A Netflix Recruitment
 

Hello GC! I’m a freshman about to go through recruitment at a southern school, and I’m so excited to share my story with the website that has helped me to make sense of this whole exciting process. As a true millennial, I spend the majority of my free time binge watching Netflix, so I’ve decided to pay homage to some of my favorite shows. My school has 7 chapters:

30 Rock
The Office
How I Met Your Mother
Arrested Development
Parks and Recreation
Friends
Master of None

Recruitment starts right after winter break, so I’ll be back with updates then! Time to spend the next two weeks anxiously compiling outfits and trying to figure out how to answer “Where are you from?” questions without stuttering.

Good luck! My daughter is a senior preparing for her last recruitment "on the other side." Three years ago she was in your shoes over break. We just went through her daily outfit requirements and she assured me she passed "wardrobe checks." For the first time, they're coming back early to do recruitment the Thursday-Sunday before classes start. I'm really glad about that, because juggling recruitment with the first week of winter classes has been quite stressful.

Love your Netflix choices. Wishing you all the best and can't wait to read your story.

Love Netflix, but I'm a Kimmy Schmidt gal. :D Good luck with your recruitment. I guess I always thought deferred rush was more of a midwestern thing.

It's always struck me as more common at private schools, not midwestern schools, so I went through irishpipe's thread because the perceptions made me curious. Out of 126 schools where deferred recruitment appears to be the primary formal recruitment window, 99 are private schools...so that's about 80% private. The mid-Atlantic region seems to be where it's most common, along with some schools in IL and IN. Other than that, it seems to be geographically diverse among private schools in various states.

Yes, I'm at a private school!

Good luck and have fun!

Hope you have fun and get the bid of your dreams!

Good luck!!!! Don't leave us hangin'!!

(little bit of a swerve) When I saw "Southern School", my first thought was SEC. But then I saw only 7 sororities. All of the SEC schools have more than 7 NPC chapters, right? (Not sure which of the SEC has fewest).

Anyway, original poster said private, so probably not SEC (Vandy is the only Private school in the Conference)..

I think I know which school it is (not SEC), but I'll remain mum because fleurtygirl hasn't revealed the name. I do know it's not my daughter's school, because even though it's private, in the south, and recruitment starts next week, they only have 6 sororities. :)

I'd love to see images of possible outfit choices, but we don't want you to reveal too much before recruitment is over!

Netflix and chill!

Yes, discretion is a good thing, both for the poster and for us. Gc'ers, please don't post your speculations as to which school this might be. If the OP wants to reveal her school, she will. It is not up to us to do it for her.

I save that up for when the OP gets all snarky about how her school is sooo much different than the rest of the world. Or just gets generally bitchy or argumentative. No need for that here!

Ah, I love all of the intrigue!! I will definitely reveal my school at the end. I greatly appreciate all of the support, and I can't wait to get started next week!

Darling outfits!

Such cute outfits!!! Love both dresses.

Cute dresses! I would make sure the cardigan for day 3 is shorter and fitted, to go along with the fitted cut of the dress (not slouchy). That would be really cute. And, if you have black pumps as an alternative to the tights and booties, bring those back to school -- see what others are wearing because the pumps would be more "business formal" than the tights and booties, and the actives will likely be more conservative with their footwear. I just have a feeling the black tights, booties and cardigan might be too much black competing with the red dress -- let that pretty dress stand out.

Can't wait to hear how your rush goes! Southern rush is a whole different animal from what I've experienced, so this is always fascinating to me! :)

how do I see the dresses?

She must have thought better of it and removed them. I agree with her move. Perhaps she will repost them afterwards. Trust me, they were really cute!

Yeah, I thought it wasn't the best way to preserve my anonymity. I'll gladly repost after recruitment!

Today was the first day of recruitment! I’m thoroughly exhausted but I met so many great people, had a lot of fun, and drank exorbitant amounts of ice water with fancy straws.

Parks and Rec – This house was everything I hoped for and more. I know a few girls in this sorority, and I had high expectations. Everyone I talked to was so sweet and smart, and I felt like I connected with them a lot. I could really see myself in this house.

The Office – These girls were super nice, but I think I let tent talk alter my perception of them.

Arrested Development – I had an awesome conversation with the first girl I talked to, but my conversations with the other girls were very basic and weren’t that great.

Master of None – I LOVED THIS HOUSE. I had amazing talks about sisterhood with the girls I talked to, and I feel like they have very strong friendships.

How I Met Your Mother – I had a pleasant time here, but didn’t feel a particularly strong connection.

30 Rock – I was so disappointed by this house. I went in with really high expectations, but the girls I talked to didn’t ask many questions and let a lot of awkward lulls in the conversation happen. I’m hoping to go back to this house for another day and have a better experience because I really wanted to like it.

Friends – I absolutely loved the girl I talked to here. We talked like old friends and laughed a lot. However, since I only talked to one girl, I’m not sure about how I’ll fit in with the rest of the sorority.

We cluster ranked our 6 preferences and number 7, but I’ll rank them in order of how much I liked them:
1. Parks and Rec and Master of None (Tie)
3. Friends
4. Arrested Development
5. How I Met Your Mother
6. 30 Rock
7. The Office

Honestly, I really regret ranking The Office last because I definitely let myself be influenced by stereotypes and reputation. Maybe I’ll get another chance with them tomorrow, but if I don’t I’ll still have learned a valuable lesson about tent talk. I’m super excited for Day 2!!

Good luck tomorrow!

Good luck!! I'm looking forward to hearing how things go.

It is hard to not listen to tent talk, but you understand now why we advise against it. Good luck!

Sounds like you had a great first day! Good thing you and the one-on-one rusher hit if off -- that would be pretty tough if you had to spend the whole time talking with someone you didn't click with!

Sounds as if you had fun - enjoy the ride!

After many hours of stress and anxiety, I was so excited to see I’d been invited back to Parks and Recreation and Master of None, as well as 30 Rock and The Office! I was relieved to have another day with The Office, and I was happy to give 30 Rock another chance.

Master of None – Their philanthropy was so touching, and the girls seemed really passionate about it. I had so much in common with the first girl I talked to and had a really fun time talking to her. The second girl was only a sophomore so she wasn’t a very good “rusher”, but we were able to keep the conversation going without it being awkward. I was so happy to have been invited back here and I could really see myself in this house. I loved it just as much as I did yesterday!

30 Rock – Today was so much better here. I got along really well with the first girl. The second member was another inexperienced sophomore with whom I didn’t have much in common, so that conversation was a little bit tough. I’m still not feeling much of a connection with this house, although they’re definitely nice girls.

The Office – I went in with a much more positive attitude than yesterday, and it paid off. They were all so sweet and seemed genuinely happy to have me there, and I talked to one girl in particular who recognized me from my school’s music department and was incredibly nice. This is a new chapter, and she was a founding member when she was a sophomore. I’m really impressed by what this house has been able to build in such a short time on campus.

Parks and Rec – This was undoubtedly the best moment of recruitment for me so far. I walked in and was paired with one of the girls I talked to yesterday, and we picked up right where we left off and talked like BFFs while I worked on the craft. Then another member who I’m good friends with was finally able to talk to me for the first time since recruitment started, and we were so excited to see each other. The whole time I was here, girls were coming up to me and saying how happy they were that I was back. I already feel so at home at this house. Calling them Parks and Rec is very fitting because these girls are definitely the Leslie Knopes of my school. It felt so awesome to be in an environment full of sweet and smart feminists who love and support each other so much. That’s what I want out of sorority life.

Since I only had four houses, I was able to list them all as my preferences. Here’s how I would rank them if I had to:
1. Parks and Rec
2. Master of None
3. The Office
4. 30 Rock

I obviously love love loved Parks and Rec. However, I definitely still love Master of None too, so I could see myself feeling very torn between them if it came down to it. I guess I’ll cross that bridge if I'm fortunate enough to get to it! The next round isn’t until Saturday, so now it’s time to attempt to focus on my first week of classes while simultaneously stressing about recruitment. Wish me luck!

Wow sounds like things are going really well! It's funny how opinions and perceptions change and shift as recruitment continues. Best of luck for Saturday (that's like a week away, lots of time to think). Sounds like you have some wonderful options.

This is the first time I've followed a "live" recruitment story, and it makes me anxious and excited to find out how the story ends! I'm glad you were given second chances where you wanted them. Good luck the rest of the way!

Glad to hear you were invited back to your two favorites so far, and put the tent talk behind to give The Office another look. Sounds like you have some great options so far! Have a great first week of class!

Sounds like you have made some strong connections thus far. Good luck next weekend and keep the story going!!!

Yay Fluertygirl! So hoping you get the invitations you are hoping for!

Let us know how your invites for Saturday go. Hoping your top 2 are there,

It was a torturous week of waiting, but recruitment finally started up again today! I got my schedule and saw The Office and Parks and Rec. I was really disappointed to have been cut from Master of None, but I think everyone has at least one disappointment in their recruitment experience. I think I would have had a lot of trouble choosing between Master of None and Parks and Rec if it came down to it, so I’m kind of happy that the decision was made for me!

I’m so exhausted that I can’t even think straight right now, but I’ll do the best I can to give a decent summary of my experiences today.

The Office – Again, these girls were super nice and have a great sisterhood. However, the conversations I had weren’t anything special and I didn’t feel much of a connection. If I did end up here I’m sure I would be perfectly happy, but as of now it’s not my top choice.

Parks and Rec – I absolutely love this house. All of the girls I talked to were really cool and nice and I had such great conversations. Their sisterhood video was awesome and it felt so good to walk into the house and have the girls I’ve talked to over the past couple days look excited to see me. I already feel at home in this house and I could really see myself here.

Pref night is tomorrow! I’ll be back with updates afterwards.

Good luck, girl! Hopefully you get both houses back for Pref so you can have more time to get to know them and really make up your mind. Pref can really be a game changer.

If you do get invited back to one, I'll be rooting for you either way! Keep in mind that some chapters are better at rushing than others, and after you get to know them outside of recruitment, their "real" personalities will really shine.

Fingers crossed for you :) You have a wonderful attitude.

FG you are awesome! I hope you have a great day today.

Thanks for coming back to update us right away! You're right, there's usually some disappointment along the way, but you have a great attitude. I hope all goes well for you today. :)

Hope you enjoy Prefs!! When is Bid Day?