Petals' Recruitment Story at Penn State (finally!) - Page 3

PSUSigKap · #31 10-05-2006, 05:55 PM

We Are...PENN STATE!!!

Sorry, just had to get that out of my system!

Yes, PNM's do fill out a recruitment application and yes, the sororities know exactly who is in each party every round.

The four years I was there, the recruitment groups were formed in alpha order for the sophomores and freshman together. The juniors were grouped separately and they were alpha order too.

There are usually 23-25 recruitment groups.

I'll second what LionTamer said, there truely is a sorority for every type of girl at PSU.

Quota is usually 19-25ish, depending on how many girls stay in recruitment all the way through. I wish we could get the kind of numbers UofI and IU get!

Good luck Petals!!! Awe. . .I miss PSU. . .That's all for now.

ASUADPi · #32 10-05-2006, 09:57 PM

Good lord, I can't even imagine going through recruitment with 20 houses. Wow!

Good luck with recruitment!

And as LionTamer said, with 20 sororities, everyone is bound to find one that fits them!

Reese87 · #33 10-09-2006, 09:08 AM

Good luck Petals and have FUN! I'm going through recruitment at IU so I *know how fun it's going to be with so many houses to visit and so many faces to see!

Do your absolute best, I'm rooting for you!

FSUZeta · #34 10-09-2006, 09:27 AM

i love your quote, reese87. good luck to you at iu-hope that you will post your thread when the time comes.

Lil_ChiO_Lady · #35 10-09-2006, 12:57 PM

Good Luck Petals, my cousin goes to Penn State but is going to wait till next year to rush.

I wonder does it hurt your chances if you are a sophmore? I am not aware how strict they are about about primarily recruiting freshman?

BearyLovely · #36 10-09-2006, 02:33 PM

being a sophmore at psu doesn't hurt ur chances at all, most pledge classes end up being about half freshman and half sophmores plus a junior (the average class size being 20 +/- 2 based on how may girls go all the way through recuirtment and juniors don't count towards quota)... besides as a sophmore u may already have friends in sororities which will help make sure u don't fall through the cracks during recuritment.

TigerOwl · #37 10-10-2006, 12:08 AM

Penn State Panhellenic placed that comment on their website because they don't want hundreds of resumes/pictures and stray letters of recommendation sent to them.
Who can blame them!!!
However, they were contacted regarding the negative effect that comment makes about letters of recommendation. They do not refuse them at their doorstep, nor destroy them when they are accidently received. The Panhellenic office just puts them in the suite mailbox of the particular chapter. They will be looking at that particular wording and will try to reword it or delete it altogether. They realize that resumes/pics/recommendations are important to the chapters that make them important. So that is why they refer anyone reading the website to check with the national organization of the particular sorority.
Again I will state, letters of recommendation are always welcomed by the volunteer advisors of the chapters. Set yourself up to succeed. Set your daughters, grand daughters, neices and neighbors up to succeed.

Best of Luck Petals! Have your comfortable shoes/boots ready for the 1st invite round.
TigerOwl

petals · #38 10-17-2006, 10:49 PM

Hello all!
As I’m sitting here trying to get some major mid-term paper writing out of the way before recruitment starts on Sunday, I thought I’d pop in and say thanks for all of the kind words/info/advice. While it was probably a good idea to move recruitment to late October overall, I’m kind of hating that I’ll have to balance mid-term work and recruitment at the same time (at least in the earlier rounds, it looks like things last from 5:30 until 9 or 10 PM... which translates to actually sitting down and starting homework sometime after 11

)

I’m SOOOO so so excited to get this thing started, though… 20 houses *is* a lot to take in, but as LionTamer said, I’m feeling really confident that there’ll be a sorority that’s perfect for me somewhere in there.

Something that I’ve been thinking of that will probably be a big help once the parties start next week are some fall-back kinds of questions to ask if conversation gets slow between a member and myself. I know I found a list of them somewhere on GC once, and I’ll definitely try and find it again this weekend, but if anyone has some suggestions for example questions or directions to go towards, that’d be such a help! Blanking out and akward conversations are definitely my biggest fears for the upcoming week… fainting and breaking my neck or spilling a drink all over someone are nothing

Thanks again, guys!

KSUViolet06 · #39 10-18-2006, 12:34 AM

Try to ask things that can't be answered with one or 2 words:

*Of course you want to ask about their philanthropy and the philanthropy events they hold. That gets the sorority members talking.

*Ask about their social events. What socials did you have last year? With who? What was your favorite?

*What was your favorite memoriy from your new member period?

*Tell me about Bigs and Littles, what's that like?

*What is the most memorable award your chapter has won?

*What are some local service projects that you participate in?

FSUZeta · #40 10-18-2006, 09:02 AM

"tell me about thon"

"does your chapter require study hours?"

"what was your favorite sisterhood activity?"

"does your chapter participate in intramurals?"

then too, you can always ask for advice on courses and professors.

xo_kathy · #41 10-18-2006, 01:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KSUViolet06

Try to ask things that can't be answered with one or 2 words:

*Ask about their social events. What socials did you have last year? With who? What was your favorite?

Jocelyn's advice is correct - ask open ended questions. However, I might caution youagainst the one above. If it's brought up I'd ask about it, but I wouldn't ask outright. They might be mislead to thinking you only care about partying and what fraternities you'll be hanging with. Just my opinion!

NinjaPoodle · #42 10-19-2006, 12:40 PM

Good luck Petals

SigKapSweetie · #43 10-20-2006, 11:31 AM

Good luck Petals! I can't wait to hear how it goes!

honeychile · #44 10-20-2006, 12:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FSUZeta

"tell me about thon"

"does your chapter require study hours?"

"what was your favorite sisterhood activity?"

"does your chapter participate in intramurals?"

then too, you can always ask for advice on courses and professors.

For heaven's sake, mention THON!!!! I can't think of one thing that PSU is more proud of (well, maybe their football coach)!

-Summer vacations are always great fodder for conversation, too. "Can you believe this weather? I could so handle being in the Outer Banks (Bahamas, etc) right now!"

-Ask about sisters studying abroad or doing an internship. Seems that there are using a few.

-Animals/Pets/Mascots: "Pandas are so cute! How did they become your mascot?" "Your lion reminds me of my cat - do you have any pets?"

-The Creamery: "What's your favorite flavor?"

LionTamer · #45 10-20-2006, 01:33 PM

Good suggestions, honeychile!

I especially like the suggestion about studying abroad. When I was at PSU, it was sort of a "sorority secret" - the program wasn't well-publicized, and the sororities passed it down, with the older girls sharing their amazing experiences and encouraging the younger girls to apply. One of my friends spent a term at University of Edinburgh, and she was one of the few non-Greeks in the whole group.

And you're right that everyone will have an anecdote about overnight trips to go canning for Thon, or of actually dancing or doing Morale -- always a sure-fire conversation starter.

As for vacations, we might not go to the Outer Banks up here in Yankee country, but a lot of us have a good story from Avalon or Stone Harbor (hmmm, remembering my own Avalon days, maybe we're venturing into risk management territory there......)

Anyway, we're all waiting to hear how things are going -- Good luck, Petals!