<p>I got a few invites after attending preview weekend for the parties in March. I was having a hard time remembering these houses as we saw all the sororities for only 12 minutes each that day. I googled each individual house I had recieved an invite for, “sorority name university of alabama”, as a short cut rather than going to the Panhellenic website. The first thing that popped up was a website called Greek Rank. I had never heard of this before and it really made me uneasy. I thought overall most sororities were equal and you just wanted to find your fit. But this website makes it seem like some houses are considered way better and others are considered not so great. I saw comments like “only bid ugly, out of state girls” and “best house because they only bid southern girls”. I’m not from the south and I am more nervous about rush than I have ever beeb because of this website. Basically, I’m just looking for someone to tell me this isn’t true!</p>
<p>Hi kda, Please don’t put any stock into what you saw on that web site. It is a unmoderated, meaningless bashing board. If you want more information on the sororities, I would suggest you go the the UA panhellenic web page and look for last years’ Greek Chic on-line magazine. It will help refresh you memory as to who you met last weekend.
My DD was an oos rushee, and had a great time during rush. She has friends in almost every house at UA, and they are all great girls. Just make sure you have recs for all the houses and keep an open mind.
Hope this helps alleviate your fears.</p>
<p>The first thing I would tell you is to forget you ever heard of greek rank. It does a disservice to the greek system. The site is not monitored therefore anyone can say anything they like with no oversight. Occasionlly there is some good information on there but it is so hard to separate the wheat from the chaff. You would have to have prior knowledge of the greek system at UA to know truth from fiction. Most of the people who post on greek rank have an agenda and alot of them still act like 9th graders. Don’t go to greek rank at all!</p>
<p>Most of the sororities at UA are very good. Yes, a few of them lean heavily to in-state but most are just looking for good girls who fit their house. As an example, Phi Mu is a very good sorority at UA. They have girls from all over the country. They even have one from Norway. Don’t worry. There is a very good house for you.</p>
<p>I would echo what everyone has posted. Greek Rank is not a place to go looking for information on sororities at UA. It’s really important that you keep an open mind when going through recruitment. There are no “bad” houses and each has wonderful girls and great opportunities to offer PNMs. Preview is crazy because you do get such a limited time at each house. It’s a blur of a day. I would encourage you to look at the Greek Chic magazine that is on the Panhellenic website. You can also go to Chapter Profiles and look at each sorority’s 2013 brochure as well as their individual websites.
When you go to the different invite events in March you will get a chance to talk with members. I would tell you not to be judgmental but rather to be open to what each sorority has to offer and how it fits into what you are looking for in a sisterhood.
Make sure you have recs for each house. These are very important. I know that Panhellenic told you that if a sorority really liked you and didn’t have a rec for you they would find one. This is true but don’t rely on this. I would encourage you to seek out one or two recs per house. If you have trouble finding them pm me and I can probably help.
Keep an open mind. Don’t listen to tent talk (negative talk about the different sororities) and don’t participate in tent talk. Greek Rank is the equivalent of tent talk. Maximize your options, list all of the houses where you attended parties. If by chance you didn’t have a good conversation with a girl you were paired with don’t just write that house off. Give them a second chance, there could be a variety of reasons why the conversation didn’t flow. Finally as you go through the process don’t dwell on the houses that did not invite you back but rather focus on the fact that the houses on your party card wanted YOU. I guarantee that with pledge classes of 80-90 girls you could probably fit into all of sororities at Bama and find a nucleus of friends.
Good luck!</p>
<p>I’m an Alabama native and an Alabama sorority alumna-- so don’t take this as bashing of Alabama, the South or the Greek system at Alabama, but having lived outside of Alabama for most of my adult life I can truly say that only on Greek rank would it be considered a positive attribute for an organization to be composed primarily of people from Alabama/the South! Every sorority at Alabama has loads to offer. You are better served researching sororities through means other than Greek rank. Look around to see which houses the people involved in the kinds of activities you want to be involved in are members of. Chances are you will see that they are spread out throughout the houses. Focus on finding the right fit for you – not the right fit for some anonymous person on the internet with an agenda.</p>
<p>Thank you all for the quick and extremely useful replies! I was really hoping that the answer was not that Greek Rank is reliable! I have gotten this far with an open mind and I intend to try my hardest to forget everything I read on that website in order to keep it that way. :)</p>
<p>A website only has as much credibility as you (the reader) give it. GR is ridiculous on all levels. I personally hope it’s never mentioned again on a public forum. It is not worth the minute it took you to read it.
LISTEN TO AHPIMOMMY…she’s the real deal. She knows her stuff. I stand behind her credibility not only because she’s a personal friend but also an incredibly reliable source of information. I know that she has helped scores of young ladies through the rush process.
Keep an open mind! It will work out the way that it is supposed to if you give it an honest chance.</p>
<p>My D was very confused as far as trying to remember each house. On Sunday we drove past all of the houses and she snapped a pic of them to remember. Now that you are back home you may need to go to Google Earth as well as the new expansion master plan that is availabe on the greek affairs website for UA. I have the direct link at home and will post it later ;).<br>
Print those off and it can help refresh your memory.</p>
<p>As others have said, keep an open mind and don’t let “trash talk” cloud your judgement. </p>
<p>ahpimommy is AWESOME!!! If you have any questions you can ask her and she will gladly answer them.</p>
<p>When looking up the houses once home my D remembered that you like all of the houses and do not have any favorites. You never know which one is the better fit for you.
Which is why we both about passed out on Sunday when out shopping and in a little shop where 2 young ladies were working. There was another mom and daughter and this D asked the girl working there, “Are you in a sorority? Which one?”. The one working politely responded that she could not answer as it was Preview Weekend. She then asked this PNM what were her favorites and this girl responded, “A, B, C. I LOOOOOOOVED those!” My D and I about passed out! This girl talked up these 3 houses like there was no tomorrow. This girl had a few easily identifiable “characteristics” and mannerisms. This girl did everything they were told not to. :(</p>
<p>Let me tell you a secret. The sorority members also have trouble remembering which Potential New Member (also referred to as rushee) is which! They each have a little notebook or piece of paper tucked away somewhere so that they can scribble a note or two about each PNM to help them remember. Try doing this yourself during formal recruitment! You can carry a bag with you for things like flipflops (between parties), breath mints, comb, etc. Add a little notebook of some kind. Between parties you can jot down a sentence or some words to help you later.
You could also use your copy of Greek Chic for this. There is space on each group’s page specifically for this purpose!</p>
<p>Southlander is right :). With almost 2000 girls going through recruitment it is hard to remember the PNMs. As soon as each party is over the members will do exactly as she said…they too will keep notes about who they talked with. Your Greek Chic will have a place to make notes next to each sororities section. while this is easy because it is on the page with the sorority info the mag is a bit big (it will fit in your bag though) and some girls do prefer to keep a small notebook. Simply put girl#1 talked about summer vacation :)…I’ve even told the girls to rank the houses 1 through 5. It will get easier as you progress through the days of recruitment but I will tell you that keeping some sort of notes is a MUST fro Ice Water Teas and at least through Philanthropy (and maybe Skit if you have a full party schedule). Also remember your favorites may change from day to day depending on the connections and conversations you make. I tell girls it’s kind of like the Bachelor. You will have connections with many houses at first on a rather non-intimate level and as the week progresses you (and the sororities) will be begin to weed out those houses you do not have strong connections with and focus on forming even stronger connections with those houses (PNMs) that you do connect with. In the end you hope that a sorority will get down on one knee and say “Will you accept this bid?”…Okay am apologizing for the corny pun…we have almost 2 feet of snow and our satellite dish has been frozen for days!!! How many tivoed episodes of the Bachelor can one girl watch ???LOL!!</p>
<p>I have read CC a lot and find all the info very helpful. We were not able to attend preview weekend . But my daughter is exciting to attend UA and plans on rushing. We visited this weekend and she fell in love with the campus. But being from Florida she does not know any one in sororities at Bama. How can she letters of recommendation or invitation to the pre rush events. Are there any events in South Florida this spring. Any advise is appreciated.</p>
<p>ninalfa- invites for pre-recuitment teas and parties that are being held the weekend of March 16th have already started going out. If you have friends who are alums of a sorority that has a chapter on the Alabama campus (they do not have to have been members or attend Alabama, you might ask if they would get in touch with their chapter and ask if your daughter can still receive an invite. I think it’s a long shot but worth a try.
As far as recs go…they are a MUST. Ask everyone you know if they were in a sorority in college. Your daughter should ask her teachers at school, you and your husband should ask your co-workers. Have grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousin, church members, neighbors…anyone and everyone. If do have sorority affiliations then ask if they would be willing to do a rec for your daughter. Your daughter should also ask her friends mothers.
If you are still missing recs then I would reach out to your local panhellenic alum association as well as the different sorority alum associations in your area.
If you need help let me know and I can help you as well.
I am not aware of any panhellenic info events or pre-recruitment teas in Florida. Most of the hometown visits were completed in December.</p>
<p>ninafla, your daughter may also add her name to a recruitment database which I think furnishes info to the sororities for the parties. Click here: <a href=“https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?fromEmail=true&formkey=dHM5cDA0S2FUQVNFV0VIUE9JLUtHcmc6MQ[/url]”>PNM Interest Database, but do it now!
Also, there is an online chat TOMORROW, March 4, specifically for women who could not attend the preview day. Click here: [Online</a> chat about Sorority life - March 4, 2013](<a href=“THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA PANHELLENIC ASSOCIATION”>THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA PANHELLENIC ASSOCIATION)
I’d encourage you to keep an eye on the UA Panhellenic website for any other news: [Alabama</a> Panhellenic](<a href=“http://www.uapanhellenic.com/]Alabama”>http://www.uapanhellenic.com/)
Recruitment registration begins May 1.</p>
<p>thank you both for the info-she will check out the data base list and we got an e-mail about the call tomorrow night. She has some friends at other Florida colleges in that may be sororities but we don’t know anyone with any connection to UA sororities.</p>
<p>You don’t have to have alumnae from Alabama chapters. You need alumnae from sororities, not particular chapters. (Not sure I explained that clearly!)</p>
<p>My OOS Daughter plans on attending invite weekend. She was not able to make the preview weekend, but received an invite. Does anyone have any recommendations on what she should wear to the invite parties?</p>
<p>What are people planning to do about invitations that are at the same time? Is it bad form to attend a portion of each party?</p>
<p>I would say that dress for invite parties would be similar to Preview. Cute colored jeans, floral print, chambray shirt…a casual dress, cute skirt an top. Those of you who attended Preview saw lost of different looks. Better to dress up than down. Panhellenic had told the sororities to wear jeans yet houses wore dresses. If it is a Sunday tea then a dress for sure. I would advise to wear something you are comfortable and confident in. When I help girls choose clothes I tell them to try and choose something that might be unique and that sororities will remember them by…classic and classy.
As far as multiple invitations at the same time…sororities know that girls will be invited to several parties at the same time. It is totally ok to go to part of the parties and simply excuse yourself to go to the next one. Make sure you are polite, thank the girls for the invitation, explain that you have an obligation to attend another party. The sororities should not ask you what party/parties you are attending. If your daughter is uncomfortable with this perhaps she could find another girl or friend who has the same parties and they could go together.</p>
<p>My daughter is on J-Board this year (my interpretation of this is "rush police officer – making sure everybody is following the rules). She was shocked at Preview Weekend that a fair number of girls showed up in sweatpants. So no sweatpants.</p>
<p>Party hopping is perfectly fine! Last year my D spent anywhere from 15-30 min at each house that she was invited to. They ALL seemed to overlap, but hopefully with each house only having one party, it won’t be as bad. Last year each house had two parties each during the weekend, so we felt like we were “speed” partying!</p>
<p>It’s helpful to have the mom drive to the party and park down the street, that way when your D is finished, she can just text you to grab her for the next location. Us moms had a blast hearing about one party while on the way, with our GPS, to the next!</p>