Another Student Story
 

So... First student joined my legacy chapter at UMass Amherst this fall. I have a second student who just completed recruitment at Elon today. For a New England hs teacher, this is super exciting to me. (We also had a former student in the super bowl today for Seattle, sorry Hauschka! YAY PATS!)

I asked her to keep her story documented for me party by party, round by round, and she did. She hasn't sent it to me yet, but I hope to post it tomorrow while we have a snow day! There are 9 sororities there, anyone have a good theme for me?

I love a good story, especially one written by someone who we know will finish it:) I'm partial to the idea of NFL playoff teams, even though there's more than nine of those.

Warm islands would sound good right about now: Barbados, Maui, Moorea, etc.

My alma mater! Please post! EXCITED!

I promise to post as soon as she sends it to me :) Warm islands sound good.

Kauai, Grand Cayman, Tahiti - oh my. The possibilities are endless. GREAT theme, Blue Skies.

Okay... So I went with math functions, because I'm a nerdy teacher. At first I was going to change Student2's words and format, but it is what is it and to change it I didn't feel was right.... This may be more specific and not as PC as most stories on here, but it is what it is. If you aren't interested, please just don't read:

Day 1- Casual attire
The first round of my first day I had a break which gave me a lot of anxiety because I was so excited to get into the swing of things and go to my first house. When I got my schedule I was secretly upset because all the “top tier” sororities were at the end of the day, and I knew my then my feet would hurt, my voice would be almost lost, and I’d lose energy. Waiting during that first break was very frustrating, although I had friends in my no party round I still felt as if I was ready to talk and make amazing first impressions! Going into recruitment my favorite sorority was Exponential, then Cubic, Sine, Quadratic, Cosine, Tangent, Square Root, Linear, and then Inverse. Although, the middle order could have been modified I thought I knew that Exponential and Cubic would be my two favorites no matter what. When I got my schedule my first day looked like this:

1. Linear
2. Inverse
3. Cubic
4. Sine
5. Cosine
6. Tangent
7. Exponential
8. Square Root
9. Quadratic

I love a recruitment story as much as the next person, but this one leaves me feeling a bit weird. Your student has provided some honest feedback to you, even though it isn't flattering to many of the groups. Since you have included her hometown and her university she is going to be super easy to identify on that campus.

Maybe it's best to edit significantly? Or not finish? Or delete for now?

I'm a former alum and advisor to the students university and am extremely familiar with the campus. It's not even clear to me the identity of the houses, except for 2. That leaves 7 that are mysteries.

I deleted that part of her story, and I'm struggling to edit the rest of it... not because of content so much as the format she sent it to me in. She has it broken down by group, not by day, so I'm struggling to figure out where she went on which days.... I'll keep trying to figure it out. I'm also not at all familiar with the university, so I have no idea if what she's giving me are valid perceptions or tent talk or what.

Regardless of whether it's valid perceptions (isn't that an oxymoron anyway?) or tent talk, I think it's wise to eliminate any remarks that could cast shade on any of the chapters. Keep it neutral, keep it safe. I am thinking about the recent thread here on GC that addresses "tent talk" and the other one about being pretty enough. Anyway... good luck, sigmagirl2000, with your edit job. Not fun.

Linear:
During Linear on the first day I was so nervous because it was the first sorority I had stepped foot in. It was weird having a sister grab you and touch your back and it felt like elementary school again having to sit on the floor. (??!?!)The round went by so quickly, but I had a hard time making a judgment about the house. By the end of the day I got to choose 5 to keep and I kept Linear, however, it was not one of my tops.

On the Second day I returned to Linear and it was the last house that I went to. A girl I took a class with grabbed me and we discussed our mutual hatred for our class. She was kind, sweet, comforting, and smiley and I really like her, but that day just reaffirmed the fact that Linear is not and would not be the home for me. In my opinion, I’d rather not be in a sorority at all then be in a sorority that I do not feel comfortable with. In this case, I liked Linear, however, I knew it was not the one for me.

Since Cosine dropped me, I went back to Linear for one more day, again, it was at the end of the day, however, I still knew it wasn’t for me. I met a girl that lives in near my hometown and we had a strong connection, however, she is the first person I had had a true strong connection with at Linear and I knew I couldn’t base Linear off that one conversation. I had to narrow it down to two that night and I knew Linear would not be one of them.

Overall, going into Linear was fun and meeting the girls was really fun but I know that Linear will not be the sorority for me.

Exponential:
I went into Exponential with crazily high expectations. They are where I felt that I fit. However, I didn’t hear a lot about them compared to other sororities and as a very involved student I rarely saw exponentials involved in the clubs I was involved with. When I walked into Exponential, I thought the house was big, spacious, open, and had a pretty atmosphere. I immediately was drawn to it and the president was super smiley and seemed like she was straight out of a sorority movie.
The first conversation I had with a girl there was super forgettable. The things we talked about were very simple and we did not have much of a connection. This was the case with the second day too. Although I really connect with this sorority’s philanthropy, I felt no connection with Exponential. The sisterhood seemed ok but not incredibly strong and the girls didn’t seem sorority-obsessed like other sororities, which is not a good or bad thing. In my eyes there was nothing wrong with Exponential, I just didn’t feel at home there and I didn’t feel 100% comfortable there.

Inverse:
Inverse was the second house that I went to. I thought it was decorated adorably on the outside and was again very excited to go in. The girls were cheering and singing. The first day I talked to my leadership mentor for leadership fellows. She is a lovely person. However, the other girls I talked to were so incredibly different from me and I did not feel comfortable going into the house. I knew this house was the house that I would take regret if possible. Obviously, I went to all the houses and then came up with that conclusion. But I am so happy that I went and found that it wasn’t for me.

Sine

Sine is a sorority that some of my friends guessed that I’d be placed in. However, they acted like they were only looking for one girl. I went through three days at the Sine house, and by the end I was pleasantly surprised. Looking back on it, I wish I preffed them. The third day in particular really stuck out to me. The conversation I had with the girl was wonderful, our connection was strong, and I really felt at home with her. However, I think I listened to the stereotypes too much and although I don’t think Sine was the right choice for me, I wish I could’ve had more time. After the first day I hated Sine, the girl I talked to was ok and I felt a little uncomfortable in the house. Although I considered ranking Sine last entirely during round 1, I didn’t and I’m glad I didn’t.

Cubic:

When you’re standing in line outside Cubic the girls are banging on the walls they are so excited to get to talk to you and meet you! I started shaking, smiling, and getting butterflies. Cubic was not my favorite coming into the whole process, however, I knew they had an incredible reputation and that so many girls wanted them this year. I knew it would be competitive trying to get into Cubic. When I walked in it was an immediate ray of light, the house was so open, comforting, and homey. So many of my upperclassmen friends that I knew were in Cubic, I had no idea they were in Cubic before then. I had girls coming up to me hugging me, waving at me, and smiling at me. I felt loved and accepted. It wasn’t like any other house I felt the need to fake a smile and try to put on a front, maybe even change my answers to what they wanted to hear. However, at Cubic I was myself, I felt like I could be silly, could be loud, could take off my makeup and still feel comfortable being at Cubic. By the end of the day I knew Cubic was my one, surpassing every single sorority.
The second day I talked to multiple girls at Cubic which was very overwhelming. When I talked to one particular member for the first time I knew we had an immediate connection. She made me so happy and comfortable so when she smiled at me I truly felt special. By the end of the second day Cubic was still my favorite and I was sad when I had to leave the house.

The third day was sisterhood round. The video was so silly and goofy and it was done so well. I longed to be a part of the sisterhood I saw on the screen. I talked to this beautiful girl, whose eyes lighted up and her beauty was alarming. She was yesterday’s member’s little and she was from my home state too. That day I just had long nice conversations. I still felt incredibly comfortable and was very happy. I met this other girl and clicked with her too, and she later tells me how cool she thinks I am. Sisterhood day really justified to me how much these girls love one another and really made me want to be part of it.

For pref day, I pref'd Cubic knowing that that was the one that I’d end up writing down as my number one. On pref day I walked in and was grabbed by the girl I met on day 2. My heart lit up, I really can speak upon my connection with her enough. She makes me so happy! It’s like a breath of fresh air to know that someone gets and understands me like she does. Since preference round gets emotional due to all the speeches and songs we both teared up, even though we both agreed that we are not much of emotional criers. I knew this was it, this was the house and sisterhood that was right for me. The girls were down to earth, genuine, passionate, and active girls. They are truly inspirational and I knew I wanted to be a part of that. They believe in female empowerment and being the best woman that you can be. It didn’t matter what happened at Tangent (the other one I pref’d) I knew it was going to be Cubic for me.

Tangent

Going into the whole process our pichi's said to go in with an open mind. Although I always heard the stereotypes about Tangent I did want to give it a chance.
The first day I was shocked, the two girls I talked to were beautiful, however, they seemed very normal. Unlike Sine, they seemed invested in talking and getting to know me and actually seemed interested in what I had to say. The environment of the room was happy, calm, peaceful, exciting, and although I was nervous and intimidated when it came to going into the house, I felt so at peace when I left. The girl and my conversation was strong and she made me feel as if she understood how I felt being a first year. By the end of the day Tangent was one of my tops and I knew/hoped I would be going back the next day. However, I also knew that they were very picky and cut a lot of girls.
The second day we talked about Elon, and it was a strong conversation and I felt very comfortable which is very important to me, however, we didn’t make a huge. But I still liked Tangent and she still made me felt comfortable.
I was so happy when I found out that I had not been cut from Tangent, however, going into the house my girl seemed like she clearly did not spend a lot of time with her sorority, she was telling me about how she wasn’t even present on bid day. She didn’t seem to take the sorority stuff seriously. We talked about our favorite broadway shows and I really didn’t have much of a connection with her, however, I had some upperclassmen come up to me, hug me, and make me feel comfortable. A sophomore from close to my home came up to me and I introduced myself and she seemed very sweet. Overall, I guess looking back maybe I shouldn’t have written Tangent down on my pref card, however, I just assumed they’d drop me so I wrote them.
It turns out that Tangent did not drop me, however, I was still excited to see them back on my card. This was the day where I’d choose between Tangent and Cubic! When I walked in it was a very serious and emotional round. It was great to see a familiar face and really took off the pressure. I sat down and she stood next to me which made me feel awkward. She was shaky the whole time and the speeches although they were nice, did not touch me like the ones in Cubic. Although the speeches were about sisterhood, it reflected on the sisterhood of the girl who wrote the speech and the sister she was writing it to, it did not seem to reflect upon the whole sorority.

From there I walked up the hill in silence and put Cubic into the computer followed by Tangent. I was done and I had chosen the one I knew was right for me from day 1.

Student2 had a very successful recruitment and joyously accepted a bid to Cubic, which is Alpha Xi Delta!


I never received any information about Square Root, Quadratic, or Cosine.... so I don't know where they fell in the whole process.... Student2 had a tendency to leave things out of her geometry proofs, so maybe that's what happened here? :)

YAY AXiD!!! I knew who Cubic was immediately when you said banging on the walls!

Yeah an Alpha Xi Delta ending. ... Congratulations to Student 2!