Symbal's Recruitment Epic!
 

Hi, I'm new here. I'm Symbal, and I attend WVU as a transfer sophomore. This is my rush epic.

At WVU, we have 8 sororities.

My sister was in a sorority at Thiel College, PA many moons ago, and through her I am a legacy to one of the sororities on this campus. She's the only Greek in my family and was very excited that I, her little sister, was attempting to go Greek. My recruitment is all this week, and I just ended Phase two of rush.

Sunday, I had to miss all of rush because of affairs that needed settled out of state. It set me off on the wrong foot, unfortunately.

Monday, I got an invite back to four sororities, one being my sister's sorority. I went to three of them Monday and yesterday. I could not attend one due to a class conflict.

I attended XYZ sorority on Monday and instantly fell in love. They were most helpful and amicable. They were very down to earth and diverse. After some short activities, tehy showed us the house, and I was very impressed. Their fees were affordable as well, and their in-house fees were also very affordable. They answered all of my questions well and made me feel appreciated as a PNM. They are currently on my number one spot. (fingers crossed!)

I attended the sorority of my sister, and realized off the bat that this would be a very poor match for me. I think the sister escorting me about knew that too, and at one point she told me in no subtle terms that I probably couldn't afford the sorority since I am low income. In short, I did not feel welcome, and my questions were not answered in a straight forward manner.

I visited ABC house about an hour later and found that they were most wonderful! They had a lot of charities and activities that I agreed with and admired. The girl escorting me seemed much more nervous that I was! We got along well and they answered my questions to the best of their abilities. We made some crafts and performed a small activity with the goal of donating one hour of charity if the goal was attained, and I donated an hour.

It's the break day today, and Skit Day is tommorow. This is tougher than I thought! Picking a sisterhood for a lifetime is a little trickier than expected, especially when you found two good matches, and hope they think that of you.

Good Luck!!!
 

Symbal,

I'm glad you seem to be having fun so far! I'm surprised that your sister's sorority would be so impolite to a legacy. Those women should know better. :mad:

However, you've found other chapters that you click with, and that's wonderful! Good luck, and keep us updated!

Good luck!!!! I hope you find a good match.

Symbal.. I'm a sister here at WVU.. I'm APPALLED that someone would tell you that you can't afford dues!! I know my sorority offers payment plans that many girls use, especially because our new member fees are particularly high this year- around $700. I don't know which sorority you're referring to that did this, but I'm completely shocked that someone would be so rude to a PNM!

Anyway, hope your rush experience is going well! Maybe I'll see you Thursday.. (or maybe I've already met you!)

Sadly, I think I know which sorority would do that at WVU, to a legacy.

Symbal, you may want to edit a post of yours in another thread if you don't want people to know what sorority you're a legacy to... not sure if you even care, but if you want to be discrete you may want to edit.

Based on her previous post, it was SK. And I want to apologize on behalf of my sisters. That is crass, very much unclassy, and Un-Sigma Kappa like behavior. I'm disappointed in them, and I hope you have fun at the other two parties.

flashbacks to Season 1 of Sorority Life

Thats just sad no matter what chapter it was. That kind of attitude seems to undermine what is supposed to be the greek system and bonds of sisterhood. I truly hope you find your home at WVU and you have a GREAT year.

Didn't watch, don't get the reference.

The pledges were told not to wear their pledge bracelets when drinking or doing anything that was "un-Sigma like behavior."

You too??

I thought most sororities don't let their girls wear letters or names when drinking. I don't remember what the bracelets looked like nor do I know what national Sigma Kappa rules on letters are, but if it did wouldn't that be going with national rules.

ps. I wish they would put "Sorority Life" on DVD...it was very entertaining!

Sigma Kappa was NOT the sorority featured on Sorority Life. Whatever sorority it was (I think it was something like Sigma Alpha Epsilon Pi) is NOT national and would NOT have to worry about following national rules.

Ah, yeah I didn't watch any til the second season... and I didn't watch much of that.

Ditto on what Alphafrog said, however SK does prohibit drinking in your letters.

I thought they used locals, but honestly I could not tell you it has been so long ago. But in the case of nationals, I know that is the rule.

Not all NPCs have that rule. ASA has a rule that could be interpreted to mean no drinking in letters, depending on how closely you want to read into it, but it's not spesifically stated. I also believe Theta does not have a rule about drinking in letters.

I think that may be Theta Phi Alpha, not Kappa Alpha Theta.

OK let me rephrase....A lot of nationals have this rule, I know personally from friends that Alpha Xi Delta does not allow members to drink in their letters. I just assumed that most had this rule.

Unless it is written in your bylaws...and you've seen it with your own eyes...there are no national rules about drinking in letters.

Back to the topic of the thread.

Thank you!

Woah that exploded! I was hoping to keep the sorority names under wraps until rush was over and I goofed. :(

I didn't get an invite back to your fine sorority, though I've often stopped to admire the house! :o

It's ok. I can tell you as a Sigma Kappa that I'm not offended by your words, but by the member's actions. I wish you luck.

As for the no drinking rule, while I do not know if it is a national rule or not... it has been drilled into me on the chapter level.

i thought it was something like DZO..i think it was delta xi omega..does anyone else remember?

That was Season 2 :D


lol, well I'm an alumna, but I haven't gone to any meetings yet. I get to help with recruitment this weekend though! I'm excited :p

There were several seasons:

First Season: Sigma Alpha Epsilon Pi
Second Season: Delta Xi Omega
Third Season: Zeta Sigma Phi

I think that when most chapters refer to "not drinking" in letters, they are referring to the "drunk to you can't walk" kind of drinking, the kind of drinking that can get you into my office or before a judge, not just a glass of wine with dinner. But that is my interpret on it. I think that if you are an alumnae and out to dinner with friends and you have your beautiful badge on then having a tasteful drink is okay.

As to SL... loved watching the train wreck... whatever happened with those chapters?


Symbal's good luck... finances are important to the chapter but that was just rude. I hope that word gets back to the chapter and they can have a chat about rude behaviors. If that had been my chapter or my group, you can bet that I would be on the phone to sisters who could address this issue with the chapter.

:) No worries.

I think that "not drinking in letters" is mostly an undergrad chapter thing, partly because most actives are underage. Most alumni can legally drink, so as long as one is drinking responsibly, it doesn't reflect negatively on the sorority.

Sorry, I know I'm continuing off-topic. Good luck with the rest of recruitment!

Yeah, I know I tried to unhijack but I wanted to give everyone the reason I pointed this out.

Too many chapters and members think that because THEY do it, or they interpreted something in a certain way, that it's gospel everywhere. IT IS NOT. You also have to be very careful with wording. I about blew a gasket when I read on a chapter's web page "ASA forbids the use of alcohol" making us sound like none of our members in any chapters anywhere can drink ever. This is simply not true.

Before you publicize something in rush, or educate your members about it, be educated yourself. If something's CHAPTER policy, and the members of the chapter find it ridiculous, it can be changed. I wish more members knew this, they might feel more a part of the running of their chapter.

I really want to hear how symbal's night went!!

Tonight was break night, so no rush activities. Gave me some much needed study time. Tommorow is skit night, however! A little more personal, if I should say so.

Symbal, I'm sorry to hear we didn't invite you back. I hope you're able to find your home at one of the other 7 houses on campus! You say you like AOPi and Kappa best.. I know girls in both sororities and they're nice, fun, smart, pretty girls. I'm sure wherever you wind up, you'll love it. Good luck on skit night tomorrow, most girls think it's the most fun night of rush!

I hate to be the one to continue this so first of all, good luck Symbal! You're going to do fine!

Next, I agree with the others that being DRUNK to the point of stumbling around half dressed down a crowded street, in your letters, is what the chapters AND nationals are trying to warn against. We have all worked so hard to steer away from the stereotypical sorority girl played up in books and on tv. Therefore, when this is done, it is like taking two steps back after taking one baby step forward. In my PERSONAL opinion, going out with sisters to a very up-town restaurant in gorgeous dresses and having one more opportunity to wear your badge/pin and having a glass of wine or something along those lines, is perfectly acceptable.

Symbal, I'm sorry on behalf of my sisters at that chapter for their behavior, and I'm absolutely floored that they would act in such a way. Un-Sigma-like, indeed! :eek:

On the subject of hijacking, our chapter had a 'no drinking in letters' policy. I'm pretty sure our girls knew it was a chapter policy, not national, but they also knew that some of the other chapters did not have this policy (and tended to have sisters being 'sloppy drunks' at fraternity parties), and when I was on Exec I never heard any complaints about it.

Symbal - how is recruitment going? And how's your weather? I'd hate to be going through recruitment here right now, with all the rain!

Just got back from my scheduling, and I was cut from SK and ABC, leaving only XYZ for tonight and (hopefully) tommorow night. I'm very excited because they were my number one pick thus far! However, I'm nervous, because I'm walking an awful thin wire now, you know?

However, that has not kept me from bouncing off walls! :D

What a lovely attitude!! Good luck with XYZ!