I agree. I tend to root for the underdog chapters, because I think that while some chapters (particularly smaller ones) may struggle during formal recruitment, most are still really quality chapters and are fighting to overcome negative stereotypes that are, unfortunately, detrimental to their recruiting. It's hard enough for PNMs to make genuine choices while trying to avoid being snowed by trivial factors like a sorority's shirts or room decorations, without worrying about their peers judging them based upon their preferences.

Aside from all of that, I wish you the best in your recruitment! Remember to relax and have fun =)

Round 2 - Sisterhood Night
First cuts happen after this night, so we were all nervous to make a great impression on all the groups tonight. The girl in front of me was all about Pepsi - decked out in their colors. A few girls showed up in the colors of Coke too. I wore my pearls - (every group on campus' jewel is a pearl, so I was safe!) and my favorite top with some cute jeans. I should add that each round was an hour long the first two nights. This night was a "no-frills" night.

Sprite was up first tonight. Their room was even more sparsely decorated than the night before, but they were wearing matching lettered shirts that were really cute. The girl who took me off the door had the same name as me, so we had some things to talk about. The sisterhood "game" was up next. Sprite had prepared a list of facts about their sisters, and we had to find the sister who matched the fact. It didn't work out very well because we had no idea who anyone was, so we ended up walking around saying "were you born in hawaii? no? ok, bye" the whole time. The fact that the whole chapter fit on the front and back of one piece of paper (double spaced) really showed how small they were. Not much else was memorable from this round.

Coke was the second party. Coke's cheer at the door was arrogant tonight too. I don't remember what they wore this night, but I remember that I thought it was cute. Their snack was cute and matched their colors. Tonight we talked as a table and the girls didn't rotate as fast as the night before. It was fun to listen to each girl talk about the chapter's sisterhood and the fun events they did. They really stressed the fact that they had the best socials with the best fraternities and the best formal... it made me want to be more like them. I left this round thinking that I would have to work very hard to be like Coke, but I really did like them. Looking back, they did not have a "game" like they were supposed to have that night. I facebooked a few of the girls later that night and each one's profile picture was " I <3 Coke!

Pepsi was last! I was so excited to get back in there and prove I could be a Pepsi! We were taken off the door and led to our tables. The table was set with cards for a game, but the girls told us we would do something different this round. (I later learned from earlier parties that some of the game's cards had suggestive or dirty phrases on them, so they had to change their game at the last minute!) We got into a giant circle (remember, 80 or so girls!) and the game was "I've Never". I was so nervous, and I was the "out" person really late into the game, so I had nothing to say! I ended up saying, "I've never gone more than two weeks without going to the mall". I immediately regretted it because it sounded stuck-up. The rest of the round I was so nervous I ended up repeating myself multiple times. But I knew they liked me, because the girl who walked me to the door told me, "Girl, you are so awesome. See you tomorrow!". I left the party so exhilarated!

Rankings
Without a hesitation, this was how I ranked this night:

1. Pepsi
1. Coke
2. Sprite

We could possibly return to all three tomorrow. All my friends ranked Sprite as 2 also, so we were so happy we all were on the same page!

Im glad your back!! Go Pepsi!!

Round 3 - Skit Night!

After anxiously tossing and turning the night before, it was finally time for skit night! My friends and I dressed in our "church attire", and walked to the student center to await our party invites. I checked in with my Rho Chi and she said I was going to all three parties! I was so happy :)

Coke was first tonight. Their theme was "The Fabulous Coke Awards". Their skit was like the Oscars but for the sorority: Best sisterhood award, diversity award, most talented sisters award, etc, and of course they beat out "beta beta beta" and "alpha alpha" for the awards every time. The decorations were like a city skyline, very pretty! I was really impressed by the songs they picked to change lyrics to fit Coke: not only were they really clever, but the girls singing were very talented! I was also very happy because I sat at the table front and center of the room, and the girls who I chatted with were all seniors! My mom told me later that night that these could both be very good signs that they liked me! I felt like the conversation just flowed. I couldn't eat their treat tonight because of my food allergies, and that was the only awkard part of the conversation because the girl rushing me didn't know what was in the treat. I left the party with a very positive opinion of Coke!

Sprite was my second skit tonight. We were brought in to an extremely perky cheer and sat at our tables; I was seated in the middle of the room. Their theme was "Sprite Idol", like American Idol. They had the three judges, and different sisters auditioned, singing songs with words changed to fit. I felt like a lot of the lines were inside jokes because I just wasn't understanding a lot of it. Also, the judges were very mean to one girl. I know that's what American Idol is like, but it just didn't sit well with me. The girls in the skit had funny names (Which they later explained were the names of their founders, but I still didn't get it). Overall their songs were great but it just didn't go over very well. Decor was very sparse. During the rest of the round, I was unconsciously doing some self-sabotage. My last conversation of the night found me talking to the President. She was talking about how she loved her sisters, and I asked a question that I later regret. My boyfriend's sister was a Sprite back at home, and she had to drop because she couldn't afford it. I asked the President how sisters could make someone leave the sorority because she couldn't pay anymore. The response I got was a very composed and classy one about scholarships being available and how the dues here were less because there are no houses, so sisters being unable to afford rarely happens. I immediately felt terrible for being so rude, but the party was over.

I soon shook off that feeling, because PEPSI was last! Yay PEPSI! I was so excited because I just knew that Pepsi was for me. I walked in and guess who picked me off the door? The girl who dropped me off yesterday! We chatted away and soon it was Skit time. Their theme was "School of Pepsi" aka School of Rock. I was happy to see that the President, my Orientation leader, was the star of the skit. She played a misfit girl who was trying to figure out how to fit in. The rest of it is kind of a blur, but it ended in her pulling off her baggy hoodie and revealing her Pepsi letters underneath! The final line was "I realize now that Pepsi isn't what I've become, but who I've always been!". I thought their skit was sooooo awesome. I talked to so many Pepsi girls that night! They kept coming up, saying hi and staying for a few minutes - I swear I met 15 girls that night. When it was time to go, I stood up and the girl walked me to the door. She gave me a hug and said, "Daisy, I will totally see you tomorrow!" I was beaming from ear to ear.

Needless to say, that night I ranked without thinking.
1. Pepsi
1. Coke
2. Sprite

When I got back to the dorm, all the other girls said they thought either Pepsi or Coke was their favorite. Pref was tomorrow and I was so excited to go to Pepsi!

I really hope you get a bid from Pepsi! Keep us posted! Good luck! xox!

Aaah! Dirty rushing!

I just got back from recruitment school...our recruitment VP was like DO NOT DO NOT say ANYTHING about seeing you tommorow!

HATE that. I really got burned by it during my own recruitment. Don't listen to her!

Preference

Pref was on a saturday, so I spent most of the day fretting about my hair. I also checked out the national websites of the different sororities. Coke and Sprite's pages had impressive statistics about the number of chapters they had, and they also both had chapters at the college in my hometown (I went to school pretty far away from home). Pepsi's national website was FILLED with photos of the girls from the chapter at my school! I also noticed that they had about half the number of chapters nationally that Coke and Sprite had.
I called my mom that day and told her all about Pepsi. She went to a Big 10 school with TONS of GLOs on campus, and she didn't think she had heard of them before. She asked if they were really a national sorority. With hesitation in her voice about Pepsi, she wished me luck tonight.

We were told earlier that we would get a phone call telling us when our parties would start. I knew that I would only be going back to two sororities tonight. Part of me hoped that it was Pepsi and Sprite, not Pepsi and Coke, so my decision would be easier! My Rho Chi called me in the afternoon. Her message said: "Hey Daisy! It's Rachel your Rho Chi! Just calling to let you know that your party starts at 6:30, so be in the Student Center at 6:00 ready to go! Bye!"

My mind starts racing. Did she just say party, singular, not parties, plural?! I convinced myself that she meant parties, plural. People make mistakes, right? So I walked over to the Student Center a little before six with thoughts of Pepsi in my head! I played over and over in my head the conversation I had with the last girl I talked to, and I was so sure that I would be going to Pepsi tonight. She did say "See you tomorrow!" When I get there, we wait a little and finally we get our envelopes with our invitations in them. I opened mine and saw that I was invited to:
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

Sprite.

I immediatley shoved it back into the envelope, opened it again, and it still said Sprite! I was pissed. I went over to my friend in the other Rho Chi group and said "I'm only going back to Sprite! Ugh!" I then walked back to my Rho Chi and asked her politely to please double-check my invitation. She said, "Yep! You're going to Sprite!" with a big smile. After I fumed for a few minutes, it was time to go to Pref. A few girls in my Rho Chi group had already run out of the room - the whispers said they only got Sprite too. The anger in me was slowly becoming sadness - how could that girl have told me she would see me today if she was going to go let Pepsi cut me that night? I told myself to gain my composure, and it was time to be announced at the Sprite pref ceremony.

Sprite

We were announced individually as we walked in, and the girl who picked me up was the girl I met earlier in the week whose name was also Daisy. I noticed the room looked a lot nicer tonight than all the other nights - it was also divided in half by a partition. She took me to the table where she gave me a note she wrote. It said "Daisy - It was so great to meet you this week. I think you have the amazing qualities that we are looking for here in Sprite. I would be proud to call you my sister". The letter makes me a little choked up, but remember that i've also been crying outside the door! We talk, and I lie and say my eyes are red because my allergies are acting up because I've been sitting outside. She explains to me what Sprite has come to mean to her - she is also pretty far from home, and she described the sisterhood she found here at Sprite. I mentioned offhand that this was my only party for the night, and her eyes lit up and she said "Well, I hope you feel like you've found your place here, because we feel that you would be an amazing fit" - SO sweet! The food is amazing too - red velvet cake! I was a little sad that I didn't get to finish my huge slice before it was time for the ceremony.

There were about twenty rushees at this party tonight. We sat in chairs while the sisters stood before us. They sang a song, and the seniors gave testimonials about Sprite. One girl's grandfather had died this summer, and she said how much it meant for her that sisters drove from all over the country to come be with her after it happened. It made me so emotional! I was crying, but I had no tissue and my nose started to run - SO embarrasing! I was now upset because I realized this was my only chance to join a sorority - it was Sprite or nothing - and I thought I was blowing it because I was such a mess! I couldn't wait for the ceremony to be over so I could get a tissue! It was very touching, and as I walked out the door I apologized profusely to the other Daisy and explained that my allergies, combined with the sweetness of the preference ceremony, has really set me off! She told me that she hoped she would see me tomorrow as I walked out the door.

All of a sudden the waterworks came. I ran to the bathroom, luckily it was just outside Sprite's room. My Rho Chi bolted after me! I was sobbing like a baby. She was very worried about me. I told her I was so touched by the ceremony and I felt like I needed a cry. She basically revealed her affiliation then and there with the look on her face - she was so happy that it moved me, I knew she had to be a Sprite. We went out to fill out my Preference card. Those of us who only went to the first party that night were seated and given the instructions about the binding part, etc. And then the dis-affiliated Panhellenic girl said that if they didn't fill out a card, they were eligible for Snap Bids from the other chapters they did not visit. As soon as she was finished, at least fifteen girls who came from Sprite got up, threw their papers in the trash, and left. Remember that only about 20 went to their party! I sat and watched as everyone else filled out their card and turned it in and I started crying again. The Panhellenic girl came over to console me, and I finally told her about Pepsi telling me they would see me tomorrow. She looked at me like I was crazy, then completely steered the subject back to how amazing Sprite girls are, and if I wanted to join a sorority for sure then I should write down Sprite. I was flabbergasted that she didn't even listen to me!

This is where I got a little crazy. I happily wrote down Sprite, handed it to my Rho Chi, and then told the Panhellenic girl with a smile that I was glad I didn't go back to Pepsi tonight and that I was also glad that I wouldn't see her tomorrow with all the other fake Pepsi girls.

Bid Day

My girls and I walked to the Student Center with a skip in our step - no one would get the dreaded phone call and we would all be getting bids! We sat facing the wall as we were individually brought into the Panhellenic office to open our bids. We were given the choice to accept, decline, or take 24 hours. I happily accepted my bid to Sprite!

__________________________________________________ ______________________

Many other girls did not accept their bid. Quota was 26, and Sprite only extended 18 bids. Of those, three declined, and four never showed up for the pledging ceremony after going to the bid day party. It was hard to see all the other girls happily run to Coke and Pepsi on bid day and the Sprite girls just walk. It was a hard year for Sprite because the "Tent Talk" was not squashed by the Rho Chis, and Panhellenic mistakenly told girls they would probably get snap bids if they dropped out of rush. All in all a lot of mistakes and confusion happened on the Panhellenic side of things, but Sprite was not totally blameless - they had to double rush all nights except Pref, which really hurt the PNMs opinion of them.

One of my friends went Pepsi, the other went Coke. I haven't kept up with my friend in Pepsi since she pledged, and my friend in Coke dropped after her first year because she needed to "find herself". I am currently in charge of the New Members for my chapter and couldn't be happier! This year Sprite extended bids to quota and is almost at Chapter Total, more than making up for last year's numbers. And my entire pledge class is still active members of Sprite. Things are better than ever and I am so glad that I did not walk away from Sprite like so many others did.

*And the Pepsi Panhellenic girl? I found out that she was "excused" from membership shortly after all the recruitment infractions went through - there were a lot that year. She was protecting her chapter, but she went too far and majorly broke the rules - I don't know or want to know the details. I should never have said what I said to her, because the Pepsi girls really are very nice. Unfortunately they were told by alums to "seal the deal every night", leading to more broken hearts than just mine.

I kind of had a feeling you wouldn't go back to pepsi... But I'm happy it all worked out for you :)

Do we get to know who Sprite is? :) Or is that being left out, also?

if i reveal Sprite it will reveal my school and i'm still a student here! i put in too many juicy details to say, sorry :(

I think it's kind of obvious who pepsi is. There are multiple Alpha Xi Delt's who have "Its not who Ive become but Who Ive always been" (excuse the "non exact" wording) and one of their symbols is the pearl. That's crazy though, Ive always had a great impression of the AXiD's @ UCF. I hope Sprite is continuing to make you happy. I have a guess at who that is as well...

Don't be so sure. I've heard that line from several sororities - definitely not just AXiD.

Congrats, Daisy, on Sprite!