informal pref question

cdbgirl · #1 02-10-2012, 02:56 AM

Hi!

I am going through informal recruitment this week and tomorrow is preference. I was invited to two parties; however, they are back to back. The houses are about ten minutes apart and I'm a little worried about making it to the second party on time. Does anyone know how long the parties generally last or how I should handle the situation?

I'm sure that recruitment is different at different schools, but any advice would be great.

Thanks!
Cdbgirl

DubaiSis · #2 02-10-2012, 04:10 AM

Is this a semi-structured informal rush? If so, there will more than likely be other girls in your shoes and you'll be fine. And they probably have the parties and delays between them scheduled accordingly. If it's just coincidence that they are back to back then you'll just have to give your apologies upon arrival. The first 10 minutes are not as important as the last 10 minutes, so I wouldn't recommend leaving the first party early.

Also, ask your Greek life office for advice. Chances are it's been addressed, but just in case, they can give you the best input.

cdbgirl · #3 02-10-2012, 04:25 AM

I'm not exactly sure what makes it semi structured, but each chapter established their own times and which of the three days they wanted to hold events. All events overlapped and each pnm was responsible for deciding which parties to go to and how long they stayed at each. One pref is at 7 and one is at 8. I hope that clarifies the situation a little. I will call the greek life office tomorrow. And thatnks for the reply!

Cdbgirl

OneHeartOneWay · #4 02-10-2012, 12:15 PM

I agree about better to be late than leave early. I would simply contact the recruitment chair/someone you have a connection with in the second group and tell them you have a prior engagement and will be running a little late, but that you are very excited and will get there as soon as possible. Honestly, I probably won't tell either group that you are preffing another house, because with informal recruitment, they likely have limited spots, and you don't want them to think you aren't interested in them. They will give those limited spots to women they really like, and women they think really like them.

(Yes, I realize this is true in FR as well, but due to the numbers, I think it is more important in informal recruitment.)

AOII Angel · #5 02-10-2012, 01:01 PM

I'm sure you will not be the ONLY one in this situation. Find another girl or group of girls and show up together. See if a friend will drive you from one party to the next so you cut down the commute time. There are solutions to this problem.

DubaiSis · #6 02-10-2012, 03:06 PM

And something OneHeartOneWay said is very good advice: there is no need to overshare. Although I would advise them that you may be late, they may well be able to put two and two together, and I would NOT recommend lying to them, there is also no reason to put it right out there for them. If you are pressed, you can always say something like you really want to pledge their group, but you have to have a back up plan and unfortunately the other group's event is earlier. This is not a lie because I'm sure you really would like to pledge that chapter, or you wouldn't be preffing them in the first place. But again, I wouldn't say this unless you're feeling backed against a wall.

cdbgirl · #7 02-10-2012, 07:38 PM

Thanks for all the input!

I know a few girls personally in the first chapter and I was planning on politely asking how long the party is going to be. I know the other chapter is having 2 parties, so I'm assuming that they will have to have time between parties to clean up and get ready for the second. I'm hoping that the first chapter I'm going to will have 2 parties and need time to clean between them. But to be safe, I already let the second chapter know that I may be late and told them I am very sorry and very excited to be attending.

I also called the greek life office at school and their voicemail said they would be out of the office until next Wednesday. I emailed them as well, but I still haven't received a reply.

Thanks.

melindawarren · #8 02-10-2012, 09:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cdbgirl

I also called the greek life office at school and their voicemail said they would be out of the office until next Wednesday. I emailed them as well, but I still haven't received a reply.

Thanks.

Off-track here, but this is unfortunate. I'm sorry that you've actually done what most GCers advise (not everyone does this) and that it went nowhere. Schools with any kind of large-scale informal should not let their Greek Life Office go down in the midst of recruitment.

/rant