Around the World Recruitment
 

Hello everyone!
I'm going to be a sophomore at a university out in California and decided to share my recruitment story with all of you.

Here's some background:
I am the first person in my family to go greek, but I came from a high school that placed a heavy emphasis on sorority recruitment prep (my school even hosted seminars on recruitment prep for my senior class). With that being said my school had me prepped and ready for an SEC style recruitment, since most people in my high school end up going to SEC schools. Therefore, I had at least one letter of recommendation for each of the 10 sororities on campus.

Like I just said, my school has 10 sororities on campus, which I've decided to name after 10 different cities around the world that I love.
9 of these sororities went through sorority recruitment and one went through the first day of formal recruitment and then proceeded to do informal recruitment after formal recruitment was over.

The 10 cities are as follows:
London
Paris
Cape Town
New York
Los Angeles
Rome
Beijing
Sydney
Dublin
Miami

Miami is the sorority who did not continue with formal recruitment after the first day.

Ooh, my favorite thing about summer! Recruitment Stories!

I cannot wait to hear it as well!

Yay! I'm rooting for Sydney.

Yay, a recruitment story!

Paris better be KKG and Dublin better be KD.

Just sayin'

:p

Right? I can't help but root for Dublin.

Please continue the story! I'd love to hear it (plus I've totally figured out the school...which never happens, so now I want the whole story haha)

Rooting for Dublin as I live there (here) haha!

Rooting for LA!

The first two days of recruitment were convo days, where we had 30 minutes at each house. I'm writing this post a year after my recruitment, so I don't remember the number of bumps I had and so on, so bear with me!

The first house I went to was London. London is thought of as a top house at my school, and while I wasn't interested with tiers, I was curious to see what a "top" house looked like. The house was absolutely stunning, and the inside looked like it had stepped out of an interior design magazine. The girls were all gorgeous, and I instantly felt very uncomfortable in the house. I'm not sure if it was the nerves of this being my first recruitment party or what, but I just couldn't find myself fitting in here. The conversations were fairly dull, sadly, and I left knowing I wouldn't be going back.

The next house I went to was Cape Town. The first thing I noticed about Cape Town was the fact that its house seemed a lot more open and welcoming than London's. I truly felt like this was a house I would be comfortable living in. I remember I talked to three girls here, all of which had different majors, and were all lovely people that I really enjoyed talking to. I left Cape Town hoping I would be invited back.

The third house I went to was Rome. I was so excited to go to Rome because a good friend from my high school was in this chapter, and if the girls were anything like her I knew I would feel very comfortable here. I was right! The girl I talked to had the same major as me, and we talked about our majors, what we did this summer, and more. My friend came by to say hi, and left the house wishing the party had been longer.

The next house was New York. A girl from my high school was in this chapter, and I had always admired her although we were not close. For that reason, I was very excited to be at New York finally! But the party was awkward, the girl rushing me seemed uninterested in the conversation and actually insulted my choice of major. I left the house incredibly disappointed that my expectations for this house had been so far off from reality.

After a lunch break, I went on to my 5th house of the day, Los Angeles.
A girl in the grade above me at my high school was in this chapter, and she was rushing a girl right beside me. I wasn't too impressed with my conversation at this house, but the girls were nice enough, and I was definitely willing to give them another try!

The 6th house of the day was Dublin, whose house was my favorite out of all of them. The girls I talked to at Dublin were so sweet, and we talked about travel the entire time. One of them hugged me as I walked out the door, and I hoped I would be invited back.

My last house of the day was Paris. My time at Paris was uncomfortable because both me and my rusher were exhausted after a long day, and she kept looking at her watch. This definitely seemed to be the longest party of the night, but I was just ready to get home and go to bed.


The second day I only had 3 houses.
The first house I went to was Miami, which was only participating in the convo day part of recruitment. I found this party very awkward because Miami didn't have a house, which meant their party was being held in the living room of a frat house, and the boys in that house kept entering and exiting the house, which was distracting. I really wanted to be a part of a sorority that had its own house, but if formal recruitment didn't work out, I was open to considering going through informal recruitment with this sorority.

My second house of the day was Beijing. The girls in Beijing were very sweet, but I didn't feel like I connected with them that well. Perhaps it was just the two girls I was talking to, but I didn't see myself as a part of this chapter.

My last house of convo day was [COLOR="rgb(160, 82, 45)"]Sydney[/COLOR]. As much as I tried to ignore stereotypes, it was hard to ignore the mean connotations associated with this sorority. I didn't want to let what other people thought of a house affect my decision too much, but it was hard to ignore. I was hoping a good convo day could help relieve some of my concerns, but sadly the conversations here were just downright awkward. I left knowing I wouldn't want to come back to them because I didn't feel comfortable in this house.

By the end of the day I knew my rankings
The houses I wanted to go back to were
London
Paris
Cape Town
Los Angeles
Rome
and Dublin
The three houses I regretted were
1. New York
2. Beijing
3. Sydney

My RC was shocked I didn't want to go back to New York, since it is thought of as one of the top sororities on campus that many girls wanted to be a part of, but I was confident in my decision, and happily confirmed my rankings.

Good story continue please!

How sad that the fraternity boys kept coming in and out of the meeting. Can't wait to read more.

Is it too late for me to switch from rooting for Sydney? :o

I guess I thought that Miami was a colonizing chapter, but I can't imagine alumnae leaders from a new group having an opening round event in a fraternity house!

Actually, my campus did have the new group in a fraternity house for the first round. The collegians traveled from 5 hours away to help out.

i have also heard of it happening. I always assumed that the fraternity men would have to clear out during the time the sorority would be using the parlor.

That's what I was thinking...the fact that the men were there seems odd. I'm sure there are some beautifully maintained fraternity houses that would be suitable.

It does seem strange. One of our rush rules was that no men could be present at any party. There was an exemption for Institute personnel, e.g., if someone spilled a drink, a janitor could come in to clean up the spill. Then again, almost all our rush parties took place in the student center, so we never ran into a scenario where a sorority had their parties in a fraternity house.

It's generous for a fraternity to offer its house to a sorority for rush. It is the fraternity's house, and the brothers should be free to come and go as they please. But I would think that part of the arrangement would be that, during sorority rush parties, fraternity members would use a back entrance or something, and stay clear of the parlor.

excited to hear more about your rush!

Wasn't this recruitment a year ago? Taking your time here ;) Love the story so far, would like to know the ending.

sorry it's taken so long guys! A lot has been going on with my family recently, and this story has been the last thing on my mind, but I'm back now!
First, to answer questions concerning Miami:
No, the house was not colonizing, they just didn't have a house of their own to host their parties with. I don't think the frat boys were supposed to be coming in and out, but they never really seem to listen anyways... haha

anyways, the second day was house tours. I met with my RC outside the fountains in the morning to pick up my rush schedule. I could have been invited back to a maximum of 6.
I looked at my paper and saw
Cape Town
Rome
Beijing
Sydney

I was a little disappointed to see [COLOR="rgb(160, 82, 45)"]Sydney[/COLOR] and Beijing on the list. I was really hoping I would get invited back to Dublin, but I still had Cape Town and Rome, both of which I really enjoyed... and it only takes one. Girls all around me were crying because they had their hearts set on being in one of the "top 4" houses and didn't get them. I was overall happy with the results of the day, and was excited to start the house tours that evening.

The first house I toured was [COLOR="rgb(160, 82, 45)"]Sydney[/COLOR]. I was extremely confused, because for the first half of the house tour party, they showed a video to one half of us while the other half toured the house. It seemed odd to me to show a video, since this was something typically reserved for slideshow day, which was the next day. I was also shocked when the girl rushing me took the chair, and I had no other option than to sit on the floor so others behind me could see. A little frustrated, I followed my girl to tour the house. While it was a gorgeous house on the outside, it was a little bland inside, and I couldn't help feeling like they needed something besides the constant white walls and white carpet. Overall, I wasn't impressed with [COLOR="rgb(160, 82, 45)"]Sydney[/COLOR].

The next house I went to was Rome. I was so excited to be invited back to Rome! The house was stunning, and the girl that showed me around was so sweet. I remember loving everyone I talked to, and even found a room I fell in love with. I found myself really hoping I would be invited back here.

Next was Beijing. In [COLOR="rgb(46, 139, 87)"]Beijing's[/COLOR] defense, it would be hard to compete with Rome directly following what was a wonderful house tour. But the girl I talked to was extremely sweet! like Sydney, however, I found myself bored with the house and wishing it had more of a "homey" feel and had more color in it.

The last house I visited was Cape Town. The girl that gave me the tour was from a rival high school, and we both had mutual friends. That made the conversation flow incredibly smoothly! I absolutely fell in love with [COLOR="rgb(0, 255, 255)"]Cape Town's[/COLOR] home. It was incredibly homey feeling, and I could see myself living there. I was really hoping I would get invited back.

Since the next day we could be invited back to a maximum of 4 houses for slideshow day, I didn't have to "regret" any houses. So once the parties were done, I went to bed, excited to see what the next day would hold!

ah I'm so sorry guys, I don't know what happened with the colors for Beijing and Sydney on some of them!

Sydney just seems to keep getting worse and worse...your rusher took the chair and made you sit on the floor? That's just inexcusable.

Miami rented out the house of a co-ed professional fraternity located near the other sorority houses to make everything easier for the PNMs. Much to the sisters' dismay, a few of the members of said co-ed fraternity did not understand that they could not simply walk through the living room in the middle of sorority recruitment, despite having been told so multiple times.

Miami will be using a different location to participate in all of formal recruitment this fall.

Update update! Or I'm going to have the title of this thread changed to "Around the World in 80 Days Recruitment" :p

Hi guys, I'm sorry it's taking me so long between posts... I really need to work on just cranking this out.

First off, Kaeb, please understand that I was not trying to be rude towards Miami at all, simply that I found it strange (and I'm sure incredibly frustrating for you all) that the fraternity members didn't seem to care about how they were disrupting your parties.

Now, on to slideshow day! For slideshow day, we could go to a maximum of 4 houses. I met with my RC to pick up my schedule and was thrilled to realize I had a complete schedule of 4, meaning I would be going back to:
Cape Town
Rome
Beijing
and Sydney

The first house of the slideshow day was Beijing. While I don't remember much about this house's slideshow day, the girl I talked to was very sweet, and I would have been happy attending their preference night!

The next house I attended was Rome. I was so thrilled to be invited back to Rome. All the girls kept coming up to me saying how my friend in the house had told them so much about me and two said they couldn't wait to see me the next night for preference! Their slideshow was adorable, and I left Rome even more obsessed with it than I already was.

My next slideshow party was Sydney. I was curious to see what Sydney would do for their slideshow day, since they had shown a video the day before. They showed another short video and then a rusher rushed me and another girl at the same time. The conversation ended up getting steered towards lacrosse, which my rusher and the other rushee both played, and I felt a bit left out of the conversation. I left hoping that I would not end up prefing this house, since I liked Beijing and Rome a lot more so far.

The last house I went to was Cape Town. I loved Cape Town so much! The slideshow was adorable and the dance they did to greet us was fabulous. They even had a theme for their slideshow day, which I thought was a nice touch that made them truly stand out in my mind. The girl rushing me was incredibly kind, and I left falling in love with Cape Town.

That night, I had to "rank" my houses, with the top two I would want to attend preference parties for.
I ranked:
1. Rome
1. Cape Town
2. Beijing
3. Sydney

With that done, I went to bed, hoping that Cape Town and Rome would be on my list the next day.

Looking forward to hearing the rest of your story!

Can't wait to hear the rest!

I know you had your heart set on Rome, but I really like the way you describe Cape Town.

Go Cape Town!

Please finish soon!

grr recruitment violations grrrrrrrrrrr they make me very angry.


That being said, I'm excited to read the end of this story! :)

Is it still a violation if they said, "I can't wait to see you tomorrow" as opposed to "We can't wait to see you tomorrow"? "I" would indicate her own personal opinion; "we" would indicate the chapter's opinion. I am so far removed from these types of rules that I just don't know what's legal anymore.

yes, at my school Panhel would have called that an infraction/violation.

At my school, it was ok for a sister to say, "I hope to see you tomorrow." It's an expression of the sister's own sentiment. The sister doesn't know if the PNM will be invited to the next round, nor does she know if the PNM is going to rank her chapter dead last or if the PNM is considering dropping out of recruitment.

It was not ok to say, "I can't wait to see you tomorrow." That implies to the PNM that she will get an invitation or a bid.

It was also not ok to say "We hope to see you tomorrow." That implies that the sister is speaking for the whole chapter, not just for herself, and that the PNM will be getting an invitation or a bid - and the PNM might then not get that invitation or bid.

Anyway - I want to hear about pref, already! :)

The "I" is all-important, but that doesn't mean that's what the rushee hears. In her enthusiasm, she can easily hear "your bid is sitting right here waiting for you!" instead of "I hope to see you again someday soon, but probably not within these 4 walls." HA! aephi alum's statement is what we followed as well.

Yep, aephi_alum has it like I learned it.

I. am. dying. for. this. story. to. end.

Please come back and finish! :)

I love all these stories, but you writers really need to write everything down onto Word and then post them here separately. That way the story is already completed by the time you start and all you have to do is cut and paste.

I can understand the girl who does a live recruitment thread and stops when she gets cut/drops out. It's frustrating, but I understand. But a retro? Really, why start at all?

I think posting a recruitment story is bad luck because as soon as they get started, tragedy or family issues or work troubles or etc, etc, etc, strike them.

She might be busy over the holiday...come back, Californialover!