CherrySonata Fall Recruitment 2010
 

Hello, everybody!

I've posted only in the 'introductions' forum and this forum so far, and didn't want to post my story yet because I still had a few weeks to go before recruitment. I've been so busy preparing. It has actually been really exciting. I have to thank a number of GreekChat women for giving me good advice and helping me answer my questions. They really have done a lot for me, and I feel very lucky that I'm prepared before the week even starts! Now rush is starting very soon, so I was really excited to post this.

Mainly all I have left are outfits. (I know, as if there aren't enough of those threads yet?-- But don't worry, I'm not turning this into an outfit thread.) Basically, I keep questioning myself as to whether or not my choices are 'actually' acceptable. I have heard from some friends at my college that the guidelines in our handbook are pretty typical of what is actually worn, but I also have heard on here that erring on the slightly-too-nice side rather than the slightly-more-casual side is preferable. So I've been running around trying to make sure all of my outfits are similar to the guide but maybe at the dressier end of the listed bracket of 'acceptable outfits.' My mom helped me pick out my dress for pref night and I liked it when I first bought it and then the more I looked at it over the subsequent weeks, the more I thought I might need to go get a different dress instead. It isn't all that clubby, but it seemed that somehow I felt it might be too casual or something. So one night when my parents wanted to take me and my siblings out to dinner I decided I'd wear it, for grins & giggles (and to make sure it fit OK). Well, when we were walking around the mall after dinner, a total stranger came up to me and complimented me on it! So I am interpreting this woman's opinion as a Sign that it is a good dress, and hopefully what I know of my campus culture will work in my favor too, and the dress won't stand out in a bad way.

Per some of the good advice I've received on this forum, I am not going to be posting my story 100% live, but I WILL be posting it in a mostly candid manner. I'll be waiting a few days after things happen to post them, just in case any curious people do try to figure out where I am. I think that by keeping myself anonymous as much as I can, I will only help myself and it will also be more tactful. Anyway, I won't be listing my school, except for at the very end. And it is possible that people will figure out where I am, but if you are curious can you please just PM it to me instead of posting here? I would appreciate it very much :) I have disclosed that I am going to school in the Southwest, but that is all. :) I'll say at the end where I am at.

I will also probably refrain from telling you EXACTLY how I rank each house. I'm not sure yet if it will be vital to my story, but I will definitely try to strike a balance between informative and prudent. If it isn't a big deal, I will tell my rankings (if I can remember them). But, I might not. Just a heads up. Also, if I mention specific peoples' names, they will definitely be pseudonyms!

So, I will see you all over the next few days, and hopefully it will be a great experience. I'm keeping an open mind and waiting to see what comes my way, and I'm really excited to possibly find a new family!

Oh, and a warning-- I may vary between recruitment/rush and PNM/rushee. You have been warned! ;)

I know that this thread is going to be really good, so I am very excited to post. It seems like recruitment is going to be an amazing experience (and I'm looking forward to it so much!), and I think by doing my daily recaps I will be able to think my choices through a lot more rationally. (Also away from any potential tent talk...) I can't promise that this thread will be carnation-bump-worthy in future years, but I do know that it will be great!

Good Luck! I can't wait to read your story!

Thank you! :)

This thread has a lot of views, so I will assume that someone here can answer my question. I'm just going to ask here and abandon my Introductions thread.

I've got a grasp on the concept of 'quota' and 'total,' but what is a quota addition?

Thank you :)

quota addition is the method by which women are given bids who otherwise would be bid less because all the chapters which she visited for preference met quota before reaching her name on any of the bid lists .. thus in order to be given a bid she is an addition to the quota number. Being a quota addition is restricted to women who maximize their choices .. ie attend all parties for which they have room on their schedule and rank all chapters where they attended preference. Quota additions are usually placed by the NPC recruitment specialist and usually go to the smaller of the chapters listed on the PNMs preference card.

Basically its a way of placing women who played by the rules but missed getting a bid thru no fault of their own. And there is a good chance that someone would never know that they were a quota addition and most chapter members won't know
which of the new members are quota additions.

i would take a random stranger going out of her way to compliment your dress as a good sign too! good luck to you.

So then, a quota addition would put that chapter above quota, right? Is this the 'exception' to letting chapters go above quota, or do chapters sometimes just go above quota depending on how many bids they give out? (I thought that quota was the max number of bids a chapter could give out-- so how would that work?) Sorry for the clueless questions, I know it isn't that important for my experience but I am fascinated with how it works...

Thanks FSUZeta! :) I certainly hope a few other people like my dress as much as that lady, LOL.

From what I understand, a quota addition is the only thing that can put a chapter over quota. But I will defer to someone who knows for sure.

Going dressier is a smart move, at my school the guide said jeans and blouses for the first round and almost every single girl wore a sundress or at least a skirt! Good Luck!

As far as quota additions go, yes, that is the only thing I can think of off hand that would give a chapter more #s. However ,if a chapter is under TOTAL, they may COR/COB until they reach house total. However, that is separate from quota.

I'm hopeful that makes sense.

M :-)

Makes total sense! I know I already referred to this in another thread recently, but this thread: http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/sh...d.php?t=107727 is very helpful to understand all the different terminology

Thank you everybody for your explanations, input, and advice! I feel better about it :) I'm going to start posting the 'delayed' parts pretty soon :)

Another stupid question (and hopefully my last one)--

When I got some recs, the women always asked for a picture. I need a picture for all my round 1 parties. Would it be better to use the same picture, a different picture, or does it matter?

I am sure this has been asked somewhere before so I beg your pardon and patience... Thank you so much for all your help :)

I would try to use the same picture. Chances are your rec writers will send the picture in with their recs to the chapters. It might get confusing to have multiple pictures of the same girl (at least speaking from an active viewpoint). Also try to send in as up to date of a picture as you can. I've seen pictures with recs of girls with long hair, and when they show up it's all been cut off!! It's just easier to keep everyone straight that way.

But again, I'll defer to someone here who would know better.

An update :)

Warning: I will be exchanging the terms Recruitment Counselor and RC throughout my posts. I hope this doesn't bother anybody.



We got a schedule e-mailed to us yesterday, and I couldn't be more pumped even though we'll have some 'pretty' early mornings. (This is nothing compared to my high school schedule, but it is going to be hard to get up early on some of the days anyway...) Today I got a call from Panhellenic and the woman on the phone said that she was an RC. (!!!) (Although she didn't say she was 'my' RC, so I was interested in finding out if I ended up with an RC named 'Jennifer' or if it will even be the same woman.) She double-checked that I'd be checking into my housing at the approved time, and if I'd be at Recruitment check-in and orientation at the approved time. Double-checked to make sure I had no scheduling conflicts and no other questions. Overall very nice, and it was a short conversation because I had GC to help prepare me. (;) thankfully.)

It's almost heeeeere and I can practically taste it! With all these Auburn, UGA, and etc threads going on I am so "...OMGOMGOMG"
(lol)

Random question-- what is a "flagship chapter"?
:confused:

I'm guessing that might be the "alpha" (first) chapter of the sorority.

any other guesses?

I've also heard the term flagship in reference to the top performing chapter or the chapter with the highest honors. One through which new initiatives are tested.

To go into a little more detail. A chapter can only get quota additions if they follow the numbers the RFM specialist tells them to cut/invite back after each party. The number is based on how well that chapter has done such as return rate, if the chapter met quota, how girls ranked them after each party. All these variables turn into a formula and a magic number comes out! When a chapter follows this, it helps (but does not insure) that the chapter meets quota while still looking selective.

I have never heard the term. Maybe you mean the founding chapter of an NPC sorority, designated as the Alpha chapter by most sororities. If someone else knows something, I'm interested to learn as well!

Flagship chapter is usually one held up as a leader or example. For example I found a Pike newsletter that described their Beta Mu chapter as "the flagship chapter of the southwest." Whether it's an official designation in an organization or not, it means you win awards, are a strong chapter, have high GPAs, all the things that your org cares about.

I don't usually see it used for NPCs, but NPHCs and NICs tend to use it a lot.

It has been many weeks and I haven't posted anything, so I decided I'd come do a post. I don't want to out myself though so I apologize for being vague and continuing to withhold details, but I'm still going to remain anonymous for now.

Basically though, my journey into Greek Life isn't quite done, and I'm still trying to not jeopardize anything for myself. Once all is said and done I will have a story... But there's more to come yet. It has been unexpected but I'm going with the flow.

Once again, thanks to everybody for all their help in answering my questions, support, encouragement etc. I appreciate it very much!

Good luck and I hope you find your home!

I would also think it's either the founding chapter or the oldest existing chapter of the sorority. ie Epsilon Chapter would be the flagship for Theta Phi since it has survived longer than any other chapter.....
Just my guess. I could be wrong.

The flagship chapter or office of anything is the one to which the other chapters should aspire. In many cases, it also means the first, since in a flotilla, the first ship usually carried the main flag.

I think any Greek chapter calling itself a "flagship" is stupid. Unless there's one good chapter in the national org and 100 shitty ones, the holder of the top honors is going to change every year or two. If you mean you won the InsertYourGroup'sTopAwardHere, then just say that, and explain to rushees what it means. If you're the first chapter, say you're the first chapter.

And if you're calling yourself that just because you happen to be the largest chapter, or at the most prestigious school, you are probably a fleet of douchecanoes. Kind of shoots the "being in a national group is awesome cause we all feel the love" concept to hell when you say you're better than all the rest of them.

Good luck, CherrySonata! It's always wise to err on the side of caution here (which you appear to have done a good job of in this thread), so you're probably smart to wait. Hopefully everything is going well for you!

I don't think any chapter SHOULD call themselves the flagship. That's an honor that should be conveyed by the Executive Officer or other barometor of What Should Be Done.

A HQ could say, "When it comes to fundraising, our PQ chapter is our flagship operation," or "RS is our flagship chapter for Recruitment," etc. I would be completely disgusted with one chapter saying it about themselves - that goes against everything we're to believe in.

LOL, thank you all for the feedback :D At this point I can't remember where I saw the term used, so I can't clarify :( I'm sorry.

Thanks again for the positive feedback. I'll probably pop in and out over the next few weeks/months if I have questions, but for now I'm gonna do my best to keep a low profile ;) Thank you all for being so understanding!

And you can erm... continue to post your thoughts on flagship if you want :p

LOVE this word - can I use it?

Re: flagship: It could also be the first NPC sorority on that particular campus.

I can tell you Douchcanoe is now part of my every day lexicon. I await with anticipation the first time I hear someone other than my husband or me use it.

How does one pronounce this fabulous new word? Is it like volcano or canoe?

I assumed like canoe, since it was used in conjunction with 'fleet' :D


Random question time... If the girls ask at one of the invitational rounds, say the day before pref or the first day after open house or any other day where the visits are invite-only, "How many parties do you have," what are you supposed to say?

they shouldn't ask, but every now and then they do. i wish that you could say,"why do you ask?" or just give them a blank stare.

you could try to ignore the question and switch the topic. something like,"i was so happy to see your sorority on my invitation list", or something to that effect.

We are all told we are not allowed to ask but I think I've heard about it happening every single recruitment (including when I was a PNM). I was honest with them but I don't really know if that was what I should have said or if there is some other response I should have had prepared..

It is not mine to give. Here is the initial post using it.

http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/sh...es#post1971730

If girls (I assume you mean sorority members) are asking you how many parties you have, they are probably douchecanoes. That's kind of like if they were asking you how much your dad makes/how many Lilys you have/what kind of car you drive. None of their business and straight up rude.

Oh, and back in the olden days the houses knew how many houses you had before Preference. Now don't jump at once ladies, there was a very valid reason: At MY school, at THAT time, the Panhellenic rule was that you didn't invite a girl to Preference if you weren't going to bid her. At that time the row was religiously segregated and if the Jewish house wasn't willing to extend a bid to a Jewish girl, you didn't get a Pref invitation. And, so as not to discriminate (bad choice of words) every house knew if a girl was carrying only one (and possibly two) house(s) the party PRIOR to Preference.

Hmm, so it is rude for them to do it but sometimes it happens anyway? It would be rude to call them out on it though, right? Could you say something like 'I don't know if I am supposed to say that'? I mean, it makes sense for them to not be 'supposed to' ask, but it seems like it still happens sometimes :/

Yeah, it would be rude to call them out. I would make a note of the sorority who asks you questions like this though. You can always say "my schedule is full!" Because hey, even if you only have one party to go back to, every college student's schedule is full. :)