what? an NPC/NPHC hybrid retro thread??
 

I really didnt know anything about greek life and definitely didnt think i would be interested. My senior year of HS, I was senior class president, top of my graduating class, captain of the volleyball team, and while i wasn't really a "popular" type (i actually considered myself quite nerdy), enough people knew who i was. I had accepted a full scholarship to NYU (back then, it was like, eh whatever - i just figured it was "another school" in the city) and since I wasn't the social butterfly in HS, i really didnt think about college in a social aspect. I just thought, "wow, i'm getting a great education and i'm going to learn everything i can!"

Fall 2002
There are flyers for a Round Robin. I have no idea what that is but I can tell it has to do with joining a sorority. I’m on the fence about going, cause I didn’t think I was the sorority type at all. And admittedly I’m sure many of my friends would think it was dorky. But what the hell, I go to this Round Robin just to see what it’s about.

3rd North, at the time, was the “greek” dorm – each “house” was one floor of connecting rooms, common space, dining area and elevator with private access. It was like staying in a penthouse.

I stayed at Rubin, which is across campus from 3rd North, where Round Robin will be. already I feel kinda awkward. I wore jeans and a hoodie not knowing what to expect. I had arrived a few minutes late, with trying to find the place and all, and had to look for a seat. As the rest of my NYU experience would prove, I could feel many eyes following me to my seat, as if to say “what is she doing here? She’s here for rush?”

Now NYU is really one to toot its horn for diversity, but again, you would not have seen it in this room. I read over the PNM pamphlet quickly but hadn’t missed much.

All the orgs talk about their history and do some kinda presentation. I remember in particular, DphiE did a spy-themed video on “finding the best sorority” and one of the locals did a dance to some song that was popular at the time. The other GLOs just kinda talked about how great they were and it was a little awkward considering there was a room of about 200 confused freshmen staring back.

Anyway, we were assigned our rush counselors. More than half the people there scattered, figuring that quickly that greek life wasn’t for them. That cut our rush groups down from 30ish to as few as 10 PNMs to a group. We all got name tags and she talked to us about what the next week would be like, preference night, bid day, etc.

I had actually planned to go home that weekend (I missed it a little and I live an hour away from campus) and really wasn’t all that intrigued. If you couldn’t tell, NYU’s greek life is nothing to sneeze at. Though it had come a long way, its version of “formal rush” doesn’t hold a match to the kinds of rush described on GC. Sure it was a week long, but the events were very informal (ex. One night would be a pizza night, another nite a movie nght, one house just had snacks one day and said “come over between 12-2 and hang with us”). Also, since it’s not a greek campus, you may actually have been better off socially without being greek.

Out the corner of my eye, I see a face that looks like me! We acknowledge each other and gives me a “what do you think” face. I frown in the negative, she nodded back. As I left 3rd North, we bump into each other again – we live in the same hall. She mentioned how she wasn’t that excited about rush, and that it didn’t meet her expectations so far, but would check some of the events out, just to make the effort.

I figure, well if she can try it out, so can I, right? I went home that night and decided I would just have to come back to campus early to see what this greek life had to offer!



Here are the chapters at NYU:
Alpha Epsilon Phi
Alpha Phi Zeta*
Alpha Sigma Tau
Delta Phi Epsilon
Kappa Psi Delta*
Theta Phi Beta*
Zeta Sigma Phi*
Alpha Kappa Delta Phi (HAALGO)
Kappa Phi Lambda (another HAALGO)
Sigma Iota Alpha(HLLGO)
Omega Phi Beta (another HLLGO)

* denotes local org. SIA and OPhiB both came to my campus recently, I would say in the last year or two.

Now maybe you have a few questions, in particular, where the hell does the NPC/NPHC remix come in? Don't worry, i'm getting there, just gotta build it up for you.

Raise your right pinky toe if you want to hear more...

Now this is one sorority thread that even I can get into! You're a great writer!

Uh, hell yeah!!!!! This is gonna be reeeeealllly good!

Despite my sig, I want to check this out.

Me too!

I stayed in Third Avenue North when I had an internship in NYC during my college years! :)

raising toe despite cramp...I wanna hear more Soror

I wanna hear more. (raising hand)

Spill! Spill!

And, I had no idea NYU had a weak greek system. I always assumed that since they were such a well known school that they had a great greek system.

nice sig ;)

I would love to see it - despite the influx of retro recruitment threads lately, your situation is one perspective that has definitely not been represented yet!

(Plus the NPHC stuff fascinates me - I know that it would be difficult for the NPHCers to share too much information, due to the differences in your process, but whatever tidbits you're able to share are still very interesting!)

I went to grad school at NYU in the early 90s and while I wasn't on campus all that much, I don't recall much of a Greek presence. Think about it, though....there's so much to do in NYC that joining a GLO (particularly for the social aspects) probably isn't a big priority for most students.

After trying for the past 5 minutes to raise only my pinkie toe and not the rest of my toes I've resigned myself to the fact that I'm just not blessed with the ability to do it!

But I still want to read more!

I am toe-raising impaired, but please - I'd love to hear more!

I don't know if it is "weak" per se. Also, NYU has only become a "well-known" school in the past decade or so, considering it has slowly been transitioning into a residential university vs. a commuter university. i have a lot of friends in admissions and they say that though the school attracts students from all over the world, the applications really didnt start to diversify until the last 10-15 years. for the most part, NYU students of the past were, at best, from the tri-state area.

anyway, with that said, i want to believe that at some point, NYU's greek life has gone through waves of success. Maybe when i got there it was at a low? I do know that by the time i graduated, more and more people i knew were going greek, and there was more of a greek presence (throwing campus-wide events, seeing letters on campus, and then i think a new Greek life director was hired, and she was very pro-greek and working to get ALL types of GLO's recognized) but still, at most its like 5% of the student population are greek, if that.

and dukemama is right - if a high priority of college life is going greek, then NYU may not be for you because it's ust not strong in greek life. its definitely a "greek life = 4 years of your life" atmosphere... which leads me to my next update!
(read on!)

I got it from DSTCHAOS. She spoke the troof when she first posted this in her sig.

I know. She got it from me. And then centaur532.

Ok, so i come back to campus that Monday (i think round robin was on a Saturday) and that is when Rush starts. Again, here are the chapters at NYU circa 2002:
Alpha Epsilon Phi
Alpha Phi Zeta*
Alpha Sigma Tau
Delta Phi Epsilon
Kappa Psi Delta*
Theta Phi Beta*
Zeta Sigma Phi*
Alpha Kappa Delta Phi (HAsianAmerGLO)
Note: now that I think about it, I don’t even remember KPL being there my freshman year – I distinctly remember there being 7 sororities. If I recall correctly, they share a chapter with Columbia – quite common with other orgs in the NYC area, sharing charters

i'm not gonna code them - not that im not clever enough, but it really wont make much of a difference. But here are a few characters that will appear (changed names of course):

Annie – one of the girls in my rush group, who also happened to be in my freshman seminar. She was from PA and was really excited about rush, but didn’t know anything about being greek like me.
Malika – the girl who I met at Round Robin who would give rush a try.
Chris – my BF at the time, who was a Syracuse alum and had his feelings about greek life (of course right?)
My mom – who I bore with all the details of my journey with greek life.
My aunt – who is also greek, but I am not very close with
Shari – a clubmate of mine I met sophomore year and bore with details.
Barry – my freshman year RA
Kim – one of my freshman year roommates
Mona – a member of Theta Phi Beta who I get close with

Now recall what i've told you about NYU's rush - very informal. no dressing up, no chants - hell, to be honest, i never saw my RC after that first day – I don’t remember her name or what she looked like. i DO remember you HAD to visit all 7 chapters spread over Monday and Tuesday, and you could stay as little or as long as you want (so legitimately, if you REALLY didnt like XYZ, you could show your face for 10 minutes and then go to the next house or if you REALLY liked ABC, you could hang with them for an hour and then go to every other house for 10 minutes). Everyone had a punchcard to verify that they went to each house. Then Wednesday and Thursday you were free to go to anyone's event's (so if you only liked 2 of the 7 houses, that's where you visited). Friday was an invite only night and was a dressier event (business casual, really). Then Saturday was I guess the equivalent of “silence” because that is when you waited for “the call.” Now I know that’s usually a bad thing, but we didn’t do bid cards or anything. The chapter would just call you and say, “Hey, we want to extend a bid… come over and meet all your sisters!” or “Sorry we wont be inviting you to our sorority, but we encourage you …”

actually, here's a quoet from NYU's recruitment website (which is current, and may not 100% reflect what i wrote above):
(Question for NPCers: does that mean NYU is a COB kind of school? or is just a really an informal rush?)

Rush happened mid-September and people were still getting the hang of their schedules, with getting involved with clubs and what not. I was involved with hall council and was writing for the university paper, so I really had to squeeze in the time between and after classes to go to events.

The girls in my rush group decided to get together to meet at 3rd north to visit the houses together (there wasn’t any pressure to stay with your group, so I don’t know why we were even grouped!) This created problems because no one could agree on which house to visit first. There were two Asian girls who only wanted to see aKDP. A girl from aKDP recognized one of them from HS and they both instantly left us in the lobby to hang with them. That left 4 of us – 2 girls were excited about DphiE, and me and another girl, Annie, were pretty open. Since all the sororities are in one tower, we decided to start from the top and work our way down to be fair.

The house at the top was Theta Phi Beta. When you come off the elevators, their letters and shield are painted on a huge wall near their front door. I don’t know much about sororities but they were founded in 1985 (or was it 88? Sometime in the 80s), theyre colors were pink and purple and their mascot was the Pink Panther. I thought it was cute and really girly, kinda not my style. We four go in the house and all the sisters are like ”HEYYYYYY ladies what’s up??” we all introduce ourselves, the sisters introduce themselves. I instantly click with Mona who is from LI and kinda sporty and academic, like me. They were having a game night – first we played Monopoly, which I enjoy as much as the first person, but with 20+ people divided into teams – no fun. After 10 minutes, no one wanted to play and the sisters quickly switched gears to Taboo – one of my favorites. Their mistake – having the sisters against the rushees. So it was like 15 of them versus 6 of us, but still fun. The two “dphie” girls were antsy cause they were ready to leave after Monopoly but the rest of us were having a good time. Then we switch to Charades and that was really fun, considering I am a shy person. Before I knew it, it was going on 9pm (we’d gotten there at 6:30!) and I was having a good time and hadn’t seen any of the other houses! The two “dphie” chicks were pissed at that point and blamed ME for holding them up and declaring that they were splitting off tomorrow. Fine by me, I said. Annie was chill about it, just brushed it off, and didn’t mind.

It was pretty late but Annie and I stick together to go to the next house, Alpha Phi Zeta. I don’t remember too much about them but when we got there, they were so quiet! Two sisters came from their rooms asking us to be quiet because they were studying (umm, its September, the semester just started!) and the rest of them were jus sitting around talking about TV and how they couldn’t wait for the new season of Friends to come back on (wow, im reaching back aren’t I?) Me and Annie politely stayed there for 20 minutes and left. Definitely not our cup of tea.

Next floor down: Alpha Sigma Tau. These girls were fun to hang with. The house was nicely decorated and had a couple of Greek Week trophies. Their theme was centered about the green M&Ms (their shirts – the only rush shirts I remember – read “its something about the green ones”) but I was a little unsure about how it made sense, aside from the color coincidence. Their “rush” was more similar to what I’ve been reading on GC, sort of going around, asking us about classes, where we were from, etc. While every girl had the same shirt, everyone wore it differently - some had the sleeves rolled up, others had fringe cuts, others made tanktops and knotted ties on the sides, one girl made a little dress out of hers! Some wore jeans, others wore pants and heels. They were the first ones to show us around their penthouse – not that there was much to see. Each house had 10 bedrooms – the president got a single, as did the membership chair, then everyone else had doubles. If you do the math that makes 18 to a house, which sounds really small but I can’t remember any chapter being that big that they needed any more space. Also, not every sister wanted or could afford to live in the house (it cost the same to live in the house as it did in the dorms, so if you were a commuter or lived off campus, chances are you continued to commute or keep your apartment. And people moved in and out the houses all the time, between studying abroad, taking a semester off, becoming an RA, getting their own place).

Anyway it was nice to see their house, the only drawback was 18 people to 2 bathrooms – not a good ratio at all! I click with Kate, a senior from my college and was excited to have another potential schoolmate (my particular college was definitely the least likely to join a sorority – we were the “hippie, free thinker” kids of the campus). As I was leaving the house, Kate takes me aside and says, “I really hope you consider joining us.” Surprised since it’s the first night, I say, “umm yeah, I guess…” and she says “Seriously, because I’m graduating and it would be really nice to have someone replace me, you know what I mean?” she laughed and I kinda laughed along with her, but I got off the elevator like “did she really just say that?” I wasn’t really offended, but 18-year-old freshman me was definitely taken aback. Then I wondered, “was that some reflection on how she feels among her sisters? Is this something I should consider?”

Anyway, it was late and time to go home – Annie lived in Weinstein, which was kinda on the way to Rubin. She said she was kinda so-so about all of them, and was hoping on a better impression the next day. I kinda felt the same way – one day wasn’t enough to know anything solid. But, I did get a better impression from AST and I think it was because they were NPC and the others were locals? They seemed to be more cohesive and more of a sorority. The other two I had visited were more like clubs and for that, I didn’t need letters to hang out. But I had such a good time with TphiB!

Rankings weren’t necessary, since everything was low-pressure and laid back, but in my mind, I liked Theta Phi Beta the most, and Alpha Sigma Tau was next, and then Alpha Phi Zeta, though realistically at that point, I wouldn’t accept a bid from them.

Would I even accept a bid? I was still uneasy about this sorority thing. Was it for me?


Here’s who I would visit tomorrow:
Alpha Epsilon Phi
Delta Phi Epsilon
Kappa Psi Delta*
Zeta Sigma Phi*
Alpha Kappa Delta Phi

(trust me, im gonna speed this up)

This is fascinating -- a hybrid story with locals too at a low-key Greek university. I can't wait to hear more!

Oh, and I'd say that the style of this recruitment is much more like COB.

Wow! This is such an interesting story! Please write some more ASAP!!! ; )

More! More!

You must have been gone for the weekend as well! I went to see my sister and had a fabulous time!! :D

I've been gone for the week in St. Thomas (sand, sun and fun... and community service of course!) but if anyone wants me to continue the story, i will...

We do!

And forget you for having a vacation! LOL

I am SOOOOO jealous. I'm stuck at the lab 5 days a week, 8 hours a day and you're soaking up the sun. :cool:

NO FAIR!!!! :mad:

But, yes, please do continue!

Yes, I would. It's one of the most interesting to me because although it's sort of familiar so far, I know it's going to have one of the most major twists of all.

Yes! Please continue. I was hoping you would come back and tell us more.

Ok and i'm back! So the "next day," i go to visit the remaining houses. I had a long day with classes and didnt have time to go home and change to something more presentable. So here I am going to rush day 2 in my usual jeans and sneakers. Hot, right?

Alpha Epsilon Phi - They were VERY formal with their open house. all of the members were wearing a white blouse, knee-length black skirts and pearls. They served us tea or something really fancy, i dont remember the details too much. but the conversation was really stiff. one girl asked me what my favorite color was. i said "red, why?" and she says "how do you feel about green?"

and me, clearly weirded out and confused by where the conversation is going, i answer "...it's a nice color... why?" and the girl rushing me says "no reason, just asking." and then she turned to someone else! it was SO weird. another girl stands up and says some words, in particular about how they liked being a small chapter and wanted to keep it that way... yeah, not exactly what you want to say to a room of hopeful PNMs.

Delta Phi Epsilon - i really liked them! from the few DphiE on GC, i'm guessing the official colors are purple and gold? anyway, when i visit their house, their decorated in purple and white - NYUs colors. On the way in the house, Annie is on her way out and looks really happy! She says she had a good time and was only leaving cause she had homework. Anyway, the girl rushing me, Holly, shows me around the house (there are only 3-4 PNMs in the house, again, informal) which isnt all that much interesting, since all the houses have the same layout. I ask her if their sorority is NYUs sorority because of the color thing, and she says "Kinda... we're the Alpha chapter." I have no idea what that means, but i;m guessing its a good thing? Anyway, she's a junior i think and talks about the stuff she does on campus, including writing for the WSN (school paper), playing intramural sports (which are a little more popular than the sports teams) and being an RA. Coincidence... all the things I want to do in college! I wonder how she juggles all her activities, works, AND is in the sorority... and she says "trust me, many people who are greek do a lot... you'll get the hang of it. and i'm studying abroad next semester so i'll have a break." anyway, we talk some more, and she asks me why i want to be in a sorority...

and i freeze! no one has asked me that before! i thought it was just assumed that if you wanted to be in one, you just signed up and hope that they pick you. so i stammer back some gibberish... and she says "i really like you and all, but you have to know WHY you want this because if you don't, you'll become that bitter sorority girl that hated her house and thats no fun."

So i chewed on that for a minute as i walked to the next house downstairs...

Kappa Psi Delta - this local i felt like attracted all the Asian girls and that made me uncomfortable. i know that's not very PC. anyway i was there for all of 10 minutes and it was sooooooo uncomfortable. I'm 5' 7" and, well no size 2, but all these girls were like 5' 2" and REALLY skinny and talked about clothes, makeup and Asian pop stars. I tried it out but you could not PAY me to stay here.

Zeta Sigma Phi - i liked these girls - pretty fun, none over the top pretty like models, and i felt like i was just hanging out with the girls. They had a casino night. I learned the basics of poker and blackjack and they made mocktails with the faux martini glasses. fun times. there was no pressure and even though it was late at night and a schoolnight, i never felt like they were kicking us out. I recognized one of the PNMs from my classes, and she's having a good time too. This group was cool, but more on the indifferent side.

Alpha Kappa Delta Phi - i was so discouraged from the first group i literally stopped by their house to sign their sign in sheet to say I was there. I know its horrible but in my mind, these girls were going to be like the other sorority i mentioned above.

I went home still wondering, is this what i want? After seeing all 7 houses, at best i was just OK about this greek life thing. I felt like, if i didnt get a bid from any house, i would be OK.

Anyway, ranking the houses, even though NYU doesn't require you to:

Theta Phi Beta
Delta Phi Epsilon
Zeta Sigma Phi
Alpha Sigma Tau

Then they kinda taper off from there, AEPhi at the bottom. At that point, i didnt even rank KPsiD and aKDPhi cause to be honest i didnt see myself in the "Asian" sorority. Could i see myself in a "white" sorority? Hmm...

I call my then-bf, Chris, who is a few years older than me. He was a Syracuse alum and the minute i tell him i just came from rush, he flipped his lid. I think he called me everything outside my name for even going through rush and that "just please dont go Chi-O." i say "who is Chi-O?" and he says "this girl i know, she was awful and she was a Chi-O, that's all. but theyre the orange and red sorority, dont join them" me and Chris haven't been together long, and this was our first fight. I didn't want this to break us up. would it?

hmm... we'll see.

So you're posting away in other people's threads, but not your own?! Get thee back here and post!:o

I was just thinking the exact same thing!

I think this is the longest cliff hanger ever in GC history! :eek:

bwhahaha, i stopped posting cause i didnt think anyone was reading. not a cliffhanger at all!

We quit reading because you quit updating. See, it's this vicious cycle that keeps going round and round.

SO JUST STOP THE MADNESS AND UPDATE ALREADY! :p

alright... lemme get my head together and i'll post something after lunch.

YESSSSSSSSSS! I WIN! I WIN! :D:D:D

I hope you had fun soaking up the sun, but seriously, it's time to get back to business here on GC! (hehehe :p)

Okay, not much more happens with this part of the story so ima try to speed through.


As I mentioned, NYU's rush isn't formal at all. So after day 2, there really wasnt anything else "structured" to attend. More social get togethers, either at the house or out on the town. There was a guy that was rushing on my floor and the guys always did cooler stuff (watching "the game" at the house, going to Hooters, 3 on 3 basketball - vs. "hey lets go to times square" or "let's talk about pop culture while we paint our nails and pretend to get to know each other"). he was really intent on TKE (which i thought was the "popular" frat but apparently not according to upperclassmen. :Confused: )

Anyway, the end of the week is near and I decide i'm only gonna hang out with Theta Phi Beta - they're cool and I felt like they had the most diversity of all the orgs. I wasnt sure about how getting a bid worked. I wasnt sure if they would give me one. I started to panic - how do they decide? What if they don't like me as much as i like them?

Thursday nite, Mona calls - she wants me to come over for a meeting. She says, not to panic, and just wear something nice, but not dressy. Great! i think. i throw on some (nicer) jeans, boots and a green blouse (i think that was when peasant tops were in for a millisecond, with the big bell sleeves at the cuff?) and head over to 3N the next day - nervous of course!

Friday nite, all the sisters are wearing business casual. Mona and the President, Patrice are wearing suits and talk to us PNMS about the "seriousness" of being greek... its not all fun and games, there is actual work, there are dues (which weren't expensive in retrospect, esp. because it was a local, but as a freshman with a work-study job and lots of loans i was like WTF?

Then they get to the "new membership period." They stress their no-hazing policy :rolleyes: but do mention more than once that the membership period will be challenging and will "show them if we have what it takes to be in a sorority." Again, i don't know what this entails, but i'm still indifferent as they havent given any REAL info to go on.

There's a Q&A period. So awkward moment: one PNM asks, "what happens in the summer? do you guys hang out even when there's no school?" the president says "well, we live in different areas, so unless were closeby, then not really. i, personally may call the girls to see what's going on towards the end of the summer, but its up to the individual sister."

THEN another girl asks, "well, let's say i decide to transfer (a big possibility, as many students transfer in/out NYU first year) what happens, am i still a sister?" All the sisters looked around for a long time... and finally someone says, "well, WE would, but once you get to your new school you're free to do what you want with the greek life there."

and then the president jumps in really quick like "well of course we encourage you to keep your loyalty to us, but since we're a local, we can't tell you not to pledge another sorority if you left NYU."

food for thought... if i up and left, i MIGHT get a phone call from a sister, and i could just as easy go to another school and be in another sorority. actually that appealed to me, that TPhiB was non-binding (i mean, now, i'm like WTF!)

The girls sing a song, which was a little too long for my comfort (and the other PNMs, we were just looking at each other like, arent they finished?) they give us lavendar roses and chocolates, and send us on our merry way. They say to stay by our cell phones and that they would call us if we got a bid.


I went to bed but of course couldnt really sleep. not only was i stressed about getting a bid, but i hadn't done schoolwork or reading in days. I sat my rose and chocolates on my windowsill (the building puts the heat on at night, so hot that we have to open the windows and find some happy medium). In a somewhat depressing ending to part 1, my chocolates had melted into a mess from the heater, my rose mustve fallen out of the window, and my phone had not rang when i woke up the next morning.


Ok, i gotta get back to work :rolleyes: but next post will fast forward to Summer 2003, where i work at a summer camp with some interesting people... me and Chris will be no more... and my pursuit in greek life will continue on.

(i'll definitely update - dont wanna leave yall hanging)

Yeah, I'm tired of holding my e-horses! :D

Yeah Soror! dont leave us hanging! :D

Summer 2003

I work at a summer camp with a bunch of college students, most of them from NYU, others from overseas. and guess who works there... Mona and a couple sisters from Theta Phi Beta, including two of her sisters, Ali and Persia. The actual summer at the camp isnt essential to the story, but hanging out with them you'd think would be awkward, but it wasnt. I never felt left out when i hung with them, and figured, "hey, i don't need to be greek to have greek friends and share in the fun right?"

Fall 2003
I return to school, still without letters. The beginning of the school year is abuzz with a new rush season. I figure, maybe second time will be a charm, and since im cool with a few members of TPhiB, i've got a better chance of getting a bid?

Fast forward through rush, cause there isn't much to tell. OH! actually there is one "thing" (LOL)

One of Theta Phi Beta's events was an Alumnae Night. Considering theyre a young local (mid-80s), theyre oldest alums are at most early 40s. not bad. I can tell from their composites they went through waves of diversity - and that's cool to me - and i start to match composite pics to the faces in the room. stories are shared, songs are sung, fun is had.

Anyway, i start talking to one alum (i forget her name) but we hit it off and she was really pushing me to join. She could tell my apprehension, so i told her, i didnt get a bid last year, this is my second time, etc... we talk some more and she says to me "have you ever considered NPHC?"

I don't know what that is - Huh?

She explains what it is, how her sister is an XYZ, how theyre this and that and how more black people feel like its more worth their time. I kinda sorta figured that there were black sororities, but out of common sense (if there are sororities for white girls, there would have to be for other races right?). I ask her, "well why didnt you join one then?"

And her answer was so perfect: she says, "Well, it's good to have options and you should go where you feel is for you. Theta is for me, XYZ and ABC, not so much. and i'm fine with it."

Anyway, more social events, another pref (didn't realize that the year before, i had actually attended one). this year it was more formal - dinner and drinks, their answers to PNM questions were stronger, met more alumnae members, which was a plus). and this year i clicked more with the PNMs - i could definitely see myself being their sister.

So yeah, another rose, more chocolates... but no phone call. They had distinctly said, "If you don't hear from us by 1AM, dont be discouraged, you're still welcome to hang around the house and still be friends..." whatever.

1 turned to 1:30, then 2, and i was like screw it. I'm good - because I was newly fascinated with this NPHC business...

(more to follow - Spring 2004 comes and goes, as does the summer, and i'll come back on Fall 2004 - complete with code names!)

This is REALLY cool!

Do you mean Spring 2004 comes and goes and you come back in Fall 2004 with code names? I'm confused because I thought attempt #2 was Fall 2003.