Calling all moms!

[NUBlue&Blue]

My daughter rushed last year, and it was not too intense because she is at an ACC school with a small number of sororities, but I won't say that I wasn't worked up the entire week. She was in a good position to make all the decisions on where she was going the next day, and some of them were very hard (on which house to drop), but she got her first choice and is very involved in her sorority, leadership roles on campus and Panhellenic. As much as she loves greek life, she says she doesn't think that she would've rushed at all if she'd been forced to go to her backup school (SEC) just by what she knows from her HS friends.

We shopped for her wardrobe, she called me every night and described every party, called me every morning and told me what decisions she had to make. After Bid Day we never heard from her until Thanksgiving, so I guess she was pretty happy with her choice!

When they went around the room after pledging to talk about what they knew about sororities and why they went through rush, she was one of the few who had parents who were greek. We think it may be because she is our oldest and we were in our 20's when she was born (which put us in college in the early 1980's). Most parents were there in the 70's when greek life was not as popular, so I think there may be fewer girls with that background going through rush. Her favorite teachers who are all a few years older than me, with kids in college, told her they never would've dreamed of being in a sorority in college. So I think there are a lot of moms out there who are really stressed because they have not been on either side of it....and there are a lot of moms out there who are really stressed because they HAVE been on both sides of it!

Other than the PITA of trying to find specific clothing items, this summer hasn't been too bad. We needed the break....we start college apps for daughter #2 soon, and the waiting and hoping is a big stressor. Then it's time to start the rush process all over again.....

[alum]

Originally Posted by NUBlue&Blue

My daughter rushed last year, and it was not too intense because she is at an ACC school with a small number of sororities, but I won't say that I wasn't worked up the entire week. She was in a good position to make all the decisions on where she was going the next day, and some of them were very hard (on which house to drop), but she got her first choice and is very involved in her sorority, leadership roles on campus and Panhellenic. As much as she loves greek life, she says she doesn't think that she would've rushed at all if she'd been forced to go to her backup school (SEC) just by what she knows from her HS friends.

We shopped for her wardrobe, she called me every night and described every party, called me every morning and told me what decisions she had to make. After Bid Day we never heard from her until Thanksgiving, so I guess she was pretty happy with her choice!

When they went around the room after pledging to talk about what they knew about sororities and why they went through rush, she was one of the few who had parents who were greek. We think it may be because she is our oldest and we were in our 20's when she was born (which put us in college in the early 1980's). Most parents were there in the 70's when greek life was not as popular, so I think there may be fewer girls with that background going through rush. Her favorite teachers who are all a few years older than me, with kids in college, told her they never would've dreamed of being in a sorority in college. So I think there are a lot of moms out there who are really stressed because they have not been on either side of it....and there are a lot of moms out there who are really stressed because they HAVE been on both sides of it!

Other than the PITA of trying to find specific clothing items, this summer hasn't been too bad. We needed the break....we start college apps for daughter #2 soon, and the waiting and hoping is a big stressor. Then it's time to start the rush process all over again.....

For help with college selection go to talk.collegeconfidential.com. For those who think the GC parents are overinvolved with their kids' lives, this will be a real eyeopener.

I also graduated in the '80s but did not go through Southern School Sorority rush. Our Panhel was much more low-key, hence the stress of today!

[NUBlue&Blue]

I've been on that site, and it is very intense! I enjoyed college, but the only way I'd want to go back is if I knew everything that I know now! LOL!

Those people are definitely helicopter parents on steroids!

[mythreedd]

I love to the copy threads from college confidential and send them to my kids with the comment, "and you think I'm involved too much?" I then get many "thank you for not being CRAZY."

[carnation]

I only wish my kids knew about helicopter parents that I've known or heard about. Parents who call college professors and curse them for their child's grades, harass principals 24/7, I've heard it all in my years of teaching. The worst helicopter parent we know did everything she could to make her kid the queen of everything, no matter how it hurt other students. The kid went downhill fast after she graduated--went to a state university and pledged but spent all her weekends getting blasted at another university and had to come home after 1 semester. She now has a newborn and doesn't know who the dad is.

Hey, could you guys tell me some of the best threads to copy from college confidential?

[alum]

Originally Posted by carnation

Hey, could you guys tell me some of the best threads to copy from college confidential?

Any of the "assess my chances" threads. These are the typical 2300 SAT, Intel Scholarship, NMS students wanting to know why they didn't get into HYPMS.

Parent's Cafe is amusing sometimes. Search the entire board with "sorority and "Greek Life" in quotes and you'll pull up interesting thoughts and opinions.

Warning: the political views on this site are very liberal. Lots of New Yorkers and New England parents and kids are on CC.

[exlurker]

Originally Posted by alum

. . . why they didn't get into HYPMS. . . .

Is that Harvard, Yale, Princeton, MIT, Stanford ?

[PinkandGreenJ]

Originally Posted by alum

Warning: the political views on this site are very liberal. Lots of New Yorkers and New England parents and kids are on CC.

Cause there are no conservatives in the North nor liberals in the South, right?

Teasing!

[pinkyphimu]

Originally Posted by carnation

helicopter parents

i hadn't heard this term before thursday. i was at the library and while waiting, a newspaper targeting people over 50 caught my attention. the article was about helping parents adjust to sending their kids off to college and how some colleges are responding to helicopter parents. i will post some of the things from the article if i have a chance this weekend. it was funny.