Alabama Recruitment

[BlueCarnation]

Originally Posted by Loyally Kappa

I'm thinking the latter, that the out of state girls showed up with recs, resumes, and photos already AT the chapter houses BEFORE rush. I mean, the addresses of the rush chairmen are posted.

Geesh ... is anyone really so naive as to think that all you have to do is pay the rush fee and then show up to enjoy the door songs?!?

To be fair, I think it depends on where that person is coming from. Looking at the list, not a lot of girls are from the midwest, but at many schools up here, you just don't need recs, and if that's what they know, they just don't think of it. I decided to rush about a month before I got to school, so I would not have had a clue, other than from a few of my friends' moms who were in sororities. Maybe these days girls are thinking of these things earlier, and it's more a part of the culture in certain areas to know early in high school that you are going to be in a sorority, but for many people, this is a whole new ballgame.

[Loyally Kappa]

Well, sure, you make a fair comment.

Really, I wish more mamas and their daughters would discover Greekchat at least a year before going off to college and start asking questions BEFORE rush. Otherwise go to a smaller out of state school. Perhaps their rush is different than at the big schools.

HOWEVER ...

Let this be a caveate. When in Rome, do like the Romans ... lol!

(Oh yeah, they stole the Greek culture, didn't they?!?)

Originally Posted by BlueCarnation

To be fair, I think it depends on where that person is coming from. Looking at the list, not a lot of girls are from the midwest, but at many schools up here, you just don't need recs, and if that's what they know, they just don't think of it. I decided to rush about a month before I got to school, so I would not have had a clue, other than from a few of my friends' moms who were in sororities. Maybe these days girls are thinking of these things earlier, and it's more a part of the culture in certain areas to know early in high school that you are going to be in a sorority, but for many people, this is a whole new ballgame.

[BlueCarnation]

Originally Posted by Loyally Kappa

Well, sure, you make a fair comment.

Really, I wish more mamas and their daughters would discover Greekchat at least a year before going off to college and start asking questions BEFORE rush. Otherwise go to a smaller out of state school. Perhaps their rush is different than at the big schools.

HOWEVER ...

Let this be a caveate. When in Rome, do like the Romans ... lol!

(Oh yeah, they stole the Greek culture, didn't they?!?)

Hey, I'm a Yankee, so what do I know, right? I know that there are girls coming here from my town that still don't know if they are going to rush and it is less than 3 weeks away. I don't even think our recruitment website even mentions needing recommendations, other than to give the address to each sorority house! And we're a huge state school! It's just totally different. This is so fascinating to me.

[Loyally Kappa]

Well, I don't think I'm divulging any secrets by saying the the student government at MOST of the SEC schools are referrred to as "The Machine."

The county where my girls grew up in Alabama had an equally effective Panhellenic alum group that continues to operate as a machine. I never got involved in that, but I paid my alum dues to my local KKG group, attended a few teas ... took my two little darlings to some of them to be introduced, etc., etc., etc.

In other words, I spent 20+ years laying the groundwork for them to rush at whatever school they chose to attend.

What the county Panhellenic where I lived did was to invite all senior girls to a sorority recruitment meeting in late April. And I mean, ALL senior girls. The meeting was posted at the local high school. We had "the box" ... literally a file box where the local girls were instructed to drop off however many copies of their resume, transcripts, and photo as there were sororities at the school they they planned to attend. The different alum groups would visit "the box" by late June and pick up a vitae for each girl in the county. They would then have their summer luncheons and decide on which girls each would recommend. Of course, that got personal, but overall the process was very organized. No girl was left out unless she or her mama had her head stuck in the sand.

I'm teaching at Ole Miss now, but I think they are similarly organized as to rush.

Originally Posted by BlueCarnation

Hey, I'm a Yankee, so what do I know, right? I know that there are girls coming here from my town that still don't know if they are going to rush and it is less than 3 weeks away. I don't even think our recruitment website even mentions needing recommendations, other than to give the address to each sorority house! And we're a huge state school! It's just totally different. This is so fascinating to me.

[Nhfulmer]

Originally Posted by Loyally Kappa

Well, I don't think I'm divulging any secrets by saying the the student government at MOST of the SEC schools are referrred to as "The Machine."

The county where my girls grew up in Alabama had an equally effective Panhellenic alum group that continues to operate as a machine. I never got involved in that, but I paid my alum dues to my local KKG group, attended a few teas ... took my two little darlings to some of them to be introduced, etc., etc., etc.

In other words, I spent 20+ years laying the groundwork for them to rush at whatever school they chose to attend.

What the county Panhellenic where I lived did was to invite all senior girls to a sorority recruitment meeting in late April. And I mean, ALL senior girls. The meeting was posted at the local high school. We had "the box" ... literally a file box where the local girls were instructed to drop off however many copies of their resume, transcripts, and photo as there were sororities at the school they they planned to attend. The different alum groups would visit "the box" by late June and pick up a vitae for each girl in the county. They would then have their summer luncheons and decide on which girls each would recommend. Of course, that got personal, but overall the process was very organized. No girl was left out unless she or her mama had her head stuck in the sand.

I'm teaching at Ole Miss now, but I think they are similarly organized as to rush.

sounds like a good plan to me!

[33girl]

Originally Posted by Loyally Kappa

Well, sure, you make a fair comment.

Really, I wish more mamas and their daughters would discover Greekchat at least a year before going off to college and start asking questions BEFORE rush. Otherwise go to a smaller out of state school. Perhaps their rush is different than at the big schools.

HOWEVER ...

Let this be a caveat. When in Rome, do like the Romans ... lol!

(Oh yeah, they stole the Greek culture, didn't they?!?)

Definitely agree.

I'll put it this way: if I, a lifelong Pennsylvanian, looked on Bama's webpage and saw picures of girls wearing DRESSES AT FOOTBALL GAMES, this should be a tipoff to me that there are going to be LOTS of things that are different than what I grew up with, and anything I want to be involved with (including sorority rush) merits much research and investigation to do it properly.

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by 33girl

Definitely agree.

I'll put it this way: if I, a lifelong Pennsylvanian, looked on Bama's webpage and saw picures of girls wearing DRESSES AT FOOTBALL GAMES, this should be a tipoff to me that there are going to be LOTS of things that are different than what I grew up with, and anything I want to be involved with (including sorority rush) merits much research and investigation to do it properly.

And honestly, how could one end up partaking of this cross cultural experience without knowing, at least partially, what you were getting into. Hello! Tuscaloosa, Alabama! Hello!

I'm not moving to Pittsburgh, and then complaining about your capes! (Carnegie Mellon, joke, I think, right?)

[33girl]

Originally Posted by UGAalum94

And honestly, how could one end up partaking of this cross cultural experience without knowing, at least partially, what you were getting into. Hello! Tuscaloosa, Alabama! Hello!

I'm not moving to Pittsburgh, and then complaining about your capes! (Carnegie Mellon, joke, I think, right?)

ha ha - and even some Pittsburghers would look askance at that. We had a consultant one year who bemoaned our "casual" dress. Umm hello....we are on a hilly, rainy, snowy campus. We are not going to wear dress pants and heels and fall on our noses walking to class.

[KSUViolet06]

Originally Posted by 33girl

ha ha - and even some Pittsburghers would look askance at that. We had a consultant one year who bemoaned our "casual" dress. Umm hello....we are on a hilly, rainy, snowy campus. We are not going to wear dress pants and heels and fall on our noses walking to class.

Hey now, I'm an Ohio girl and we wore pin attire to most chapter meetings, which required us to trek across campus in heels and such in the snow!

[BlueCarnation]

Originally Posted by UGAalum94

And honestly, how could one end up partaking of this cross cultural experience without knowing, at least partially, what you were getting into. Hello! Tuscaloosa, Alabama! Hello!

I'm not moving to Pittsburgh, and then complaining about your capes! (Carnegie Mellon, joke, I think, right?)

Hey, I'm totally with you ladies!!! Absolutely, when in Rome...

I don't get the thing about the capes, but we managed to dress in pin attire in the frozen tundra.

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by BlueCarnation

Hey, I'm totally with you ladies!!! Absolutely, when in Rome...

I don't get the thing about the capes, but we managed to dress in pin attire in the frozen tundra.

The cape thing was just a joke going back a while with 33Girl when we were talking about differences in campus culture and how people saw their groups. Although it's funny for me to imagine an entire campus or city in capes. . .

I think there's a tendency for other regions to regard southern recruitment as particularly bizarre, and I'm not sure that we don't foster that some ourselves, but it's hard to see how it could be the campus's fault that a young woman chose a campus and the corresponding Greek system but then didn't realize what she was getting into.

[BlueCarnation]

Originally Posted by UGAalum94

The cape thing was just a joke going back a while with 33Girl when we were talking about differences in campus culture and how people saw their groups. Although it's funny for me to imagine an entire campus or city in capes. . .

I think there's a tendency for other regions to regard southern recruitment as particularly bizarre, and I'm not sure that we don't foster that some ourselves, but it's hard to see how it could be the campus's fault that a young woman choose a campus and the corresponding Greek system but then didn't realize what she was getting into.

I absolutely agree. For the record, I don't think it's bizarre, just totally different than what I've experienced; I like to hear about all the different rush processes and learn what goes on at all of them. I have learned so much in the past week and am excited for our recruitment coming up. I guess it's just a lot easier for some people to try find someone or something else to blame when it doesn't work out than to face the real facts.

[tainey]

I think there's a tendency for other regions to regard southern recruitment as particularly bizarre, and I'm not sure that we don't foster that some ourselves, but it's hard to see how it could be the campus's fault that a young woman choose a campus and the corresponding Greek system but then didn't realize what she was getting into.[/QUOTE]

grammar check at UGA? Just kidding truly!

[AnchorAlumna]

Originally Posted by 33girl

...if I, a lifelong Pennsylvanian, looked on Bama's webpage and saw picures of girls wearing DRESSES AT FOOTBALL GAMES...

In 1980, my husband and I and a group drove up to Pennsylvania to attend an Alabama-Penn State and were quite amused by the differences.

We would not get to the stadium less than one hour before kickoff, even with reserved seats....the Penn Staters wandered in about halfway through the first quarter. Even as alumni, we would never wear jeans to a game (back then...not now)...the Lions wore jeans, boots and sweatshirts (no need for a sweatshirt at an Alabama game until November!)...intoxicant of choice at Bama=bourbon...intoxicant of choice at Penn State=some sort of blackberry cordial...we Bama fans stayed until the end, and then some to cheer...Nittany Lions began wandering off at the beginning of the fourth quarter. Granted, we won...but still, the game could be won or lost in the last seconds, so you'd better stay!

No one right or wrong way...just different.