Rock Chalk! University of Kansas Recruitment

[ollie dog]

nyapbp/JayhawkAOII/gatordeltapgh:

Wonderful and interesting history about KU! I remember reading in another thread about the KU Pi Phis starting the "cookie shine" tradition. And AXO, 100 years on campus... that is awesome.

[IndianaSigKap]

Xi chapter of Sigma Kappa celebrated its 100th anniversary last school year.

[ollie dog]

Day 1: Open House (all 13 sororities)

The morning started bright and early for these girls after being roused from their sleep by football players running up and down the halls of the dorm while blowing air horns. My daughter (who I’ll refer to as “Sunny”) is NOT an early riser so didn’t find this as amusing as her suitemates and roommate did. The girls met their Recruitment Counselors at 8am, got their schedule for the day, and headed for the bus which would take them to their first house. I was kicking myself yesterday for telling Sunny to keep her phone behind, only to find out last night when she called that the PNMs are not allowed to have phones (or watches) with them at all during the day. I never thought I would be the anxious mom, but here I am.

Sunny and friends visited 4 houses, had a break for lunch, visited 6 houses, had a break for dinner, and then visited the final 3 houses. Preferences were entered at 930p, a brief meeting with the RCs at 10, and then back to their rooms at 1030 (when I finally got the update).

She couldn’t contain her excitement when talking to me about her day. I had a big grin on my face just listening to her as she talked through the notes she took on each chapter. She really liked every place that she visited and definitely thought it was hard to find something to help her with her rankings. Sunny is a very bubbly, outgoing girl who can converse easily with almost anyone she comes across and she loves meeting new people, so I think she was really in her element today. She finally decided to rank her bottom three based on the conversations feeling more “interviewy” or “a little awkward” and less “totally random… like talking about Shark Week!”

She really found something positive to embrace about each place, and even with her bottom three she said “I just think maybe the girls were nervous or not very good rushers, so I totally want to give them another chance if I get invited back.” One thing she did tell me was at one house she liked, the conversation turned to guys that the rusher was asking her if she knew. Sunny said “Mom, I wasn’t sure what to do, since we’re not supposed to talk about boys! But I told her yes I knew them and then kind of moved the conversation to something else.”

At the end of the night, her favorites (though she liked them all) were:
Liberty Memorial
Oklahoma Joe’s
Power & Light
Westport

She ranked (though she wouldn’t mind going back and meeting new girls):
1. Boulevard Brewery
2. The Fountains
3. Hallmark Cards

I asked how Roommate and Suitemates enjoyed their day and found out that they all had a blast. Apparently the 4 of them made an agreement to not discuss their feelings other than very generically so that they wouldn’t influence each other’s choices. What a mature group of young women!

Other random notes about Day 1:
Sunny said that she had a great time just meeting a lot of girls in her dorm and in other groups today. I was glad to hear that she was looking at the big picture and not getting caught up in “what did you think about XYZ” etc. It’s not too hard to hear KU tent talk around here, but to me it seemed like she did a very nice job thinking for herself and not letting that influence her in any way. She actually ranked a house that is considered very desirable, and really liked a house that is considered not so much. Her words: “I don’t care, the girls were awesome and I felt very comfortable in their house.” The RCs told the PNMs that it’s very rare to receive a full schedule of 10 parties for Philanthropy Day (which I think made Sunny breathe a slight sigh of relief, as she wouldn’t mind a break or two during the day!). She said she’d be happy with any number of invites and I’m pretty sure I believe her.

[TriDeltaC]

she sounds so mature and wonderful - such a testament to you!

[Ladybugmom]

My very good friend and her two sisters were Tri Deltas at KU..she loved her time there! Good luck to your daughter and hang in there..sometimes it's harder on moms than the girls!

[kld]

I also have two recs going through at KU! I spoke to one of them last night who said "my" chapter was one of her favorites yesterday (I didn't go to KU)... but I am trying not to get my hopes up yet.

I can't wait to hear which chapter Sunny chooses. I enjoy the KC reference =)

[jayhawksix]

I'm so excited to see this thread. I have a daughter who is a sophomore at KU. She is going through recruitment on the other side for the first time. Had a brief text last night she was exhausted. I think 13 parties is so many for all of the girls..wish is it was split into two days like it used to be.

Will be moving in my son this afternoon...Hope to hear a few porch songs as we drive through campus!

Good luck to Sunny! Sounds like she has her priorities straight

[ollie dog]

Originally Posted by kld

I also have two recs going through at KU! I spoke to one of them last night who said "my" chapter was one of her favorites yesterday (I didn't go to KU)... but I am trying not to get my hopes up yet.

I can't wait to hear which chapter Sunny chooses. I enjoy the KC reference =)

Good luck to your recs! I know what you mean about getting your hopes up... Sunny liked her legacy chapter but it wasn't in her favorites. I was slightly disappointed, but have stressed to her that she doesn't need to love that house just because I do.

Originally Posted by jayhawksix

I'm so excited to see this thread. I have a daughter who is a sophomore at KU. She is going through recruitment on the other side for the first time. Had a brief text last night she was exhausted. I think 13 parties is so many for all of the girls..wish is it was split into two days like it used to be.

Will be moving in my son this afternoon...Hope to hear a few porch songs as we drive through campus!

Good luck to Sunny! Sounds like she has her priorities straight

When the booklet came out this year and we saw the party schedule, Sunny about died. She's definitely not a morning person and 8am-1030pm makes for some long days. I can't imagine what it's like for the actives! I hope your daughter finds a home to love! Please keep us updated!

[DGTess]

Originally Posted by ollie dog

When the booklet came out this year and we saw the party schedule, Sunny about died. She's definitely not a morning person and 8am-1030pm makes for some long days. I can't imagine what it's like for the actives! I hope your daughter finds a home to love! Please keep us updated!

My thoughts exactly. Isn't sleep-deprivation considered hazing on most campuses?

[ollie dog]

Day 2: Philanthropy Day (up to 10 sororities)

Another beautiful day in eastern Kansas… it’s been sunny and not too (read: August) hot, and no rain in the forecast for the rest of the week!

For Philanthropy Day, the PNMs were able to visit up to 10 chapters. Once again, KU Panhellenic provided the girls with t-shirts; this day’s shirt was red with a Jayhawk on the pocket. I really liked how they did shirts for the first two days this year as it seemed to cut out a lot of stressing about what to wear.

Sunny met her RC at 8am to pick up her list of invites. She was so thankful and felt very fortunate that she was asked back to her top 10 from Open House, although a little nervous because she was going to be on her own as far as traveling from house to house (as no one in her Rush Group had the exact same schedules). If you aren’t familiar with the KU campus, the sorority houses are sort of grouped in three general clusters (with a few random outliers) all at opposite ends of the campus. As a recap, Sunny returned to:
Arrowhead Stadium
Crown Center
Liberty Memorial
Oklahoma Joe’s
The Plaza
Power & Light
Sporting KC
Swope Park
Union Station
Westport

Philanthropy Day was something she’s been looking forward to as she was very involved with community service in high school. She said that most of her rushers asked about her volunteering, which I think was pretty prominent on her registration form and (hopefully) on the recs that she was able to obtain. Sunny told me she really was excited about several of the local and national philanthropies that she learned about today. At most places she visited, she was able to either make a personal connection to the cause or it was something that she already felt passionate about (or at least as passionate as you can be at 18). There were only 2 places where she felt they kind of downplayed it or didn’t sound super enthusiastic. I have no doubt that the length of the last two days may have had a little something to do with that, but it did make an impression on Sunny.

There was a little shuffle-up in her favorites tonight, and she sounded much more enthusiastic about a couple of chapters where she just thought they were ok the first round. Her favorites were:
Power & Light
Sporting KC
Union Station
Westport

Day 3 is Skit/House Tour Day where they can visit up to 7 houses, so she had to rank her bottom 3:
1. Oklahoma Joe’s (this was a hard decision for her as she liked them so much the first day)
2. Swope Park (she would be ok with returning here if invited)
3. Crown Center (she didn’t feel like the girls she met here today were interested in her)

Sunny’s roommate and suitemates continue to have a great time as well. Roommate returned to 10 houses (she had the same invites as Sunny except she had Boulevard Brewery in place of Sporting KC). Suitemate 1 returned to 8 houses and Suitemate 2 returned to 10 houses.

Random notes about Day 2:
Apparently the grade cuts were pretty harsh today, but reading some of the other threads on here, I don’t think that’s any surprise. Sunny knew quite a few girls who only had 5 or 6 invites today. I told her that it only takes one in the end, and she agreed. I also said that she needed to be prepared for more heavy cuts tomorrow and to remember that she needed to accept that whatever invites she receives are really the only houses she needs to think about. I wasn’t trying to be a downer or dampen her enthusiasm at all, just inject a little bit of reality and hope she retains it in the morning! We talked a lot about how House Tours/Skits would really give her a better feeling of how she would fit in at each place rather than trying to figure that out during the whirlwind of the first two rounds. Also, Roommate had a weird experience at one of the chapters where her rusher just looked at her and said “I’m tired, I’m sure you’re tired, let’s just sit here and not talk.”

I hope everyone’s daughters/rec girls are enjoying themselves just as much as Sunny and friends. Today should be a fun day for them, house tours and skits!

[SydneyK]

I'm enjoying your daughter's story, ollie dog!

Originally Posted by ollie dog

Roommate had a weird experience at one of the chapters where her rusher just looked at her and said “I’m tired, I’m sure you’re tired, let’s just sit here and not talk.”

Yikes!
What an awkward position to put a PNM in!

[azureblue]

I am a proud KU Greek alumna! The campus is gorgeous, the tradition and Jayhawk pride is over the top and all 13 chapters are lovely. KU is truly an amazing place to go to college and to be Greek! I know active women and advisors at most of the chapters...so excited to see a KU thread.

ADPi celebrated 100 years in 2012. It was such an amazing experience for collegians and alumnae.

ROCK CHALK JAYHAWK!

[jayhawksix]

Sounds like Sunny and her roomates are doing great! I'm anxious to hear how they like skit/house tour day. My favorite day by far!

Originally Posted by ollie dog

I hope your daughter finds a home to love! Please keep us updated!

My daughter is actually a first year active in a house. I probably was a little too vague trying not to give too much info away She is loving her new home and pledge class. I don't think she realized that the actives in the houses are just as nervous as the PNM when it comes to making a good impression.

[ollie dog]

Originally Posted by jayhawksix

My daughter is actually a first year active in a house. I probably was a little too vague trying not to give too much info away She is loving her new home and pledge class. I don't think she realized that the actives in the houses are just as nervous as the PNM when it comes to making a good impression.

D'oh! I just went back and re-read what you wrote and yes, you were pretty clear that she's on the other side for the first time

I think I was MORE nervous my first year as an active than I was as a clueless PNM. Probably because I was completely clueless about the whole process when I was a PNM so I didn't know I had anything to be nervous about!

[ollie dog]

Day 3 Skits/House Tours (up to 7 sororities)

I answered the phone and immediately heard “Mom, this was the hardest day EVER. I don’t know how I’m ever going to choose after pref.”

The PNMs met with the Recruitment Counselors again at 8am to get their invites for Skits and House Tours. Sunny was dropped from one of her favorites from yesterday, but she said she didn’t really mind because she liked everywhere else that she was invited to visit. She was excited to see that she had a full schedule of 7 houses.

She visited:
Arrowhead Stadium – loved the skit, the physical house, and the girls she talked to today. She also really likes their philanthropy. She said she could see herself fitting in with these ladies easily.
Liberty Memorial – she really liked this house the first day, but it’s been just outside her favorites the last two rounds. She felt really bad because this was the last house she visited and being tired, she had to try to keep from yawning.
Oklahoma Joe’s – this is another house she really enjoyed on the first day, but hasn’t had it in her favorites since then. She didn’t really say anything about the skit, and she liked the physical house.
The Plaza – She liked the physical house a lot, but felt the skit really wasn’t her sense of humor.
Power & Light – this house has been among her favorites all week, but she felt a little let down today. She felt the skit here wasn’t really her sense of humor, and she said she noticed some of the girls watching her to see if she was laughing. She also felt that as a whole, maybe they weren’t quite as outgoing as she is.
Sporting KC – she absolutely loved the skit and the house, as well as the girls she met today. Sunny felt like she could fit in here very well.
Westport – this house has been one of her favorites all week. She said the skit was awesome and she loved the house. She was excited that one of her rushers today was someone she met the first day and adored.

Sunny had a really hard time making her preferences tonight and she said she had to get some advice from her favorite RC. She finally decided that for Preference Day she’d most like to go back to:
Arrowhead Stadium
Sporting KC
Westport

And she ranked:
1. Power & Light
2. Liberty Memorial
3. The Plaza
4. Oklahoma Joe’s

Sunny’s roommate attended 6 parties today and would like to return to Liberty Memorial, Swope Park, and Westport for Preference Day, with Oklahoma Joe’s as her next choice. Both suitemates returned to 5 houses today. Sunny is a little worried because they each only liked 2 of the 5 and decided if they didn’t get those 2 for Prefs, they would drop out. She’s hoping they keep a little more open mind, but said “if they aren’t feeling it, they aren’t feeling it.”

Random notes about Day 3:
Two of Sunny’s good friends from high school dropped out today: one because she felt like she couldn’t give a sorority a fair commitment with all her other activities and didn’t want to take someone’s spot only to have to drop out later, and the other because she said she didn’t like any invites she got. I mentioned in my update yesterday that it’s kind of hard to avoid tent talk sometimes and I have a feeling this friend completely fell victim to some of the negative talk. A lot of metro girls have their hearts set on 4 or 5 chapters and don’t want to “settle” for anything else. Fortunately KU has a lot of opportunities for students to get involved and Greek Life, while prominent, is definitely not the be-all, end-all of the Jayhawk experience. Sunny also mentioned she did hear of a few girls that got cut completely today, and she kept saying how bad she felt for them. I just have to say how proud I am of my daughter for not letting any of the talk get to her and for keeping a completely open mind to the houses where she receives invites back. At the end of the call she said “I’m going to be happy no matter what.”