IrishPipes' Retro Recruitment Story

[irishpipes]

First stage results

Next day, back at the classroom, our Rho Chis hand us each a sheet of paper with abbreviations for all of the chapters that have invited us back for second stage. We can circle up to 8. It is hard to decipher at first because the list doesn’t use Greek letters in the abbreviations. This was confusing to a lot of us because we were struggling with the Greek letters as it was, and there were so many chapters to keep straight. I have been invited back to:


Carlow
Clare
Donegal
Dublin
Kerry
Kilkenny
Limerick
Longford
Meath
Monaghan
Roscommon
Sligo
Tipperary
Waterford
Wexford
Wicklow



I am pretty happy, but the Rho Chis explain that most people get a lot of invites back after round 1. (Basically, don’t be too flattered.) By this time, Pam and Joelle have informed most of us which houses are popular, ugly, fat, wealthy, etc. I wonder how many rushees they affected? I am a little disappointed that Offaly has not invited me back, and surprised that Galway didn’t, after Julie wrote me that card over the summer! I didn’t really connect at Galway, but my friends Melissa and Kim loved it there, so I wonder if I would have been invited back if Julie had rushed me. Although I didn’t have a good time at Kildare, I wanted them to invite me back just because I assumed it was a good chapter since Mary Lisa was there and Pam and Joelle liked it so much. Anyway, I sit down and quickly circle (in no order):


Clare
Dublin
Kerry
Kilkenny
Limerick
Monaghan
Tipperary
Waterford


Our stages went 22-8-5-3. In my opinion this was ridiculous. I had trouble distinguishing some chapters after first stage, but we had to cut back to 8 so a lot of chapters got cut when I would have loved to have gone back. The “regret with interest” was not available, nor were release figures that prevented chapters from inviting you back when they had no intention of pledging you. I am positive that many rushees confused chapters with similar names simply because the whole process was so huge and overwhelming.

[TSteven]

Originally Posted by irishpipes

First stage results

Next day, back at the classroom, our Rho Chis hand us each a sheet of paper with abbreviations for all of the chapters that have invited us back for second stage. We can circle up to 8. It is hard to decipher at first because the list doesn’t use Greek letters in the abbreviations. This was confusing to a lot of us because we were struggling with the Greek letters as it was, and there were so many chapters to keep straight.


I am positive that many rushees confused chapters with similar names simply because the whole process was so huge and overwhelming.

I can well image that it would be confusing.

Do you think it would it have been helpful to have some sort of visual aid in the room when ranking? Perhaps pictures of each house and the corresponding letters/abbreviations? It seems like it might be easier to link the chapter (members) to the physical house (the blue one with the orange trim) than just to letters (abbreviations).

[FSUZeta]

tsteven, those are good suggestions.

when i rushed at fsu there were 18 sororities. our rush counselors suggested that we take notes in our booklet about what the house looked like, what they sang, what they wore, who our hostess was, what we talked about, any other members we met, etc. it did come in handy when we had to accept or regret invitations.

[bluefish81]

Originally Posted by irishpipes

Our stages went 22-8-5-3. In my opinion this was ridiculous. I had trouble distinguishing some chapters after first stage, but we had to cut back to 8 so a lot of chapters got cut when I would have loved to have gone back. The “regret with interest” was not available, nor were release figures that prevented chapters from inviting you back when they had no intention of pledging you. I am positive that many rushees confused chapters with similar names simply because the whole process was so huge and overwhelming.

Wow! 22 to 8! That's a huge cut, especially when the first day is generally so insane. I was expecting you to say that it went from 22 to oh, maybe 12 or 14 or so.

Originally Posted by FSUZeta

tsteven, those are good suggestions.

when i rushed at fsu there were 18 sororities. our rush counselors suggested that we take notes in our booklet about what the house looked like, what they sang, what they wore, who our hostess was, what we talked about, any other members we met, etc. it did come in handy when we had to accept or regret invitations.

When I rushed at Iowa State in 1997, I think our booklets had little pictures of the houses in them - which was nice. It also had some general info about the chapter - colors and symbols maybe?

[DeltaBetaBaby]

IP, I picked out about 8 of the chapters from your notes, even though I did not rush until 1999. It's amazing how much stays the same. Maybe I will do mine sometime soon.

As a side note, my rush was 19 >> 10 >> 5 >> 3, so they didn't make you cut down quite as many from round 1 to round 2. We actually had 22 parties in round 1, but only 19 were NPC. The others were associate members of our CPH, and 4-H, which has full standing in the CPH.

[irishpipes]

Originally Posted by DeltaBetaBaby

IP, I picked out about 8 of the chapters from your notes, even though I did not rush until 1999. It's amazing how much stays the same. Maybe I will do mine sometime soon.

As a side note, my rush was 19 >> 10 >> 5 >> 3, so they didn't make you cut down quite as many from round 1 to round 2. We actually had 22 parties in round 1, but only 19 were NPC. The others were associate members of our CPH, and 4-H, which has full standing in the CPH.

For my rush, Phi Beta Chi and 4-H did a presentation at the orientation, but did not participate in rush even though they were housed sororities and members of panhellenic. To be eligible for 4-H you had to have 4 or 5 years of 4-H under your belt so I guess they didn't want to make everyone go there when so few would be eligible. Phi Beta Chi was a Christian group, I believe.

[amycat412]

Originally Posted by TSteven

I can well image that it would be confusing.

Do you think it would it have been helpful to have some sort of visual aid in the room when ranking? Perhaps pictures of each house and the corresponding letters/abbreviations? It seems like it might be easier to link the chapter (members) to the physical house (the blue one with the orange trim) than just to letters (abbreviations).

The rush booklets USC sent out the summer before my freshman year in 1987 had a page with a pic of the house, both greek letter and nicknames, and colors, mascots, etc-- blank page on the other side for notes. It made it MUCH easier to decipher things.

[susan314]

Originally Posted by irishpipes

Our stages went 22-8-5-3. In my opinion this was ridiculous. I had trouble distinguishing some chapters after first stage, but we had to cut back to 8 so a lot of chapters got cut when I would have loved to have gone back.

Wow - that's just crazy. So, you were supposed to be able to narrow down to 8 chapters after a whirlwind first round where you briefly toured 22 chapters? Pure insanity! I can't even imagine!

I had enough difficulty going from 16 to 12 during my first round! Your opinions of a chapter can change so drastically after going back a 2nd time - I bet a lot of PNMs dropped houses that they regretted later.

[irishpipes]

Originally Posted by susan314

(Think about it - some girl gets her heart set on pledging a "top tier" sorority, but realistically speaking she's more likely to get into/be happy in a "middle" group. After round one, she cuts all of the middle and smaller chapters b/c the "top" houses string her along for awhile...once the "top" houses make their cuts, she's left with nothing. This girl might never go Greek, even though she could have been a fabulous member in several houses. irishpipes, I wouldn't be surprised if you told me that sort of scenario happened all the time during your days at Illinois. )

You sort of stole my thunder!!!

Oh, and we did have a wonderful rush book - it was called "Picture yourself." It had one page for each chapter with a picture of the physical house, the letters and written out name, founding date, etc. and one random photograph of a few members. It was invaluable, but still, it was very difficult to take meaningful notes first stage because we were walking between parties. Walking while writing is a challenge and a skill I do not possess. Hence, the poor descriptions!!!

First stage parties were only 20 minutes long, and the next party would start on the next half hour so we only had 10 minutes to get from one house to the next. Anyone who has been on campus could tell you this is no easy task. U of I does not have a sorority row of any kind. Houses are scattered all over Champaign and Urbana in clusters.

[irishpipes]

Sorry to post 3 times in a row.

I guess I could tell you that the following chapters are no longer in the running:

Alpha Epsilon Phi
Alpha Xi Delta
Alpha Sigma Alpha
Alpha Phi
Alpha Chi Omega
Gamma Phi Beta
Delta Gamma
Delta Phi Epsilon
Zeta Tau Alpha
Kappa Alpha Theta
Kappa Delta
Pi Beta Phi
Sigma Delta Tau
Phi Sigma Sigma

For those who know U of I, feel free to guess which "county" they were!

[DeltaBetaBaby]

Originally Posted by irishpipes

Sorry to post 3 times in a row.

I guess I could tell you that the following chapters are no longer in the running:

Alpha Epsilon Phi
Alpha Xi Delta
Alpha Sigma Alpha
Alpha Phi
Alpha Chi Omega
Gamma Phi Beta
Delta Gamma
Delta Phi Epsilon
Zeta Tau Alpha
Kappa Alpha Theta
Kappa Delta
Pi Beta Phi
Sigma Delta Tau
Phi Mu
Phi Sigma Sigma

For those who know U of I, feel free to guess which "county" they were!

Sligo = Delta Phi Epsilon
Roscommon = Sigma Delta Tau
Wicklow = Alpha Sigma Alpha
Kildare = Alpha Omicron Pi
Longford = Phi Sigma Sigma
Leitrim = Chi Omega

Those are my guesses. I am certain on a few of the ones you are going back to, but I will keep my mouth shut. And you threw me off on Tipperary, because I thought that was Phi Mu.

[irishpipes]

I guess I'll speed up since tomorrow I will be busy, and we have a long line of retro threads heading our way...
************************************************** *****

Second stage – Day 1

I wore a colorful ankle-length skirt with fun pictures of hats and stuff on it with a wide red belt and a yellow short-sleeved sweater and red flats.

Waterford: This was one of my favorites from first stage, and I couldn’t wait to come back. Gerri talks to me again here. She actually remembers me from Street Scenes and we are able to have a real conversation. She tells me that she knew I was coming through rush and was so glad she got to get to know me better. They have a cool slide show that is really fun (rather than emotional, like the ones the other chapter did.) This is such a happy chapter. I love it.

Dublin: Tricia hugs me and says she just knew I would come back here and that she wanted to talk to me more but it would have to wait because she was paired with someone else. It was nice to see a familiar face. In fact, I see Kristen, another freshman who is from my high school, at this party. I didn’t know she was rushing! I wish I could talk to her but before I know it, the party is over. It was a good party and had a nice slide show, but not as amazing as some others.

Monaghan: This is still a very comfortable chapter to me. Everyone seems so natural and nice. They didn’t do a slide show like the first two did.

Kilkenny: This is one of my favorites from first stage and I am dying to get back there! I see my roommate here! Martha waves wildly and I am paired with a senior named Kim from Indiana. She is hilarious and we click immediately. The slide show here is very well done and I love the music they used for it. I find myself getting a bit lost in it and even a bit misty-eyed.

Second stage – Day 2

I wore white pleated crop pants with a royal blue top and these awesome royal blue Mia flats with a criss-cross on the top (my favorite shoes.)

Limerick: This chapter blows me away again. Tracy greets me just like last time and we talk like old friends. During the slide show she makes eye contact with me a few times, as if to see if I like it. It was amazing and I still love this chapter!

Kerry: This chapter is hilarious. They do an introduction that is very funny instead of the same old song/cheer. I like that they are gorgeous but still laugh at themselves. They do a shorter slide show and then a little song. I have noticed that a lot of rushees have mentioned liking this chapter. I can see why!

Tipperary: I am excited to go back here, I am ashamed to say mainly because Pam and Joelle were so impressed by it. This time I still am not feeling much of a connection and I realize that this isn’t the place for me, although they were very nice.

Clare: I was excited to come back here since I didn’t feel like I learned a whole lot first stage. Again, I remember everyone being nice but I just didn’t get that homey feeling like I did some of the other places. This chapter didn’t do a slide show. I was disappointed because I really enjoyed those at the other chapters that did them.

My favorites from second stage are Waterford, Kilkenny, Limerick, and Kerry. Since we are able to go back to 5 next stage, I am hoping for those 4 plus maybe Monaghan? There is a clear break between my 4 favorites and then ones that were just ok to me.

[susan314]

Originally Posted by DeltaBetaBaby

Kildare = Alpha Omicron Pi

Unless her story has a massive plot twist, I strongly suspect that Kildare is not AOPi...


P.S. I'm glad to see Alpha Gam is still in the running - when you said that you had to cut down from 22 to 8 chapters, I was sad that I might not get to see your experience with us for at least one other round...

[OldAOPi]

4-H does rush? I actually work for Extension and am a county 4-H Extension Educator - not in your state, but it used to be a part of rush?

[DeltaBetaBaby]

Originally Posted by susan314

Unless her story has a massive plot twist, I strongly suspect that Kildare is not AOPi...


P.S. I'm glad to see Alpha Gam is still in the running - when you said that you had to cut down from 22 to 8 chapters, I was sad that I might not get to see your experience with us for at least one other round...

You never know.

But it turns out I was right about Phi Mu, so I don't feel so bad about getting a few wrong

Anyway, guesses this round:

Tipperary: Phi Mu
Clare: Sigma Kappa
Monaghan: Alpha Delta Pi
Kerry: Delta Delta Delta

I am working largely off of physical house descriptions, so if anyone moved between her rush and mine, this won't work at all.