Univ of Arkansas Recruitment!
 

let's get this going! rush starts this coming Friday. i have heard 700+ signed up, how does that compare to last year?

667 went to first round last year.

They had over 700 signed up...not sure anything else.

AOPi will definitely be building up their house....it's in the process. I'm excited to see how this goes.

Rush starts tomorrow, fri night, with orientation. they visit all houses saturday, first cuts sat. night. anybody know how many max invites they will get after the saturday rounds?

They can receive an invitation from possibly all eight but they can only accept up to 6 for Philanthropy. House Tours accept 4 max Pref. accept 2 max

(thanks for correcting pref night to 2 houses, rather than 3)

It is 2. I just misread. Sorry about that.

ok, thanks! i saw the AOPi house being built, that is great they got to build right on Maple. how many members do they have currently?

Thanks. We are lucky to have such a great spot and irishpipes' description of the house sounds stunning. I wish that we would have been playing AR in Fayetteville this year so that I could have seen it but I can wait until 2010. I'm not sure what thier pre-recruitment numbers are.

Unfortunately, campus total is only 130, despite the fact that 6 of the 7 sororities (AOII makes the 8th) average 200 members. So, when AOII took quota+ last year, they were over total and could not COB to get closer to the average chapter size. So they are the second smallest chapter, but above total after FR.

Wait, am I the only one on campus here? Irish, you here?

Starts on Saturday, girls have been blowing up my phone constantly for information on girls from my hometown. Pretty excited about the close of their rush finally.

irishpipes -

I know in one of the original threads about AOPi colonizing at Arkansas, a newspaper was quoted as saying the possibilities of another expansion at Arkansas (several of us joked about who would be invited). Do you think another expansion is a strong possibility in the next couple of years (a la Alabama)?

Zeta House
 

The Zeta house has been undergoing some redecorating and remodeling this summer. The house looks fabulous!!! The girls are so excited about recruitment. I wish them the best!!

I know this wasn't addressed to me...

depending on the results of rush this year (that is, if a certain chapter on campus does well, or even poorer than previous years), you may see that chapter fall and expansion be promised to a national which promises plenty of money for housing...just a thought. The aforementioned chapter has already gotten in serious trouble with Panhellenic already and has thus had their rush affected. We'll see how they do.

And the Zeta house does look immaculate these days, at least from the outside.

:confused:

Maybe it's late but I don't get what you mean.

There is a chapter that could A) do well in recruitment or B) do really badly in recruitment and still be screwed???

That doesn't make sense to me.

And that's not really how NPC expansion works...

I think he means if the chapter does really well, they'll stay. If their rush is epic fail, they'll go and a new chapter will come on.

Would another new sorority need to put up the same kind of financial outlay as AOPi, then? If the smaller chapter folds, wouldn't its house be available (for rent if not purchase)?
________
LIVE SEX

Your the drolefille to my Earp

After doing so poorly last year, the chapter in question's nationals have been very hot about it. Did several member reviews and so forth. Kicked a bunch of people out. The buzz from the chapter itself was that they were on the brink. They need a good rush this year.

And yes, I realized that expansion is not like that. However, because the University continues to grow and rush continues to get bigger, I believe it might be inevitable to bring another sorority on if we lose the chapter in question.

Excellent!

Orientation today at 5, then all 8 houses starting at 9am tomorrow. have heard there are more open spots than PNM's......so.......everyone should have a spot, should they choose to.

There are never "more open spots than PNMs" - that's what quota is for - it is # of PNMs divided by number of sororities.

That isn't how recruitment quotas work. Quota is based on the number of PNMs. It has nothing to do with total or bed spaces.

I seriously doubt that another expansion opportunity would arise soon, despite a possible need based on the numbers. It is sort of an Ole Miss situation, to a slightly lesser degree. I know AOII's road has been very, very difficult, despite a good measure of success so far. I hate to say this, but the university is very difficult to work with and they control all of the land. There's a lot more I could say about that, but I won't. Most of the groups that in my opinion would be the likely candidates for extension have already been on campus and closed. A lot more I could say about that too.

I wonder where Sue E. Pig is? She was so much fun last year

I guess I have a few things I could point out to pass the time...

In a further effort to make recruitment no fun, there is no skit round this year. Also, Arkansas does not do a craft during Philanthropy round - chapters are only allowed to show a video about their philanthropy.

Also, due to multiple rush infractions the past few years BY ALUMNAE DURING PARTIES, chapters are only allowed to have 12 "helpers" at each party, and they must be registered with the Greek Life office before recruitment begins. NO helpers may at any time be seen by the PNMs (basically, get in the kitchen, folks. And stay there.)

And, silence rules now apply to alumnae, including no letter clothing or car stickers. Any infractions and the chapter is held responsible. (How in the world is this accomplished? Why should the chapter be punished if an alumna who is not involved and doesn't know the rules, shows letters???)

i KNOW! we need her back! : )

ok that is nothing short of RIDICULOUS on the alums!!!!! and i HATE they did away with skits. i'm guessing they can't even stand on the front lawn and do the songs anymore either? WHY did they make it SO BORING NOW??????

Whoa - that's crazy.

ETA: I have to say about the skits though, that it makes prep a lot easier to not do a skit. They can be fun, but sometimes they're hit or miss in terms of a PNM identifying with a skit theme or topic.

Is there a trend away from skits? U Iowa did away with them, too, supposedly in an effort to even out the playing ground among the large and smaller houses.

It is all part of "no frills." That's what we were told.

The only things that can have sorority letters are general "Go Greek" items that have ALL of the sororities' letter on them.

oh and don't forget that they are now provided t-shirts for every day of rush except pref night (which is NOON to five next Sunday in the heat). all in effort to "level the playing field" or whatever.....sheesh, put them in a uniform already! haha

There is a chapter on campus that has a reputation for severe dirty rushing and bid promising. It was so bad that a few PNMs reported them to the GL office last year because helper moms and alumnae were adding to the problem. So, that is why the ridiculous new silence rules for alumnae.

The trend is no-frills, not just away from skits. Skits are considered a "frill" during recruitment. I want to say it was something that NPC is encouraging campuses to do - though I'm sure someone else knows more than I do.

That is unfortunate because I never saw the skit as a "frill". You can tell a lot about a chapter by how they handle the whole skit process, how much effort they put into it and how the sisters interact with each other. My daughter commented when she went through rush that she was impressed at the houses that put a lot of time and effort into the skit and was unimpressed with the ones that didn't. She also watched how the sisters reacted to the girls in the skit, especially their reactions when they messed up. This was all so interesting to see it from her perspective since it has been quite a few years since my own rush!

I've spent the last few days just lurking around! My D is looking forward to being on the other side of recruitment. She has spent an exhausting week working at the house. She said there are a few more than 700 going through recruitment.
If there are any UARK PNM moms out there, if you can do go to bid day. I went last year on the Sunday before Bid Day. As I sat on the porch of Carnall Hall that sunny Sunday, I heard boys screaming and car horns honking. I realized that boys were cruising up and down Maple watching the girls go from house to house! Of course, they came down Arkansas to cruise past the AOPi house, too. I thoroughly enjoyed myself that day.

glad to have you back! any word on how the PNM's stack up this year? i've heard GPA is an issue for most houses.......?

Sue E,
Glad you are back!!!

Haven't heard a thing about GPAs or how the girls stack up. I don't want to grill my D so much.
I am so glad Panhellenic changed the timetable for recruitment this year. It was hard on the girls to wait a week to find what houses they were invited back to on top of their studies was hard. I think it was harder on the PNM moms.
I wanted to add something else about bid day. If is just unbelievable. To stand at the top of the Greek Theater and watch the sororoities file in in their colored shirts, myriad of balloons and the PNMs at the bottom with their cards in hand is incredible. When the signal is given and the girls open their cards the sound is deafening. Of course, the boys hanging around add to the sound! Take lots of pictures or movies because your daughter will be so excited as she holds her card that she probably won't remember the sights and sounds. I even got to walk with D to her knew home and took lots of pictures outside the house. Of course, then I was oh so politely asked to leave so she could be with her new sisters.
I'll come out of lurkdom from time to time, but will leave it to the more knowledgable Gurus like Elephant Walk and Irishpipes.

Having witnessed skits a decade+ ago that were ridiculously expensive and way over the top with professionally designed lighting, sound systems, costumes, etc., I agree with the notion of some no frills limitations on skits (and therefore budgets). However I don't agree with doing away with them entirely. A good skit can showcase a chapter's talents and talented members, their interests, their achievements and can (hopefully) bring a little bit of humor to the recruitment process.

I've been to Fayetteville, but never on Bid Day -- I would love to experience it!

(Sue, I do LOVE your name!)