University of Illinois Sorority Recruitment 2013
 

Even though it's pretty hit or miss on whether we get Illinois PNMs or moms around here, I figured I would start a recruitment thread for my alma mater. We had pretty active U of I threads for the last two years and I believe we're still one of the largest Greek systems (in terms of number of chapters--somewhere in the 90s) in the nation, so why not!

This is the first year for me where all the women who were in my chapter as an active have now officially graduated! I feel old! ;) That said I'm sure my information sources will be a bit more few and far between.

Illinois has 19 NPC chapters, which includes Phi Sigma Sigma, a recolonizing chapter this fall. The chapters include:

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


I can't find any information about Phi Sigma Sigma's recolonization process because of the God awful Illinois Panhellenic website, but I can only imagine that it will be like many colonization where they participating in round one and then hold their recruitment events after bid day.

Although the Panhellenic website does say Recruitment 2011, it is updated with dates for 2013. Per the website, here's the schedule:

Friday, Aug 30 & Saturday, Aug 31 - Open House - PNMs visit all 19 chapters (which leads me to believe Phi Sigma Sigma participates in this round)

Sunday, Sep 1 - First Invite (our Sisterhood Day--the campus typically uses the terms, "First, Second, and Third Invite" instead of Sisterhood, Skit, etc) - PNMs visit up to 13 chapters

Saturday, Sep 7 - Second Invite (aka Philanthropy Day) - PNMs visit up to 7 chapters

Sunday, Sep 8 - Third Invite (aka Preference) - PNMs visit up to 3 chapters

Monday, Sep 9 - BID DAY!

Based on the fact that the recruitment group list posted on the Panhellenic website, there appears to be 1,362 PNMs. I don't know how this compares with last year. The Greek Life office used to keep this awesome recruitment statistics page up to date, but it appears they stopped in 2010. But based on those numbers, it looks like registration is a bit up from recent years.

Quota has ranged from 45 to 57 over the last 7 years, with no consistent trend up or down. I predict quota around 50 this year, due to the fact that there's a chapter colonizing. It looks like there were a similar amount of PNMs in 2008 when AXiD colonized, and quota was 53 that year.

About 70%-75% of women who sign up for recruitment receive bids. There are a considerable amount of drop outs based on the fact that while Greek life is HUGE at Illinois, there's still so many other ways that students get involved. Based on that link I provided, 96%-98% of women who stick with the process get a bid.

Finally, Illinois is its own special kind of competitive. Despite the size and the popularity of Greek life, this is not a "must have rec" school. As always, they are great to have but it's just not part of the culture in that area (or in the areas where many students come from). They are certainly not unheard of, but I know plenty of women who didn't know a thing about Greek life, didn't have recs and had very happy endings. It is still "competitive" in the sense that it is popular and upperclassmen have a tougher time.

That's about all I have to share! I did just find out that I have a connection to a PNM--my cousin is getting married and her fiances niece just transferred as a sophomore and will be rushing. She's standing up in the wedding as well and while I would have loved to have written her a rec, I found out she was rushing last weekend and I have not met her yet, haha! (You better believe I'll be checking up to see where she ends up though!)

Any Illinois PNMs, moms, friends, alumnae...please share if you'd like :)

I'm currently going through recruitment at Illinois (I'm planning on posting my story after recruitment ends!), and Phi Sigma Sigma is indeed present for the first round of recruitment and they will be holding their rounds after formal recruitment ends.

WOO HOO!!

Good luck and have fun!!

Thanks so much! It's been absolutely wonderful! :)

Thank you posting the recruitment dates! I had a hell of a time finding the dates when I was writing a rec for someone.

Good luck to all involved! Will be keeping an eye on this thread. :) If it helps, in 2012 there were 1181 registered PNMs, which was reported as an off year because recruitment was a week or so earlier than in years past. In 2011 there were 1402 registered.

Looking forward to following a Big Ten school since no one seems to be posting about Purdue's rush that is going on this weekend, Bid day for them is Tuesday, I believe.

Which Big Ten schools are summer/fall recruitments and which ones are deferred?

Summer/Fall: Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Purdue

Deferred: Indiana, Ohio State

I'm so excited about the recolonization, I'll poke around the PhiSig site and see what I can find.

Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan and Michigan State are all in the fall.

Not lying- I don't know who's in the Big 10/12/14/190 anymore

Thanks for the info, lovespink! Interestingly, there were about 1200 PNM's most years that I was in school, and quota was usually around 50, so not much has changed up or down in the last [cough] years or so. Back then, however, it was the largest in the country, so everyone else has outgrown us.

Illinois is interesting, as mentioned above, because the tiers really can change based on a couple of strong recruitments (and sadly, the opposite is also true). There is one chapter that was in numbers trouble and then turned it around via COB, and is now solidly in the middle of the pack. What's more, the sororities/fraternity mixing is pretty fluid; I can remember quite a few instances of a weaker sorority doing football block with a strong fraternity or vice-versa because it just happened that a bunch of members lived on the same dorm floor as freshmen and then became officers in their respective groups. So, there are chapters that are classically strong recruiters and some that are classically weak recruiters, but virtually any chapter will give women a similar experience.

One more for the Big Ten: Northwestern University is also in the Deferred category (January 9-14, 2014).

I believe Penn State is in the fall, a bit deferred.

Seriously...you need a score card to keep up! :D

So...

Summer/Fall: Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Purdue, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Michigan State, Penn State

Deferred: Indiana, Ohio State, Northwestern

We'll worry about Rugters and Maryland when they actually join.

So there sadly isn't much on the PhiSig site except for the link to register for colony recruitment.