Pink sequin girl?

[MaryPoppins]

Gail's husband is also performer, does that fit the story? My memory is fuzzy but I'm thinking that the Father of the twins was a lawyer and in politics or some position of power.

[Loyally Kappa]

How did I ever miss this story? I stumbled on it last night, then finished reading the original thread this morning.

I agree with everyone who thinks it's made up.

[GratefulGramma]

The father of the twins was a powerful attorney, who was tragically killed in some kind of accident, I think.

[Hindsight]

Because I'm OCD and am procrastinating doing more important stuff, I just searched all the Miss America 1st runner ups from the early 70's to mid 90's and found nothing that could fit. Perhaps the mom wasn't first runner up, but just *a* runner up? Heh! This is fun, although it's likely all fabricated.

[chi-o_cat]

I don’t think it’s completely made up. I think it’s based on someone, an actual set of twins who joined sororities at 2 different universities, but the OP isn’t one of the twins. She’s one of the other characters- probably not Callie, but maybe “Lyndsay”? The writer was friends with a girl who had a twin at another school, and always thought it would have been more fun to tell her friend’s story than her own. As I recall (and I’m not going to re-read the whole thing), Lyndsay was having a successful recruitment, but without all the twists and turns, and definitely no “thing” to make her recruitment story as exciting and dramatic as her BFF. So she pretended she was the one who had a twin sister and some major mysterious issue that she “couldn’t speak of, and yet couldn't stop talking about” (to paraphrase a very apt phrase from a Modern Family episode).

Then of course she added in additional details that may or may not be factual (the mother being a Miss America runner-up, overly detailed outfit descriptions, *pink. sequined.tights*) to make it sound like it was really her writing it, but ironically, ended up just making the story seem less and less plausible. Maybe these details are true, maybe they are false (completely products of the writer’s imagination), or maybe they are based on real information but changed slightly so that the story would not be too recognizable in the event someone who knows the real twin sisters were to find it (or the twins themselves). Maybe she tweaked the number of chapters at her school and/or the sister’s school. Maybe the architectural descriptions of the chapter houses were mixed up a little as to sound familiar, but not instantly placeable.

[irishpipes]

Interesting that the poster uses the term "core four" to describe the top tier at her school. That is a term used heavily at Duke. Duke doesn't fit any of the criteria for her school. OU has "top 5" but I haven't ever heard "core four." Other problems: Tulsa never recruits before OU or OSU. Maybe they did a long time ago? Also, OU and OSU don't use tents, and she references tents repeatedly. Also, Telluride does not work as Alpha Phi. She states that Telluride was a traditionally southern sorority. No one would refer to Alpha Phi that way. And debunking my own contribution of Cascia Hall, the poster says her high school was large, and Cascia Hall caps each class at 100.

And why would a rush group ever line up by height?

However, the weather, the descriptions of country girls, and Callie being from Kansas all work for Oklahoma.

[Hindsight]

So, thinking Kansas: 1980 Miss America 2nd runner up was Michelle Elaine Whitson. Went to KU and was a Gamma Phi Beta.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?ni...g=6399,6499734

[carnation]

Some people use "core 4" at Arkansas.

[Hindsight]

Also at the University of Texas. The Core Four at UT are supposedly Delta Gamma, Alpha Chi Omega, Alpha Delta Pi and Alpha Phi. So maybe UT and SMU for the private school?

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Core%204

[carnation]

Those aren't the Core 4 there and they use 6 groups in that manner.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by Hindsight

Also at the University of Texas. The Core Four at UT are supposedly XYZ, ABC, DEF and GHI. So maybe UT and SMU for the private school?

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Core%204

No. There is the Big 6 and the Really Big 3 within the Big 6. Even silly northern girl knows that.

That sounds like something lame someone made up to compete with the Big 6, actually. (Names redacted so no one says I'm being mean to anyone in these groups.)

[Low D Flat]

That sounds like something lame someone made up to compete with the Big 6, actually.

Right, a trendy way to say "middle tier."

[Loyally Kappa]

When I first started reading it, I would have sworn she was discussing an SEC school along with a small private school. Just from my own experience, I was pairing Florida with Rollins College or else Alabama with Birmingham-Southern. But Florida and Alabama both have more than 11 houses (and have for a long time). Both of my daughters ended up as Tridelts at Alabama, and as we prepared their resumes I'm pretty sure we had to put 16 sets in "the box" that the Etowah County Panhellenic used when preparing recs. I remember there were tents at Florida when I was there. And I seem to recall tents at Alabama that are taken down before Squeal Day (Bid Day). And I know that they use tents here at Ole Miss.

The one thing that struck me as way off the meter was high heels on the first day. It seems like even back in my day, we were extolled over and over to wear sandals and sundresses for the first round.

[ChioLu]

Could it be Tulane for the small private university and LSU for the large state university?
Tulane (currently) has 8 sororities, but don't know founding dates. Was there a time when there were 6 sororities?
LSU now has 12, but Alpha Phi just recolonized in 2013.

[DubaiSis]

Tulane University
(Sophie Newcomb College)
New Orleans, LA

Pi Beta Phi Louisiana Alpha 1891
Chi Omega Rho 1900
Kappa Kappa Gamma Beta Omicron 1904
Alpha Delta Pi Epsilon 1906-1977/2013
Phi Mu Delta 1906-1992/2009
Kappa Alpha Theta Alpha Phi 1914
Alpha Epsilon Phi Epsilon 1916
Sigma Delta Tau Alpha Iota 1955

Louisiana State University
Baton Rouge, LA

Kappa Delta Epsilon 1909
Delta Zeta Sigma 1917
Chi Omega Phi Gamma 1924
Delta Delta Delta Delta Omega 1934
Phi Mu Alpha Eta 1934
Kappa Kappa Gamma Delta Iota 1935
Pi Beta Phi Louisiana Beta 1936
Delta Gamma Gamma Zeta 1948
Zeta Tau Alpha Delta Kappa 1959
Kappa Alpha Theta Delta Kappa 1963
Alpha Phi Delta Tau 1965-1980/2014

I don't recall the details so I don't know if these founding dates sort of match, but here you go. My guess is if not fully fictional it draws from a very rough approximation of real events. Core Four = Big 6/Tents = gathering areas/heels = dressed up more than seems logical. But I love the speculation!