How did it go today Vanessa? I kept looking at people's name tags today to try and find you!

First Official Day of Recruitment
 

So, today was the first official day of recruitment. It was a lot of fun....and a little not fun...but overall it was a good day. I am pretty much pooped. I could sleep last night because I was so nervous and I woke up really early and couldn't fall back asleep either. So about mid way through, I was exhausted and STARVING! It wasn't too bad though. I knew everyone felt the same so it eased me a bit.

I guess to start, we all went to the parties in alphabetical order. I visited: AXO, ADPi, AOPi, XO, KD, DZ, ZTA.

There are 3 that I LOVED, 2 I'm still border line, and 2 just didn't appeal to me. That ones I loved, the conversation flowed well and I my questions were answered and they really stuck out to me and made me feel comfortable. The 2 I'm border line on were a little harder. The conversation hit dead ends but luckily I was able to change girls and keep it going a bit. I really like what they are about, but we'll see. The 2 that didn't appeal to me were the longest 20 min of my life. It just didn't seem like they were interested in me and within 2 min the girls were asking if I had any questions, which I would ask 1 or 2 but they after that we kinda stood there. I had about 10 questions I had prepared for, but they just were not interested in me so I had to fend for my questions. These two were just really hard for me.

Anyway, I find out which sororities I get invited back to at 12:20am. FUN!! I am pretty nervous, but more excited than anything. For those who are curious, I will be posting where I will be going, but (as you see above) I just won't be stating my opinions of each particular sorority. I hope that makes sense. Anyway, it was a really progressive day and I am super excited about tomorrow too. I will post my invites later tonight! :)

Crystal--I looked for you too but there are SOOO many girls!!! Maybe I'll see ya at the picnic tomorrow! ;) Good luck and I'm glad you had a great time today!!!

Love, V

Vanessa, sounds like you had a good time! Sorry to hear that you had a rough time with a couple of the sororities, but that just means that's not where you belong! Can't wait to see where you're going!!

sounds like you had a great day!!! when do parties start tomorrow?

good luck
 

Good luck on rushing. I am a non traditional student as well. Never been to college until I was 23. And that was after I had a baby and married (in that order). But thats great for you!

Check out the sororities websites. That's a start, but the only way you will know if you fit in is by hanging out with some of the ladies. So really take part in rush events. I read sorority websites inside and out as if I was going to be quizzed, but what it came down to was the chemistry between me and my now sisters. Plus I feel strongly about the community service projects. But it's whatever is important to you.

I know what you mean about 20 minutes lasting forever!!! There were 2 groups that I just kept thinking, maybe I should ask to go to the bathroom... but I was nice and polite and all that fun stuff. These girls work hard to prepare, so I wouldn't dream of being anything else!

Parties for Sunday
 

So, here are the parties I am attending tomorrow:
AXO, XO, DZ, KD, ZTA

Wish me luck and I wish you all luck as well! I need to hit the hay, I am SO exhausted! haha

See you all tomorrow with more EXCITING stories!

Love, V

Congratulations on your invites! Thanks so much for updating us, I know you MTSU girls are tired! Get some sleep, and have a great day and good luck tomorrow!

Congratulations on your invites! I am glad to see ZTA on your list.:D

Hope you have a great time, Vanessa!!

Have a great time. And good for you getting rest and taking care of yourself too!:cool:

so how did tonight go?

Second Day of Recruitment
 

Today was the second day of recruitment. We had the Convocation from 2-3:30pm then the president's picnic at 5pm. Actually, the president's picnic started at 4pm but when it was annouced at Convocation, they said it was at 5pm....but at least we got a little break. I was able to run home and eat real quick and fill in my roommates on my day so far. We attended the president's picnic for about a half hour then we headed over to the parties.

I attended the parties in this order:
KD, AOPi, DZ, AXO, XO, ZTA

Each party lasted about 30 min and during the party we made crafts for each sororities philanthropy. It was a lot of fun. There are 3 sororities that I absolutely LOVE, 1 I am still border line, and 2 I like but haven't felt like home yet. I won't find out about my invites until tomorrow when I meet my Rho Sigma between 11am-12pm. If all goes well and I get invited back to all 6, then I will have to drop 2....which I am not entirely thrilled about because I'd like to give them all a chance. I hate to base it on just 1 or 2 girls that I sat with tonight and possibly 1 other girl from the previous night. Who knows, maybe I will be dropped and won't have to worry about it. Anyway, tonight was a lot of fun and most of girls showed me how involved they are with their philanthropy which really appealed to me.

Ok....it's been a long day and I have an early morning. Hopefully, I will have time to post which parties I will be attending tomorrow sometime. I have class until 5pm then the parties start 5:30/6pm. If I don't have time to post, then I will make an update when I am finished with the parties!

It is getting harder and harder because now I am starting to realize that I have 3 that I just LOVE and I have no idea how I am going to chose. Let's just hope that I get to chose though! Wish me luck and again, I wish you all the best of luck as well. :)

Love, Vanessa

PS-I FINALLY got to meet Crystal!! :) YAY!!

That's great, Vanessa!! Keep having fun and good luck tomorrow!!

AWW yaay girl im so glad that youre having such a great time :) Good luck the rest of this week :D

Nichole

Invitations
 

Well, I received my invitations today. It was a little hard to take being cut from 2 that I absolutely loved. I dwelled on it for about 5 min then realized, it's not where I'm meant to be. I still have 1 that I love, 1 I am still border line on like/love and 1 I like but hasn't felt like home yet. At least I like them all though, right?? :)

Tonight I am invited back to (and these are in no particular order, just they way they were told to me and the order I wrote them down in hehe):
AOPi, ZTA, DZ

I know the reasons I was cut from the ones I love.....1) I'm older 2) I'm engaged. I just hope not all of them hold that against me! But it still came as a shock. :( Anyway, I'll post more tonight after the parties and fill everyone in! I am really excited because fromw hat I heard, tonight should be tons of fun! :)

Vanessa - I know it sucks to get cut from a group you really loved. But you seem to have a good attitude about it! I hope tonight goes well for you!!

Edited to add:
Not all sororities will cut you for age or marital status! I know DZ and a couple of other chapters at MTSU have initiated upperclass ladies, those who are engaged and maybe even married.

You got cut b/c you are engaged? How does that affect your abilities to be a good sister? That seems bizarre to me...but then again, I'm a northerner :)

I'm not condoning (sp) cutting because someone is engaged but I do know the reasoning behind it. Most people will become alumni or go inactive once they are married, so I believe the chapters are thinking she won't be around for very long. This is really the same reason they don't want upper classmen either, they want someone who will be there 4 years. However, I believe upper classmen are much more mature and do much more for their chapters in the short time they are there.

Would you call the chapter that I love and tell them that? ;)

yeah call the chapters for me too!!!!!!!!!

Being engaged, being married or having children are all looked at in kind of the same way -- you have other priorities. Nobody in the sorority is going to hold it against you, but you may not be as available as some of the younger girls who have just shown up at the university and can make the sorority their first priority.

I'm glad you have three great houses for tonight, though. :)

I'm so happy that you do like all the houses you're going back to :) hope you have a great time!

No one knows why cuts are made
 

It's just speculation when guessing that you''re cut b/c of being older, engaged etc. It's not like you get little rejection slips with the reason written in :)

Just to make that note b/c people are going to get silly about why or why not an engaged woman should be cut.

WE DON'T KNOW WHY SHE WAS CUT!!! :) She doesnt know either!

I wish I could I wrote a rec recently for an upperclassmen and I made sure to include that in her rec.

I know we don't really know why you were cut, but every girl asks why. I know I did. I love my chapter and now I look back at why I liked the other chapter and it was for the wrong reason. Things will work out for you, just keep your head up.

vanessa- i can't wait to hear how things went tonight! i think it is super that you didn't "fall apart" because you werent invited to 2 of your favorites. you rock!!!

now it's time to charge over the goal line...you are so close. (forgive the bad football analogy, i was a sports editor at one point in my checkered career)
just relax and let it happen.
lol

and me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

good luck girls!!!

Sorry to hear about the cuts, but you've still got three awesome groups to choose from! I hope you have a wonderful time tonight, and will update us if you get the chance!

Any news from Vanessa?

Vanessa, I hope you are visiting your faves tonight. You're in my thoughts, and I enjoyed meeting you! :)

Do you know where you're going for pref yet?

Third Night of Parties
 

Ok...some of you may be a little right about me not know why I was dropped. But, just to fill you in a little, I made it VERY VERY clear that I would be around for the next 5 years (I'm getting my masters after my bachelor). Plus I know we will not be having children any time soon. I tried to explain to them that I have been engaged for over 3 years and we have been living together so it's pretty much like we are married anyway. The other thing is that we are getting married in 2 weeks (Labor day weekend). So now, when you walk into a room and completely click with the people, then get cut anyway....one can only ASSUME it's age related or due to being engaged. (Which I didn't mean it as a negative thing, I completely understand as well...it just...stinks! haha)

With that said, I'm sorry for not posting last night. My computer went bonkers!! Anyway, I went to 3 parties last night: ZTA, DZ, AOPi.
ZTA did a MTV Total Request Live Skit.
DZ did a MTV Made Skit.
AOPi did an Alpha's Angels (Charlie's Angels) skit.

All the skits were very cute and heartfelt. I met with my Rho Sigma today. I am attending ZTA and DZ tonight. I am VERY excited because I absolutely LOVE both of these....which makes it very hard because I am very torn as well. I am waiting for tonight's pref parties to help make my decision (and I still have a couple of questions for each sorority as well).

As you can tell, (IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER) after last night I had 1 sorority move from like/love border to absolutely LOVE.....the other is still in LOVE status.

As for AOPi, I really liked them....but it didn't feel like home so I wasn't devastated when they dropped me. :)

Ok, I need to start getting ready for tonight! Thank you all for your support. You are all the best.....and good luck to those of you going through recruitment as well!

Assuming my computer keeps working, I will post how it went later tonight.

Love, Vanessa

good luck tonight!!! i am glad that you had a good time last night! here's wishing that you find your home!

Good luck Vanessa...I can't wait to find out where you end up!!!

Good Luck! I hope you have lots of fun tonight!

Vanessa, I'm so excited that you love everywhere you've been!! (Ok, I'm excited you're preffing my collegiate chapter, too!) I hope you have an awesome time tonight. Good luck!!!

I hope the pref parties are absolutely wonderful for you! You're almost home now!

Pref Parties
 

Tonight was absolutely beautiful.

I attended the ZTA party first. It was beautiful and they sang some wonderful songs. They gave me a candle and the girl that I had sat with a couple of days ago wrote me a letter and gave it to me. (I understood when I had to give all the gifts back at the end of the party) It was just amazing.

I then attended DZ. This was beautiful as well. They sang a song then gave us roses. Their sayings about their sisters was very emotional and wonderful. They actually paired me with a girl that was married to make my evening more comfortable! It was a very special night.

So then we had to fill out our bid cards. Let me start by saying, this was the hardest thing that I had to do.....choose. They are all fabulous girls who have fabulous values and I would be honored to wear either sororities letters.

I have class until 5pm then I go straight to bid day. I will post tomorrow night where I ended up....though we all know it will be home. :) Thank you all for your support, you've been great! <3

Love, Vanessa

Congats Vanessa - I am so happy for you!