Educational Bama Recruitment Story
 

My daughter went through rush fall 2012 and I thought I would share her rush results with everyone. It should give those participating in the upcoming rush an example of how it works.
For Open House she visited all 16 sororities (8 on Day 1 and 8 on Day 2). At the end of Day 2, she voted/submitted her 4 least favorites.
My daughter had her own personal ranking of 1-16. This ranking started after visiting the second house and continued throughout the first two days. It was beneficial to her so she wouldn’t “forget” where the sororities stood in her mind. She listed #13/14/15/16 on her ballot at the end of day 2.
At the beginning of Day 3, she had been invited back to the maximum number of houses, which was 12. According to her rankings, these houses were no longer in the picture: #6, #7, #15 and #16. Thus, two houses she wanted to visit again released her (#6, #7) and her two least favorites (#15, #16) she “dropped”. Her top 5 were still intact.
For Philanthropy Day she visited 12 sororities (4 on Day 3 and 4 on Day 4). At the end of Day 4, she voted/submitted her 4 least favorites. She listed #9/10/11/12 on her ballot at the end of day 4.
It is important to mention my daughter had started a clean ranking slate from 1-12 and her rankings did change from the original 1-16 rankings. For example: #1 was still #1, #2 was now #3, #3 was now #2, #4 was now #8, #5 was now #4, etc. Thus, she started this second round of visits with an open mind and fresh opinion.
At the beginning of Day 5, she had been invited back to the maximum number of houses, which was 8. According to her new rankings, these houses were no longer in the picture: #1, #2, #8 and #12. Thus, three houses she wanted to visit again released her (#1, #2, #8) and her least favorite (#12) she “dropped”. Thus, her top 5 were no longer intact as her first and second choice, at this point, were out of the picture. However, #3, #4, #5 and the five others were still in the picture.
It is important to mention she was more excited than disappointed at this point. Although two favorites were gone, there were still favorites in the picture. And, she was having an excellent recruitment.
For Skit Day she visited 8 sororities (4 on Day 5 and 4 on Day 6). At the end of Day 6, she voted/submitted her 5 least favorites. She listed # 4/5/6/7/8 on her ballot at the end of day 6.
Yes, she kept an open mind, started another clean ranking slate from 1-8, her ranking did change again, and it was a tough decision to narrow down to only 3.
At the beginning of Day 7, she had been invited back to the maximum number of houses, which was 3. According to her rankings, these houses were no longer in the picture: #1, #2, #3, #7 and #8. Thus, the top three houses she wanted to visit again released her (#1, #2, #3) and her two least favorites (#7 and #8) she “dropped”. She was delighted to be invited to 3 preference parties and liked the 3 remaining houses, #4,#5,#6 and was willing to accept a bid from any of them.
Preference Day went well and it was another tough choice ranking the remaining three sororities. Yes, her rankings changed again. This time, she voted/submitted her ballot in order of preference (favorite to least favorite).
On Bid Day, she received her first choice and was extremely excited.
My daughter told me this past spring that the sorority she is in, is the place she needed to be. She isn’t sure how “the system” works, but she adamently stated, “it works”. She truly loves her sorority and it is a great fit for her. She will live in the house beginning in August for her sophomore year, and to me that says it all. As for how her sorority ranked in her mind during the entire process, here you go: Open House rank #8 (of 16), Philanthropy Day #6 (of 12), Skit Day #5 (of 8), and Preference Day #1 (of 3).
I encourage all the PNM mom’s on here to let your daughter make up her own mind and encourage her to keep an open mind. I emotionally supported my daughter through the entire process, but told her ultimately it was up to her because she would be the one living with the decision and it was her happiness. I would also prepare my daughter of the possibility of being released if her GPA is not 3.0.
And for what it is worth: She is an OOS student, entered Bama with a 3.6 GPA, had female relatives who were legacies write recommendation letters and it did not influence anything, had three sororities in which no recommendation letter was written (because we couldn’t find anyone to write one), thus not received and it did not influence anything (because she continued to get invited back) and, most importantly, she comes from a long line of Roll Tide fans and her mother, yours truly, is an alumnae. ROLL TIDE ROLL! History does repeat itself! Except for the fact that I was GDI – LOL. :eek:
And finally, I know there are many members on this site that do not like the terminology of a PNM “dropping” a sorority and would probably like to take up stance with me for using it. However, my daughter did “drop” sororities during this process. To have her put her least favorites on a ballot to never be seen again is considered dropping. It happened too many times during the process for it to be a “mutual” decision.
Thanks for reading and I hope this was helpful. ;)

I'm sorry but your post is very confusing and you are using incorrect terms that make it even more confusing.

PNMs do not VOTE. They list the sororities they would least like to return to the next day in order of their preference.

PNMs do not DROP. If a sorority that they ranked low does not appear on their next day party schedule then it means that she appeared high enough on the lists of the sororities she wanted more AND OR she might not have been high enough on the lists of those sororities she ranked lower. So really they dropped her. She just didn't know it because the others she ranked higher wanted her.

I hope that explains things better. I think it is wrong for anyone to use the wrong terms here because PNMs will only read what they want to see and that can be very heartbreaking. I do n ot mean to be disrespectful to an elder but since you have not ever experienced sorority recruitment yourself you should probably not be writing about the rules here because it gets very confusing and PNMs get confused enough by the process!

Roll Tide Roll to you too!!!!!

Thank you for her story. I'm glad she is enjoying Bama and found her place.

I think you misunderstand what we mean by the PNM doesn't drop a group. Dropping them would mean that she didn't attend their event EVEN IF they invited her and she had room in her schedule for them. And if she had, at Alabama, PH would have released her from recruitment. If one received invites to all the houses then PH would decline for you the ones from the groups you ranked at the bottom. But if one of your OK groups released you and one you ranked low/not liked invited you, you would be scheduled to go to that house. If you refused, PH reserves the right to release you altogether. So, while it may work out for some that the never have to take an invite from a house they ranked at the bottom, most PNMs end up going to at least one or two at some point. Hope this makes sense.

I am a mom to a Bama sorority student and a Bama graduate. I am also a Tuscaloosa native. That is the extent of my knowledge base here. I am not the maker of the rules nor do I claim to know the rules. My post is from experience and of opinion only. I apologize for using the incorrect terminology. I don't claim to be an expert in this field like many of you are.

I decided to post here in order to help relieve some PNM and PNM Mom tension, not create it. I know there are anxious PNMs and Moms that read this site.

Welcome to Greek Chat and congrats to your daughter! :)

Thank you for posting. Reading how your daughter's favorites changed from one round to the next, and how she worked with the invitations she received, will help some Bama PNMs this year.

Yes, thank you for posting your daughter's experience! I completely agree with FSUZeta. What a great example for others to read and find real help as they navigate rush week. I loved that your daughter started fresh each day with the remaining houses she was invited to. She had a great recruitment - full parties each round - and is thrilled with her choice.

I do hope others note that in more than one of her rounds, she was not invited back to her top 1 or 2 choices. Yet, she did not let that ruin her experience! Yay for her! I loved the recap you provided at the end noting where her final choice was ranked each day as she went through the week. A solid middle of the pack house ended up being her top choice!

Great job and thank you! (and don't get too worried about the terminology. I think everyone who reads this understands you are writing as a parent and not a recruitment advisor or expert). ;)