Recruitment Story!
 

I participated in recruitment as a freshman last fall. I just thought I'd share my experience :)

First off their were 11 chapters at my school during this time.

I'll name them with cities:

Indianapolis
Washington
New Orleans
Houston
San Francisco
Phoenix
Chicago
Portland
New York
Los Angeles
Atlanta

None of my family had ever been a part of Greek life. The only real knowledge I had about it was from this website. I think my main reason for wanting to try it was (and don't laugh) Legally Bonde. I just thought the whole thing looked really sweet. Aside from that, who doesn't want to be just like Elle?

Opening Meeting
 

Although the whole day was really interesting, moving into my new room and leaving my parents and all that, I'll start in the evening.

I met the recruitment guide and a lot of the girls that would be in my group the first day. Everyone was being nice, but we were all so quiet. I guess it's a nervous thing. We traveled to the student union together for the big meeting with everyone. I don't remember a lot of this, I just know that I thought it was cute how the recruitment guides all gathered and sang this song that included chants and stuff from all the sororities.

This took a lot longer than you would think and I ended up going to bed right when we got back to the dorm because I was going to have to get up quite early the next day.

Round 1
 

This takes place over 2 days

We went to each house and just talked to about 3 or 4 members at each house. Also every chapter sang a song to us.

There were so many of them and we did this so fast that it was hard to keep it all straight the first few days.

Indianapolis
I had no real opinion of this house the first day. The girls were friendly but nothing stood out.

Washington
I first noticed that this house was very cute looking on the outside. When I got in I talked to several girls that seemed really excited about their house. Also everyone here seemed to be an honor student of some kind. Although I did well in high school, living up to the standards these girls did kind of worried me.

New Orleans
The girls in this house didn't really seem to have anything in common with eachother. They were all trying very hard to be friendly I left not really feeling like I could belong here though, because for some reason it didn't quite feel like anyone did. I'm not sure that it makes sense. It's not a bad thing, I was just looking for more of a togetherness type atmosphere.

Houston
I really did like this chapter the first day. I had a few great conversations with some of the members. I still remember a conversation about bikes with a girl that cracked me up. The house also just felt really comfortable.

San Francisco
The outside of this house is just beautiful. The girls were too. I had a few entertaining conversations with the girls here. It was absolutely one of my favorites.

Phoenix
The girls in this house seemed friendly. Their chapter was interesting because they didn't require members to live in the house for a year like all the other sororities did. I remember thinking that I didn't like that as well because I wanted to get to know my pledge class. It wasn't a huge deal though because I did like the girls I met.

Chicago
I keep talking about the houses but it did make an impression on me. This one was no exception. It was more modern than the typical sorority house, but I thought it was very pretty. The girls seemed more like the type of people I hung out with in high school. Overall I liked it.

Portland
I was tired going into this house so I know I could have payed more attention. It didn't stand out at all.

New York
I instantly really liked this house. The girls seemed so classy and in charge. I didn't really have any stand out conversations that I can remember, but I left with such a great impression of the group.

Los Angeles
From the few pictures I could look at online this group appeared like they were always having a great time. I went into recruitment thinking this was my favorite. The house didn't disappoint exactly, but I did have a couple chapters that I figured I liked better at this point.

Atlanta
The girls were quite energetic and friendly here. If any house deserves an award for best recruitment effort I would say it belongs here. It was actually not one of my favorite houses but I still thought it seemed fun.

Enjoying this story; it's simple and to the point!

Go Chicago!

Oh, this is exciting!! I didn't think there would be any more recruitment stories until August!
Team Chicago!

Go Phoenix!

End of Round 1
 

At the end of the day I decided to arrange the chapters like this:

New York
Los Angeles
San Francisco
Houston
Washington
Chicago
Phoenix
Atlanta
Indianapolis
Portland
New Orleans

We were allowed to be invited back to 9 houses the next day so my bottom 3 were Indianapolis, Portland, and New Orleans. I went to bed very nervous for the next day. Most of the girls I had talked to had family members in certain sororities. I didn't even have any letters of recomendation.

Round 2
 

We met at the union the following morning to find out what parties we would be attending that day. I was very shocked and relieved to find out that I had a full schedule. Especially because a lot of the girls in my group (even ones that were bragging about how many connections they had to the sororities) didn't.

It looked like this:

New York
Los Angeles
Houston
Washington
Chicago
Phoenix
Atlanta
Indianapolis

So I got cut from San Francisco, but overall I was really happy with how it had worked out. Right after I found out where I was going, I got super excited because it was house tour day! The houses were all so beautiful and I couldn't wait to see the inside of them.

Go Houston! :D

I'm confused - did you mean you could go back to 8 chapters out of 11? You said you ranked your bottom 3, and that you had a full schedule of 8 (including one you'd ranked - meh, stuff happens), so I'm guessing that round 2 was 8 chapters, not 9.

If I had to pick a chapter to cheer for based on code names, I'd say "go New York" - mainly based on my personal connections to that city.

<awaits next part of rush story>

Oops yeah something is strange there. I think it's because I was trying to make sure I told this right so I went to the recruitment thing for this fall at my school and they have added another chapter since then so it changes things. For some reason I still feel like it was 9 though. but I guess I'm just crazy haha

House Tours
 

New York
I remember that this was my second to last party of the day. I think the fact that it was dark out added to how pretty I thought this house was. The whole chapter just seemed very elegant. I knew that this was one of my favorites.

Los Angeles
This house was beautiful on the outside. I found it quite dark and small on the inside. I found myself really liking all the girls I met here, so the house didn't concern me at all.

Houston
This house wasn't one of the stunning sorority houses, but It just felt so cozy and nice inside. I also kept meeting girls that I absolutely loved. During the house tour the girl that I had met in round on and talked about bikes with came over and we chatted for a second too.

Washington
This house interested me because there were all of these paintings on the walls everywhere. It actually kinda struck me as a fairytale thing. The girl that was showing me around was an art major which excited me because that's something that I'm interested in. However at the end when we sat and talked, the girl I was talking to freaked me out by saying she had shared a toothbrush with a sister before because they were that close. That may have been my funniest moment during recruitment.

Chicago
I thought this house was neat the first time I stepped foot in it. It had the same appeal as it did in round one. They were planning renovations so the tour mainly consisted of talking about how everything was going to change. It felt pretty easy to talk to the sisters here and I liked it.

Phoenix
This house was more modern than the others and quite a bit smaller. It was kind of disappointing, but the members all seemed like they were having a good time.

Atlanta
Since this house was quite a bit newer than the others, it didn't have that historical type feel to it. It just felt like a really big house. I had to admit it was nice though. The girls were all so energetic.

Indianapolis
This house was ok. Agian I just really didn't have much of an opinion on this group. The girl giving me the tour seemed sweet though.

End of Round 2
 

So I ended up ranking them in this order:

New York
Los Angeles
Houston
Chicago
Phoenix
Washington
Atlanta
Indianapolis

By bottom 2 were Atlanta and Indianapolis.

Round 3
 

It was sisterhood day and we were allowed to visit up to 6 houses. I got my card and it looked like this.

New York
Los Angeles
Houston
Chicago
Atlanta
Indianapolis

Phoenix and Washington had cut me, but I wasn't super excited about either of those houses anyway so it wasn't a big deal.

Round 3 continued
 

New York
Again I loved this house. I was having a very entertaining conversation with the girl about strange things that had happened during the week, people tripping and losing things and such. It felt like this pary went by so fast. The girls were all wearing the cutest dresses and I remember thinking about how much I would like to be doing what they were the next recruitment.

Los Angeles
You could tell that the girls were very passionate about their philanthropy. They were also all dressed up so nice. I didn't have as great of conversations as I had in the past here, but I left still thinking it was one of my favorites.

Houston
I actually figured out from their philanthropy video what chapter my recruitment guide belonged to. Several of the other girls in my group noticed as well. Oops...haha. I wasn't very close with my recruitment guide, but I did still like this house a lot.

Chicago
This party was nice. It just felt comfortable. At this point it wasn't my favorite house, but I did like it.

Atlanta
I had fun at this event too. It was more focused on the activity rather than the video wich was a good change of pace.

Indianapolis
I think this is where I finally gained an opinion on this house. It just wasn't my favorite place to be. The girls were nice, but not the type of people that I would typically get along with.

Great story! Looking forward to seeing the rest of it.

The toothbrush thing is gross, I love my biological sister a lot and I still would never share a toothbrush with her, yuck! Still rootin for Houston!

Good story so far

my husband won't even share a toothbrush with me :)

Sharing a toothbrush with someone is actually very risky...somewhere around unprotected sex on the "ways to share your bodily fluids" spectrum.

Ranking
 

I had been at one of the last parties that night and with all the transportation confusion that week I was one of the last few to make it back to where we were voting. In fact there were 3 of us left out of about 800 when I got there. I just remember that being very stressful and the people in charge were yelling at us to hurry and stuff. Anyway...

I ranked the houses as follows:

New York
Los Angeles
Chicago
Houston
Atlanta
Indianapolis

We could attend up to 3 the next day.

You're more apt to pick up Hepatitis C from sharing a toothbrush than sharing (ahem) other bodily fluids. I have a darling friend who has Hep C and keeps a jar of toothbrushes in the bathroom "just in case".

Loving your story, JadeScrambled!

Preference
 

Not that I wasn't excited the whole week, but it was getting so close to the end that I could actually see myself in some of the houses. I was really nervous but hopeful about what I would see when I got my schedual for the day.

My card looked like this:

Atlanta
Indianapolis

Not to be a baby about this, but I was pretty upset. I think the fact that I really hadn't experienced any cuts during the week that actually bothered me got my hopes up too high. I still wonder why I got cut from my favorite houses all on the same day at the very end of the week. I had heard a lot of girls that week say that the houses had different criteria they judged on each day or something. I guess I didn't meet whatever that days was or something :rolleyes:. Anyway I got into the van and headed of to the two parties that I could attend.

Not that I know your school, but some schools operate on a system where if the PNM goes through recruitment and goes to preference night and keeps her options open (ranks all the parties she could attend) then she will receive a bid at one of the houses she preffed.

I'm sure cuts might get heavy prior to preference because the chapters really have to look at the PNM's and say "can we imagine this girl as a sister".

I'm glad you went to the parties anyway, and I hope you had fun and kept your option open at the end of the day :) Can't wait for the rest!

From what you've written previously, it seems like the Atlanta girls are fun and energetic, and there were some sweet girls in Indianapolis - both sound like they could be/were great option

Preference continued
 

Atlanta
I really did enjoy this party. This house may not have been my favorite all week, but the girls were so friendly and I could see myself fitting in here. The girls wrote every one of us a letter which they read to us during the event. I thought that was so sweet and cute. Also the girl I was talking to who I had met earlier that week said that I was one of her favorites and that she hoped to see me the next day. I don't believe this is allowed but it sure made me feel a lot better about how my day was going.

Indianapolis
As I went to this party, I tried to figure out what it was that made me think I didn't like it so much. Although I still didn't really get along with the sisters it didn't occur to me why until about halfway through. There were only a couple girls that I talked to that genuinely seemed excited about their sorority and their sisters. The rest of them were really not interested in conversing or getting excited about the event. This party was nowhere near as upbeat and sweet as the last one.

Although this may seem a bit obvious, I ranked the houses as follows

Atlanta
Indianapolis

I went to bed really hoping I got into Atlanta. Being in a sorority seemed like such a fun experience, however the sisters in Indianapolis didn't seem like they were enjoying it as much as the other groups.

Well, do tell

Bid Day
 

I got my card that morning and found out that I had recieved a bid to Indianapolis. I know it's bad of me to say, but I was disappointed. Despite that however, I put on a smile and went to join the other girls in the group. I certainly wasn't going to ruin anyone elses bid day fun.

On the way back to the house I overheard some of the sisters talking about how a few of the other sororities dressed up in costumes or made fancy signs to greet their future sisters and how they thought it was stupid. I didn't mind the fact that this group didn't do those things, but it did bug me how they were putting down other groups. I did not like the idea that I might spend the next four years acting jealous of the other sororities like these girls were.

We all slept at the house that night. I stayed awake thinking for a long time. I know all the advice on here says to stick it out and that people typically learn to love their sorority and stuff, but I just didn't feel right about it. This would be a huge financial commitment. I felt like without being super excited about it this would not be worth the money or time.

Bid day pictures were the next morning. I didn't want to interfere with that since I wasn't planning on staying long anyway so I left before that.

I know this sounds bad and it may seem like I did the wrong thing, but I believe I made the best choice for me. My freshman year has been amazing! I couldn't have asked for a better set of friends than the ones that I have. Many of my favorite experiences these last two semesters would not have happened had I been in a sorority. I'm not saying that sorority life is a bad thing, it's something I really wanted to do and probably something that I will always have a small desire to do. Right after this week was over I was upset thinking that this process had been a failure for me. It wasn't. I think ended up where I was meant to be :)

I think what you did was fine and totally appropriate. It was actually thoughtful of you to go ahead with the actual "bid day" and then step away before the picture so that you're not in a picture with a group you do not intend on staying with. That chapter should have no beef with the way you handled it, and I hope you can rest assured that you were yourself and stayed true to who you are. There are lots of other organziations on campus you can look into. And, maybe even try recruitment again once you've had a little more time on campus?? But regardless, good luck to you!

Thanks! That makes me feel better about my decision. As far as recruitment goes, I'm thinking that i'll probably have less luck as a sophomore. Although I suppose trying couldn't hurt anything. I'm not really sure what i'll do yet, but thanks for the encouragement!


Also thanks to everyone who commented on this! I mostly did it as a way to wrap up a part of my freshman year, but I'm glad you guys got some enjoyment out of it too :)