UIUC Rush Story
 

Hint: I think most people know UIUC as just U of I, or even better, Illinois. I was confused (and I'm from Peoria) until you said it had 18 sororities, which was a dead give-away.

Location
 

Oh, good point! I always think people will think I'm talking about U of Iowa or Idaho or something lol. Ok, so everyone knows now where I'm talking about! :)

Wow. Seems like a lot of emphasis on your recap is on their looks.

I know you are trying to give your first impressions of each house, but remember, you are a Junior. Sometimes houses cut heavily on upper classmen and one of those chapters that you deem, "not very pretty", may be all that is on your invitations.

You might want to take a step back and take a deep look, rather than a shallow view of the houses.

This is a nice way to say what I was thinking. :)

Yes, and especially as a Jr, you're honestly not going to get your top choice of groups. Also, being a Jr, and knowing that several GCers are from Illinois, you might want to sensor yourself some...since you'll be a little easier to pick out of the crowd.

I am hoping that these were just first impressions. Hopefully you are astute enough to discount these observations as shallow and vapid. Just remember, if you gave these chapters such little opportunity, they may be doing the same to you. Later, when you are wondering how you got cut from one of your favorites, just think about the uncharitable things you said about groups you know very little about. Recruitment goes both ways...when you complain that a group didn't take the time to get to know you, you need to realize they are being just as fair to you as you are to them!:rolleyes:

I always thought it was "Champagne-Urbana," not Urbana-Champagne?!

GC is so educational.

Wow, just wow. :rolleyes:

Doing everything possible to bite my tongue before I say something REALLY nasty...and I'm not even Greek

Is this for real? This seems a little too nasty (even for being a naive poster/pnm) for a real experience.

Sounds like someone undercover for an anti-greek writing assignment.

after reading her post i was totally shocked. i dont think many groups take girls just because they are pretty. i know ours didnt. you had to have a special something to add to our sisterhood. maybe rush is different at that school?? all i can say is wow. i kinda wanted to hear what the parties were like, how she felt about philanthropies, normal stuff like that. im totally shocked by this poster.

If she wants to be shallow, let her be shallow. She'll get what she deserves.

...

This is just a guess on my part, but I'd think being a Junior would make you pretty memorable. Chances are, the girls in this house know you're talking about them (since you commented on their clothes), and they're not going to be happy about it.

It's been said time and time again, but it evidently needs repeating:
Be discreet. (Or is it discrete?) It's probably good (for you) that you had to stop your recap in order to go to class. Read all the responses you've gotten so far before you start your next batch of recaps.

Seriously. You're doing yourself a real disservice here.

I was just about to ask those familiar with UIUC recruitment...

I know that it's not impossible for upperclassmen to receive bids at UIUC, but are there a lot of them that rush in the Fall?

The OP's not just a Junior. She's a Junior transfer.

This is my newest favorite rush thread. :)

I normally hear it as Champaign-Urbana, UNLESS you are talking about the University, who does it Urbana-Champaign. Don't know why that is.

DBB or irishpipes...any idea why UofI chose to be different?

In defense of LittleMissVixen, this was open houses. In 20 minutes there isn't a lot to comment on besides appearances and initial conversations. It is important for both the PNMs and the chapters to make a good first impression at Open Houses and it sounds like some of the chapters didn't do as well as they would have liked. I'm sure she'll learn more about them as she progresses in the process and have more substantive comments to share.

I agree that it's going to be a good thread.

But Illinois is one of those that gets 1000+ PNMs, so picking her out wouldn't be as easy as at WIU or EIU.

I agree. She could have been a bit less candid about her true thoughts on the appearances of the girls in each house, but for open house all you really can go on is the blur of a 20 minute party. If all you remember is that ABC had girls who looked like they rolled out of bed and had chipped pedicures..... then it is what it is. Clearly the chapter didn't make a great first impression. To be honest, it's something I would notice too. I'm looking forward to hearing the rest of the story though.

It is Champaign-Urbana, and it is U of I. HOWEVER, even when I was there, the university seemed to be pushing to get us to stop calling it U of I and call it UIUC. Like my student ID said UIUC, etc. They told us that there is U of I in Chicago, etc. so our campus truly should be called UIUC. So, U of I people would certainly be familiar with the UIUC terminology, although in speaking we would refer to it just as U of I.

As for why it would be UIUC and not UICU I have no idea. The place rocks though so no criticism from me.

Oh, and OTW - just saw your question - UIUC is different now than when I was there, so DBB would know this better than I would. We only had fall formal rush and I don't think anybody COBd. I don't think they have spring recruitment even now, but several chapters do participate in COB after formal. So, to answer your question, I would think that all juniors - no all students - interested in getting a bid would go through fall formal.

And yes, juniors routinely get bids at UIUC, but they do tend to have fewer options than sophomores and freshmen.

As for the OP, I think even now most of the chapters there are pretty even and the school isn't hell-bent on tiers (although they do exist.) Unless things have changed dramatically, which I have heard they haven't, most chapters have a good deal of members who are stellar, since the PNM pool is very impressive there. Give each group a chance and maybe you will find the kind of girls you are looking for, even in chapters where you least expected it.

They didn't want to be the University of Intensive Care Unit.

There's also a UIS (Springfield) so they're pushing UIC/UIUC/UIS (and maybe a UIP in the future)

Peoria?

I'm subscribing to this thread b/c it's fun! Let's just hope she doesn't flounce away b/c I want to hear how it turns out! ;):D

Juniors can definitely get bids at UIUC, but they are cut hard by the "top" houses. The only exceptions I've seen are if the PNM has a group of friends in a chapter than can vouch for her.

Although with quota additions this might not mean anything - if the chapter can have a separate list for quota additions for upperclassmen.

The PNMs are heavily freshmen but for every 4 freshmen there is a sophomore. Being a junior transfer might weigh her in favor more than just a junior.

I'm speaking of 7 years ago however.

I'm anxious to what her results are!

Finally a UIUC thread, this reminds me to bug on of my pledge sisters who is now our recruitment adviser.

Just make sure you are very careful about your observations, truthful or not. GC is an open forum, and we'd hate for you to end up in a group you called boring just to have them find this thread and get pissed off at you! What happens in cyberspace unfortunately tends to stick around for a long, long time! No one has any ill will towards you, but if you notice the reaction to your first post, you might conclude that it's better to be a little more vague with your negative comments. This, of course, will keep you from insulting women from these chapters and of course, will keep you from being cut if someone finds these posts before the end of recruitment!;)

U of I uses Urbana-Champaign because *technically* the main address of the school is in Urbana. In fact, so are most of the academic buildings, while Champaign has most of the athletic facilities, and a lot of housing. Sororities are just about evenly split between the two.

Junior quota is new, so I can't comment on chances of getting a bid as a junior. Without it, there were only 3-5 chapters that would take juniors, but I don't know if that has changed.

Keep in mind, though, that even a "small" chapter at UIUC will have over 100 women, and because there are so many more fraternities than sororities, a full social calendar.

i like your candor,littlemissvixen.

littlemissvixen's comments are one of the reasons that make me think twice about sorority life. I hope she is the exception rather than the rule. I know there wasn't much time, but all of the comments seemed focused on appearances.

I liked the OP's candor too, and frankly, I don't think she said anything too negative or innapropriate. If the majority of the girls in a chapter seem to look similar, it's only natural to notice!

The candor is refreshing and fun to read, but it's kind of complicated when you think someone might be setting herself up for a negative outcome.

It's certainly not that I want a negative outcome for her, but when a junior at a competitive school is making a lot of superficial judgments first round, it doesn't seem to typically equal recruitment success.

Let's hope that the new junior quota and littlemissvixen's merit get a different outcome this time around!

Yeah, one of my sisters who is from Peoria says that the U of I's relationship with ICC is really strong -they have worked with them a lot on making classes cross over and transferring to the UofI for your bachelors very easy- and there are hints that they're developing it towards becoming a full branch of the university.

Their med school is there as well I think so it's certainly not a crazy idea. I have no idea of any sort of timeline or if it's a done deal or not. It's just out there at this point I think.

Wait, wait, wait....

HARVARD ON THE HILL IS (possibly) GOING TO BE A U of I BRANCH???????????

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!

My mom actually worked at the UofI AIDS clinic for awhile. She loved that job. The only thing she didn't like is "back then" people still weren't living like they are now, and so she was constantly having to deal with client's deaths.

Remember - she isn't a sorority member - she is a rushee. This just goes to show that it isn't always the sorority members who are looks-focused. Many times, it's the exact opposite.

Down here at UIC (I might as well just spill out my alma mater :p) we just call U of I ...well, U of I or Urbana Champaign. We do know about the uiuc term, but I guess we all got used to call you guys up there U of I. Just like people in the city would used to call UIC the Circle Campus.

I know a few people in U of I, and you're right about most sororities being equal, though I know a couple sororities which a considered top notch there. But nonetheless, the OP should give it an open mind and not to kill her options.

Such as saying that a sorority was "desperate" and "unkempt" and then letting everyone know it was the "Jewish" sorority, of all details to give away...

lol...seriously, people can easily track down who the OP is...

well, good luck to her nonetheless! :D

But one of the sororities really amused me

I was a bit confused. Sorry for my lack of knowledge, but I thought the OP was going through an NPC rush? I wasn't aware of that one of the NPCs was a engineering sorority? Or do all sororities (including no NPC) do rush all together?

I think she's talking about Sigma Alpha, which is probably listed on the Greek Life page...and when she made her cheat sheet/code names maybe she didn't realize that Sigma Alpha didn't rush with the NPCs? Or maybe they do, but I wouldn't think so.

ETA: Illinois' Greek Life site is sort of confusing. There's nothing that says "Here are the sororities that participate in Formal Rush" or "Here are the NPCs". They're all lumped together, including locals, professionals (some of them, I'm sure they have more that what's listed) and even 4-H.