Out of state pnms

[Elephant Walk]

Originally Posted by Zillini

Also at Bama there's a spring Panhellenic weekend, basically a meet and greet for actives and all upcoming fall PNMs.

Arkansas has Greek Week, which I assume to be something similar to that. GS could probably shed a little bit more light on it.

[kreich]

Things may be different now, but I can share my experience from the late 80s--early 90s. I rushed at a big state school. I was an out-of-state student. I pledged what was considered a "top" sorority. I had a full card for all the rounds and so had to "regret" a few houses each round.

We had a deferred rush, so the first round was in November or December, Panhel cut for grades, and then we came back a week early in January to complete rush.

My high school boyfriend's mom was in a sorority in college. She offered to organize my recs the summer before school started. My parents weren't greek in college, and I knew nothing about rush. I accepted her offer mostly to be polite since it seemed like something she really wanted to do. She called around to all of her friends, and believe it or not, recruited 17 women to write recommendations. There were 19 sororities on my campus.

I had no idea how valuable those recs would be. At my campus, if an alumnae wrote a rec for a girl before rush started, the house invited her over for formal dinner. I had the opportunity to meet girls in each of the 17 houses I had recs for -- even before rush began. I also met a senior from the house I eventually pledged (ZTA) in one of my activities classes. She invited me over for dinner, too. So I went there twice during the fall semester. I later learned that I was her "rush crush"--Without having someone who is your champion in the house, it was hard to make it to bid night.

So, my advice is to get recs if you can and meet as many girls during Fall semester as possible--especially if your sorority recruitment is competitive like ours was.

[gee_ess]

Great post Zillini - that is a very good explanation of the situation.

[gee_ess]

Actually, Arkansas has done away with Greek Week for the time being - no idea why. I think it is a really great tool to introduce the pnm's to the crazy world of recruitment.

[Elephant Walk]

Originally Posted by gee_ess

Actually, Arkansas has done away with Greek Week for the time being - no idea why. I think it is a really great tool to introduce the pnm's to the crazy world of recruitment.

Me too...when'd they get rid of it? I remember it being there bout 4 years ago.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by gee_ess

Actually, Arkansas has done away with Greek Week for the time being - no idea why. I think it is a really great tool to introduce the pnm's to the crazy world of recruitment.

This is a silly question, but if you called that Greek Week, what did you call the competition they had between all the GLOs? I am assuming you had something like that (with Greek Olympics, Greek sing etc).

[Elephant Walk]

Originally Posted by 33girl

This is a silly question, but if you called that Greek Week, what did you call the competition they had between all the GLOs? I am assuming you had something like that (with Greek Olympics, Greek sing etc).

We don't really have one?

I'm pretty sure we have just Homecoming where people compete. I guess Row Week has a few competitions in it too.

We've got so many ridiculous other competitions for sororities and fraternities...frats at bat - AOPi, Crowning - ZTA, Derby Days - EX, Watermelon Bust - LXA, some flag football tourney - EN, etc. It's too much work to have other weeks.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by Elephant Walk

We don't really have one?

I'm pretty sure we have just Homecoming where people compete. I guess Row Week has a few competitions in it too.

We've got so many ridiculous other competitions for sororities and fraternities...frats at bat - AOPi, Crowning - ZTA, Derby Days - EX, Watermelon Bust - LXA, some flag football tourney - EN, etc. It's too much work to have other weeks.

If you do system-wide competitions at Homecoming + the multudinous other things, yeah that makes sense.

[gee_ess]

The last time they held Greek Week was spring of '06.

[lawgal]

With recruitment starting for some schools in the next few weeks, I was wondering if some of you out-of-state pnms would give us some feedback after you go through recruitment about whether (and how much) being from out of state seemed to impact your results, if you can tell. Also what you did to help yourself stand out (in a good way) as the people on this thread have suggested. How many recs did you have for each house?Could you tell if the number of recs had an impact? [Treading a fine line here - don't want to overkill or look desperate]

Thought I would ask on this thread, although it may fall into the recruitment stories category. Thanks for any feedback.

[Lamplighter]

Originally Posted by lawgal

With recruitment starting for some schools in the next few weeks, I was wondering if some of you out-of-state pnms would give us some feedback after you go through recruitment about whether (and how much) being from out of state seemed to impact your results, if you can tell. Also what you did to help yourself stand out (in a good way) as the people on this thread have suggested. How many recs did you have for each house?Could you tell if the number of recs had an impact? [Treading a fine line here - don't want to overkill or look desperate]

Thought I would ask on this thread, although it may fall into the recruitment stories category. Thanks for any feedback.

OK..I'm not a PNM, but my daughter just went through rush at an out of state SEC school. Actually 3 girls (that I know of) from our area went through, and I know one of them really well. First off, neither of them knew anyone in any sorority, so that was kind of scary, but the positive side was there were absolutely no pre conceived notions about any chapters. At the beginning of the summer we started gathering up recs. The goal was 2 per sorority from someone who actually knew her in case they got a phone call. We got several alum recs from that university through meeting them at alumni recruitment functions. I think both girls hit that except for one sorority...actually different ones. We got a pretty detailed rush resume together (which is something I haven't read much about on here, but may have just missed it), and attached a flattering picture. We made up packets for each person that was writing a rec, and it contained the rush resume, a transcript, a pre addressed, postage paid envelope to the recruitment chair and of course a thank you note.

Then the shopping began. And more shopping. And more shopping. To get just the perfect rush wardrobe. And trust me, you can find some great things on sale if you wait until after the 4th of July.

Rush began. All 3 girls seemed to like most everyone, although they all had their favorites. No cuts at all first round. Very Few cuts 2nd round. No cuts 3rd round. Everyone pref'd their favorites. They all pledged the same sorority, which by the way was their first choice.

So, I'm not sure if this sorority just loves girls from our state, but judging by where they all pref'd which was that sorority and 3 other different ones, I can only say that the best advice I can give anyone, in state or out is BE PREPARED. Get recs, do a fantasic rush resume, have a great picture, have an appropriate wardrobe. Those are the material things. The other thing is sit your daughter down and prepare her. Mine was lucky, I am very familiar with how recruitment works. So, I was very honest. I told her the good, the bad and the ugly. And I won't go into any other boring details, but I made sure she knew that she should treat every girl at every house with respect, and even if she wasn't that impressed, to find one positive thing about that day and focus on that if the conversation lulled.

Oh, and one other thing. You'd be surprised at how many girls from our state colleges knew girls that went to my daughter's college. I have since found out that texts and phone calls were flying trying to get info on our girls. So, that is another resource.

Sorry this is so long, and it probably should be under recruitment stories, but I thought it might be helpful and pertinent to this thread. It just goes to show, out of state girls can make it even in a competitive rush, but basically I would have done the same things if she had stayed in state.

[gee_ess]

Oops! I need to clarify my post - I was actually talking about Greek Weekend, which was a stand alone weekend where hs seniors came up for a day of mock rush and other activities.

Sorry for the confusion!

[lawgal]

I am bumping the thread because I would really be interested in how successful out-of state pnms are in recruitment this fall, along with anything they thought contributed to their success (if they can tell). How they managed to stand out from the crowd for instance....

[Army Wife'79]

lawgal I was so curious about this last year I asked Irish Pipes if she could do her computer magic and break them (Auburn's) down by state and by group. She did and most OOS'ers were from nearby states. Maybe she'll do it again this year after AU posts it's lists with the hometowns listed.

[exlurker]

Originally Posted by Army Wife'79

lawgal I was so curious about this last year I asked Irish Pipes if she could do her computer magic and break them (Auburn's) down by state and by group. She did and most OOS'ers were from nearby states. Maybe she'll do it again this year after AU posts it's lists with the hometowns listed.

A list of new members at Oklahoma State U was published a few days ago in an Oklahoma newspaper. Just from the most casual of glances, one can see out-of-staters from Texas, Kansas and Missouri, along with a few from more "exotic" locations.

Oklahoma State U. NPC Sorority Bid List 2008

http://www.stillwater-newspress.com/...225113435.html

Edited to add: I hope the link just above ^ works better than the one posted earlier below.
http://www.stillwater-newspress.com/...ces_printstory




Haven't got a clue as to what potential new members from out-of-state did / didn't do, or what percentage of them received / accepted bids, though: