A very Berry recruitment
 

Hello everyone! Recruitment starts this week and I thought I would share my story with you all. Over these past few months, you women (and men) of Greek Chat have been a constant source of advice and I am so thankful!
With that being said, I will be referring to our various chapters in no particular order as:
Strawberry
Peach
Grape
Blueberry
Lime
Orange
Cranberry
Apple
Lemon
I will say that I am a legacy to Grape and have obtained several (at least 2) letters of recommendation/support for every house. Since you all can figure out my school, I will be posting only on each ranking day to differ it a little bit. Rounds begin tonight at 4:30 and I am so excited to begin this process!

Best wishes for a great recruitment!

Best of luck!! I will be pulling for Blueberry since I love that fruit! :D

Going for Apple and Strawberry!

Good luck to you rebelpnm! Glad you are posting your story. All sororities on your campus are great. Plus a new colony. So exciting!

Thank you ladies! It has been a long and exhausting day. I rank tomorrow evening after visiting more houses and I will update you all then!

Being in parties with 100 PNMs can be crazy. Just take in account that you may not be able to have great conversations until skit just due to the numbers.

I most certainly will! I have also found a new category. Besides houses that I "really liked" or "disliked" there are houses that I am "interested to know more about" or not. That distinction has been helpful tonight. Now I am off to bed because today has me wiped and I have a 9 am tomorrow!

Good luck rebelpnm! I hope your story has a happy ending, and I think I will cheer on peach and orange. ;)

This is such a great idea for a new category!

Looking forward to hearing your story!

Good luck to you and go Lime!

My daughter is a PNM going through rush with you! I can't wait to hear your story and good luck to you!

How is she doing, Heart?

This has got to be the longest three days for the moms. From what I've gathered, the pnms won't find out what they got back until right before skit parties tomorrow. So, unless they find a way around it, they won't be able to text or call home about what parties they attended until after the parties are over tomorrow night. Is this correct?

So yesterday and today made up the 1st round which was philanthropy. I went to 10 houses over two days. I should have mentioned earlier that there is a colonizing chapter on campus this year, and it was mandatory for us to attend their philanthropy event. However they are not participating in the rest of formal recruitment and are not included in this recap.

Strawberry: this was my first house and it was a lot to take in. I have volunteered for their philanthropy before so to see the ways they supported it was really cool! I talked with several girls, some small talk. Their video and chants were by far my favorite of day 1. I am very interested to know more about them!

Cranberry: I did not like this house. I did at water parties, but my girls today were acting so disinterested and complained more than I would have expected. I ranked them in my bottom 3.

Apple: I went in (I know I shouldn’t have) with the mindset that I would not really like this house, but I LOVED it. I knew one girl in it already kind of. I really only talked with one girl the main time, but I could see her as one of my close friends. I know they match you with someone they think you will get along with, and since I only talked to one girl, that was kind of disheartening. But hopefully I will get to meet more at skit!

Lemon: I was not a fan of this house. My girls were rude, and talked in a very cliquish way. I ranked them in my bottom three.

Blueberry: This house was eh. My first girl I didn’t really click with, and the other two I didn’t have enough time with to establish a conversation. I also ranked them in my bottom three.

Lime: I really liked this house. Their video was one of my favorites. I really enjoyed talking to my first girl. My second girl was sweet (like basically everyone I talked to) but is close friends with a few girls I know that I don’t really get along with. I loved them at water parties too though and I really would like to return here.

Orange: At water parties, this house shocked me. I didn’t think I would like them as much as I did. Today that held true. I really really liked this house! I found their girls down to earth, and to be very relatable. I really hope I get asked to come back here! It was also really neat because I didn’t realize I have volunteered for their philanthropy before!

Grape: This is my legacy house. I am aware of my mother’s GLO policy and also know that legacies at Ole Miss are a dime a dozen. My girls were so sweet and I really enjoyed their philanthropy video as well as the ways they support it sound so fun!

Peach: This house intimidated me a bit. Many girls on my floor thought they wanted this house, even before water parties. My conversation at water parties was eh here. But today it was alright. This is another house that I am “interested to know more about. I also really like their philanthropy.

For skit round tomorrow, I can return up to six houses. My top 6 are (in no particular order):

My bottom three are (in order):
1. Blueberry
2. Cranberry
3. Lemon

So my top six, in no specific order are: Orange, Grape, Peach, Lime, Apple, and Strawberry. We get our party invites at 3 pm tomorrow and I am so nervous! Fingers crossed for me!

@thetalady - my daughter had a blast yesterday. I'm anxiously waiting to hear from her tonight. So far only one house that she can't see herself in.

@elvislover - yep, you are correct. We have to sit on pins and needles until after tomorrow nights parties to see which one they attended. Somehow I think it's better this way. I can think positively and she can regroup and call me after she has had time to take it all in.

Can't wait to hear if they are keeping dry! Pretty sure my daughter is not the only one having a bad hair day! Lol.

Rebelpnm -I can't wait to hear your story. Good luck!

We receive our schedules at 3 and rounds do not start until 4 pm. however, during that time, we are not allowed back to our dorms where our cell phones and other means of communication are. So basically our moms wont know which houses we have until after we have already had some of them (or not). You can have all of your parties for skit in one day surprisingly. Hopefully that does not happen to me!

I think you have Cranberry listed in both your top six and bottom three rebelpnm? Best of luck to you for tomorrow!

Not to triple post, but since this is my story, I guess I can. what advice do you women have for nerves? Because I am pretty confident person, and I know my resume was good (like every other girls) and I got all my rec's in...But I cant help thinking that in the short time I had with these women, did I say anything that made me sound any different than any other girls? And the answer is not really which makes me VERY nervous about being invited back to any houses tomorrow, let alone those that are in my top 6.

Thank you Clemsongirl! I have edited the post. My apologies for any confusion. I am just so tired and my mind is not operating to its fullest ability.

I don't blame you in the slightest! The best advice I can think of (since my mind is also not operating to its fullest ability:p) is to take a deep breath and-as hard as it is-accept that there is nothing more you can do about it right now. There's no way to know what magical conversation topic would make you memorable in the right way, and what's done is done and cannot be changed. Even if you did know what to talk about and when to say it, you can't go back in time to do so. If you can find a distracting or engrossing activity like a book or homework, throw yourself into that. Try to keep your mind off of replaying could-haves and should-haves, because that can't help you any more now.

As difficult as it is to acknowledge that you are not really in control of your recruitment results, it is true. All you can do is be your best self and let that shine in your conversations. A little anxiety is understandable, but don't let it become all-consuming.

Sending you good wishes and luck!

Do the best you can do. Be the best you can be. Trust the system. Try to make connections. Ask questions that aren't super basic. Pay attention to the things the actives say and follow up.

There is nothing you can do now so don't analyze every conversation. Yes, I know this is silly to say, but try! They expect the PNMs to be nervous. Actives remember the weirdest things. I still remember a conversation I had about shoes and the best shoe stores in the campus town. Another I remember because she actually asked about sisterhood and was the first PNM to do so.

You want to end up where you belong, not where you have to try hard every day. Be yourself and have active listening skills with followup questions.

Just take your invitations to skit and focus on the chapters you have rather than the chapters that you may not have. Honestly, all groups at Ole Miss are wonderful. And, I am sure that ADPi is going to do very well. Keep all of your options open.

Sending good thoughts your way!

In addition to WCSweet's advice about not over analyzing, don't obsess over being the mechanics of rush: being double rushed, whether or not the chapter president or rush chairman spoke to you, or whether you were bumped twice or three times... and OMG DID THAT GIRL GET BUMPED MORE THAN ME?

Breathe deep! Be yourself, so that you shine in your own way. Be honest. Be yourself. Look for a group of girls what seems most like who you ARE.

I agree with what everyone has already said about doing the best you can do, not over-analyzing, and trusting the system. Trusting the system includes something WCsweet<3 mentioned--the fact that actives may expect you to be a little nervous...and that's okay! If you need an analogy for reassurance, it's similar to a job interviewer who knows that the candidate might be a bit nervous during the interviews.

The other thing might make you feel better is that you and the other PNMs might not be the only ones who are a bit nervous. Some of the sisters who are talking to you might be a bit nervous too! I know this can be the case for some sisters, especially ones for whom it is their first recruitment "on the other side" or ones who might be more shy/introverted.

As far as calming nerves when not at recruitment events, I think you just need to accept that you're doing the best you can and keep it out of your mind! I am the queen of over-analyzing things, so I know first-hand how hard it can be to keep things simple, but really just try your best not to over-analyze recruitment-related events. Study, watch TV, exercise, meditate, have a laugh with your friends, etc.

The most practical suggestion I can make is the following: if you do have time that you can spend over-analyzing recruitment-related things, use that time to keep up with and even get a little ahead in your studies if possible. That way, after you've hopefully accepted your bid, you'll have a little more leeway/extra time to hang out with your new sisters. ;)

Thank you ladies! I will definitely try and keep these things in mind while I wait for 3pm to roll around.

Just so you all know, there was no knock!

oh thanks -- I was just going to ask when knocks are made. Hoping my PNM there isn't disturbed either! All the best!

For future reference, the knocks come at 6 am.

6am? I'm a morning person but that seems cruel

They have to get it done before girls leave for 8 am classes

Good! Have fun!

Newbie mom here. Sorry! What are the knocks? Thanks!!

The knocks are from RCs coming to tell PNMs in person that they have been released from recruitment and have no further invitations. They do this privately in their room, rather than in the rush groups.

Thanks so much. That's got to be really rough with a roommate situation... Is that commonplace at most schools? My daughter said her rho gamm was vague about how the cuts are announced... Stressful to be a pnm mom!!

It varies from school to school. Some knock, some call. I've heard of a few places where the PNMs don't find out until everyone else gets the party invite and their envelop is empty. One place put all the PNMs in a circle by rho gamma group and the rho gammas tapped the PNMs without parties on the shoulder... A few of these are much nicer than others.

I am so beyond excited. All my worrying was for nothing. I got asked back to 5 of my top six, but really all six because after I ranked I wished I had moved my no. 7 house into my top and they ended up inviting me back! I went to three houses today and I go to three houses tomorrow, then rank. I will provide a more detailed update after I rank.

Yeah!! See, we told you to be yourself & it would work out :)

Yay rebelpnm!