Tears, joy mark end of IU women's rush

Sunday morning freshman Leslie Jobb had nothing left to do but wait. She made it through 19-, 12-, six- and three-party with only a few minor disappointments and sleepless nights. However, she was in love with one sorority, and by 1 p.m. she would find out if the sisters there felt the same.\nA few minutes after 1 p.m., Jobb was crying.\n"Me and my best friend got in," she gushed. "I'm so happy, we're both crying!"\nJobb, along with nearly 1,100 IU women, cut their winter break short to participate in the final parties of women's recruitment that began Wednesday afternoon. The parties culminated with "bid day" Sunday, when potential members found out if they were invited to join a house.\nWomen attended 12-party Wednesday and Thursday, which was the next phase of a process they started in October when each recruit visited all 19 houses. \nAfter six-party Friday, women spent Saturday visiting three houses for the final time before potential sisters and houses made their final choices Saturday night.\nThough Jobb had a happy ending to the exhausting and often stressful process of recruitment, not all girls who participated will be paired with a house they want.\nSome women who are disappointed with the selection process the first time around can choose to try again as sophomores.\nSophomore Kate Hagelow, who also went through recruitment as a freshman, said her experiences from last year helped her the second time around.\n"It's a lot easier as a sophomore because you already know people," she said. "You're also more comfortable. It's not as nerve-wracking."\nThough Hagelow did get a bid, she said she would have been fine with any outcome.\n"I think things will work out the way they're supposed to," she said. \nSorority members shared in that optimism, returning early from break for recruitment in order to prepare for the upcoming parties.\nAlpha Chi Omega members returned last Monday, practicing skits, dances and decorating the house.\nSenior Erica Garner, co-chair of recruitment in Alpha Chi Omega, said the process often surprises sophomores new to the sorority side of recruitment.\n"I think many are shocked," she said. "They don't realize how much work goes into the preparations."\nAt night, after a long day of parties, sorority members make selections as to who they will invite back to the next round. \nPaige Muhlenkamp, a sophomore in Delta Gamma, said members are as anxious as rushees to see who will receive a bid.\n"A lot of women have someone in mind they admire or who would be a good fit for the house," she said. "It's really exciting when they read the list."\nSunday sorority members were able to meet all the potential members they have been hearing about from their sisters during the recruitment process. In the Delta Gamma house, the sisters all made time to hang out, get introduced and start learning names.\n"It's great to meet the new members," Muhlenkamp said. "You get to put a face to a story and name."\nIU's Web-based Student Information System OneStart caused a slight hiccup in the complicated process when houses did not receive the grade point average list of potential members as early as in past years. Each sorority has a GPA requirement for potential members.\nSarah King, president of the IU Panhellenic Association, said grades still made it to houses by the Tuesday deadline.\n"Although chapters were probably faced with more incomplete grades for potential members than they have dealt with in the past, since chapters did have grades on time, they were able to use this information in making their selections," King said.\nGarner said receiving grades later than expected affected her stress level less than anything else.\n"It didn't cause any major problems, just behind-the-scenes stuff," she said.\nFor those who accepted bids from a sorority Sunday, pledgeship begins this week with "bid week" activities celebrating getting into the house.\nFor those whose anxious waiting on Sunday didn't result in tears of joy, Muhlenkamp has a few words of advice.\n"Everything happens for a reason," she said. "Sometimes disappointment about one (sorority) can turn into a blessing."\n-- Contact Staff Writer Haley Beck at habeck@indiana.edu.