Question about Bid Day at Auburn University?
 

Hello....

My daughter is rushing at Auburn University this fall. I've heard from several other Mom's that they are planning to attend Bid Day. Since I wasn't Greek and don't live in the Southeast, I am not sure exactly what happens on Bid Day, when and what time it would be appropriate to be there, what percentage of parents show up, and if my daughter will be upset if I don't show up.

I've noticed quite a few of you are from the Southeast and of course one of your Moderators is an esteemed Auburn Alum, so I thought I might be able to get some answers from you all.

Thanks!

p.s. Love, Love, Love this website. You all have been so helpful in the last couple of months as I have learned so much about Greek life. I am really, really happy my daughter has chosen to rush! Keep up the good work...

Wow! I think some moms will attend if they were members of the chapters on campus, but I never knew that it was an event generally attended by parents. My instinct it to say that if you weren't a member of the GLO that your daughter joins, it might be a little awkward since it's really about the present members welcoming new members.

There were certainly be parents weekends in the fall so that you can meet the chapter and be welcomed as parents yourselves.

Perhaps the Auburn Greek Life office could really answer this question best if you don't hear from some GCers first

One would think that, but I know that some family members, even ones who were not in the NM's GLO or in a GLO at all, go to Bid Day at Ole Miss (probably depends on how close Oxford is ;)). I imagine it's the same at Auburn. I think it's unnecessary and even a bit intrusive. If a legacy pledged her family member's GLO, maybe, but let her have her day with her new sisters. Go to her initiation instead, go to Parent's Weekend, go for a random weekend/football game if meeting her sorority sisters is the goal.

However, check with your daughter to see if she would want you to be there. If she does and you want to go, I see no reason why you shouldn't share in her excitement.

At Alabama probably 75% of parents come for bid day. All the sororities provide a bid day meal at the house for parents, siblings, friends, and new members. I'm sure it is very similar at Auburn even though they don't have houses. It is expected for parents to attend at UA not intrusive.

Wow! Good to know. Is this a long standing tradition?

When I was a freshman, I moved up to Auburn all by myself before recruitment. My parents came a week later to be there on Bid Day and for my first day of classes. A lot of parents come for Bid Day, but that doesn't mean if you can't make it your daughter will fell left out. There are plenty of activities throughout the day for her to take part in. If you do travel to Auburn for Bid Day, you're in for an experience unlike any other you've had before. A llittle advice: Wear comfortable walking shoes because there is virtually no convenient parking and you will most likely have to walk a good bit. Also wear cool clothing. This is, after all, Alabama in August. It's almost guaranteed to be H-O-T!!!

Eta:
Attending Bid Day is in the "Top 25 Things to do at Auburn Before You Graduate."

Ditto - LOTS of girls families attend bid day, not to mention the swarms of fraternity guys there to check out the new member classes :) It's a lot of fun and definitely very hot! However, it certainly isn't mandatory for you to be there - I was from TN and my parents weren't there and it was ok for me - then sent me flowers that day and came a couple of weeks later. It's up to you and your daughter!

Yes, hordes of parents attend Bid Day now! Somebody help me out on this because they used to gather by Social Center but it seems they've moved? A carload of parents from here went last year and said it was a mob scene.

And like the other posters said, some don't attend and it's okay. Please let us know how your daughter's rush goes! :)

Even if they aren't members of the house their daughters/sisters pledged? I would think it would be kind of weird to show up to a sibling/daughter's bid day at another house if a woman was an alum from another house.

Yeah, 2 of the moms were Greek and their daughters pledged other groups...one was cut from her legacy group, one had cut her mom's group. I guess that as I have, the moms decided they would embrace their family's new sororities wholeheartedly! One mom (along with another local mother whose daughter pledged that group 2 years ago) spends a lot of time down there helping her daughter's sorority and she's decided that this chapter was a lot better for her daughter than her legacy group would have been.

I think that it's nice that it is this way. At first it stuck me as an outgrowth of helicopter parenting to be honest, but if the groups have embraced it as a opportunity to have a big open party, that's wonderful.

Auburn and Alabama both seem to have a much more inclusive atmosphere with the outcome of recruitment which probably helps their PR. (Think about how the published list of new members freaks some people out, but I think it's nice and the open bid day just takes it one step further: come and celebrate with us!)

We didn't do that at UGA when I was there; at least at my group, but personally, I've come to realize that UGA misses a lot of chances to improve PR and intergroup relations. The idea of a big open day of parties just didn't seem to happen. I don't know if it's people being deliberately exclusive or just socially retarded.

(I wonder if knowing about these system-wide happy, public outcomes keeps more PNM is recruitment overall. Even if they get dropped by some groups, the girls look forward to participating in bid day and authentically believe being Greek with be worth it, even if they're not XYZs)

Thanks so much for all of your advice... As always, you all seem to be "in the know" and you are always so gracious in sharing your advice with those of us that are new to the Greek system!

I'll definitely keep you all posted as to how my daughter's rush goes. As you know, it begins in less then a week. Once we get closer, I'll start a thread and we can all track her progress together! She's excited, I'm excited, we're both a little nervous (but in a good way!). I'll look forward to being able to give you all daily updates (being discreet, of course) as to what she's doing.

Talk to you all soon...... 6 days and counting!........ :)

Please feel free to attend Bid Day! It's a wonderful and fun day. Your daughter will be meeting her new sisters for the first time, and you'll have the opportunity to meet them and their parents as well.

I know that when I was involved with the planning for Recruitment, we planned on having parents, sibling and extended family at our celebration after bids were given out. That included lots of non-alcoholic liquid refreshment for the lovely August heat. It's a great time to meet the sisterhood that your daughter will be joining and see some of the things that she will experience in the next few weeks and years to come while she is a Tiger. If you have any questions, feel free to PM me.

Can't wait to hear what happens! All of us rush-thread addicts on GC are very thankful that Auburn has recruitment so early. :D

Just to clarify, you (the original poster) would not attend your daughter's initiation.

Not the actual ceremony, but the chapter might have a parents brunch later that morning/weekend. It can be a great way for parents to see the chapter house, get to know the chapter officers/advisers and learn more about what their daughter will be doing as a member of XYZ (especially those who weren't in GLOs themselves).

Question...because Auburn does recruitment so early, how does this work for housing? Do they allow the new froshes to move into the houses afterwards or are they still in dorms after they get their bids?

We don't have any sorority houses. You see, there's a law in Alabama that says more than 3 unrelated women can't live together--just kidding! Just kidding!

Each sorority has a floor in a dorm; some are the only sorority in their dorm (usually 3-story dorms) and some, like Pi Phi and Alpha Chi, each have a floor in a 6-story dorm. We all have chapter rooms in the dorm basements. Sometimes PNMs live in the dorms that house Greeks, not on the Greek floors of course, but several years ago they lived in majority-freshmen dorms. Maybe Auburn still has those.

That describes Bid Day for us!

Huh that's kinda cool. Thanks for the info. I refused to live in-house but that was mostly due to medical issues. If you saw how many stairs we had in our house and you had a bad knee, you'd opt out too! Hardwood stairs are scary as hell in heels, let alone barefoot.

BTW-I KNEW ALABAMA HAD A BROTHEL LAW! and there's an Auburn pin on the moon.

my little sis is going through rush at auburn this fall and she is moving into her dorm on saturday. freshmen already have dorm assignments, so they will just move into the dorm room they are assigned to.

War Eagle to your daughter! I hope she has a fantastic recruitment!! :D

I remember driving around the hill on bid day, good times.

I think it's wonderful when sororities make Bid Day a family event. As already said, Bid Day is a huge To Do at Alabama. We have Moms, Dads, siblings, you name it all come to celebrate their daughter's new life.

At our Chapter we hold a brief parents meeting while the PNM's meet with their new member educator for the first time. We introduce the House Director, the Advisors and any Inat'l officers who may be present. I've found it makes the parents feel much more comfortable knowing there are alums who are actively involved in the running of the Chapter and therefore active in their daughter's lives. You'd be surprised at the number of parents who didn't expect this, primarily those who weren't Greek or whose Chapters didn't have active alum support.

Going down on Bid Day
 

Although it is still up in the air as to whether or not my daughter will get a bid on bid day. I have planned all along to go down there. I am still going to go even if she doesn't get a bid as I feel as if she will need me that much more. Also I have purchased a "few more items" (Ha) for her and her dorm room! So I need to take those down to her as well and we can go shop for a printer in the morning. It should be a great day for me and her no matter what the outcome. I can only hope that it has a good outcome though and she gets a bid from this sorority that she is hoping for. I am so thankful I found this board with all of these threads. This site has been very helpful, informative, and supportive for me these last few days.

Since my experience was SOOOOO different than an SEC recruitment, I just have to say this... While I understand why most of them do recruitment before school starts, I was thinking back to when I first went away to school. I was so nervous about moving away from home to a school where I only knew a handful people, living in a dorm for the first time, worrying about finding my way around campus, having my friends split all over the state, etc. I can't even imagine adding the stress of an SEC recruitment to all that nervousness and emotion! It has to be extremely difficult for those who don't succeed at recruitment because it is their first taste of college life and it starts out difficult. Somehow, I'd never thought about that aspect of it before until you mentioned picking up a few more things for her dorm room. It brought me back to that very scary first week of school where I wasn't sure if I had everything I would need, didn't know what my roommate would be like, where the buildings were that I had to go to for classes, etc. How incredibly overwhelming for these young ladies (and their mothers!)

Auburn bid day
 

Lots of moms are there. It's not going to be on the President's lawn this year so that will be A LOT cooler and it's going to be at 3pm instead of 1pm! It's also going to be at the amphitheatre instead.

Lots of moms are there. Lots are not. They are going to be super involved with their new sorority so there is not a lot for moms to do anyway.

Parents are not allowed at initiation.

They do have mother/daughter activities though later on.