Indiana University 2014 Recruitment

[pinkmama]

Please remind your daughters to look at the pnms at each party they attend today too because those girls could be their potential sisters. They forms substantial bonds in their pledge classes in every house they find girls they truly connect with! It just happens and usually within the first two weeks of being a new member. Even at bid day!

[suze81]

Originally Posted by Sigmapsimom

I'm sorry if I offended you, that was not my intent. There will always be some chapters who are stronger than others. My only point was that physical proximity is something that was important to her and most of the pnms going through formal recruitment at IU without a doubt. Club was definitely not the right word to use. It's just not the experience she wants of rooming with sisters, having frats surprise serenade them at their house, etc.

My daughter's Rho gamma openly advised her pnms to always rank the unhoused chapters last, because "they invite everyone back." This is not very comforting nor appealing to anyone. It's dirty rushing IMO.

Being in a chapter that pnms cry about being invited to their prefs or even worse don't show up to can be difficult for those chapter members too. I know many girls in my daughter's rush group dropped today rather than go to them. That's not fair to those chapters. In a way, the women in those chapters are going through the rush rejection again in a different yet similar way that many of them experienced as pnms. Nobody wants to feel that kind of rejection once let alone twice. I don't think I want this for my daughter, although I have not expressed that to her. I have remained positive trying to salvage what is left of her confidence today. I will support whatever she decides.

Added: she just texted me and said a ton of girls did not show up for the first party. I feel bad for the sorority members.

Sorry so long and disjointed. My mind has been racing because of the pain in my daughter's voice this morning. I have realized that you can't compare Iu recruitment to anywhere else, even my personal experience, so please don't take my opinions from IU recruitment and compare them to your campus. I am a rush advisor for my chapter and the experience is completely different there. There are always disappointments, but overall the experience is positive for 90%+ of the pnms and members.

So in terms of the unhoused chapters being disappointed that many PMN's are not interested in pledging, perhaps they would be wise to accept the option offered to them of being housed in dorm floors. This would make a huge difference for those PNM's looking for a "live-in" experience.

[KDCat]

Originally Posted by Sigmapsimom

Exactly - they are ALL unhoused. If all or even half the chapters did not have houses, it would not feel that way. It's the culture at IU and you should not compare it to your campus.

My university did not have sorority houses either, but we lived together on a dorm floor that the university put aside for us, hence "our house."

If you know this isn't true, you shouldn't be lamenting your daughter getting pref invitations to chapters without houses. She may be disappointed, but you know that she can have a good experience in an unhoused group.

I'm sorry for your daughter and the other PNMs. The system at IU is painful.

[Sigmapsimom]

Originally Posted by KDCat

If you know this isn't true, you shouldn't be lamenting your daughter getting pref invitations to chapters without houses. She may be disappointed, but you know that she can have a good experience in an unhoused group.

I'm sorry for your daughter and the other PNMs. The system at IU is painful.

Thank you. I wish it was different. Lamenting isn't the right word. I am angry at a system that intentionally disenfranchises hundreds of girls. I was upset and concerned about it even before recruitment, but yes now it's personal unfortunately, so I am seeing the damage done first hand.

I can't really compare my experience with the IU unhoused sororities because we did live together on campus. It wasn't a traditional house, but we were together on our dorm floor, were given chapter rooms and decorating freedom by our university. Being together was essential to the experience. It was also the norm on my campus. Each campus is unique.

So you're right in a sense that it's not the "house" that makes the sorority close, but having that common place to go to and hang out, day after day, whether it be in a house or a dorm is a good thing.

[IUHoosiergirl88]

The lists of houses PNMs get back can always be a surprise, but this year it may be even moreso a shocker. Don't be shocked if a chapter cuts you, and don't be shocked if a chapter invites you back. Keep an open mind, list ALL chapters on your MRABA, and go into bid day open to anything.

[Mom64]

My daughter is also devastated. 2 unhoused and a house she claims she is not interested in at all. I am pleading with her to finish the Rush process but she is adamant she does not want to pledge any of these houses. This was not the experience we hoped for. It was grueling and for my daughter with little reward. I'm not sure if the original schedule would have given her a different outcome but I find it hard to believe that meeting girls for 45 minutes two times is an accurate way to judge whether they're a good fit.

[DeltaBetaBaby]

Originally Posted by Mom64

My daughter is also devastated. 2 unhoused and a house she claims she is not interested in at all. [...] I find it hard to believe that meeting girls for 45 minutes two times is an accurate way to judge whether they're a good fit.

Surely you see the irony here?

[Mom64]

Originally Posted by DeltaBetaBaby

Surely you see the irony here?

While I see the irony, I also see the hurt and disappointment. My daughter is going to finish the process with an open mind and give the three sororities another look. Too bad she doesn't have a chance to give the sororities at the top of a list another look at her.

Originally Posted by pinksequins

It's hard, but if 18 year-olds can just look past the physical housing ...

If housing wasn't what it is at IU perhaps they could, but when you have 19 out of 21 sororities requiring their members to live in their houses for 2 if not 3 years, it's hard not to look past not having a house.

Originally Posted by IUHoosiergirl88

We tried a split recruitment in the past, with then 19 party being around Halloween and then the rest of recruitment after Christmas, and then 19 party moved to just after Thanksgiving. There's just not much of a good solution, unfortunately. They moved 21 party to post-Christmas for academic reasons, and now everyone is up their rears because of this situation. Can't win

Although the weather is no one's fault, the revised schedule was not optimal and did a huge disservice to all involved. Everyone can say it's hard on the actives, but they're already in a house and they're self-esteem isn't taking a hit.

[suze81]

Mom 64. The EXACT same thing just happened to my daughter...only un-housed chapters This is impossibly cruel. Especially that her legacy house just dropped her.

[IUHoosiergirl88]

Please remind your daughters that your greek experience goes far beyond the 4 years you are present at IU, so whether your chapter has a house or not doesn't matter. Don't discount chapters just because they don't have a house--ALL chapters at IU are quality and will provide you with a great greek experience, both in undergrad and beyond

[pinksequins]

True! But the sorting hat somehow seems less harsh/painful than this year's IU recruitment. I do hope that Panhel reflects on the decision to drop a round.

For the Moms who are encouraging their daughters to continue, I saw colony pictures for one of the unhoused chapters and the members were adorable! Based on nothing but photos, they "looked" like the types of pretty, fun girls next door that I would have sought out back in the day. Please continue to encourage them take another look at the stripey top and the polka dots (even if they dreamed about the purple paisley.)

[IUHoosiergirl88]

Originally Posted by pinksequins

True! But the sorting hat somehow seems less harsh/painful than this year's IU recruitment. I do hope that Panhel reflects on the decision to drop a round.

They'll definitely go back to the normal recruitment pattern (21-12-8-3) next year, this year was just compressed because of the movement of 21 party and then weather impact

[Mom64]

Originally Posted by IUHoosiergirl88

They'll definitely go back to the normal recruitment pattern (21-12-8-3) next year, this year was just compressed because of the movement of 21 party and then weather impact

While that's great for next year, doesn't help soften the impact to this year's PNMs. The amount of hours in a day were unfair and had to have an affect on rushing. It would be interesting to see when the invited 3 party PNMs met with the sororities they were asked back to. I wouldn't be surprised if a large majority where at the beginning and very few from the 9:25-10:10pm time slot.

[IUHoosiergirl88]

Originally Posted by Mom64

While that's great for next year, doesn't help soften the impact to this year's PNMs. The amount of hours in a day were unfair and had to have an affect on rushing. It would be interesting to see when the invited 3 party PNMs met with the sororities they were asked back to. I wouldn't be surprised if a large majority where at the beginning and very few from the 9:25-10:10pm time slot.

They're split as evenly as possible to make the parties smaller--so if ABC can invite back 400 girls, they're split roughly 400/4 or 100 girls/party. Sometimes you end up with 125 in one round and 75 in another, but it all is relatively even. In addition, sometimes our first party was our smallest one, so don't read into that in the least.

[Mom64]

Originally Posted by IUHoosiergirl88

They're split as evenly as possible to make the parties smaller--so if ABC can invite back 400 girls, they're split roughly 400/4 or 100 girls/party. Sometimes you end up with 125 in one round and 75 in another, but it all is relatively even. In addition, sometimes our first party was our smallest one, so don't read into that in the least.

It's not so much about the size but the amount of time the PNMs have been going to houses. My daughter started at 9:00am and finished at 10:10pm besides a lunch break and a 45 minute break (where she rode the bus around because there was no where convenient to stay warm) had to "be on".

The actives had to be exhausted as well. Not too sure how after 12+ hours decision making can be made with a totally clear head.