My Little Sister's Transfer Recruitment!
 

A few years ago I went through recruitment as a junior transfer. This year my younger sister is a junior transfer at the same school and I have convinced her to sign up for recruitment. We're both big "foodies" so the codes are based off famous chefs. I've told her to keep an open mind and I'm trying to not be too biased towards my own house. :p

1. Andrew Zimmern
2. Giada de Laurentiis *legacy
3. Alton Brown
4. Anthony Bourdain
5. Paula Deen
6. Bobby Flay
7. Masahiru Morimoto
8. Emeril Lagasse
9. Alex Guarnaschelli
10. Aaron Sanchez
11. Geoffrey Zakarian

The updates will be delayed by a couple days. I'm excited to share the experience of being in a sorority with her, regardless of the affiliation!

Eek. Giada looks like a living bobble head. Go Morimoto. Morimoto's in Philly is a fabulous restaurant.

I'm a big Chopped fan so I'm rooting for Alex Guarnaschelli!

I'll root for Alton Brown and Bobby Flay. Fans of both of them!

I'll root for Alton Brown because of what he says about kitchen utensils: Everything in your kitchen should do more than one thing. Except 1 item: your fire extinguisher.
Being a good cook (if I do say so myself), but not a believer in fancy gadgets, this really spoke to me. And justifies NOT stuffing my cabinets.

But back to the game!

I'm assuming he thinks it should be used for putting out kitchen fires to which I say, "Yeah, Alton, tell that to my husband." He once used ours to try and kill a mouse. I came home from a banquet to find ....whatever chemical powder is in a fire extinguisher all over my kitchen, in the cabinets, drawers, etc....AND we still had the mouse.

Sorry for that tangent-back to the story - Bobby Flay all the way!

Yes. That is his stated reason for owning a fire extinguisher and keeping it in your kitchen. I'm a fan of all of the Food TV chefs, much like being a fan of all NPC sororities!

Bourdain!

Geoffrey Zakarian!!! Love, love, love him! I'm a Chopped fan, and he is fantastic. I would have gone with Scott Conant (because I have a mega-crush... when he smiles, I melt!) but he didn't make the list.

I'm not gonna root for Andrew Zimmern! I saw him catch and cook some very cute puffins on his show.

The yellow is quite hard to read. You might want to switch to a different shade for Alton Brown.

I'll go with Emeril. "Bam!" would be a good door chant. And Carnation, help! What's a puffin (other than a bird)?

It's this cute arctic bird that looks kind of like a parrot. They were flying along and he scooped them out of the air with a long-handled net. I had just walked in and had never heard of him and thought he was rescuing them. In the next scene, he was roasting them over a fire! Ballerina and I screamed but we couldn't unsee what we'd seen.:(

Oh no! That's what I thought -- adorable seabirds. I feel sad.

DAY 1 - My sister texted me afterwards that she LOVED her first day of recruitment and had a lot of fun.

Geoffrey Zakarian - At her first house she felt that they talked about themselves and their house a little more than they wanted to learn about her. Even though she thought they were friendly, she also thought they came off as robotic.

Anthony Bourdain - She thought these girls were very friendly and cool. One of the girls mentioned during the bump to the other girl that my sister had a really good attitude towards recruitment. That made her feel really special.

Alton Brown - My sister really didn’t like this house and couldn’t see herself fitting in. The girls all had the same look and were very sporty. She didn’t feel like they truly wanted to get to know her. To top it off, the inside of the house was cramped and didn’t feel inviting.

Emeril Lagasse - She really loved this house. She hit it off with all of the girls she spoke to and got to talk about really random topics like their food obsessions. She felt that all the girls were so friendly and genuine. She also liked talking outside and not cramped like the house beforehand.

Aaron Sanchez - She thought the physical house was the most beautiful so far. She had good conversations with the first and third girl and got to talk about networking, which is important to her. However, the second girl was really not into it and gave her one word answers and chewed gum while they talked. Despite it all, she still liked this house.

Alex Guarnaschelli - This was her last party of the day and she was really tired. When their doors opened she instantly woke up. She loved this house’s decorations the most and felt they really fit her personality. She met another transfer from her hometown and instantly connected. This was the only house where she remembered the girls names. She was sad when the party was over.

Although she didn’t have to rank this day, her order would have been:

1. Alex Guarnaschelli
2. Emeril Lagasse
3. Aaron Sanchez
4. Anthony Bourdain
5. Geoffrey Zakarian
6. Alton Brown

Roasting puffins=truly gross. I can't even imagine what eating them might be like.:eek:

:eek: How on earth did that happen? I'm imagining the hell that was to pay over a girl visibly chewing gum during a rush party. I had to get special permission to wear a WATCH to cover the world's most glaring tan line. A WATCH, because it can be distracting. There may well have been physical abuse in my chapter if someone was caught with gum ;)

Day 2 of Open House Round

This day my sister wasn't as pumped about recruitment as she was more tired than excited.

Giada de Laurentiis - Finally got to go to my house! She thought it was really pretty with cute decorations, but I've given her a house tour before so nothing was new to her. While she was speaking to one of the girls, a girl from exec unexpectedly came up to her and introduced herself. My sister thought she was really pretty and intimidating and gave a really flustered response and said "30 seconds of word vomit". I told her that the Giadas were trying to impress her and not to worry. But she really thinks she messed up.

Paula Deen - My sister has a friend who is a Paula Deen at another campus. At this house my sister was double rushed. With the first girl, she said that the conversations were bland and awkward and she talked more with other PNM. After they got saved by second girl, the conversations became much better. The girls in this house are really diverse. After the party, girls in her group were discussing how they didn't like this house but my sister told them they are really strong at a lot of other schools.

Bobby Flay - My sister's roommate is a legacy to this house. Before going in she heard a lot of tent talk about them but afterwards she said she had a really good time. She had good conversations about favorite movies and other atypical topics. Overall she thought Bobby Flays were really cool girls. However, she noticed that they had the same door chant as Emeril Lagasse. She almost thought that she had already gone to this house already because the song was the same.

Andrew Zimmern - My sister really liked this house a lot because they focused on philanthropy, which she is really interested in. They connected on a lot of topics and talked about the movie Brave. Coincidentally the girl who bumped next had long, curly red hair and my sister and the first girl had a good laugh about that since the second girl really looked like Merida.

Masahiru Morimoto - This was another sporty house but my sister is just not into sports. She mentioned how she isn't really coordinated and went to her first college football game last weekend and didn't know what a third down was. This house didn't really stand out and she doesn't think they'll invite her back.

Her top favorites from open house are Alex Guarnaschelli, Emeril Lagasse, Bobby Flay and Andrew Zimmern.

The houses she ranked last were:
2. Masahiru Morimoto
3. Geoffrey Zakarian
4. Alton Brown

She can go back to 8 houses for house tours. I was disappointed that her and Giada de Laurentiis haven't clicked yet so I'm crossing my fingers for the next day!

Can't wait to find out if you and your sister become sorority sisters as well!

My fingers and toes are crossed for her!

Day 3: House Tours

This day she was surprised to get some heavy cuts and only got invited to 5 of the 8 possible houses. Many girls were also dropping from her rho gamma group too. She was annoyed that freshmen girls would feel bad for her schedule. She was especially sad that Emeril Lagasse dropped her.

Andrew Zimmern - At this house she was double rushed and was paired with a freshman who was really annoying and being rude by chewing gum and rolling her eyes. She felt really bad for the active. (What's up with all this gum chewing? :eek:)

Giada de Laurentiis - She spoke with a girl from the first day and connected about same things she loved at Emeril Lagasse. This day the president came to say hi and she felt much more prepared to speak to her. During the house tour, she saw a silly picture with me in it and started laughing which is how the Giada found out I was in the house. After she realized that, she decided to give my sister a "secret legacy tour" and talked about all of the fun secrets of living in house. My sister felt special after this tour and really wants to go back.

Alex Guarnaschelli - My sister didn’t really vibe with house tour girl but could see herself having fun and hanging out in the physical house. This is her favorite philanthropy so far because she has a personal connection with it. She clicked better with the second girl and could sense a strong sisterhood in this house.

Geoffrey Zakarian - My sister liked their philanthropy but didn’t get along too well with the girl she was paired with. This house had mostly generic first day questions. She wasn't very excited about this house.

Paula Deen - At this house she felt like she was the one leading the conversation with the active. She was turned off because when she’d get excited about something, the girl would have a scared look on her face. She also liked their physical house the least and complained about all of the bumps in the floor and how the layout felt like a maze.

Every house was ranked as #1 this day but if she could rank it would be:

1. Giada de Laurentiis
1. Alex Guarnaschelli
3. Andrew Zimmern
4. Geoffrey Zakarian
5. Paula Deen

This is quite interesting to read. Honestly, it seems like the legacy Giada is the only one she really liked after the house tours! Can't wait to see where she ended up, though!

Looking forward to hearing more!

I am really confused about this... or maybe just naive! Your chapter didn't realize that an in-house legacy was coming through recruitment? I must be missing something. Even if she didn't want the other houses to know that she was a legacy to your chapter, her letter of introduction/ legacy letter/ recomendation or whatever your GLO uses should have put her on their radar, right?

I turned in her rec letter so they know she's a in-house legacy. That's why the president and recruitment VP have been coming up to my sister and saying hello. I believe the girl who gave her the house tour is a sophomore/junior who didn't know me personally (the current seniors were freshmen in my pledge class) and whatever info she was given probably only said "LEGACY". She only realized it was in-house when my picture was pointed out in the middle of the house tour. Hope that makes more sense :)

I think you are thinking the OP is a sitting sister. She isn't. She said she was a junior transfer a few years ago, so she's an alumna.

I'm rooting for Giada de Laurentiis and Andrew Zimmerman!

Fun fact, Andrew Zimmerman judged a children's cooking contest I was in when I was 9 years old. I got 3rd place :)

Nope, not confused about that part. I figured out that big sister had graduated. In house legacy doesn't mean sitting sister legacy. :)

ETA: Thanks for the clarification, Cali. As I am sure you know, things run a little more "intensely" in the SEC

Day 4 - Entertainment Round

Today my sister got invited back to 4 houses and her top 2! So she was super excited.

Andrew Zimmern - At this house she had a hard time paying attention because she was worried about having a five minute gap to run in heels to her next house (which was a lot further down the row). Today the conversations weren't as good as they had been earlier in the week. She and the active were seated outside in the hot sun and both of them were dripping in sweat as the party went on and couldn't really talk about anything except complain about the heat. She really liked their slideshow though.

Giada de Laurentiis - Today she spoke to older girls in the house. The first girl spoke about how she's good friends with my little sis in the house (who is still an active) and the second girl talked about she was roommates with my OTHER little (who had just graduated). This all was just really confusing to her because she never got the chance to meet either of my littles (and didn't even know I had two). Just realized in this paragraph I'm speaking about THREE of my "little sisters". I hope you readers are following along okay..

So moving on...during the slideshow she actually started to tear up because she said it was getting far into the recruitment process and could really see herself being in a sorority. (When I had convinced her to sign up she said she's just going to "try it out." :rolleyes:)

Lastly, her favorite part about this house so far is that they're the only girls who've been pronouncing her name correctly! All week the rho gammas/houses have been saying her name wrong during line up. Her name isn't too unconventional but apparently they've been mixing the letters around or even calling her by her middle name on accident.

Alex Guarnaschelli - At this house the conversations were basic. She really, really wished they could've been better so she could express herself more. She loved this house so much on Day 1 and they had her favorite philanthropy so far. She really wants to go back for pref so she can have one more shot with them.

Paula Deen - The first girl asked a lot of close ended questions. My sister got along much better with the second girl but the last girl she spoke to made it very awkward. She felt bad ranking this house last because she had some good conversations with a few of the girls over the course of the week but she just enjoyed herself much more at the other three houses.

For pref, girls can come back to 2 houses. Her rankings were:

1. Giada de Laurentiis
1. Alex Guarnaschelli
2. Andrew Zimmern
3. Paula Deen

What chapters did your sister get back for Pref???

Day 5: Preference + Bid Night

Today she was invited back to her two favorite houses, Giada de Laurentiis and Alex Guarnaschelli!

Her first house of the day was Giada de Laurentiis. Instead of lining up and walking in, actives come out one by one and say a little bit about the PNM they are preffing before taking them into the house. The active who came out to take in my sister was my little! :eek: Apparently my little had been hiding this from me all week when I asked her if she had seen my sister yet. My sister also got to meet my grand-little and they all talked about really random topics the entire party. My sister said it wasn't like a recruitment conversation and instead just like hanging with her friends that she's known for a long time. Later she was escorted into a room for the more serious part of preference. My sister cried during one of the songs that is from her favorite musical. She left the party really feeling at home.

Her second party was Alex Guarnaschelli. She said that the ceremony was beautiful and that she had enjoyed meeting all the girls from this house. But she felt like they were trying too hard to get her to love the house today instead of how natural it had felt at the previous house.

Her final rankings were:
1. Giada de Laurentiis
2. Alex Guarnaschelli

She called me after saying how nervous she was and that she was going to be so sad if she didn't get her first choice. I knew my particular chapter's legacy policy and didn't want to spoil it for her so I just told her that she had loved BOTH these chapters at some point this week and would be happy at either one. She had to wait a grueling 8 hours or so until she got her bid.

That night she opened up her bid to...














Giada de Laurentiis















AKA



















ALPHA DELTA PI at UCLA!


If anyone has read my own recruitment story (Sporty Transfer Recruitment) from before, I can provide a few updates. It's funny how my sister didn't click at all with anything sports related and that's what I based my own recruitment story after! The girl I had on day 1 and who gave me a house tour at Anaheim Ducks later became my big. In my story, I was sad that my house was the only one to have not done a skit like all the others. This year was the very first year they've done a skit in a long time and everyone seems to have really liked it! (Based off of my sister and the other UCLA recruitment story here.)

Bid night has become more "no frills". Before we'd take the new alphas on buses to Hollywood or Universal Citywalk. Now bid day takes place in the chapter houses.

In terms of chapter size, total when I went through was 115 and now ADPi's chapter size is 198! :eek: Only the alphas and some actives can fit in the dining room and chapter meetings have recently been moved to a large classroom on campus. I'm sure that Alpha Gamma Delta's colony and Alpha Xi Delta coming in 2016 will be super successful and help tame chapter sizes down to a more manageable size.

Thanks for reading! :)

And because everyone loves bid day photos!

New alphas + some actives in the front with the silly poses.
https://scontent-b-sjc.xx.fbcdn.net/...11604271_n.jpg

A photo from one of the balconies in the house.
https://scontent-a-sjc.xx.fbcdn.net/...28670028_n.jpg

Heeeyyy, she went to the legacy! Looks like ADPi got another one this year! Congratulations to her!

Yay! Congratulations!

YEAH!!! I LOVE a legacy pledging her legacy house ending! Hopefully you can be there for her initiation. I got to participate in my biological sister's Theta initiation. It was one of the most memorable events of my life. She was too stunned to remember much of it, but it was incredible for me.

Yeah! A legacy AND ADPi ending! Thank you for sharing <>

Oh I am so happy! Congrats to you and your sister :D:D <>

Congratulations! Alpha Delta Pis LOVE our legacies!!

Congrats! I used to be this chapter's membership adviser, and it is really great to see them thriving! Congrats to your sister! :)

Winnie Cooper's chapter! (Actress Danica McKeller from "The Wonder Years")
Congrats!