Bid Day
 

Tomorrow was bid day and I could hardly contain my excitement! I showered and got ready for bed, even though I felt like I couldn’t sleep. Bids went out at noon and I had class at 12:30, so I was nervous I would be late. But I didn’t care, I was too excited to see if I would be a Harry Potter or a Hermione Granger.

Right as I was about to get into bed my phone started to ring. I recognized it as my Rho Gamma’s number and my heart dropped. I knew what this meant but I didn’t want to believe it. I hoped that she just needed to tell me something random and I nervously answered…

Then my heart broke.

My Rho Gamma told me that I did not receive a bid from either house that I had preferenced. I couldn’t believe it. But I calmly listened to what she had to say. She told me that both Ron Weasley and Luna Lovegood were offering snap bids and asked if I would like to accept one from either of them. I didn’t even have to think about it. I said no, and that was the end of our conversation. It was very brief. I knew I wasn't meant to be in Ron Weasley and I didn’t know enough about Luna Lovegood to just spontaneously join. Maybe if I had known more… My whole body was shaking. I closed the door to my room and laid down. I didn’t even know what to do. I couldn’t believe it. I had consistently been invited back to two of my favorites and then neither of them had given me a bid? How could this have happened? I felt crushed. And I started to cry. And I couldn’t stop. I felt so stupid. It was just a sorority, it shouldn’t matter that much. But for some reason, it did. I had waited all last semester for recruitment, I had been so excited during the whole process, it had been the highlight of my college experience and it was ending like this? Me without a bid? It made me feel worthless. It made me feel not good enough. I didn’t know how I was going to tell everyone. I had blabbed to all my friends about how awesome recruitment was going and how excited I was to see where I’d end up. I didn’t know how to tell them that I didn’t get a bid from anyone. How was I going to tell my mom?! She didn’t know much about it but I know she would never have thought that none of the sororities would have wanted me. I didn’t know how to deal with it. So I just fell asleep. And the next day I was in zombie mode.

I told my boyfriend what happened briefly and he said he was sorry. But I didn’t care enough to go into detail about it. I was just incredibly silent the whole day and he didn’t know what to do. I told my friend in Draco Malfoy that I didn’t get a bid, so she could talk to me that day (since girls aren’t supposed to talk to PNMs on bid day)! She was shocked as well and felt really bad. The worst part of that day was sitting in class at 12:30. Knowing all the girls I had gone through recruitment with were waiting outside the Office of Greek Life for their bids. Excited to see where they would end up. What made it even worse is girls were trickling into my class late, excitedly opening their bids and talking to one another. I could barely hold it together. I started tearing up in class and I had to fight not to start crying. I have no idea what we learned that day.

Facebook was torture. I saw all of the girls posting on each others walls, congratulating them, welcoming them. And all I could think was, why her, not me? What did I do wrong? Was I not involved enough? Was it because I was a sophomore? Was my GPA not high enough? Why wasn’t I good enough, I needed to know! My friend from Draco Malfoy called me that evening and said she talked to some of her sisters and they were willing to offer me a bid. I politely declined. I told her that it was so sweet of them to do that, probably one of the sweetest things anyone had ever done. But I hadn’t been invited back to their preference and I just knew it wasn't meant to be. I thanked her again for being a great friend, but knew I wasn’t supposed to end up in any of these sororities.

I was depressed about this for a long time, not to mention incredibly bitter. Sometimes I even regretted not accepting any of the places I was offered. But I felt like it was all out of pity. I was sad whenever I saw someone wearing her letters. Envious whenever I heard of date parties and formals. They were living something that I had wanted so bad, and still did. But I didn’t know how to fix it until….

Until what? Stay tuned to hear the end of my story! It’s a happy one I promise! Do I go through informal recruitment? Does Harry Potter or Hermione Granger offer me a spontaneous bid?! Do I decide to go through formal recruitment as a junior? What do you think! Final update will be on Sunday!

Oh No!! I am so sorry that things didn't work out for you. Waiting with baited breath for your update tomorrow.

Tease! :D

And that brings us to today...
 

It was the end of the semester and the rumors that had been swirling around about a new sorority colonizing in the fall became more prevalent as time went on. I basically stalked to the Greek Life website, looking at Panhellenic meeting notes to find any information about whether this rumor was true or not. Then finally, one day, there it was! At the very bottom of the Panhel agenda minutes, there was mention of voting for adding a new sorority! I couldn’t believe it! I had never been more excited.

It took awhile, but slowly more and more information came out about who it was, how it was going to work, etc. And I made sure to be on top of all of it. I was still uneasy about the idea of Greek Life, and at this point I wasn’t even sure if it was for me judging by how my first experience went, but I made sure to keep myself updated just in case.

Over the summer, I learned that the new chapter was to be Albus Dumbledore. I did what research I could about them, as well as about colonizing recruitment. But this semester, three chapters were also participating in informal recruitment; Draco Malfoy, Ron Weasley, and…Harry Potter. I was torn. Harry Potter had been my dream! And this was basically like another chance! I seriously considered going to their open house, but changed my mind last minute. I realized that I hadn’t really fit in with Harry Potter. I might have loved it, but we just didn’t have the same values. Maybe they saw that, which is why I didn’t get a bid the year before, I don’t know. But I realized it now. Harry Potter was not the place for me, Albus Dumbledore was where I truly wanted to be. The idea of starting something new appealed to me more than anything.

Once this year started, I made sure to attend their events to meet the people in charge of colonizing recruitment. They were so wonderful and I immediately fell in love. Every time I would hear about one of my friends that was considering going through recruitment for Albus Dumbledore, I became even more excited! These were people I knew and liked! Amazing people. And we would be a part of something brand new. We could build it up and make it into something amazing. That sounded perfect for someone like me, who is obsessed with details and planning and organization.

So I waited (rather impatiently) for the first few weeks of school and informal recruitment to pass. When it finally did and colonizing recruitment was finally happening, I couldn’t even contain myself. I got to meet some amazing women from a nearby Albus Dumbledore chapter and tons of fabulous alumnae. During the Preference party of the colonizing recruitment weekend they showed us part of a ritual and I knew this was where I wanted to be. This one ritual spoke to me more than any other ritual at the three other preferences I had attended in my life. During the party, they handed us all an envelope, which I assumed was reasons why they wanted us to be a part of Albus Dumbledore, or something of the sort. At the very end, we were allowed to open it. And I could hardly believe my eyes. It was a bid to Albus Dumbledore!!! I hadn’t been expecting that at all, Bid Day wasn’t supposed to be until tomorrow! But I couldn’t be happier! As we were all leaving the party, all of the girls were so excited, and we can’t wait to be a part of something so new and so wonderful. I know this will be a very new and exciting chapter (no pun intended ;)) of my life and I can’t wait for it to begin!

So, sorry I made you all wait when posting this story! I just got back from new member initiation and our Bid Day luncheon, so I wanted to make sure it was all set and official before blabbing my story to you! I had an absolutely amazing day and I can't wait to see where this goes. :)

Cool! Which group did you pledge?

And Albus Dumbledore is...

























PI BETA PHI









Also guys, I know it would be super easy to figure out my school given this final information so I ask that you either 1) don't try to figure it out or if you can't contain yourself 2) keep it to yourself. :) Thanks so much!

Yeaaa! A Pi Phi ending!

Oh my gosh, Yay! Welcome to Pi Beta Phi!!! I'm so glad this is a happy ending for you. :)

Usually I just creep and not comment but this was a great story! Your ending was not what I had assumed it would be! Congratulations on your bid.

How wonderful!! Congratulations!

Congratulations to you and Pi Phi!

Congrats to you! What a great story. One of the girls I have been following through recruitment ended up dropping out. I hope she will look at the chapters colonizing on her campus. Welcome to Pi Beta Phi!