Nope, never. I knew Tau Delta was right for me, and the weirdness of my recruitment experience proved that (I was dropped from recruitment before preference, but still filled out a bid card, put TD first, and ended up with a bid*)

I *do* wonder what would have happened if I had gone to Bethany or Penn State or Ball State rather than Otterbein, if I would have participated in NPC recruitment, and if I had, if I would have ended up with a bid, and if a bid, to where?





*Note: This is a local campus, we do things different than the NPC, so PNM lurkers, don't take this as a "This can happen to me!" story.

Sometimes I wonder. Mainly because I have ended up hanging out with more women who were in my other pref chapter. However, I have met most of them through my boyfriend, who I wouldn't have met/dated had I joined. He dated a girl in that chapter who was very active and president at one time.

I wouldn't be where I am without KD.

Consider your sample here, you're talking to collegiate sorority members and alumnae who are either active or are at least active enough to participate in a sorority website years after their collegiate membership.

COB or formal, it's not going to really reflect here because of your population.

Yes and no. COB doesn't necessarily only mean COB immediately after formal. Many chapters who struggle with numbers COB year round. I would guess there are many women who come to GC who went through informal or were COBed and didn't go through formal recruitment.

And I think you can love your sorority and still wonder if you made the right choice. When my own chapter closed, I wondered if I had made the right choice.

Going through COB or informal only has nothing to do with actually knowing people in the other sororities.

As far as a chapter closing and all that, if you want to think be at odds with someone, it's more as the women who are running the sorority on a national level rather than the sorority (historically or presently) itself. See: "If Bush gets re-elected I'm going to Canada." Pretty much everyone who said that didn't follow through, because they still appreciate what America was founded on and the opportunities that are here. NO sorority is without a traumatic chapter closing or two or 10 and a lot of it is just what personalities are where at what time. The only instance that I can think of truly thinking the sorority as A WHOLE was the wrong choice is back when groups still had white clauses and a chapter tried to initiate women of color.

No.
BUT I did have the satisfaction of having a friend of my mother's who was an alumna of a chapter I was very interested in but who dropped me after I broke into tears at their party (I had just received news that my aunt had died at age 36) ask my mother at my graduation - "How come we didn't get her?" I had just been recognized as the Outstanding Senior Woman of my college class. That was nice. I enjoyed it more than is probably right.

No but I wonder what would have happened if I went through earlier. I joined the Fall of my Sophomore year and joined a chapter where I had very close friends. I wonder what would have happened if I would have gone through formal my Freshman year as I would not be surprised if I ended up elsewhere just based on where my head was my freshman year and my lack of knowledge of anyone other than a handful of girls in each chapter. I think wonder how I would have turned out. I love my sorority so much and I love my sisters and I wonder if I would have been miserable if I had gone through formal and ended up somewhere else.

This.

I do believe sometimes I picked the wrong chapter. Which is my fault of course I could have turned down my bid. I had a bunch of friends in a house on my campus, and seeing it from an outsiders point of view it seemed great. I rushed formal as a sophomore, but I really did give other chapters a chance. I actually would have rather joined another and have close friends in multiple house. But it worked out how it worked out and I am embracing the chance to have a house at all.

Lane-swerving here, but I just like to bring up this question:

Is it possible to choose the wrong sorority if you got all the experiences and bonding that you're supposed to get?

Perhaps there are multiple chapters that may have worked.

That said, I do know of a few friends at my college who went through formal recruitment, just didn't feel it during their pledging period, and dropped before initiation. One thing about all of those is that they wouldn't be on here today as they're no longer part of the Greek community.

You're missing my point. By asking this on GC you're selecting a population that might not represent the whole population of sorority members, collegiate or alumnae.

Were one to do a survey of all members, there's going to be a different response than people who have chosen to participate, often representing their letters, on a greek website.

I've never felt like I made the wrong decision. I've very, very happy.
That being said, every NPC chapter on my campus is awesome, and I think anywhere I ended up would have been the right place.
Would I change where I am? HELL. NO.

Yeah, it is a skewed sample, but I don't think she is trying to get an accurate representation of everyone Greek; just wants to hear our personal stories.

As for me, I am so in love with everything Theta. :D

This.

I just find people's stories fascinating whether it is on GC or elsewhere. I thoroughly enjoy the recruitment stories (past and present) and hearing about all the individual experiences people have as Greeks.

:)

No. I will forever bleed azure blue & white.

But I do wonder if I cut chapters along the way in Recruitment where I might have made friends, if not loved enough to lose my tunnel vision!