Indiana University 2014 Recruitment

[Xidelt]

Originally Posted by suzy88

I wouldn't recommend turning Rho Gammas in. They are just trying to help their PNMs, even if in an inappropriate way. A lot of what happens at IU rush is not in the Panhellenic spirit. I think that is why the NPC has chosen IU to feature on their website with a message board for parents to complain about recruitment. No other college in the nation has been chosen for that honor.

http://sororityparents.com/2011/01/s...y_bloomington/

NO! Worst advice in this thread! How is anything in this system supposed to change if no one takes a stand and turns a blind eye to this kind of unfair crap? Report this blatantly ugly behavior from the rho gams. IU may never change the fundamentals of how they do recruitment, but small steps such as stopping the unfair stereotypes promoted by the supposedly unaffiliated panhellenic guides may make it a slightly less painful process and allow the unhoused chapters to compete more fairly.

[AOIILisa]

Originally Posted by AXOrushadvisor

With not getting into membership selection a lot of going through recruitment is who you know. Recruitment is not a science. It is a lot about the way people connect with each other much like dating is. Sometimes one feels the connection but not the other and it goes both ways. A lot of recruitment, whether we want to admit it or not, is how you look and dress and the conversations and connection.

Vent. This site is not good on letting people vent. These Moms are hurting and if you don't have a child that has gone through the process I don't think you can comment or judge what these women are feeling. It is crushing when your daughter calls you in tears. A Mom wants to fix things. It is hard to advise your kid when you are hurting because they are hurting. I do this and get it and it was the most difficult process I have ever gone through including my own recruitment experience. These women are hurting we need to let them hurt. Don't get offended when they tell us what their daughters felt about certain chapters. They don't know you and are just writing it down to work through the grieving process. I personally have not once read elitist or entitled into one of their post. I have read that a Mom is hurting and is trying to make sense of the process. We need to cut them some slack.

Indiana. This was a school my daughter had on her radar very early on. I said absolutely not. There are to many fabulous Universities that have thriving Greek systems that I can give my money to. I will protest with my money.When someone asks me about the Greek system at Indiana I'm honest and tell them it has the most horrible process in the country and recommend if they want to go Greek to do it at another University. I also direct them to the Pan website and have them read those comments. Not many choose to go there after being educated.

This whole post is spot on, but especially the highlighted parts. I'm not a mom, but I recently became a stepmom so I get feeling your daughter's pain and wanting to help.

I haven't been on Greek Chat that long and don't have that many posts, but I've read just about everything pertaining to recruitment because I'm a new alum advisor to a fairly new-ish chapter (I am a speed reader, it's not like I spend my life on here or anything. ) and I've gotten some great information here. I would steer anyone to whom having a full-blown sorority experience is critical to their college happiness away from Indiana. I'm sure the process works for a lot of women and they are happy with their bids, but perhaps they don't come here to post. Good for you, AXORushAdvisor, for voting with your dollars. I would have done the same thing.

As far as the housed/unhoused debate - my northeast school didn't have sorority houses - or apartments - or dorms. We did have chapter rooms. I guess it's a case of "not missing what you have never known", although having a house might have been fun. It certainly didn't detract from my experience in any way.

One final thought, I feel bad for the unhoused chapters that no one wants to join - even though my sorority does have a house at Indiana. That is a hurdle that is hard to overcome.

[cinder1965]

Originally Posted by AXOrushadvisor

I have been reading this thread and have not commented. I am a recruitment adviser and have been for many years. My daughter just navigated a competitive PAC 12 recruitment with a happy ending. Her experience was not happy all the way through the process and she had peaks and valleys loosing some of her favorites along the way. I think my daughter is street smart more so then the average girl. Looking back her opinions on the Chapters going through recruitment were almost spot on. I think that if some of these girls are not feeling a connection that's ok.

Housing. If you want the sorority experience to include housing and the majority of Chapters have housing that might be a deal breaker for some if not most of the PNM's. For my daughter and for me it would also be a deal breaker. I lived in a sorority house for 2 years. I was the BEST experience ever and I would recommend it to any one. I advise at a non housed chapter that does live in University dorms. It is a completely different experience. There are no meals, no cook and no traditions that go along with those meals including grace. Meetings are held in a classroom and not the Chapter House. You loose a lot by not having that communal shared living experience and being in a dorm or apt. is really not a replacement in my opinion

Bills. There are bills to pay with an unhoused Chapter. The budget is HUGE! What I can tell you is that unhoused and housed Chapters do the exact same thing. In fact, my Chapter does more events then my daughters Chapter and her dues are more then my girls.

Mutual Selection. It is mutual selection. With not getting into membership selection a lot of going through recruitment is who you know. Also, please consider that the Chapters have to release a certain amount of women but get 3/4 through the release list and all the women appear to be equal. At that point you have to figure out a way to weed through that next 1/4 you will release. It might be that the Chapter has predetermined what they are looking for and do it that way. They want to raise their grades and they take that 1/4 from girls who have the lowest GPA. Your girl could have missed it by .10 of a point and been the one left off the list. It is a numbers game at ANY university. We do our best but the reality is we can not take every one. Do we make mistakes? You bet, but hindsight is 20/20. Here is a really good example: 2 years ago we released a friend of a member. At the time we didn't know she was a friend because she didn't tell us! We loved this member and respected her and felt bad about it. She went through the entire process preffed 2 houses and still did not feel a connection. She dropped out of recruitment. This was the year 5 Chapters at our University didn't make quota including us and we Snap Bid her. 2 years later she is the Chapter President! Recruitment is not a science. It is a lot about the way people connect with each other much like dating is. Sometimes one feels the connection but not the other and it goes both ways. A lot of recruitment, whether we want to admit it or not, is how you look and dress and the conversations and connection.

Vent. This site is not good on letting people vent. These Moms are hurting and if you don't have a child that has gone through the process I don't think you can comment or judge what these women are feeling. It is crushing when your daughter calls you in tears. A Mom wants to fix things. It is hard to advise your kid when you are hurting because they are hurting. I do this and get it and it was the most difficult process I have ever gone through including my own recruitment experience. These women are hurting we need to let them hurt. Don't get offended when they tell us what their daughters felt about certain chapters. They don't know you and are just writing it down to work through the grieving process. I personally have not once read elitist or entitled into one of their post. I have read that a Mom is hurting and is trying to make sense of the process. We need to cut them some slack.

Indiana. This was a school my daughter had on her radar very early on. I said absolutely not. There are to many fabulous Universities that have thriving Greek systems that I can give my money to. I will protest with my money. I will tell you I have a rec girl going through the process and she has had a perfect recruitment so far. We will see after bid day. She is involved in a group that has a ton of sorority women in it. I think that has helped her along with the fact that she is the perfect package. Again, Indiana might be a place where who you know matters more then recs and how you look on paper. When someone asks me about the Greek system at Indiana I'm honest and tell them it has the most horrible process in the country and recommend if they want to go Greek to do it at another University. I also direct them to the Pan website and have them read those comments. Not many choose to go there after being educated.

100% agree.

[pinksequins]

I think one point that everyone on this thread (IU, non-IU, actives, alumnae, Moms, PNMs) can agree is that the typical caveats about recruitment are more difficult to manage where the collegiate Panhellenic intentionally supports an exclusionary and unpalatable process. It isn't very Panhellenic and it isn't very nice. AZTheta put it well --provide some persuasive evidence -- not rationalizations -- for such an archiac and mean system.

[DeltaBetaBaby]

IU recruitment is heartbreaking every year, and we discuss it here every year. The best "reasoning" I have heard thus far is that, unlike Michigan or Illinois (as someone mentioned above as similar schools), there are NOT a lot of good non-Greek housing options.

To me, it's totally shocking that someone would want to live in a sorority house with an open-air dorm rather than having her own bedroom, being able to have men visit, being able to cook or have a drink or whatever, during her senior year. But if there aren't good, affordable apartments near campus, I guess the sorority house is a great deal.

[Maman]

Question on post #290. I thought PNMs who dropped from the recruitment process were not eligible for snap bids.

[AXOrushadvisor]

Originally Posted by Maman

Question on post #290. I thought PNMs who dropped from the recruitment process were not eligible for snap bids.

She did not sign a bid card so she was eligible.

[carnation]

Here is the deal about joining IU's unhoused chapters (I don't even know which ones they are) or any sororities anywhere that are perceived by campus gossip to be extremely weak:

You must be strong to join them. Yes, you can have a good sisterhood experience but-- all year, you will have to put up with that campus gossip. Then during recruitment, you will have to deal with the pain of girls not wanting to join.Through years of working with Greeks, I have seen this played out again and again.

Are you strong enough? Good! I was not--but if you can shrug off campus opinion, I respect you greatly.

[hopeful mom]

My daughter is in the recruitment process right now and I am a nervous wreck! I can sympathize with all the hurt the mothers are going through right now. I actually went down to IU on Sunday to be there for the preference round announcements just in case my daughter did not get any invitations back, I wanted to be there to console her. I really don't like this process as like all the other moms I know she would make an outstanding sorority girl. I guess I am lucky because she is really open minded about what place she ends up, even though she did not get asked back to any of her favorites she realizes those were not for her and is open minded about the un-housed as well. I have been reading how brutal the process is since she decided to attend IU last year and have been dreading this day. I am so hopeful that she gets any sorority at this point unhoused or housed because I really want her to have the sorority experience. Hang in there Ladies, I know how sickening and helpless this process is for us and our girls. I know my daughter thought a lot of girls dropped yesterday because they did not get houses that they wanted, I hope that the girls that stuck it out will be very happy on bid night!!! fingers crossed for everyone!

[AZTheta]

Excuse me. Kindly explain: how is making a derogatory statement about any chapter "objective and impartial"? Further, the rest of the first bulleted point indicates "educated to represent Panhellenic attitudes and ideals." Incongruent with making a remark like "they'll invite everyone so list them last". Please.

The Rho Gammas are disaffiliated from their chapters. By making such a statement, the RG imparts an aura of "less than" to certain chapters.

I stand with FSUZeta. This needs to be reported.

[Mom64]

Just found out that IU cheerleaders were unable to participate in 12 party because of a basketball game, so they submitted "applications" instead. I am unsure if they attended 3 parties, but rumor is they've already received their bids as there is another basketball game tomorrow. Find this hard to believe, so would love to hear that my daughter and her friends have gotten the wrong information.

[DeltaBetaBaby]

Originally Posted by Mom64

Just found out that IU cheerleaders were unable to participate in 12 party because of a basketball game, so they submitted "applications" instead. I am unsure if they attended 3 parties, but rumor is they've already received their bids as there is another basketball game tomorrow. Find this hard to believe, so would love to hear that my daughter and her friends have gotten the wrong information.

What difference does it make to you and your daughter?

[Mom64]

Originally Posted by DeltaBetaBaby

What difference does it make to you and your daughter?

How do houses judge based on an application? As AXOrushadvisor has pointed out, "A lot of recruitment, whether we want to admit it or not, is how you look and dress and the conversations and connection.

It doesn't make a difference to me or my daughter, unless maybe she would have looked better on paper than in person. She was invited back to 11 houses for 12 party, perhaps one of the houses she really liked would have liked her written application and invited her to 3 party.

If this is true it just seems to be another flaw in this year's IU rush process.

[KDCat]

Originally Posted by Mom64

How do houses judge based on an application? Isn't it all about "connecting". Doesn't make a difference to me or my daughter, unless maybe she looks better on paper than in person. She was invited back to 11 houses for 12 party, perhaps one of the houses she really liked would have liked her written application. If this is true it just seems to be another flaw in this year's IU rush process.

This isn't peculiar to IU. Schedules are adjusted at most schools to accommodate women who participate in sports, theater, music and Saturday classes.

How chapters evaluate those women is part of membership selection and it's private.

However, looking at it from the outside I would say this: One of the advantages of winter recruitment is that you have time to get to know people and they will vouch for you. I'm sure that cheerleaders in sororities vouched for the PNM cheerleaders that they like. (This can also work against the PNMs. If they did something stupid during their first semester, everybody hears about that as well.)

[sigmagirl2000]

Originally Posted by Mom64

Just found out that IU cheerleaders were unable to participate in 12 party because of a basketball game, so they submitted "applications" instead. I am unsure if they attended 3 parties, but rumor is they've already received their bids as there is another basketball game tomorrow. Find this hard to believe, so would love to hear that my daughter and her friends have gotten the wrong information.

Well, there must be something in place for students who must miss a party for classes or athletics. I would question the already having bids.