An SEC rush

southernyankee · #1 08-08-2006, 01:03 PM

"Not sure if this is the right thread...but I thought I'd give you an update, and a mother's point of view, on the upcoming SEC recruitment and the craziness that insues.

As I have mentioned in other posts...my youngest daughter will be rushing at a large SEC school this fall. We are not originally from the South, so as you might imagine...that can work against you. She will be "competing" against girls whose families have been here for generations, and have lots of legacies and lots of connections. Her only connection is that her older sister(first NPC greek in our family) is an active at another school. We are not expecting that to necessarily help her much. She is a beautiful girl, but not petite and not blonde. She has above a 3.0 GPA, good activities, good community service, has at least one rec for every house on campus, and knows a handful of girls that are currently active at the school she is about to attend, but as you all know...so does every other girl rushing in the South.

I only tell you all that to give you some background info. so you know where we are coming from.

The journey so far....

We prepared her resume, made copies of transcripts, picked out her favorite senior picture, and placed one of each in a manilla envelope. We got all the addresses from the panhellenic site as to where the alumnae needed to send the rec, addressed above mentioned envelopes and added a stamp. We wanted to make it as easy as possible for the alumnae to send the rec in!

We started fairly early scrambling for recs. We had heard from different alumnae that some of the sororities had a July 1st deadline! Don't think this is common knowledge as it is not posted anywhere on the school's panhellenic website, or in any information packets handed out. When I say "scrambled", I mean it.

Not being from the south originally, we really didn't pay much attention to what friends were in what sorority in college. When my older daughter rushed, she did not go to a school where there were alot of GLO's, so it was fairly easy to find at least one rec for each house...but this is not the case with my youngest. We never even heard of some of the sororities that she would now need recs for. We looked everywhere...asked every teacher, every co-worker (bless my husband's heart), and every friend if they knew any alumnae in such and such sorority.

I must admit, my best friend probably suffered the most as she is a regional representive for her alumnae association, and tended to have "connections" in finding others. She helped my daughter out so much, and I can't thank her enough. Without her, it would have been nearly impossible to get as many recs as we did.

So to wrap up a long story...we got all the recs in(hopefully everyone that said they'd send one, did). All thank you notes written and mailed!

Whew! So glad that part is over...now on to the important stuff...WHAT TO WEAR!"

I reposted the above since it is the first part of my daughter's upcoming rush story, and thought it might be nice to have it all under one thread.

FSUZeta · #2 08-08-2006, 01:09 PM

hooray southernyankee,

hope southerndaughter's first day of recruitment is going well!! can't wait to hear all about it.

southernyankee · #3 08-08-2006, 01:28 PM

What to wear!

We have the guidelines and are taking the advice of several GCers and going with the dressy end of the suggestions made by the school's panhellenic for what to wear.

No butt or boobs are exposed, no outlandish or too trendy styles were chosen. Jewelry is classy, but hopefully memorable. We have what we think is a good way to stand out alittle on philanthropy day,(universal shorts and a tee worn by all) but don't want to give that one away!

Cute, but comfortable shoes have been bought, and are being broken in as we speak!

One non-black dress for prefs chosen in a fit that flatters and fits her perfectly.

Rush pack (all the stuff everyone says to take for tent use) has been gathered.

Make-up updated, and geared toward hot weather. Freshened up haircut and color. Nail appt. made for last possible moment before leaving.

Have we forgotten anything!?

BellaBerlee · #4 08-08-2006, 01:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by southernyankee

What to wear!

We have the guidelines and are taking the advice of several GCers and going with the dressy end of the suggestions made by the school's panhellenic for what to wear.

No butt or boobs are exposed, no outlandish or too trendy styles were chosen. Jewelry is classy, but hopefully memorable. We have what we think is a good way to stand out alittle on philanthropy day,(universal shorts and a tee worn by all) but don't want to give that one away!

Cute, but comfortable shoes have been bought, and are being broken in as we speak!

One non-black dress for prefs chosen in a fit that flatters and fits her perfectly.

Rush pack (all the stuff everyone says to take for tent use) has been gathered.

Make-up updated, and geared toward hot weather. Freshened up haircut and color. Nail appt. made for last possible moment before leaving.

Have we forgotten anything!?

Wow, I can't wait to read the updates on this thread! Looks like you have everything except some rest time!

Tell your daughter Good luck for me! And make sure you stay worry-free; although as a mom it will most likely be nerve-wrecking!

FloridaTish · #5 08-08-2006, 03:28 PM

It seems like you really have your stuff together. However, you need to stress to your daughter that if for some reason rush doesn't go according to "plan", life does go on.

After reading some rush threads in the past there have been a number of instances where we read about how a girl had all the recs, the perfect outfits, the activites, the GPA, etc..but suffered major cuts and doesn't wind up where she hoped to be. They wonder what they did wrong...In many cases it's not a matter of doing "wrong", but there could be a 100 trivial reasons it didn't work out that a PNM couldn't possible know.

I'm sure your daughter will do fine, but I think it's always best to at least be a bit prepared for the worst, especially if rushing at a competitive SEC school. Then wheneverything DOES go accoring to plan, you will pleasently surprised!

I'm not trying to be a negative Nancy & am not trying to be pessimistic. I hope her daughter does great and I can't wait to read more!

southernyankee · #6 08-08-2006, 06:56 PM

Trust me, she is NOT overconfident. Just the opposite actually. She is going in with an open mind, and is as prepared as we could make her, so...let the chips fall where they may!

alum · #7 08-08-2006, 07:27 PM

SY,

I'm rooting for your daughter!!!! It sounds like your ducks are all lined up and ready to go..... Keep your fingers crossed.

CuriousWildcat · #8 08-08-2006, 09:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by southernyankee

What to wear!

Rush pack (all the stuff everyone says to take for tent use) has been gathered.

What's a rush pack?

southernyankee · #9 08-08-2006, 10:08 PM

Sorry, that's just what I call all the stuff that you might need btx house visits during rush. I don't know that it has an official name.

It would include things like:an umbrella, advil, flip flops, makeup, bandaides, etc. You are not allowed to take anything inside of the houses, so your Rho Chi will look after it while you are inside. Hope that clears it up!

FloridaTish · #10 08-08-2006, 10:19 PM

Yes, I'm rooting for her as well...and for the record, I never said it sounded like SY's daughter was overconfident.

CuriousWildcat · #11 08-08-2006, 10:38 PM

thanks! I was just unsure of what that was!

GPhiBLtColonel · #12 08-14-2006, 01:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by southernyankee

We prepared her resume, made copies of transcripts, picked out her favorite senior picture, and placed one of each in a manilla envelope. We got all the addresses from the panhellenic site as to where the alumnae needed to send the rec, addressed above mentioned envelopes and added a stamp. We wanted to make it as easy as possible for the alumnae to send the rec in!

We started fairly early scrambling for recs. We had heard from different alumnae that some of the sororities had a July 1st deadline! Don't think this is common knowledge as it is not posted anywhere on the school's panhellenic website, or in any information packets handed out. When I say "scrambled", I mean it.

Not being from the south originally, we really didn't pay much attention to what friends were in what sorority in college. When my older daughter rushed, she did not go to a school where there were alot of GLO's, so it was fairly easy to find at least one rec for each house...but this is not the case with my youngest. We never even heard of some of the sororities that she would now need recs for. We looked everywhere...asked every teacher, every co-worker (bless my husband's heart), and every friend if they knew any alumnae in such and such sorority.

I must admit, my best friend probably suffered the most as she is a regional representive for her alumnae association, and tended to have "connections" in finding others. She helped my daughter out so much, and I can't thank her enough. Without her, it would have been nearly impossible to get as many recs as we did.

So to wrap up a long story...we got all the recs in(hopefully everyone that said they'd send one, did). All thank you notes written and mailed!

I feel so bad about y'all having to jump thru so many hoops to get your recs; is there an alum panhellenic association in your area? If so, they should have helped you with the recs....

BadSquirrelBeta · #13 08-14-2006, 03:54 AM

I know that when I am asked to do a rec., etc., I don't mind. I feel like it is a duty as an Alum I need to follow through with. Of course I hope the girl goes AGD, but I want her to go into the Panhellenic system and have a great experience no matter where she ends up!

Best of luck to your daughter. I am looking forward to reading her thread!!

southernyankee · #14 08-14-2006, 08:24 PM

The more I read about how severe cuts have been at Auburn and Georgia, the more nervous I become about my daughter's upcoming rush! Maybe I need to quit reading the recruitment threads!

honeychile · #15 08-14-2006, 09:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by southernyankee

The more I read about how severe cuts have been at Auburn and Georgia, the more nervous I become about my daughter's upcoming rush! Maybe I need to quit reading the recruitment threads!

You're seeing the worst scenarios, but also the exciting ones! Look how many woman not only got a bid, but got the house they really wanted! It's all in the attitude!