I still have my notes, too, but I think I will hold onto them a while longer since jessicasigkap and susan314 are in line before me and then we will have REAL recruitment threads!

Well, I'll just need to pick up the pace on my recruitment thread, to make sure that JessSigKap and dgdramadawg have a chance to squeeze in their retro recruitment stories before the current ones start. :)

With the Phase A parties finally over, I returned to my dorm room to change. Bumped into Steph from down the hall - she asked how things went at rush. I told her that it was fun to see all the houses and meet all of the new people, but it was a little tiring too - I was glad to be done for the day.

Steph is a sophomore and to the best of my knowledge has never been through rush. Despite that, she's very opinionated about the sororities and isn't afraid to share those opinions! She asks me which one is my favorite. I tell her its hard to tell at this point - for the most part, I like all of the houses. But, if I had to give an answer I'd probably say Mayor Quimby. She seems mildly surprised by that, and gives me her take on what the "best" houses are. There are only maybe 4 or 5 houses that she seems to think are "good," but does concede that Mayor Quimby is up and coming and wouldn't be a "bad" house to be in.

She stresses the importance of not ending up in a "shitty" (her word, not mine) sorority. Says that her roommate Laura rushed last year, got stuck in a crappy house, and now doesn't even do anything with them. (I wonder in the back of my mind if Steph has never rushed b/c she thinks she wouldn't get into one of the houses she deems acceptable. Maybe she thinks it is better to never know for sure whether she would have "made it" or not. I'm not bold or bitchy enough to ask a question like that of her though, so I just smile and nod. I can't even figure out what a "shitty" sorority would be - all of the houses had plenty of nice people.) But, I don't want to alienate Steph and Laura, b/c they are 2 of the only people from the dorms I've really hung out with so far. My roommate is not terribly outgoing, not interested in going to any of the Welcome Week parties, and spends a lot of time over at her boyfriend's dorm.

Steph invites me to go to a party that night with her, Laura, and a few other people from the floor. Luckily, I don't have to show up for Post Office until 1:30 pm tomorrow, so of course I agree to go. It is Welcome Week after all. :) (Post office = when your Rho Chis meet with the group to distribute invites to the next round of parties.)

I'm not sure what to make about all the "helpful" advice Steph is giving me. Granted, I've only spent 25 minutes in each house, but I don't notice the huge gap between the houses that she professes. Actually, some of the sororities that she insists are the "best" are the ones I only feel so-so about. Makes me a little nervous about what I'm getting into - I don't know anything about Greek Life. 3 days ago I didn't even know what Rush was, now I'm smack dab in the middle of it! If it hadn't been for that phone conversation with Gina on Thursday night, I wouldn't even have signed up. Hopefully things start to make a little more sense at Post Office!

Yes! We have found a way to get quicker updates! :)

;):)

(I was trying to do a post per day, to reveal info at the same pace it originally happened. But Mother's Day weekend slowed me down a little. :o)

Today's the day we find out which of the chapters we visited in Phase A invited us back for Phase B. I don't know what to expect, and I'm a little nervous - we were only at each house for 25 minutes, so that's not a whole lot of time to learn about each other. How are we supposed to make decisions based on such little info so far? In Phase A we visited 16 chapters, and in Phase B we only get to visit 12.


Post Office

We met with the Rho Chis to get our invitation lists. I have fairly good news:

15 out of the 16 chapters have invited me back. I did not get asked back to Troy McClure.

I know that I should be excited to have 15 houses who asked me back, but I can't help fixating a little on why Troy McClure was the only one who didn't want me back. :o As crazy as it sounds, it might have been a little easier to understand if several chapters hadn't invited me back, rather than just that one. Makes you wonder what you said/did there to keep them from inviting you back - its not like they are the "most" exclusive group on campus (at least, not according to Steph and her ramblings about the sorority hierarchy).

But, I bounce back from the minor disappointment, and focus on the task at hand: I have 15 party invitations to 12 parties. I need to decline invitations from 3 houses. Guess Troy McClure did me a bit of a favor in that regard...if they had invited me back, then I'd need to come up with 4 invitations to decline. 3 is going to be hard enough!

There aren't any houses that I truly disliked enough to be unwilling to attend a Phase B party. Unlike some people in my rush group, who already have pretty strong feelings about all the chapters already. (Guess its because I live in a primarily upperclassmen dorm - everyone else has preconceived notions about all the groups, where as I know nothing about any of the groups. Other than what my rush group and Steph have all tried to tell me, of course.)

Even though its hard, I have to make a decision one way or the other, so I decide to decline with regret the following invitations:

Waylon Smithers I just couldn't get past the fact that the very first question I was ever asked in this house was what my father did for a living.

Monty Burns I didn't dislike this house, but it didn't stand out to me either. I wouldn't have minded going back there, but unfortunately I just couldn't go back everywhere I was invited.

Barney Gumble I still feel terrible about dozing off there during Phase A. When the parties are only 25 minutes each, every minute counts, and I missed out on the opportunity to have as much conversation with their members as I did with all the other groups. I wish I had a little more to go on to see how I felt about this house. After all, they were kind enough to invite me back for another chance despite what happened. But, I can't justify keeping them for Phase B just to see if I might like them, when I have 12 other groups that I already do like.


I was the last person in my rush group to sit down with our Rho Chis to go over everything. (Like I said, the decision was tough for me!) I told them which chapters I had decided to cut. When I mentioned that I wanted to cut Waylon Smithers, they shot each other a funny look. One of them asked me "Are you sure you want to do that?" I thought that was a little odd for them to say - got the impression that they were very surprised that someone would decline an invitation to Waylon Smithers. But I confirmed that I was absolutely positive about my decision, and they collected my paperwork. I did the "decline with regret" option, because I wouldn't object to going back to any of those houses again if I ended up not having a full schedule of parties later.

this is so exciting-can't wait for another update tonight!!

this is so entertaining and well-written, you took excellent notes!

Unfortunately State lost 3 of the chapters back around 2000-2002 :(

This is too fun to read because I too went through recruitment at State (10 years later) and am having fun trying to figure out which house is which ;)

Thanks for the fun Susan314!!

::slight hijack:: Also, quick question, about the 314 in your screen name: What does that stand for? I am just curious. Thanks :) ::end hijack::

that was kinda crappy for your Rho Chis to say that - putting a little doubt in your head like that.

question: with the "decline with regret" part, is that a nicer way of say "sorry guys, if things worked out differently i wouldve come to your next rounds" and this way you stay in their good graces? i wonder why you would have to stay in good graces if from that point on you would not receive a bid from them.

if that's correct, is there a "decline without regret" option, which would mean "no way in hell i'd come back, it just wasnt for me?"

Exactly. We called it "regret with interest". "Regret with interest" meant "I do like your sorority, but I have to cut someone because I got too many invitations." "Regret" means "NFWIH would I join your sorority."

If you just "regret" instead of "regretting w/interest" are you still considered to have "maximized your options?"

okay, i know that you are busy going to the fraternity parties and picking out your next days rush outfit, but we need an update!! ;)