University of Illinois recruitment

Blueink · #1 09-10-2009, 11:45 PM

Hi all,
I posted my recruitment story under this name a while ago, and I'm going to post my sisters under this name as well. I want to give as many details as I can, but I don't want to compromise her currently ongoing recruitment which is why I'm not going to post under my normal GC name!

Anyway a little background:

She's a freshman at U of I, played sports in high school, good grades, good looking, a little bit shy and unsure of if she'll find a place she fits in. She's been excited all summer for recruitment and it started last week. (I'm hoping to time this so I can make at least one post daily and then catch up with real time)

The schedule:

September 4: Open House
September 5: Open House
September 6: First Invitational
September 11: Second Invitational
September 12: Third Invitational
September 13: Bid Distribution and Sisterhood Day

The Code:
I’m not feeling very original and there are a lot of houses so I guess I’m just going to do colors and keep it simple!

Black
Grey
Brown
Navy Blue
Light Blue
Violet
Lavender
Hot Pink
baby pink
Red
maroon
hunter green
lime green
Yellow
Orange
turquoise
Salmon
beige
White

ETA:
my house is one of the above houses, I'm not going to mention which one. I did do paperwork for her but I know how much chapters can vary from campus to campus, and while it would be cool to be in the same sorority, I really wanted her to keep an open mind, and find her home .

lovespink88 · #2 09-10-2009, 11:57 PM

WOO WOO WOO! Can't wait to read it! (Although, is there a way to get this moved out of "sorority recruitment" and into "recruitment stories"...?)

Blueink · #3 09-11-2009, 12:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lovespink88

WOO WOO WOO! Can't wait to read it! (Although, is there a way to get this moved out of "sorority recruitment" and into "recruitment stories"...?)

Oops, sorry I was so excited to post it I didn't read carefully!

Blueink · #4 09-11-2009, 12:07 AM

Open House Round 1
She visited 9 of the 19

Black- They started here, she mentioned this house gave them a nice little tour. She noted that the girls showing her around were super nice and very genuine. They seemed to be a pretty diverse house appearance wise; she thought this was a good thing. The house had beautiful rooms but she was a little unsure about the whole open air room thing. She thought that this would be one she would certainly put on her list of 13.

Grey- This house had a small performance; she called it adorable and original. She talked to several different girls, the first she noted was very nice and sociable she did a good job of keeping the conversation going when it started to get dull. She liked this houses appearance but thought the location might be a downside. She felt pretty good here and thought it would be one of her choices as well.

Brown- This is her roommate’s sister’s house. She noted it was beautiful outside, with a nice location. The performance here was okay. She talked with one girl who reminded her of someone back home. The conversation with this girl went well, the girl who joined them my sister connected with she noted that this girl reminded her a lot of herself. She liked this house a lot and thought they would be a top choice for her.

Navy Blue – She liked this house a lot. She thought the location was great, the girls she talked with were really nice and they talked a lot about tubing and other fun things. It was very laid back; she noted “maybe I fit in here the most?” She liked the diversity of this house a lot.

Light Blue- Beautiful house, loved the location, comfortable and beautiful rooms. The girl she liked a lot, they talked about The Fray and she was very excited about this house. I got the impression she really admired the girl she spoke with she mentioned “I see myself in a few years being like this girl.” She called it one of her favorite houses.

Violet- Beautiful outside, okay location. She made a note that she was startled a bit with all the chanting and banging, she called it “kind of weird” [ha ha ha gotta love recruitment]. She got the feeling these girls were being very fake, however she noted that many of the girls in her rush group loved this one, and it was the only one they wanted. She liked it but didn’t think she would fit in stating “I don’t know if I could handle this house”

Lavender- She liked this house from some of her research on the internet. Great location, the girls were very “uniformed and perfect” she said. She thought that she had had a solid conversation with them that felt natural. She left liking this house a lot.

Hot Pink- She noted not liking the rooms very much, felt the conversation was a little bit dull and the girl she was being rushed with did most of the talking. The hot pink they talked to seemed okay. She didn’t really like this house, but would be willing to visit again if it came to that.

baby pink- she didn’t think this house was very great, the specific girls she talked to were very down to earth but maybe a bit too “punky” for her. She noted that she didn’t like this house much at all.

perfectinpurple · #5 09-11-2009, 02:31 PM

More please!!

barnard1897 · #6 09-11-2009, 02:44 PM

I always find it hilarious that with 19 or so houses down at Illinois, most of which are excellent chapters, PNMs still can only see themselves in ONE house.

DubaiSis · #7 09-11-2009, 04:11 PM

I think it's telling that she didn't like the last 2 houses. Of course, but sides are tired so conversation lags. We'll see how that pans out.

Blueink · #8 09-11-2009, 04:58 PM

Open House Round 2
She visited the final 10 of the 19

Red- She loved the theme at this house, thinking it was adorable. She said the conversation was pretty normal just small talk etc. She really liked this house and said she had it as one of her 13 for sure.

Maroon- She noted having a really one-on-one great conversation with one of the girls, but mentioned that she felt drowned out by a lot of the noise, she wishes that they wouldn’t have been drowned out because she enjoyed the conversation. The location of this house seemed to be very good; however she had some concerns about fitting in with this house. She put it on her list though because she enjoyed the conversation and wanted to know more about them.

Hunter green – She mentioned that this house was beautiful, the location was okay. She got the vibe that some of these girls were pretty cocky, she felt the conversation was a little bit dull with lot’s of “sooooo…’s”

Lime green- She felt this house was okay, in her e-mail she noted not really remembering much about this house after the visit was over.

Yellow- She thought this house was beautiful, had some minor concerns over location but knew of many girls from our high school who were a part of this house. She noted not knowing if this was a good or bad thing as she knew of the girls, but none of them were people she knew really really well. She liked it, but didn’t know if she would fit in well.

Orange- She wasn’t very descriptive about orange in her e-mail stating she doesn’t remember much but she knew she would enjoy being a part of this house if given the opportunity.

Turquoise- The girls here were really bubbly but she felt they might be a tad to “princess-sy” for her to fit in. The house was beautiful, and she talked to one girl who was hilarious that she really liked. She mentioned putting this as one of her 13.

Salmon – She wasn’t very impressed with salmon, she said nothing really stood out to her. She got the impression that appearances were very important to these girls as they kept playing with their hair. Conversation was okay nothing great but nothing terrible.

Beige- She thought this house was gorgeous, concerns about location. She had heard some tent talk about this house and when she got there she said she didn’t see what she had heard. She did feel that the conversation was boring, and that they had trouble getting and keeping the conversation going. She was turned off by the fact that she did more to keep the conversation going than the beige girls did.

White- She noted that this house had an okay location, but the house itself was beautiful. She felt that she had had a solid conversation here.

I know by the end of this round she was feeling pretty overwhelmed and homesick. We chatted a bit about keeping an open mind, and staying positive. We also talked about how getting plugged in to something at college will help to ease homesickness and also make the transition easier etc.

lovespink88 · #9 09-11-2009, 04:53 PM

Can't wait to hear more, especially since I'm now at home sick and can't do recruitment...

KSUViolet06 · #10 09-11-2009, 04:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lovespink88

Can't wait to hear more, especially since I'm now at home sick and can't do recruitment...

Oh no! That sucks. This is your first on the active side too right?

I will say I'm surprised that PNMs can even REMEMBER which chapter is which after seeing 19 chapters!

I went to a school with 6 chapters and PNMs still confused (for example) DG and DZ. I can't imagine a recruitment where like, 8 chapters start with the same letter. Oy.

lovespink88 · #11 09-11-2009, 05:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KSUViolet06

Oh no! That sucks. This is your first on the active side too right?

It is. It's my first time and only time...so I'm pretty upset about not being there... Not to mention that today is philanthropy day and I made the video!!! I was so looking forward to see my work in action... Sigh...

Anyways, blueink, since you said that you wanted to catch up to real time, I believe you owe us first invite, since we second invite starts in 10 min...

LucyKKG · #12 09-11-2009, 06:34 PM

I just realized I had a dream about recruitment, but it obviously wasn't at my school. I dreamt I was going through recruitment at a big school, and after I got out of the party, I realized I had no idea what sorority it was because no one mentioned the name. Then I made a mental note that I would always say the name of my sorority if I made a speech during recruitment.

Blueink · #13 09-11-2009, 10:11 PM

I did get an update, I got a call from her a little bit ago. Apparently they get 7 or something back for this round tonight, she has 5 I believe. Was a bit bummed not to see Red but we talked about who she had left, and she's keeping an open mind and has some really good feelings about what's left. I encouraged her to keep her game face on because you never know what's going to happen and opinions can change so quickly

Her list:

Navy Blue
Yellow
White
Grey
Beige

I'm hoping to have an update on how this round went tomorrow morning for you all!!

Blueink · #14 09-13-2009, 01:43 PM

Second Invite
Friday September 11

She started with Grey- The girls she talked to were very nice. Tonight was philantrhopy day so they worked on a small project, she mentioned she got really wrapped up in working on the project and didn't talk much with the girls, noting the conversation was dull. She said they talked pretty much about nothing.

Next was yellow- She said this chapter is so awesome, she has some concerns about the physical house but she liked the girls a lot. She had a good time here and it will definatley be a top contender.

Beige- She apparenly disliked this house very much, that's all she gave me.

White- She found out a girl she knew from park district sports is a member here which she thought was pretty neat, she had a nice time here and liked this house a lot as well!

Finally Navy Blue- She got a tour of the house and met two girls, she had great one on one conversations with both of these girls and had a great time. She also had a great time here.

At the end of this night she had to chose three
She chose (order having no matter)

Yellow, Navy Blue, White

Blueink · #15 09-13-2009, 01:50 PM

Third Invite
(Pref round)

She visited 3 house:

White
Yellow
Navy Blue

They spent one hour at each house, she mentioned that this hour seemed to fly by at all of the houses!

White- She enjoyed her time here, she mentioned that many girls were crying and she tends to cry when others cry, so she had a bit of a hard time holding back the tears. She thought they were amazing and liked them a lot.

Yellow- She had a great time at this house as well, she mentioned talking to the President and VP of recruitment, thinking they were very nice. She thought she might one day like to run for an e-board position. She also had a wonderful time at this house and liked them a lot.

Navy Blue- This was the last house she visited, she said she felt really good in this house, she had enjoyed the last two houses very much but she felt like things just clicked here. One thing that bothered her is that another PNM was being so rude to the girl who was preffing her, My sister thought this was so mean. Other than that she really liked this house a lot.

When it came time to rank them she was really torn, she knew she could be happy at any of them. She spent a lot of time debating it, and finally decided on the following order:

Navy Blue
Yellow
White

Next up... Bid day!!