Great story! Looking forward to seeing the rest of it.

The toothbrush thing is gross, I love my biological sister a lot and I still would never share a toothbrush with her, yuck! Still rootin for Houston!

Good story so far

my husband won't even share a toothbrush with me :)

Sharing a toothbrush with someone is actually very risky...somewhere around unprotected sex on the "ways to share your bodily fluids" spectrum.

Ranking
 

I had been at one of the last parties that night and with all the transportation confusion that week I was one of the last few to make it back to where we were voting. In fact there were 3 of us left out of about 800 when I got there. I just remember that being very stressful and the people in charge were yelling at us to hurry and stuff. Anyway...

I ranked the houses as follows:

New York
Los Angeles
Chicago
Houston
Atlanta
Indianapolis

We could attend up to 3 the next day.

You're more apt to pick up Hepatitis C from sharing a toothbrush than sharing (ahem) other bodily fluids. I have a darling friend who has Hep C and keeps a jar of toothbrushes in the bathroom "just in case".

Loving your story, JadeScrambled!

Preference
 

Not that I wasn't excited the whole week, but it was getting so close to the end that I could actually see myself in some of the houses. I was really nervous but hopeful about what I would see when I got my schedual for the day.

My card looked like this:

Atlanta
Indianapolis

Not to be a baby about this, but I was pretty upset. I think the fact that I really hadn't experienced any cuts during the week that actually bothered me got my hopes up too high. I still wonder why I got cut from my favorite houses all on the same day at the very end of the week. I had heard a lot of girls that week say that the houses had different criteria they judged on each day or something. I guess I didn't meet whatever that days was or something :rolleyes:. Anyway I got into the van and headed of to the two parties that I could attend.

Not that I know your school, but some schools operate on a system where if the PNM goes through recruitment and goes to preference night and keeps her options open (ranks all the parties she could attend) then she will receive a bid at one of the houses she preffed.

I'm sure cuts might get heavy prior to preference because the chapters really have to look at the PNM's and say "can we imagine this girl as a sister".

I'm glad you went to the parties anyway, and I hope you had fun and kept your option open at the end of the day :) Can't wait for the rest!

From what you've written previously, it seems like the Atlanta girls are fun and energetic, and there were some sweet girls in Indianapolis - both sound like they could be/were great option

Preference continued
 

Atlanta
I really did enjoy this party. This house may not have been my favorite all week, but the girls were so friendly and I could see myself fitting in here. The girls wrote every one of us a letter which they read to us during the event. I thought that was so sweet and cute. Also the girl I was talking to who I had met earlier that week said that I was one of her favorites and that she hoped to see me the next day. I don't believe this is allowed but it sure made me feel a lot better about how my day was going.

Indianapolis
As I went to this party, I tried to figure out what it was that made me think I didn't like it so much. Although I still didn't really get along with the sisters it didn't occur to me why until about halfway through. There were only a couple girls that I talked to that genuinely seemed excited about their sorority and their sisters. The rest of them were really not interested in conversing or getting excited about the event. This party was nowhere near as upbeat and sweet as the last one.

Although this may seem a bit obvious, I ranked the houses as follows

Atlanta
Indianapolis

I went to bed really hoping I got into Atlanta. Being in a sorority seemed like such a fun experience, however the sisters in Indianapolis didn't seem like they were enjoying it as much as the other groups.

Well, do tell

Bid Day
 

I got my card that morning and found out that I had recieved a bid to Indianapolis. I know it's bad of me to say, but I was disappointed. Despite that however, I put on a smile and went to join the other girls in the group. I certainly wasn't going to ruin anyone elses bid day fun.

On the way back to the house I overheard some of the sisters talking about how a few of the other sororities dressed up in costumes or made fancy signs to greet their future sisters and how they thought it was stupid. I didn't mind the fact that this group didn't do those things, but it did bug me how they were putting down other groups. I did not like the idea that I might spend the next four years acting jealous of the other sororities like these girls were.

We all slept at the house that night. I stayed awake thinking for a long time. I know all the advice on here says to stick it out and that people typically learn to love their sorority and stuff, but I just didn't feel right about it. This would be a huge financial commitment. I felt like without being super excited about it this would not be worth the money or time.

Bid day pictures were the next morning. I didn't want to interfere with that since I wasn't planning on staying long anyway so I left before that.

I know this sounds bad and it may seem like I did the wrong thing, but I believe I made the best choice for me. My freshman year has been amazing! I couldn't have asked for a better set of friends than the ones that I have. Many of my favorite experiences these last two semesters would not have happened had I been in a sorority. I'm not saying that sorority life is a bad thing, it's something I really wanted to do and probably something that I will always have a small desire to do. Right after this week was over I was upset thinking that this process had been a failure for me. It wasn't. I think ended up where I was meant to be :)

I think what you did was fine and totally appropriate. It was actually thoughtful of you to go ahead with the actual "bid day" and then step away before the picture so that you're not in a picture with a group you do not intend on staying with. That chapter should have no beef with the way you handled it, and I hope you can rest assured that you were yourself and stayed true to who you are. There are lots of other organziations on campus you can look into. And, maybe even try recruitment again once you've had a little more time on campus?? But regardless, good luck to you!