read about how a girl had all the recs, the perfect outfits, the activites, the GPA, etc..but suffered major cuts and doesn't wind up where she hoped to be. They wonder what they did wrong...In many cases it's not a matter of doing "wrong", but there could be a 100 trivial reasons it didn't work out that a PNM couldn't possible know.

I'm sure your daughter will do fine, but I think it's always best to at least be a bit prepared for the worst, especially if rushing at a competitive SEC school. Then wheneverything DOES go accoring to plan, you will pleasently surprised!

I'm not trying to be a negative Nancy & am not trying to be pessimistic. I hope her daughter does great and I can't wait to read more!

Trust me, she is NOT overconfident. Just the opposite actually. She is going in with an open mind, and is as prepared as we could make her, so...let the chips fall where they may!:o

SY,

I'm rooting for your daughter!!!! It sounds like your ducks are all lined up and ready to go..... Keep your fingers crossed.

What's a rush pack?

Sorry, that's just what I call all the stuff that you might need btx house visits during rush. I don't know that it has an official name. :D

It would include things like:an umbrella, advil, flip flops, makeup, bandaides, etc. You are not allowed to take anything inside of the houses, so your Rho Chi will look after it while you are inside. Hope that clears it up!

Yes, I'm rooting for her as well...and for the record, I never said it sounded like SY's daughter was overconfident.

thanks! I was just unsure of what that was!

If your daughter if half as together as you are, I'm thinking she'll do just fine! I'm impressed that you and she are "working" so closely together on all the pieces of recruitment. I'm another mom keeping my fingers crossed that things go well...please keep us posted.

Yay! Wish her good luck from one more GCer!

I'm going to make the request for a list of chapters/code names so we can pick one to root for (all the while rooting for your daughter as well)!!!

Yay! This post got me already excited about your daughter's recruitment story. Good luck to you both!

Good luck to your daughter! My daughter will be going through Rush too in a couple of weeks. Maybe we Greek Chat moms should form a support group.

We are getting close...close enough I think to post my "mock" sorority names.

Now, this is not the true number of sororities, but it is in the vicinity. I don't think it will matter much once the first "rounds" are over and the numbers are more manageable. I don't want to give too much away yet, and know that several GCers could figure out which school my daughter is rushing just by the number of sororities! So, here they are:

Cardinals
Falcons
Bengals
Panthers
Browns
Broncos
Cowboys
Texans
Colts
Packers
Vikings
Patriots
Giants
Raiders
Steelers
Saints

Texasmom...I think we will be needing that support!

Hmm, I'm going with Panthers!

Good luck!

Gotta go with the SUPER STEELERS!!!! :D

WHO DEY ,WHO DEY, WHO DEY think they gonna beat 'dem Bengals?!?!?!:D

GO PATS!!!!!

Gotta go with the Saints . . . the fleur-de-lis, don'tcha know! ;)

You and your daughter both have my support. I hope y'all enjoy the process and your daughter ends up in the right home.

Love the NFL names.. . However, I'm going to venture past my obviously Texas bias and not pick the Cowboys or Texans. I'll choose the Giants -- Just went to New York for the first time, so I'll go with their team.

Oh man, no Ravens! Then I gotta go with the Cowboys, cuz I love those stars!;) good luck!

Go Cardinals and Saints!!!!

Good Luck and i have to say Go Cowboys:D

Best of luck southernyankee and daughter!

Go Panthers!!!! (gotta cheer for the homestate team)

I gotta say I'm a little biased towards the Cowboys and the Texans, although the Packers rock, too. I love cheese!

Good luck to you both!

I've got to go with Da Browns!!!

Can't wait to see which team drafts her! :D

Heh...I'm for any of them but the Raiders! :p


.....Kelly :) <---- I would have picked the Chargers if they had been listed.

I feel so bad about y'all having to jump thru so many hoops to get your recs; is there an alum panhellenic association in your area? If so, they should have helped you with the recs....

Panhellenic Help...
 

I know that when I am asked to do a rec., etc., I don't mind. I feel like it is a duty as an Alum I need to follow through with. Of course I hope the girl goes AGD, but I want her to go into the Panhellenic system and have a great experience no matter where she ends up!

Best of luck to your daughter. I am looking forward to reading her thread!!

The more I read about how severe cuts have been at Auburn and Georgia, the more nervous I become about my daughter's upcoming rush! Maybe I need to quit reading the recruitment threads!:(

You're seeing the worst scenarios, but also the exciting ones! Look how many woman not only got a bid, but got the house they really wanted! It's all in the attitude!

Deep breaths, southernyankee, deep breaths. You and your daughter have prepared VERY well and it will be okay. It sounds like she's as ready as she can be, including the perspective that rush is tough and an open mind is the most important thing you carry in with you. If, by some chance, she doesn't join a sorority it also sounds like she's the kind of girl that will make the best of the situation. But I'm wagering it's going to be okay and keeping my fingers crossed.

Deep breaths...

P.S. I LOVE the football names - now that's something I can actually remember!!

I would normally go with the Titans but alas they are not available so lemme see

I will go with the Patriots - and the Saints

[QUOTE=proudmom]Deep breaths, southernyankee, deep breaths. You and your daughter have prepared VERY well and it will be okay. It sounds like she's as ready as she can be, including the perspective that rush is tough and an open mind is the most important thing you carry in with you. If, by some chance, she doesn't join a sorority it also sounds like she's the kind of girl that will make the best of the situation. But I'm wagering it's going to be okay and keeping my fingers crossed.

Deep breaths...

P.S. I LOVE the football names - now that's something I can actually remember!![/QUO

I know you are right...she IS a strong girl and will be fine either way, it's just that it would be so nice if rush went well! Thanks for the support!

southernyankee,
I am so impressed with your preparation! Sorority or not, it sounds like you two had a lot of fun hanging out and working together. Mom/daughter time is priceless. Good luck!

Time to let the cat out of the bag!

Alabama rush started today, and my daughter is a part of it. I know alot of GCers probably already guessed as much, but I was trying desperately to be somewhat discreet. ;)

Anyways, update...we moved her in on Sunday. I had almost forgotten how small a dorm room was and we ended up taking some stuff back home as it just wouldn't fit! After some creative rearranging, we managed to settled her into her room, and amidst alot of tears...left her to start a new chapter in her life!

Her and her roommate, (who is also going through rush) spent the next day getting settled, and taking care of a few things around campus before heading off to convocation. They met their recruitment advisors and their pnm groups. As someone said in an Auburn rush thread...girls came dressed to the nines, in heels and sundresses, full make-up and hair. It was a late night, and my daughter and roommate were exhausted and understandably stressed. They met today at 10am to start open house.

Here's how it went...

She visited 8 houses,

Falcons-was surprised that she liked this house as much as she did, as she knew nothing about it before today. Had a great convo with 2 of the girls and would love to revisit.

Browns-liked this house very much also, but not sure she would fit in there...would love to go back for round 2 to find out more

Texans-didn't feel much of a connection with these girls...but will continue to have an open mind.

Packers-liked this one alot, but knows several girls in this sorority and I think that has something to do with it

Patriots-also liked this one alot

Giants-ditto, liked this one too

Steelers-really liked this one, but only had a convo with one girl, who she knew somewhat, so convo was easy, would like to get a feel of the sorority as a whole

Cowboys-Didn't really feel a connection with this one, even though everyone was nice and convo was easy...couldn't put her finger on why it was not one of her favorites, but is very willing to go back and see what happens

Was very pleased that she liked so many and is looking forward to tomorrow when she will visit: Cardinals, Bengals, Panthers, Broncos, Colts, and Vikings.

They got caught in a thunderstorm today, hopefully tomorrow will be sunny!

P.S. roommate had a great time to.

This is just supposition, but under the circumstances, wouldn't it be funny if the New York Giants was Alpha Delta Pi (since "Broadway Joe" Namath's daughter's there)?

GO PACK GO!

Haha, I hope your daughter is loving rush. I just rushed last spring and while the waiting periods were hell, I had a blast! I had a conversation with a couple of other girls in my dorm between when we found out where we were going on pref day and the 2 ceremonies. One girl said "Well I'm going to X and Y, all the girls I'm already friends with are in X, I think I'll pref Y because I want to meet new people." It sounded absolutely rediculous to me. If you're friends with girls in X, and you get along with girls in X, and you really felt at home in X, why go against your instinct? You're going to meet 50-some-odd new girls every year and make TONS of new friends! Anyways, I hope tomorrow is just as fun!