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irishpipes 06-03-2007 12:33 AM

IrishPipes' Retro Recruitment Story
 
I am not completely sure I should post a story. I didn't keep a journal at the time, and my notes are sketchy in places (my rush booklet isn't 100% intact - some pages are missing.) There are some chapters that I have no notes from at all, but many that I have a lot of detail and memories. It is possible that I could confuse some facts. My reasoning for doing a story would be that it is somewhat unusual because of the size of the Greek system involved and the fact that it was 20 years ago. So, despite the negatives, would it be interesting to anyone but me? It would be 1987 at the University of Illinois.

Leslie Anne 06-03-2007 12:48 AM

Absolutely! Please tell your story. Even if you don't have all your notes I'm sure you remember enough to fill in the blanks. I've considered telling mine from 20 years ago too. I still have my invitations and some fairly good notes.

Please tell! :)



edited to add: I would LOVE to hear a Recruitment story from the University of Illinois!

AGDee 06-03-2007 01:19 AM

Might as well go for it. We don't have anything else to do in this thread for now :) I have considered telling mine, but it's sort of a "What Not to do in Recruitment" story.. even though it worked out great for me.

jojapeach 06-03-2007 01:31 AM

Of course we're interested!

*sitting crisscross-applesauce on the storytime rug*

OldAOPi 06-03-2007 09:41 AM

AGDee - my story could sure ditto yours - from the "Wow, it's hot could I have a glass of water" at the same house where I told them I was tired of looking at trophies...gee, wonder why they cut me - - - I liked them! (almost 30 yrs)

I figure we need about 20 more stories to get us close to the live reality showtime!

irishpipes 06-03-2007 03:35 PM

I am not sure if I will finish posting the story, but I'll set it up. I'll wait until Maggie at Elon and TrojanWoman are finished to get into it.

This was Fall Formal Rush at the University of Illinois in August 1987. At that time, Illinois had 22 NPC sororities.

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

A 23rd NPC sorority, Delta Zeta, was in the process of recolonizing that fall, but I don't remember knowing anything about that until after rush ended.

My code names, in random order (after counties in the Republic of Ireland):

Waterford
Mayo
Galway
Limerick
Cork
Carlow
Kildare
Meath
Donegal
Kerry
Tipperary
Kilkenny
Wicklow
Roscommon
Wexford
Dublin
Clare
Monaghan
Sligo
Longford
Leitrim
Offaly

SWTXBelle 06-03-2007 03:49 PM

Hope Gamma Phi is Waterford - hey, that's my crystal!

DeltaBetaBaby 06-03-2007 07:39 PM

Oh, c'mon, use real names!

:)

raincoat 06-03-2007 07:46 PM

go Wicklow! :)

irishpipes 06-03-2007 11:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DeltaBetaBaby (Post 1460003)
Oh, c'mon, use real names!

:)

And deprive you of the fun of guessing? :)

irishpipes 06-03-2007 11:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leslie Anne (Post 1459788)
Absolutely! Please tell your story. Even if you don't have all your notes I'm sure you remember enough to fill in the blanks. I've considered telling mine from 20 years ago too. I still have my invitations and some fairly good notes.

Please tell! :)



edited to add: I would LOVE to hear a Recruitment story from the University of Illinois!

If you tell yours, I'll tell mine!

irishpipes 06-03-2007 11:41 PM

This may bore you to death, but since I don't have as much detail for the actual parties (like what we ate and drank, what they wore), I'll set the stage a little bit. I guess it would be important to know that I was a Greek novice to be sure. I wasn't sure if I knew more than one person who had been in a sorority at the time that I enrolled (and she was an alumna from a different school.) I had no connections that I was aware of either. I did have good grades and went to an extremely competitive private high school where I was very active in clubs, played a varsity sport, and sang in a variety of shows over the years. I was an over-achiever, but I was not a partier and wasn't extremely popular, but my friends were (if that makes sense.) So, I didn't consider myself a typical sorority girl, but I wanted to start with a clean slate in college and start being the new me! (In retrospect, not a good mindset!)
************************************************** ***
Lace up your pink and white princess Reeboks and let's go back to late fall, 1986...

During my senior year of high school, my mom and I go down to Champaign to take a campus tour. We are placed in a dorm room (sharing a room that small with my mom – wow) and have several scheduled events, including a guided campus tour. As we are doing the tour with several other potential students and families, the guide, who is a very cute, articulate U of I student, mentions that Greek life is very important and historic at U of I and that as many as 50% of students are Greek. (A statistic that I now know was probably inaccurate.) As the tour continues, we pass house after house with Greek letters. I can’t tell which houses are for fraternities and which are for sororities. I love it when the houses have the words spelled out since I don’t know all of the Greek letters (except the ones we used in math.) Someone asks the guide if she is in a sorority and she says that she is. I don’t remember which one she says she is in, but I remember thinking that she is awesome and maybe I would like sorority life. At one point we pass the Limerick house. My mom tells me that her late sister received a bid to Limerick at the University of Tulsa back in the 1950s but didn’t accept it. In my mom’s mind this means that Limerick is the way to go, since she idolized her sister. :rolleyes: The tour ends at Memorial Stadium where Illinois is playing the University of Iowa. The big game atmosphere, the huge school, the beautiful campus, and the crisp fall air…I can’t wait until I am a part of this!

susan314 06-03-2007 11:55 PM

More recruitment stories. :)

I think its interesting to hear the stories from when rush was still rush with all the frills. Even with my story from 1992, rush had started to be slowly scaled back - I'd assume that 1987 rush at Illinois was still full-fledge frills.

TrojanWoman 06-04-2007 12:09 AM

I'm hooked Irishpipes! Your story of being hooked based on the tour and the football game reminds me so much of my first time at USC. Let's hear more!

Leslie Anne 06-04-2007 12:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by irishpipes (Post 1460148)
The big game atmosphere, the huge school, the beautiful campus, and the crisp fall air…I can’t wait until I am a part of this!

This isn't boring at all! You write beautifully. I can really 'see' the atmosphere and it's wonderful. I'm looking forward to the rest. :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by irishpipes (Post 1460136)
If you tell yours, I'll tell mine!

I think I will tell mine. You gotta love the 80s!

BTW - 22 sororities? Holy Cow! :eek:

kchaptergphib 06-04-2007 01:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leslie Anne (Post 1460165)

BTW - 22 sororities? Holy Cow! :eek:

Oh yes. I've never been down to the U of I campus, but I hear it's quite impressive for us greeks. See, we midwesterners can do greek life pretty well, too! I'm looking forward to the rest of the tread!

DeltaBetaBaby 06-04-2007 07:46 AM

Only 19 sororities now, but over 40 fraternities. And housed, too.

Hopeful_Bubbles 06-04-2007 10:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by irishpipes (Post 1460148)

The tour ends at Memorial Stadium where Illinois is playing the University of Iowa.

Go Hawks! :p (no, I'm not a U of Iowa student, just a fan) I can't imagine seeing 22 houses and trying to keep them all straight.

SmartBlondeGPhB 06-04-2007 10:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kchaptergphib (Post 1460223)
Oh yes. I've never been down to the U of I campus, but I hear it's quite impressive for us greeks. See, we midwesterners can do greek life pretty well, too! I'm looking forward to the rest of the tread!

I haven't been since I was a pledge way back when (we road tripped to visit them) but our house is fabulous.:)

Drolefille 06-04-2007 12:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SmartBlondeGPhB (Post 1460408)
I haven't been since I was a pledge way back when (we road tripped to visit them) but our house is fabulous.:)

My mom and I went to buy my sister some stuff from their Greek stores, and we spent over an hour driving around and looking at the houses and figuring out which ones had moved since she'd been there, and into whose house. It was fun!

irishpipes 06-04-2007 04:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by susan314 (Post 1460154)
More recruitment stories. :)

I think its interesting to hear the stories from when rush was still rush with all the frills. Even with my story from 1992, rush had started to be slowly scaled back - I'd assume that 1987 rush at Illinois was still full-fledge frills.

Susan, I'm afraid I might disappoint you! Yes, there were a lot of frills, but I didn't write about them in my booklet! Those are the kind of details that I just don't have a clear recollection of either. I know we watched elaborate slide shows, but was that second stage or third stage? Was it the same at each chapter? I don't remember! I remember having certain drinks and desserts, but can't be sure which sorority or which party it was. So, I hope the details (or lack thereof) don't let anybody down! My notes were primarily my tool for remembering one chapter from another. It is difficult to explain how hard it was to remember the difference between Alpha Chi Omega and Chi Omega, Alpha Omicron Pi and Alpha Delta Pi and Alpha Epsilon Phi, etc. With 22 parties over just 2 days, it was a real problem. The way I tended to keep things straight was by writing down how the chapter related to people I know. (In other words, "Erin's favorite" or "chapter that cut Barbara" etc.) I know that probably sounds strange, but the actual party details just all ran together (unless the chapter made a huge impression), even back then in real time. I am sure I would have remembered more about the outfits and songs if I had been a sophomore or even a Greek-educated freshman. But, I spent so much of my energy just remembering which chapter was which that I did not take as much note of those fun details as I wish I would have.

irishpipes 06-04-2007 05:06 PM

Background information: I wrote out my story in Word and as I am reading it I notice that I reference "shows" a lot. To clarify, my high school did a massive fundraiser every year called Street Scenes. The school was actually built with this in mind. All of the classroom walls were collapsible to accommodate Street Scenes! Anyway, for a weekend in February the entire school is turned into a series of night clubs. There is an Alumni Show, a Student Show, and various other bands and groups as well. Some rooms are restaurants (local restaurants come and serve food. Some rooms are bars or holding rooms with comedians. It is hard to describe, but it earned over $100,000 every year back when I was in school. (Check it out if you are ever in Lake County - they still have it at Carmel Catholic High School.) Anyway, the Student Show was very cool to be in. You either had to be really talented or really good looking! Most of the people in this were very popular. We worked on the Student Show for 6 months and it was very professionally done. I was also in school musicals, which were very "uncool" but because I was a singer I did them anyway. :)

************************************************** **

Over the summer, Julie, a girl who was a year ahead of me in high school and was on the volleyball team with me, sends me this awesome handmade card. It is a big orange “I” and when I open it the inside is blue. It welcomes me to U of I and tells me to call her this summer if I want any advice about anything. I wonder how Julie knows I am going to U of I. She was in my general group of acquaintances, but she isn’t someone I kept in touch with – in fact, I didn’t even know she went to U of I. I think it is really nice though, and she was such a nice girl that I giver her a call. She tells me that she is in a sorority, Galway, and loves it. She also tells me that at the very least you get to move in to your dorm room early by rushing, so even if you don’t pledge, it is a good idea to rush. Julie was very popular in high school and has a great personality. She isn’t cute in the stereotypical sorority sense, though, and that makes a big impression on me. Up to that point, I didn’t know that there was any kind of diversity on sorority life. I figured that membership selection had to be based largely on appearance because that is how sororities were portrayed. I loved the notion that a smart, funny girl like Julie (who wasn’t ugly – just not gorgeous or pretentious) was in a sorority.

*************************************************

I have a friend, Marietta, who is an alumna of Cork at Northwestern. Marietta's mom directed the Street Scenes Student Show and that is how I know her. Marietta is actually kind of locally famous. She has done a lot of commercials and theater. Her boyfriend was just in a movie, “Adventures in Babysitting.” Marietta has moved to California and was just in “Family Ties.” She is beautiful and talented and a genius as well. (She went on to marry George Newbern from "Adventures in Babysitting" and "Father of the Bride" - he was Brian the husband - and Marietta was on "Dear John" and "The Hughleys.") She volunteers to write a rec for me. I am not really sure what a rec is, and I initially tell her no thanks because I want a fresh start and don’t want the sororities judging me based on who I was in high school. (I thought that being an honors student, an athlete, and a singer were BAD things since they weren’t as cool as being a cheerleader. I was SO naïve.) Marietta tells us that her sorority will not accept anyone without a recommendation, so she asks for a senior picture and writes me up! As far as I know, that is my only rec. The great thing is that now I have heard of 3 sororities!!!

Marietta’s mom tells me that Barbara, another Street Scenes alumna, who was 2 years older than me, dropped out of U of I and transferred to Marquette the year before because she wanted to get into Waterford and didn’t. I am stunned because Barbara was beautiful and probably the most popular girl in my high school. Marietta’s mom told me that Gerri, an active of Waterford who was also in these shows, told her that Barbara was sort of quiet and that came off as snobbish. This sticks in my mind because I was pretty quiet too, at that age. And, it makes me worry because Barbara was someone I looked up to in school. On the up side, it means that I know one more person in a sorority at U of I! I am not sure if Gerri will remember me since she was a senior when I was a freshman, so we only were in Street Scenes one year together.

So now I have heard of Limerick, Galway, Cork, and Waterford, which is good I guess, but I had never thought about the possibility of being rejected until I heard about Barbara. In retrospect I should have asked Marietta a lot of questions about Greek life, but she was sort of intimidating and I didn't want her to think I was stupid. That kind of summarizes my whole rush - I didn't utilize some of the available tools because I was too embarrassed about how I would be perceived. I would never approach it that way if I had it to do all over again. I am worried that now several people know that I am planning to rush, so if something happens to me like what happened to Barbara, I will be mortified.

PhoenixAzul 06-04-2007 06:16 PM

love the codenames but I've got an issue...

No Antrim?!! ;)

aopirose 06-04-2007 09:10 PM

You are cracking me up.

irishpipes 06-04-2007 09:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PhoenixAzul (Post 1460816)
love the codenames but I've got an issue...

No Antrim?!! ;)

REPUBLIC of Ireland. (Of course I consider the whole island to be one country, but I digress...)

PhoenixAzul 06-04-2007 10:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by irishpipes (Post 1460985)
REPUBLIC of Ireland. (Of course I consider the whole island to be one country, but I digress...)

hehe, thanks for the clarification ;). For the record, I agree with you on that last sentence .

Denise_DPhiE 06-05-2007 10:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PhoenixAzul (Post 1461011)
hehe, thanks for the clarification ;). For the record, I agree with you on that last sentence .

Phoenix, what are YOU doing in Ireland???

PhoenixAzul 06-05-2007 10:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Denise_DPhiE (Post 1461208)
Phoenix, what are YOU doing in Ireland???

hehe..."If I told you...."

No, JK, just been keaning a bit for the wee country lately.

SWTXBelle 06-05-2007 12:21 PM

I'm going in August - and darn it, now I really want to go NOW!

irishpipes 06-05-2007 12:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SWTXBelle (Post 1461288)
I'm going in August - and darn it, now I really want to go NOW!

A lucky lass you are!

speedsters 06-05-2007 01:24 PM

i'm cheering for cork!

i'm moving there in 3 months! yay!

irishpipes 06-05-2007 09:12 PM

I hear from University housing that my randomly-selected roommate is Martha from Buffalo Grove. Great! That isn’t far from where I live! We contact each other and decide to meet at Ace Hardware to shop for school stuff. I am surprised to find out that Martha is a sophomore. (Thought they would put me with a freshman.) She is awesome! We get along great as we shop. We decide on matching desktop fans since our dorm has no air conditioning. While we are in line to pay, I ask Martha if she ever considered rushing. She tells me that she is in a sorority, Kilkenny. I am so excited! While in line I accidentally mention something about being in a show in high school. Martha kind of stops and looks at me and asks me what I mean by “a show.” My heart basically stops because great, I let it out of the bag that I am a nerd who was in shows! I decide I might as well own up since we will be living together, plus, now I know that Gerri and Marietta made it ok and they were in the same shows I was. I told her that I had just finished being the narrator in “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” and I explain the whole Street Scenes thing. I fully expect her to laugh me out of the store and there goes my chances of being in a sorority. Instead, she tells me that she too was in musicals in high school and now she is in her sorority’s singing ensemble. How awesome is this!

************************************************** ***************************

As summer rolls along, my best friend Cara starts rush at the University of Iowa a week before I do at Illinois. I don’t get a play by play because this is before e-mail and long distance calls were just too extravagant. Cara and her mom went on a recruitment shopping spree and got all new clothes. That made me nervous because I didn’t do that. My mom would have thought that to be way too expensive and impractical. Plus, I had worked at Marshall Fields during high school so I had a pretty good wardrobe.

I moved to my dorm in Champaign the day before my family moved from Illinois to Tulsa, OK. I left my house where I had lived since I was 8 and knew I would never see it again. It was a big transition and if I hadn’t been so clueless I probably would have gotten emotional.

AlphaFrog 06-06-2007 07:30 AM

HIJACK

Quote:

Originally Posted by irishpipes (Post 1461714)
I told her that I had just finished being the narrator in “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat”

That's on my list of roles that I will play before I die.
(Along with Katisha from The Mikado, and whatever role in Wicked I'm young enough to play when it comes out for non-equity.[Yes, I realize that will probably be Morrible])



/hijack

irishpipes 06-06-2007 09:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlphaFrog (Post 1461920)
HIJACK



That's on my list of roles that I will play before I die.
(Along with Katisha from The Mikado, and whatever role in Wicked I'm young enough to play when it comes out for non-equity.[Yes, I realize that will probably be Morrible])



/hijack

I have 2 boys, ages 4 and 8, and they are hooked on the Donny Osmond PBS version of Joseph. (I don't understand why they don't like my 1987 high school videotape version as much!) They sing the songs constantly. I must say of all the Broadway-type musicals I was in, that was the most fun, with "Annie" being a close second. But, AF, what are you doing reading this retro thread!!! :p

AlphaFrog 06-06-2007 09:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by irishpipes (Post 1461964)
But, AF, what are you doing reading this retro thread!!! :p

Spesific interest: An Illinois university with an ASA chapter.:p:p:p

tld221 06-06-2007 01:12 PM

oh this is gonna be a good one, but geez at 22 houses to see!

(and the whole "my friend was in this movie, 'adventures in babysitting'" bit... love it!)

continue!!!!!!!

irishpipes 06-08-2007 10:55 AM

I moved into my dorm, Barton Hall. I love it. It is one of the older dorms on campus. This means it is closer to campus and it has high ceilings and larger rooms. The down side is that we don’t have a cafeteria or lounges. Martha isn’t there because she is staying with her sorority sisters for rush. I’m not really sure where she is since she can’t talk to me. So, I have the double room to myself which is great, but a little lonely. I meet girls on my floor who are there early for rush. Erin and Missy are freshmen like me, and across the hall Laura and Anne are sophomores. Laura and Anne lived together last year and are best friends. They seem nice enough, but they mainly stay in their room with the door closed and they are very quiet. On another floor of my dorm is Jenn, a sophomore who went to my high school. I didn’t know her well since she was a year older than me, but I knew of her since she was very popular and smart, and she had a sister in my grade. She is here early to rush as well as her good friend Shar, another sophomore from my high school who lives in Illini Tower (IT – a private dorm.) I knew Shar very well in high school. Shar seems to know a lot about the Greek scene and is sure which chapters she is wanting. I am very interested but can’t keep it all straight. We all go together to the orientation that first night at Foellinger Auditorium. The Rho Chis are all on stage with matching t-shirts and they do a presentation about how rush will work. There are 2,000 girls going through rush – the most ever. They make a big deal about that. They also keep mentioning that this is the largest Greek system in the country. I think they are saying it because they are proud of that, but I admit it is a little unnerving. We will be broken up into rush groups with 4 Rho Chis per group. Each group has an assigned classroom as “home base” for rankings. I don’t remember learning a lot at this meeting, but it was intimidating to see that many rushees together. I realized there was a lot of competition. Our booklet told us to wear whatever we wanted to the orientation because it was not a rush event. The girls I walked over with all wore shorts and t-shirts - nothing fancy. A lot of the girls we saw there were obviously dressed to impress, though. We were given blank nametags that we were to take home and decorate in a way that told people something about ourselves. Ugh. I am terrible at art. I ended up just writing my name in bubble letters and adding a bit of color. It was not a great nametag. I’m not sure what that told people about me!

Erin and Missy from my floor are not in my rush group, and neither are Shar and Jenn. It seems like the groups are somewhat divided by class status. I am pretty sure my group is all freshmen. So, I don't know anyone in the group, but really I didn't expect to at such a big school.

First Stage – Day 1:

My very first rush party! I am wearing a white mini skirt with big white buttons down the side and a red and white striped t-shirt. (Think Zoom! T-shirt, but red and white.) I have white waffle-weave flats on and of course I have full make-up including blue and pink eyeshadow, violet eyeliner and violet mascara. The pink shimmer lip gloss completes the look. I have shoulder-length strawberry blonde hair and it is curled all around from the hot rollers. Oh yes. Welcome to 1987.

It is hot and I am not really sure where we are on campus. We walked here from our classroom in Lincoln Hall, and I think I am pretty far from my dorm. There are about 50 girls in my rush group. Some are really dressed up and others are wearing shorts or outfits like mine. I don’t know anyone in my group. There are 2 girls standing next to me, Pam and Joelle, and they are obviously friends. They are very dressed up compared to everyone else, and are wearing a lot of makeup and hair spray. They talk constantly about sororities. I assume they know what they are talking about. I find 2 girls, Melissa and Kim, that I hit it off with and we become rush friends.

Roscommon: I cannot believe how beautiful the house is on the inside! The girls are really nice and the party is very laid back. I liked everyone I met, and was very impressed, I think partially because I had never been inside a sorority house before or been to a rush party before! After we left, I heard Pam and Joelle say that this is a Jewish sorority. What?? There are sororities with specific demographics? I am Catholic so this concerns me. I was worried that I could end up somewhere totally wrong for me just because I didn’t know things like that. I really liked everything about that first party, but I misunderstood Pam and Joelle’s comments to be that EVERYONE was Jewish. In retrospect, I understand that this was not true, but I was only 17 and had a very low Greek IQ.

Mayo: I don’t remember anything about this party except the chant, which I could still repeat to this day! I must not have felt a real connection because I didn’t note anything from this party.

Monaghan: This is the first house where the energy was really high. The members were singing and clapping and it was crazy! I loved that! Everyone was very nice and reminded me a lot of my friends from high school. No one was pretentious at all and I had a nice time.

Kilkenny: This is the first chapter that I really felt – wow. Like Monaghan, there was the initial high-energy singing and clapping. The chapter had a Disney theme with Mickey Mouse ear shaped name tags. I liked the 2 girls who talked to me. One of them liked to sing, too, and they talked to me about all of the singing opportunities in Greek life. I don't see Martha, my roommate, but I assume she couldn't talk to me anyway since we are roommates. (I didn't really understand the silence rule, just that there was one!) I liked this chapter a lot.

Wicklow: I am sort of confused by this chapter. The house is in a more residential area and is cute but very small. In fact, our rush group has to take turns going inside because we don’t all fit. Because of that, we only have the chance to meet for a few minutes with the member we talk to, and there is one member talking to 3 of us. I don’t think this is the kind of Greek experience I am looking for, but I was very impressed with how these members carried themselves when they were obviously so different from the other chapters.

Donegal: This is a really beautiful house. The girl who rushes me is a senior who went to my high school and was in “Annie” with me. This was definitely the most personal treatment I got because she already knew a lot about me so we spent time actually having a deeper-than-normal rush conversation. I’m not sure about this chapter, though, the overall energy is a little low, and Sherry, the girl who rushed me, alluded to “the benefits of being in a smaller chapter.” I actually hadn’t noticed the size until she brought it up, but it sent up a red flag for me.

Dublin: This house looks like a castle. Tricia, my high school boyfriend’s friend, is a sophomore here. Tricia and I get along ok, but I don’t think we would have the same group of friends. I do like the girls who rush me and I have a nice time. Tricia finds me and gives a quick hello.

Waterford: I think this is the chapter that Barbara didn’t get, but I am not sure if I remembered the letters correctly. The exterior of the house is very pretty and I am excited to go inside. Doors open and wow. Everyone is dressed in Illini gear - Orange and blue outfits with face painting and hair ribbons. The energy is contagious. Their chant is even an Illini chant, rather than one for their sorority. I meet 3 girls, including Gerri from my high school, and kind of get passed around a lot. I didn’t care for the rush style (being bumped constantly) but it doesn’t affect my impressions. I LOVE this chapter!

Galway: I like everyone I meet here, but nothing special stands out to me. Julie, who had sent me the card over the summer, waves but I don’t get a chance to say hi. A few of us go into one of the active’s bedrooms to talk. One of the other rushees dominates the conversation so I just check out the room. It was small but very pretty and decorated in yellow. After we leave this chapter, Melissa and Kim tell me that they loved it. I was just ok. Kim is sure this is where she wants to pledge! I am a little disappointed that Julie didn’t rush me here. So far, people I knew have rushed me for the most part, so I guess it turned me off a little.

Wexford: This house is a little off the beaten path (I think – I am still a little confused about campus) and it is in more of a residential setting. It is a very pretty house, but once we get inside it is obviously physically much smaller than most of the others. There are teddy bears everywhere. We go into one of the bedrooms. It is a regular sized bedroom but 6 girls sleep in it! That seemed strange but fun to me. The girls I talked to were nice, but there was one rusher to 3 rushees and the rusher was bumped, so it was hard to make a connection.

Kildare: I have never heard of this sorority but the exterior of the house is gorgeous. It looks just like a sorority house should, and most of the houses at U of I do not follow this particular architectural style. Well, this party was awful. Right off the bat I see Mary Lisa, a sophomore from my high school who was very intimidating. She was pretty and smart and very wealthy. She was a cheerleader in high school. I didn’t even know she went to U of I. She passes right by me without any indication that she recognizes me, despite the fact that we were in Street Scenes together for 3 straight years in high school (I was a singer and she was a dancer). Great. This is not starting off well. I end up talking with an active while sitting on the floor behind a sofa. It was very loud in the living room and it was getting late. I was tired and I had nothing in common with the girl talking to me. She was nice enough, but I could tell they would not be inviting me back. As I suspected, Pam and Joelle love this chapter!

Offaly: It is pitch dark and everyone is dead tired. We are all sitting on the cement outside of this house and saying that we wished we could just skip it and go back home. This house is beautiful and I am pretty sure we have been on this street earlier today visiting other houses. Finally the party starts and the doors swing wide open. I cannot believe the energy in this chapter! It is practically midnight and these girls are singing, clapping, and smiling as if they just started. They are very welcoming and the inside of the house is as pretty as the outside. They show us a picture of a famous alumna of their chapter. It is kind of funny because we know what she looks like now as a famous person, and to see her sorority composite photo is a little strange but funny. Plus, it sort of seems like a shrine or something, which is a little strange to me. I really like this chapter and I hope that I get invited back! As we left, a lot of the girls were commenting that this was a favorite. (I don’t think because of the picture of the famous alumna – we all made fun of that!)


Notes from Day 1:

I think that at some large schools, buses are used to transport the rushees from house to house. Not so for us. We had to walk all over Champaign and Urbana in the heat, with no regard for our shoe selections! This was incredibly tiring and made first stage a real blur. In my opinion, it put the chapters that came later in the schedule at a huge disadvantage because the rushees were so fatigued. Also, there were not tents set up in front of the houses to shade us as we waited for parties to start. We just stood on the sidewalk, and as the day dragged on, we sat on the ground!

Another observation was that despite the artistic nametags that we were all required to make, each sorority gave us a nametag to wear during the party that they removed before we left. This was irritating to me because I wondered why it was so important for us to make the ridiculous artsy-craftsy one if the chapters already made cute ones for us!!! (I later learned this assisted the chapters in keeping rushees straight. It was for the rushees’ protection, really)

************************
OK, so that was a really long post, but that is only half of first stage!!! There just are a lot of sororities!

irishpipes 06-08-2007 03:59 PM

First Stage - Day 2 -

Today I wore a denim mini skirt, huge earrings and white flats. My shirt is this weird sort of geometric thing. It is turquoise and has this fold over collar that hangs down in front and is sort of off to one side. It is my absolute favorite shirt because it is so cool!

The biggest thing about today is that we are in Champaign, and more of the fraternity houses are here (as opposed to Urbana). The jerks have put couches on their front lawns and drink beer and hold up score cards and make cat calls as we walk by. It is so humiliating.

Tipperary: This is a very interesting looking house – kind of like 2 houses put together. I am surprised when we go in that the inside is very attractive and comfortable. A very outgoing girl introduces herself and off we go. I liked the girl I talked to initially, but the second girl who came over knew one of the girls rushing with me and they started talking about their mutual friends and I was totally out of the loop. When we left this chapter, I overhear Pam and Joelle saying that this is one of the chapters where the really pretty, really nice girls go. It is obvious that they approve, but I am turned off since I felt excluded from the conversation during the party.

Sligo: This house seems to be pretty far away, but it is nice. When we get inside, a girl named Cathy picks me up. She tells me that she is Dave’s sister. (Dave is a friend from high school.) She is incredibly nice and tells me she has been dying to meet me since she knew a lot about me because I hung out with Dave (who is my best friend Cara’s ex-boyfriend.) She obviously has talked to someone about me because she asks a lot about the specific teachers that I had in high school, my group of friends, etc. It is a great conversation and a nice break from the usual rush questions. Cathy is a senior and I didn’t have a chance to meet anyone else here. This chapter didn’t do a big song/chant at the beginning so it was tough to get a feel for their personality. Pam remarks that they are too small to even be a consideration.

Clare: I don’t have any notes from this party, but I put a star on their page so I must have liked it!

Longford: This house seemed strange even before we entered. It was a little run down and seemed small. It was right on campus, but still, it didn’t seem like a sorority house as much as a fraternity house. One girl rushes 3 of us. She wasn’t very talkative and it was HOT in the house. The windows are open and we kept having to swat flies. There was a funny smell that was distracting as well. This was definitely my least favorite so far. I felt bad though because I have no idea what the true personality of the chapter was because my particular rusher was very shy and quiet.

Carlow: This is another very attractive house, inside and out. I don’t remember anything specific, but they got a star as well, so it must have been nice!

Kerry: I don’t care for the exterior of this house, but I am still excited to go inside. Wow again – so much energy from these girls! Their cheer is very cute and the girls are adorable. The inside of their house is gorgeous. I meet 2 girls who talk with 2 of us the entire time, I liked that because we really got somewhere with the conversation. Melissa from my rush group is sitting very near me and she is smiling a lot. I can tell she likes it here too. They aren’t my very favorite, but I really want to come back here.

Cork: This is one of the few sororities that I had heard of before coming to school. I knew that I had a rec here, whatever that meant. There is one girl in my rush group who is a legacy here and she talks abut it constantly. I have very high expectations here, but I must say that I don’t find anything remarkable, and actually don’t feel any special connection at all. I am happy for legacy girl, who obviously loved it, but I didn’t feel it here. I wrote “maybe” in my book.

Meath: Pam and Joelle have told us that this chapter only takes freshmen. I don’t know if that is good or bad, but they make it seem like that is bad, because sophomores are so much cooler than freshmen. Anyway, I am greeted by Anne-Marie – a sophomore from my high school. I didn’t know she went here either! I never really knew her well, but I thought it was nice that she rushed me.

Limerick: This house is stunning on the outside, and already has my mom’s stamp of approval since her sister had received a bid from them. (Eyes rolling at my mom’s cluelessness!) This is another high energy house. I am met by Tracy and we get to talk one on one until she introduces Dana who joins us. They both seem to be more outgoing versions of myself. I love this chapter and feel very at home.

Leitrim: Finally the last party of First Stage. It is dark and we all drudge in and sit on the beautiful wood floors. I guess I am just tired because I just don’t feel much of anything here. I would like to come back and give it a chance when I am not dead tired.

Back at the dorms, Jenn likes pretty much all of the chapters, but Shar, who is more sorority savvy starts naming off the “good” ones. Shar is a very nice person, but she is kind of materialistic, I guess you could say, so of course I am very interested in her opinions, since I was a 17 year-old idiot. I can’t remember all of her “good” sororities, but I did have a very chicken-scratch looking list in my booklet that says “Shar – good sororities..” :rolleyes:

Missy and Erin from my floor have entirely different opinions. Erin is like me and doesn’t know anything about Greek life. She likes several chapters. Missy, on the other hand, has informed us that the only chapter to join is Cork. When I told her that Cork isn’t one of my favorites, she looks at me like I am insane, but then Shar tells us that Cork is really good at other schools but less so at U of I. I am not sure how Shar knows that, or if it is even true, but it is interesting. It was the first I had heard that reputations are different at different schools.

My own favorites are Kerry, Limerick, Waterford, Kilkenny, and Offaly.

FSUZeta 06-08-2007 04:50 PM

wow! i am exhausted just reading of your first 2 days. i can't wait to learn more.

OtterXO 06-08-2007 05:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FSUZeta (Post 1463484)
wow! i am exhausted just reading of your first 2 days. i can't wait to learn more.

OMG me too! It just seems like too much to pack into 2 days. I don't think you mentioned how many days rush was and how many houses you attended each day...I'm curious with so many houses!


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