The Second Quest: A 2006 Informal Rush Story
 

Behind me are mountains and a white cross.

In front of me, a castle with four houses.

Ravenclaw
Slytherin
Gryffindor
Hufflepuff

These are the houses that the Sorting Hat will go through in attempting to determine where best I fit. Here is the preliminary information I have on each:

Ravenclaw
The house that presently seems to have the greatest compatibility with me and as of this particular moment, very much have the inside track. Ravenclaw is my favourite Hogwarts house, hence why I have assigned to them.

Slytherin
Like the wizarding world Slytherin, so goes it with this Greek world Slytherin. Greek friends and Non-Greek friends (the Muggles of the Greek world) have universally condemned this house on the national level. Anger and annoyance follow Slytherin in the main... Yet, I will keep an open mind, and like with the wizarding Slytherin, so too does this Greek Slytherin whisper of power, immense power.

Gryffindor
A choice of irony on my part, for the most-well known house of the wizarding world is the most unknown and mysterious to me. Those of my friends that I spoke to had no knowledge of them either.

Hufflepuff
The house I loathe most in Hogwart's and despise unequivocally. While I am keeping an open mind here with all of these houses, this one seems disorganized and my past experiences with other members of this group on the national level have left me with a sour taste in my mouth. They are quite likely going to be the very first to be dropped, but anything can happen when the Sorting Hat is put on.

These impressions are all ones gained from a distance, as they call to me from the sea and I have called back from the mountain peaks.

It will be only when I go to the sea that I shall see.

And yes, we all shall see.

Addendum: The colours of the Houses should not be construed in any way, shape, or form to be indicative of the fraternities' colours. Rather, the colours used are those of the respective Hogwarts' Houses.

Good luck to you! I like the Hogwarts theme. Gryffindor was my code name for Gamma Phi Beta when I was going through AI and not wanting to tell until it was official.:)

Ooooh...finally a rush thread with a manageable number of chapters that won't confuse my poor little tired brain! :)

Thanks guys. :)

Unfortunately, I have terrible news to report.

I just received a letter via owl informing me that Slytherin will be no more at the conclusion of this school year. While I would not estimate the probability of my joining Salazar's house as overly great, it is always a tragedy and a very sad event when we lose a House.

This has made me all the more determined to inject energy and commitment to the cause of all the Houses when I join, no matter which one is the mutual selection in the end.

All of the Houses, even before this occurrence, have been reported to me as being tight-knit, a unified Hogwarts determined to survive and thrive.

The demise of Slytherin makes the combined forces and united front all the more important.

The Voldemortian dream of a dead Greek community must not happen.

I love the code names. I wish you lots of luck and will definitely keep reading your story!

Displaying my incredibly geekish knowledge of Harry Potter:
Hufflepuff's colors are Yellow and Black :)

Every time i see the name "KDMafia" I just crack up :p

Where did you get it from?

James,

Me, and six others of my sisters' opinions were always very well respected in the sorority, whether it would be for recruitment or for election of e-boards among other things. We used to joke that we were like the KDMafia "If we dont like you, the family doesn't like you" kinda thing.

But don't worry, we weilded out power in a benevolent way;)

Correction noted. For some reason I thought Hufflepuff was green/yellow.

Whilst I was on board the Hogwarts Express, owls were exchanged back and forth in that curious, schizophrenic fragmentation one finds in dreams, where split times can simultaneously juxtapose and no one minds.

Thus, while missives flew to and fro with their messengers, always the Sorting Hat was on my head as I sat in the banquet hall, all eyes on me in the mind's eye.

And then it was done.

My decision reached in the blink of a bird's wing; leaps of faith made.

Sorted I am and accepted I am.

I'm confused.... How can you be sorted and accepted already without even attending the college yet?

HiJack... hehhe My family in the sorority is the same way we are the Stellar Mafia... all of us held E board positions (two Archons), went to almost everything, no one in my family has ever disaffiliated etc...

As PenguinTrax has indicated in another thread, in.. Greek Life?, I want to say it is, Greek culture in my home state is very casual relative to other regions of the country.

I'd been communicating via email with three of the four fraternities before I got the news that one is folding after the spring semester.

That left three. One is colonizing and thus, I had no interest in them. It's nothing against the fraternity itself or the guys in it; I just wanted to be in a fraternity that has tradition and history on the campus they're at.

Down to two.

One of the fraternities never contacted me at all, which made me feel unwanted by them. Thus, I eliminated them.

That left just one and the choice was clear.

I stopped by the house on my way home, as the college is en route to my hometown from my old univeristy; I talked to the guys, was offered a bid, and accepted. Roughly an hour later, a good portion of my stuff was moved in temporary storage in the house, awaiting my return and full move-in before the spring semester, after they get done playing musical rooms (As two of the guys are graduating and moving out).

It's funny... I entered the house and I had the sense that I was breathing in fresh air. It was more beautiful to me than most of the houses I visited at Wyoming, save for one. I felt at home, truly at home. The architecture, the design of the house... it reminded me in some vague way interiorwise of my first and still dream school.

Then, when I met the others in the house, it was like we'd all known each other for years. I didn't feel like I had to be presentational or play a role like I did during fall rush... I felt relaxed and easy, like my true self.

Ravenclaw won in the end... and in this case, Ravenclaw is....

Delta Sigma Phi at UW-La Crosse!!!!

a happy ending is always a good thing...particulary when "magic" could be involved.

OMG that is SO AWESOME! Congrautlations!!!!

Something really similar happened to my sister. She was going to attend the University of Maryland, but even before she actually started attending classes, she got a bid from, like, the best house on campus. They even came to our house to help her move her stuff and she hadn't even graduated high school yet. Then they helped her write her final term paper and bought her a dress for prom, in their colors, of course. It is so fabulous when people find their greek homes!! :D :) :p ;) :cool:

He depeldged and transfered schools....

valkyrie,


I'd like to hire you to follow me around all day and make sarcastic comments. That would be excellent.

I already asked david sedaris but he was busy but i'm thinking you might be the next best thing:p

In essence, it was both. I talked to them via email for like a month before I visited the house and then while I visited the house they gave me the bid. :)

What Buttonz said. Realized I was going to transfer schools because of changing my major to something not offered at my prior school and then depledged out of fairness to the rest of that pledge class and because there was no Sigma Chi chapter at UW-L.

It worked out perfectly, though, for all involved. :)

http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/sh...threadid=71206 for some backstory.

Personally, I wouldn't accept a bid anywhere until I'd had a chance to meet the other groups and see what they were like when school started.

I also think it's odd for a fraternity to give a bid to a person based on email conversations (which how many brothers could this have been between? just the rush chair?) and one meeting.

Hell, I think it's a bad idea to accept a bid just based on email conversations and one meeting.

I couldn't really follow the beginning of this thread, as I don't read those books and the language was very unclear.

Remember that NIC/IFC rush (recruitment) is different than NPC and NPHC rush. And each campus is different as well.

While this may not be the norm on all campuses, it certianly isn't unusual for a (NIC/IFC) bid to be extended and accepted after one meeting. Especially if there is prior knowledge of the PNM by the chapter and or prior knowledge of the chapter by the PNM.

By the way, there are a few rush threads on early or summer IFC rush. I am not familiar with Wisconsin-La Crosse or how their rush and year round recruitment is held, but some major mid-western universities (Nebraska, Missouri as examples) hold summer (early) rush. And in some cases, incoming freshmen/transfer students etc. have been extended a bid, and accepted, at their first rush event. And at some schools, freshmen pledges move into the houses before they even have had their first college class. As such, I would venture to guess that this early recruitment philosophy can be applied to the spring term as well.

edited for grammar and spelling

That's what I was thinking.

Just as a general update, I went through the official pledge ceremony Sunday night and it was wonderful. :)

Living in the house makes a huge difference. I'm really getting to know the brothers and I love it here and like everyone in the fraternity, both in-house and out.

We have really cool, active alumni too! :)

you live in the house as a pledge??

Yep. It's not all that uncommon with a lot of fraternities, actually.

That's standard for both the men and women who go through recruitment at my school. Once the bid is accepted, the new members are expected to move in. In the case of overflow, either upper classmen move out into apartments, or people live in the dorms. The women stay in a dorm during recruitment, and then men stay in different fraternities and are required to visit each chapter at least once. The fraternities are allowed to talk to men in the spring and summer and have "rush events" but not give out bids, and sororities are not allowed any contact. We have Vandal Friday for incoming students at the end of March, and a lot of people stay in a chapter house for a night or two. During the year any time students come to visit campus they are given the option of staying in a chapter and/or touring the facilities, and the chapter is on a rotating basis.

I was the only pledge on the Alpha Gam hall my freshman spring qtr. Of course, that was when freshman were ALLOWED to live anywhere. Now they're bound and tied to the freshmen dorms or with parents.;)

My brother never spent a day in the dorms. He was recruited by his fraternity at his school during the summer between hs and college, so he moved into the house immediately as a pledge.

Was it top tier?

I know those guys go afer all the good high school guys to get them before all the other fraternities have a chance.

Like the others said, I would feel weird accepting a bid with the majority of getting to know them was via email... just as I would feel weird extending a bid to someone we know though email.

... and I also think it's a good idea to meet everyone and see what they're like. While it's cool to have a chapter with traditions, I would imagine it is just as cool to be the intial group to START all the fraternity's traditions... but that's just my opinion :)

i hope you're happy in your new home!

When is SAE not top? Not just email, my brother got to know all the men in the fraternity during that graduation summer because my parents lived in a suburb of the city where the school was located.

FOr the email stuff I was referring to the OP :)

:rolleyes: Why am I not surprised that apparently everyone you know and everything you do is so top tier.

Wow I had never heard of pledges living in house. Especially for the guys, I feel like that would set up a situation where actives would use the pledges to their advantage, more so than they already do. I guess that doesn't come into play for guys that are heavily recruited, like alum's brother.

My brother's school didn't have enough dormitory space for everyone so many, many freshmen moved into houses immediately. That has changed and the school does require all freshmen to live in the dorms for 1 year even if they pledge as a freshman.

Well apparently your brother's school wasn't top tier if it didn't even have enough space for its students. I'm surprised you allowed him to attend such a school!

/sarcasm

They were kicked off the campus I used to attend.

But lack of dorm space is a HUGE problem at the UW and new members move in immediately on bid day.

LoL

That made me giggle :)

Actually it was ranked 7 of the National Universities by USNews and 1 by Washington Monthly. AEPhiAlum should be proud of her alma mater!