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Recruitment thread junkies...
Since its the slow period for recruitment threads...
While going through some items I still had stored at my parents' house, I came across my recruitment journal. It has all the juicy details and commentary that I may have shared on a forum such as GC, if it had existed at the time. (I definitely got a kick out of reading it after the fact, and seeing the perspective of my 18 year old freshman self who had absolutely no clue about Greek Life - not in general, and certainly not at my particular campus. :o:) ) Without any current recruitment stories to keep the recruitment thread junkies going, I had wondered whether it might be fun to share a slightly older story... :confused: |
gosh, i would love to hear it!! i wish i had mine-i remember taking copious notes-it would be fun to go back and read my impressions.
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no, i can't think of anything less interesting.
haha, get it started!!! |
Just delurking to say that I think it would be fun to hear old rush stories!
Yes, my name is RoxyGrrrl and I too am a Recruitment thread addict. ;) |
Okay, I'm probably not going to have time to get too much into the story today. I'll just start off with listing the basics about my school, along with my code names for the individual chapters. (Which I suppose is the way that most current recruitment stories would go on GC anyhow...bit by bit.)
16 NPC groups: Alpha Chi Omega Alpha Gamma Delta Alpha Omicron Pi Alpha Phi Alpha Xi Delta Chi Omega Delta Gamma Gamma Phi Beta Kappa Alpha Theta Kappa Delta Kappa Kappa Gamma Phi Mu Pi Beta Phi Sigma Delta Tau Sigma Kappa Zeta Tau Alpha My code names come from characters on The Simpsons. (Note - names were assigned at random, with no underlying meaning attached. ex - Just because I used "Barney Gumble" doesn't mean that group was a bunch of lushes, etc. :) ) Moe Szyslak Disco Stu Lenny Leonard Carl Carlson Waylon Smithers Monty Burns Barney Gumble Artie Ziff Milhouse VanHouten Clancy Wiggum Nelson Muntz Ned Flanders Groundskeeper Willie Mayor Quimby Troy McClure Sideshow Bob |
Lol @ Simpsons code names :D
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Oh gosh, I hope she goes Alpha Gam!!!! I love our house at Michigan State!!
;) Love ya Susan! |
I really hope she goes Sideshow Bob to be honest, haha.
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I did not know Moe's last name! This has been educational already!
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I love it! Thanks for feeding the addiction. :D
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(look at her signature) |
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(Maybe I should check past threads and delete any references to my recruitment experience that might give away which chapter is which before the big reveal... ;):)) |
Continuing with the background update before hitting the hay... :)
Picture an 18 year old new freshman who has absolutely no background information whatsoever about Greek life, and you have me. I came from a small town - my high school graduating class had 92 students. Never gave Greek Life even the tinest bit of consideration while making my college plans - I wasn't opposed to it, the thought just never crossed my mind. As far as I knew, I didn't know anyone who had ever been in a sorority. I deliberately selected my university b/c it was huge, and it would give me the opportunity to meet tons of new people. When I arrived on campus, I loved it instantly! Though it was a huge culture shock coming from a small town where I had known everyone since I was an infant to going somewhere much larger where I knew no one. After I had been on campus a few days, I had a phone conversation with a friend from back home. Gina was a new freshman at another school, however she was living at home and commuting. One of her first questions to me was "so...are you going to rush?" Being completely clueless I had to ask her what she meant. :o She explained that it was the process of joining a sorority and that she had decided to go through rush at her school to get involved and compensate for living at home. She was so enthusiastic about the idea that we could go through rush at the same time that I thought "what have I got to lose?" I found a copy of the Panhellenic rush brochure in with a bunch of new student paperwork. Turns out that rush started the next morning, so I hurried over to the Panhellenic office before it closed and registered. In the span of about 20 minutes, I went from being a clueless freshman who didn't even know what rush was to being a PNM. Little did I know what was in store for me! Cast of Characters (aka Individuals who influenced my actions during rush. Note - first names may or may not have been altered to protect the innocent :) ): Steph: Sophomore. Lived a few doors down from me. She was not in a sorority, but was very opinionated about sororities and which ones were "good." According to Steph, there were only 4-5 sororities on campus that were "worth being in." (Isn't that ridiculous? We had 16 NPC groups with a Chapter Total of 110 at the time. If only 4-5 chapters were "worth being in," that left a whole lot of women in those "other chapters" who were wasting their time. :rolleyes:) But, I was a clueless freshman, and she was one of the first friends I made in the dorm - for better or worse, she had some influence over me. Laura: Steph's roommate. A junior. Also one of the first friends I made in the dorm. According to Steph, Laura had rushed the year before and ended up in "a shitty sorority" (Steph's words, not mine - see description of Steph above to see why that comment should be taken with a grain of salt!) Laura was a member of Sideshow Bob, however she no longer participated in anything with her chapter - including rush. Bethany: Lived on my floor. She was a Tri-Delt. Unfortunately, Tri-Delts closed suddenly before the beginning of the school year - they were even printed in our rush booklets, and the Rho Chis had to tell us to disregard their page. Bethany was awesome, and the only sorority woman I could talk with throughout the experience. Thank god I had her, because she helped counterbalance the evil influence of Steph! :) (Looking back on it, I realize how painful it must have been for her to talk with me about rush, when she was still coping with the closing of her chapter. But she was an extremely good sport throughout the whole thing.) Gina: My friend from back home who convinced me to rush on a whim. Suzy: A girl from my floor who was in my rush group. Suzy's roommate was a member of Carl Carlson. With a Greek roommate, Suzy had plenty of opinions and background knowledge on the different chapters. Rush Process Phase A: Attend all 16 chapters Phase B: Attend up to 12 chapters. Phase C: Attend up to 6 chapters Preference: Attend up to 3 chapters. Between each phase, you received a list detailing where you were invited back. If you were invited back to more chapters than you had room for, then you had to drop houses. If you were invited back to the same number or fewer chapters than there were parties for a phase, then you had to attend all chapters. (Ex - for phase C, there were 6 parties. If you were invited back to 9 chapters, you had to decline 3 invitations. If you were only invited back to 4 houses for phase C, you had to attend all 4 chapters.) |
this is so good! thank you for feeding the addiciton.
now please update soon! :D |
This is like sweet, sweet manna. Thanks!
It's intriguing to read about a pre-Internet rush experience and I am so loving the cast of characters! So classic and timeless... :) |
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GO Montgomery C. Burns !!!!
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update! update!
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Update!!! Please????
PS: I like these kind of stories... we already know they have a happy ending! :) |
Ooh... no RALPH wiggum? But he's my favorite, haha.
GO DISCO STU, then. And I never knew State had so many groups; that's impressive! Great thread- everyone else look for your recruitment journals in storage; it would be awesome to read a few more! |
Maybe susan314 dropped out of rush since she hasn't been back to post for a while. ;)
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(I mean...I've been so busy preparing for rush, attending Phase A parties, and school that I just didn't have time to update everyone... ;)) |
Okay, now for the update...
Phase A was split up into 2 days. We went to 8 chapters on Friday afternoon/evening, then 8 more chapters on Saturday morning/afternoon. Parties were 25 minutes each. What a long 2 days, and it was a lot of walking. There is no sorority row at MSU - houses are spread from one end of campus to the other, though there is a cluster of 9 houses in relatively close proximity. Thank god for that! For the first half of Phase A on Friday, my party schedule was as follows: Carl Carlson Mayor Quimby Moe Szyslak Waylon Smithers Ned Flanders Groundskeeper Willie Clancy Wiggum Lenny Leonard Comments in blue italics are statements made by present day me, everything else comes from the recruitment journal I made as a young, naive freshman Carl Carlson Nice house with a well-decorated interior (especially liked the big painting in the living room). Members were very friendly. The roommate of Suzy from my rush group is a member of this house, although I don't know which one she was. We all lived in the same dorm, but I hadn't seen her yet - I'm guessing that she was spending most of her time at the house preparing for recruitment. Mayor Quimby I talked with a girl who's boyfriend is from Petersburg (a small town near my small hometown). Turns out that she and I were both at the same 4th of July carnival over the summer. This party flew by, because she and I never ran out of things to talk about! All of the members were very nice, and I really liked this house - it felt very "homey." Their skit featured the chapter throughout the different decades 50s/60s/70s, etc, and was very entertaining. Moe Szyslak Their rush party took place in a fraternity house. I think the sorority's house is next door to the fraternity, but it wasn't big enough to hold everyone. Girls were friendly, and they did a "hippie" skit. Waylon Smithers This was kind of a weird party. The first question the girl asked me was what my father did for a living. Then she had me sign a piece of paper with my name and zip code. Suzy told me later that its because they check your zip code to see how wealthy of an area you're from - only rich girls end up in this house. The girls were nice enough, but seemed kind of fake in general. In retrospect, perhaps they had you write your name and zip code to try to obtain hometown recs for you. However, as a naive freshman, it seemed weird that they were the only house who made you sign something at the Phase A party. Ned Flanders Beautiful house. They also had an awesome grand piano in the main room. I talked with 2 girls from Monroe - that was so cool. More people who were from my area and recognized the name of my tiny little hometown - yay! They asked very creative questions, which was a welcome break from the same old, same old conversations. Groundskeeper Willie The girls in this house were nice - one of them even knew a girl I went to high school with...she had been in at a cheerleading competition with her back in HS! They had a good skit, and the girl I talked with earlier in the party remembered my name at the end while we were on our way out. I've never seen so many tall, tan, leggy blondes in one room. Felt a little conspicuous as a pale redhead, but I still liked this house. They had a piano too. Clancy Wiggum The girls in this house seemed fun. They had a circus theme for their party. Talked with 2 girls, and they both commented positively on my hair color. (I have hair that's a distinctive deep reddish auburn shade...when I was a little kid ladies in my aunt's hair salon would ask for clippings so they could try to get their hair dyed a similar color. :eek:) Lenny Leonard 2 of the girls in this house know Bill and Brian from my high school (they graduated HS 2 years ahead of me and also attended Michigan State). Their skit was Saturday Night Live, and I was happy to see that they had a piano also. Definitely seemed like a fun house. I bumped into the girl I talked with later on at Taco Bell - she remembered my name and said hello. One day of rush under my belt, and I'm having a lot of fun so far. I was a little nervous, because I just signed up for rush last night on a whim. Didn't have a lot of time to figure out what to wear or prepare myself for how it was going to go...guess I'm just along for the ride. But I like the experience so far, and it has been great meeting a lot of different people. We'll see how the rest of Phase A goes on Saturday. You'll notice that I comment here and there about houses that have pianos. House tours weren't until Phase B, so I didn't realize that every house had a piano - I only happened to spot one in a few houses during Phase A! :o I play piano and taught lessons as a part time job in HS, so I thought it was a positive when I noticed that a house had a piano. |
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Phase A, Saturday parties
For the second day of Phase A, I attended the following chapters: Troy McClure Nelson Muntz Sideshow Bob Monty Burns Barney Gumble Milhouse VanHouten Disco Stu Artie Ziff This is going to be a long day - one of the chapters is 10 blocks away from the rest of them, and we have to walk there in the hot sun. My Rho Chis warned us that we were going to have to walk fast to make it there on time for the party. :( At least I have on semi-comfortable shoes. :) Troy McClure The girls in this house seem really fun and friendly. They had a hilarious skit - showed the stages of college life, with someone spoofing being a freshman, sophomore, junior, senior. This house also had a piano, and one of the girls was from Ann Arbor so she recognized the name of my hometown. Nelson Muntz The girls in this house seemed very informal and laid back. We talked about athletics and flag football - girls in this chapter seemed really involved. They were very fun and friendly. Had a piano, and their skit was from The Brady Bunch. Sideshow Bob The girls in this house were very friendly and asked creative questions. The girl I talked with had red hair too, so we joked about that. They had a very pretty house, and also had a piano. This was a punch party, and everything was going well...until I started choking right as the skit was about to start. :( One of the sisters quickly escorted me to the restroom, and I missed the whole skit. They were pretty nice about it, but I'm sure they must have thought I was a total dork. Monty Burns This house was okay - maybe I was just starting to get a little tired, but I wasn't really "feeling it" here. The girls seemed alright and were nice enough though, and I got the impression that they were into sports too which is a plus I guess. Barney Gumble This house was okay. I was really starting to get tired (coming off that 10 block walk each way to the other house), and I'm embarassed to say that I think I might have dozed off for a little bit. There were 2 people from my rush group talking to one active...the other PNM from my rush group was doing a lot of talking, we were sitting on a very comfy couch, I leaned my head back for a moment, and... :o I feel terrible about it - the girls were fairly friendly from what I remember and I didn't mean to be rude. The heat and exhaustion were just getting to me, and being doubled up with another PNM gave me an excuse/opportunity to zone out. I don't know who's bright idea it was to have PNM's sprint 20 blocks (round trip) in stifling heat, but I have to think it put this group at a serious disadvantage during rush. I can't be the only one who zoned out on them unintentionally. Milhouse VanHouten These girls seemed fun, and the girl who escorted me into the party was very nice. They had a nice house too. I think I'm at the point where I'm so tired and ready for this day to be over that the houses are all starting to seem the same to me. Need to fight through the exhaustion and deal with it though - only 2 parties left after this, and I'd hate to screw something up that could keep me from getting into the right house for me. :( I did like this house though. Disco Stu I had a great guide who was very friendly. The house was gorgeous - it was just built 3 years ago, so its definitely one of the more modern and contemporary that I've seen so far. Their skit was Pauly Shore. They also let you wear letters as a pledge, which is pretty cool. Suzy said later that none of the other chapters do that - you have to wait until after initiation to wear letters. Guess I'm showing my age a little with that comment... ;) Artie Ziff Last house of Phase A. I try to muster the last of my enthusiasm, because I know the day will be over in just 25 short minutes. The girls I talked with were really nice - they had a great skit with music and vocals. I liked this house. |
go susan! i can't wait to hear where you are going tomorrow.
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ooh i'm rooting for mayor quimby!
and i would be very, very pleased if jesssigkap were to narrate her rush experience once susan finds her home :D |
oh yes please, jessigkap!!
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I still have my notes, too, but I think I will hold onto them a while longer since jessicasigkap and susan314 are in line before me and then we will have REAL recruitment threads!
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Well, I'll just need to pick up the pace on my recruitment thread, to make sure that JessSigKap and dgdramadawg have a chance to squeeze in their retro recruitment stories before the current ones start. :)
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With the Phase A parties finally over, I returned to my dorm room to change. Bumped into Steph from down the hall - she asked how things went at rush. I told her that it was fun to see all the houses and meet all of the new people, but it was a little tiring too - I was glad to be done for the day.
Steph is a sophomore and to the best of my knowledge has never been through rush. Despite that, she's very opinionated about the sororities and isn't afraid to share those opinions! She asks me which one is my favorite. I tell her its hard to tell at this point - for the most part, I like all of the houses. But, if I had to give an answer I'd probably say Mayor Quimby. She seems mildly surprised by that, and gives me her take on what the "best" houses are. There are only maybe 4 or 5 houses that she seems to think are "good," but does concede that Mayor Quimby is up and coming and wouldn't be a "bad" house to be in. She stresses the importance of not ending up in a "shitty" (her word, not mine) sorority. Says that her roommate Laura rushed last year, got stuck in a crappy house, and now doesn't even do anything with them. (I wonder in the back of my mind if Steph has never rushed b/c she thinks she wouldn't get into one of the houses she deems acceptable. Maybe she thinks it is better to never know for sure whether she would have "made it" or not. I'm not bold or bitchy enough to ask a question like that of her though, so I just smile and nod. I can't even figure out what a "shitty" sorority would be - all of the houses had plenty of nice people.) But, I don't want to alienate Steph and Laura, b/c they are 2 of the only people from the dorms I've really hung out with so far. My roommate is not terribly outgoing, not interested in going to any of the Welcome Week parties, and spends a lot of time over at her boyfriend's dorm. Steph invites me to go to a party that night with her, Laura, and a few other people from the floor. Luckily, I don't have to show up for Post Office until 1:30 pm tomorrow, so of course I agree to go. It is Welcome Week after all. :) (Post office = when your Rho Chis meet with the group to distribute invites to the next round of parties.) I'm not sure what to make about all the "helpful" advice Steph is giving me. Granted, I've only spent 25 minutes in each house, but I don't notice the huge gap between the houses that she professes. Actually, some of the sororities that she insists are the "best" are the ones I only feel so-so about. Makes me a little nervous about what I'm getting into - I don't know anything about Greek Life. 3 days ago I didn't even know what Rush was, now I'm smack dab in the middle of it! If it hadn't been for that phone conversation with Gina on Thursday night, I wouldn't even have signed up. Hopefully things start to make a little more sense at Post Office! |
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(I was trying to do a post per day, to reveal info at the same pace it originally happened. But Mother's Day weekend slowed me down a little. :o) |
Today's the day we find out which of the chapters we visited in Phase A invited us back for Phase B. I don't know what to expect, and I'm a little nervous - we were only at each house for 25 minutes, so that's not a whole lot of time to learn about each other. How are we supposed to make decisions based on such little info so far? In Phase A we visited 16 chapters, and in Phase B we only get to visit 12.
Post Office We met with the Rho Chis to get our invitation lists. I have fairly good news: 15 out of the 16 chapters have invited me back. I did not get asked back to Troy McClure. I know that I should be excited to have 15 houses who asked me back, but I can't help fixating a little on why Troy McClure was the only one who didn't want me back. :o As crazy as it sounds, it might have been a little easier to understand if several chapters hadn't invited me back, rather than just that one. Makes you wonder what you said/did there to keep them from inviting you back - its not like they are the "most" exclusive group on campus (at least, not according to Steph and her ramblings about the sorority hierarchy). But, I bounce back from the minor disappointment, and focus on the task at hand: I have 15 party invitations to 12 parties. I need to decline invitations from 3 houses. Guess Troy McClure did me a bit of a favor in that regard...if they had invited me back, then I'd need to come up with 4 invitations to decline. 3 is going to be hard enough! There aren't any houses that I truly disliked enough to be unwilling to attend a Phase B party. Unlike some people in my rush group, who already have pretty strong feelings about all the chapters already. (Guess its because I live in a primarily upperclassmen dorm - everyone else has preconceived notions about all the groups, where as I know nothing about any of the groups. Other than what my rush group and Steph have all tried to tell me, of course.) Even though its hard, I have to make a decision one way or the other, so I decide to decline with regret the following invitations: Waylon Smithers I just couldn't get past the fact that the very first question I was ever asked in this house was what my father did for a living. Monty Burns I didn't dislike this house, but it didn't stand out to me either. I wouldn't have minded going back there, but unfortunately I just couldn't go back everywhere I was invited. Barney Gumble I still feel terrible about dozing off there during Phase A. When the parties are only 25 minutes each, every minute counts, and I missed out on the opportunity to have as much conversation with their members as I did with all the other groups. I wish I had a little more to go on to see how I felt about this house. After all, they were kind enough to invite me back for another chance despite what happened. But, I can't justify keeping them for Phase B just to see if I might like them, when I have 12 other groups that I already do like. I was the last person in my rush group to sit down with our Rho Chis to go over everything. (Like I said, the decision was tough for me!) I told them which chapters I had decided to cut. When I mentioned that I wanted to cut Waylon Smithers, they shot each other a funny look. One of them asked me "Are you sure you want to do that?" I thought that was a little odd for them to say - got the impression that they were very surprised that someone would decline an invitation to Waylon Smithers. But I confirmed that I was absolutely positive about my decision, and they collected my paperwork. I did the "decline with regret" option, because I wouldn't object to going back to any of those houses again if I ended up not having a full schedule of parties later. |
this is so exciting-can't wait for another update tonight!!
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this is so entertaining and well-written, you took excellent notes!
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Unfortunately State lost 3 of the chapters back around 2000-2002 :( |
This is too fun to read because I too went through recruitment at State (10 years later) and am having fun trying to figure out which house is which ;)
Thanks for the fun Susan314!! ::slight hijack:: Also, quick question, about the 314 in your screen name: What does that stand for? I am just curious. Thanks :) ::end hijack:: |
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