That's right, another retro thread. . .
 

Okay, the number of people posting retro threads seems to be dwindling, so I’ll do my part to fill the pre-Auburn vacuum and post my recruitment experience (plus, this helps time move more quickly at work). My story certainly doesn’t have the all the frills of honeychile’s, the graphics of Leslie’s or the humor of Sensuret’s, but I still hope you enjoy it. Before I get to my actual recruitment experience, I think it’ll help clarify what I was looking for and why I made certain decisions if I explain how I ended up there in the first place. Please bear with me as I tend to ramble.

I started college in the fall of 2000 at Umass Amherst and initially had no interest in Greek life. To my knowledge, no one in my family was Greek before me and it wasn’t anything my friends from high school had ever discussed Interestingly, however, two of my closest girl friends from high school also joined sororities at another school and my very best friend to this day says not doing so is her biggest regret from undergrad. But, I digress, so I arrive on campus in September 2000 as a member of the honors college and am living on an honors floor located in the Southwest Residential Area. For those of you familiar with Umass, I’m sure you understand the disconnect of this, and for everyone else, it’s really just odd. Southwest is an area of high density high rises that is known for housing the schools biggest partiers and most of its athletes. Usually honors students were housed in other, less rowdy, areas. However, the honors college apparently wanted to appeal to kids who were looking for a good education & the chance to be in Southwest as well. Never one to pass up a party (something that would become problematic later), I jumped at the chance to live there. Anyway, since I was living & taking classes with all the people on my floor, I quickly became very close to them and didn’t consider many other ways to get involved on campus. I had always been really involved in high school (3 sports, mock trial, DECA, etc.) so college at this point seemed more like a vacation to me; I went to my classes and I went to parties with the girls from my floor.

During this first semester, aside from going to frat parties, I have very little memory of the sororities presence on campus. I don’t know if I’m just forgetting it now almost 7 years later, or if they really weren’t that visible. It probably doesn’t matter what the situation is anyway, because I recognize I probably wouldn’t have been very good at recruitment at that point in my life. As I said, even though I was in the honors college, I was partying a bit too much, which I’ve since gotten over & learned it’s not usually considered desirable in a rushee.

Throughout my freshman year I gradually became more grounded & made friends outside of my floor; specifically with a guy in a fraternity who became one of my closest friends. Second semester, several of my girl friends decided to rush and my interest was piqued. Suddenly, Greeks were all around me. Regardless, I decided not to go through recruitment that semester. In spite of my good friends, my main experience with sorority women at that point had been with a senior in one my classes first semester. I can’t remember specifically why anymore, but I found her EXTREMELY abrasive and stupidly (I know, I know) decided that if she was in a sorority, it probably wasn’t something I was interested in. That semester, one of my friends very happily joined a sorority and I went home for the summer realizing the idea of joining a sorority was growing increasingly more appealing.


Back to work for a bit…I’ll post again as soon as I can.

Yay!!! A Massachusetts Theta Phi thread all in one!!! :)

Despite my newfound interest in going through recruitment sophomore year, it never panned out. Over that summer I began dating an older guy (a super-senior to my freshman) who was vehemently anti-Greek and I let his beliefs influence me far too much over that summer. I never became anti-Greek myself, but I recognized that if I were to join a sorority, it would be a huge strain on our relationship, something I wasn’t willing to do at that point. Also, by second semester I had decided to transfer. UMass was going through some budgetary woes at that time, with programs being cut left and right, including public safety, which was especially troubling considering there had been a series of sexual assaults in the dorm next to mine. Let’s just say it’s rather unsettling to not be able to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night by yourself since that was the rapists’ reported M.O. (Sidenote, I understand that UMass is MUCH safer now & I would not have any qualms about sending my future daughters there). After giving it some serious thought, I decided it was time to look into continuing my education elsewhere.


I’m heading home, the next update will be tomorrow.

i would love to hear a northern recruitment story!

Aw I remember visiting UMass on a college tour through the northeast my junior year of high school. The tour guide was a bit quirky but I remember that I just loved the campus for some reason. Keep going!

i cant wait for the update =]

A northern one, this is greeeaaaat!
 

I love this one! A real northern one. I love it and love they way you are writing it. I guess I know it turns out well, but the suspense of this one is really there. Great, great job! I can't wait to find out what happens! LOL

A new school
 

Despite the safety/budget things going on at Umass in 2001/2002, it wasn’t an easy decision for me to leave. Over the previous semesters I’d made some great friends and really enjoyed the atmosphere. But in the light of the fact I was primarily there to get an education in a safe environment, with the help of my parents I decided to transfer. The school I ended up choosing was a very small Catholic (Augustinian) liberal arts school north of Boston, Merrimack College. MC was pretty much the opposite of “ZooMass” in every way. There were only 2100 students and pretty much everyone lived on the enclosed campus. Although it’s quite liberal for a Catholic school, it was still Catholic and Campus Ministry was a large presence. Having grown up in an EXTREMELY lapsed Catholic family and attending public school my entire life until that point, I was afraid that I was in for a bit of a culture shock. Before going to MC, I had never considered that my boyfriend (the same guy from before) wouldn’t be able to stay in my room when he came to visit and I was shocked to learn that the underclass dorms were dry.

During the summer of 2002 I started to get REALLY nervous about the move the MC. It was just so different after the uber-liberal large state school environment at Umass. Would I be able to make friends as a sophomore/junior or would everyone at this small school be settled into their cliques already? Would I chafe unbearably under the rules? What was I thinking? As the summer drew to a close, some of my fears were allayed. I found out that although MC has some traditional Catholic school rules on the books (dry, single sex dorms), they’re not very strongly enforced and the overall campus culture is quite liberal. It is still Massachusetts, after all. In spite of this, I was still anxious about the prospect of making new friends. Most upperclassmen live in on campus apartments & townhouses, but because I was considered a sophomore because of transferring, I was assigned to a sophomore dorm.

Just before school started, I received a mailing from the Office of Student Activities promoting Greek Life at MC. Until then, I hadn’t really considered the prospect that Greek Life might still be an option for me but I began to see it as a way to open doors and help me make friends in this new and somewhat foreign environment. I became determined to at least check out what Greek Life was like at MC, in spite of my boyfriends’ reservations.

Upon moving onto campus that fall, I realized I hadn’t been housed in a sophomore dorm, so much as in a hall filled almost entirely of transfer students. Much to my delight, many of the other girls were also interested in Greek Life. Although I really liked the girls on my floor, I wasn’t going to let my friendship with them stop me from becoming involved, the way I had at Umass. I refused to become complacent so early in the school year again.

From the beginning of the year informal recruitment signs were all over campus. At MC there is informal recruitment in the fall for transfers & upperclassmen where the chapters can bid to total and formal deferred recruitment for freshman is held in the spring. There are three NPC chapters at Merrimack:

Alpha Sigma Tau
Theta Phi Alpha
Zeta Tau Alpha

Since I am getting excited to see the new Harry Potter movie and don’t want to give away the ending to my story too early (even though you already know where I end up), I’ll give them code names after Harry Potter characters. In no order:

Hermione Granger
Harry Potter
Ron Weasley


Time to do some work. Next update I’ll explain the way recruitment works at Merrimack and the various other girls from my floor who participated with me. I'll try to keep this moving a brisk pace, I know how frustrating it is when these drag on. Thanks for reading!

In 2002, fall informal recruitment at Merrimack was structured as follows:
On Monday, there was an Information Night where Panhel would present an overview of the Greek system & the informal recruitment process in general and answer any questions that the prospective rushees had. Members of all the sororities were present wearing their letters. I don’t remember forming any particular impressions of the groups on that night since I was most focused on the Panhel reps (who were not wearing letters) and what they had to say. I remember the sisters of the various orgs more of sitting on the perimeter. However, I had formed impressions of the groups before Recruitment started since it was the third week of school and I had seen members around campus and already had a chance to interact with them in classes and such. I’ll explain my impressions of the groups in a bit.
On Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday each of the groups would have a party in the Campus Center (none of the sororities at Merrimack are housed). Ron Weasley was Tuesday night, Hermione Granger was Wednesday and Harry Potter was Thursday. Rushees could attend whichever parties they wished, but were strongly encouraged to attend all three. There were no bid cards to be filled out and no limit on how many bids a rushee could be given. Bids would be given out on Friday. It wasn’t indicated what time bids would go out.

I attended the Info session with a few other ladies from my hall. Their presence and opinions shaped my experience, so I’ll provide a bit of background about each of them (names changed).

Caroline: Transfer from a school in the south where she had been offered, but denied, a bid from Pi Phi. Was initially only interested in Ron Weasley, despite the fact she categorized them as “leftover dorks” at her old school. From an extremely wealthy family, but very nice and down to earth.

Allison: Transfer student from a state school in New England. Also very wealthy, and not afraid to talk about it. Partied A LOT. When she introduced herself to me she said “Hi, I’m Allison and I was the first girl to get alcohol poisoning at State U. last year.” Yikes.

Megan: Transfer student also from Umass (although we never knew each other)who was also in my major. Was mostly going through recruitment because the rest of us were. Had a rocky first couple of weeks at Merrimack due to a really bad roommate situation. She was a little nervous about the prospect of Greek Life because she didn’t party much and was concerned that’s what it was all about. A bit naïve, but very sweet.

Melissa: Transfer student from another school in Massachusetts where she had been a new member, but then de-pledged from Alpha Phi because she was transferring. Was super nice & hysterically funny. Because of her experience with Alpha Phi, I think she had a better idea of what she was looking for.

Also, because recruitment was the third week of school, as I previously mentioned, I’d already formed some opinions of the groups before attending their parties. However, none of the chapters at Merrimack are also at Umass, so any experiences I had with sorority women at Umass really didn’t impact my views on the individual groups at Merrimack.

Ron Weasley: I had met a few of them the first weekend of school when Megan and I had gone out to some parties on campus. Megan had gone to high school with a sister from Ron Weasley. They seemed to know how to have a good time and were very visible on campus (always wearing letters). The sisters were usually very put together. The ones I had met at the parties were very friendly when I saw them around campus.

Hermione Granger: When I received the info about recruitment over the summer, I noticed one of the pictured sisters of Hermione Granger was a girl who I had gone to high school with (now graduated from Merrimack) and really liked. Also, there were two Hermione Grangers in one of my classes, Nicole and Jenn, one of whom was my presentation partner. They were both really down to earth and friendly. Nicole and I had spent a lot of time together before recruitment during class and such. She was excited when I told her was I going to recruitment, which made me feel really welcome. Melissa’s RA was a Hermione Granger, and she really didn’t like her, so that kind of turned me off and neutralized how much I was interested in them because of Nicole.

Harry Potter: I didn’t know any Harry Potters socially or from class (unusual given how small Merrimack is). I had seen a couple of girls wearing letters, but it was usually the same two girls. They were definitely not as visible as either of the other two groups. They had a chapter at a school where my good friend from high school was in a local, and my friend had advised me they weren’t very strong on her campus. This definitely shaped my impression of Harry Potter.

Parties will be in the next update…hopefully this afternoon.

I don't have time for another big installment before leaving work today and I'm out of town this weekend, so the parties will have to wait till Monday, but I remembered a couple more details this afternoon.

Caroline was not only exclusively interested in Ron Weasely, but more or less stated that she was guaranteed a bid because she, too, had a high school friend in the chapter.

Also, even though the four of us were approaching recruitment together, after the info session we discussed the possibility that we would end up at different chapters, and were okay with that possibility.

Finally, a note about recruitment at Merrimack in general. It is a small school in the north and is generally not very competitive. It's not a big deal for juniors to get bids and usually during formal *most* girls are matched somewhere. However, at this time two of the chapters generally hovered around total while the third was smaller, so PNM's (both during formal & informal) tended to compete for spots in the two larger, and therefore typically more desired, chapters.

Holy crap, this is right up my alley! Half my graduating class goes to Merrimack and I know 2 of the chapter presidents now! UPDATE ASAP :)

Ron Weasley's Party
 

GymnastA, check your PMs.

Tuesday afternoon, prior to Ron Weasley’s party, Allison announced she had changed her mind about Recruitment and didn’t want to be part of a sorority. She said it just wasn’t “her thing.” Oh, well. I later found out she was afraid of being rejected by all the groups, which made me sad. Although we hadn’t been great friends, that didn’t set well with me, and that aspect of Greek Life still bothers me a bit.

But anyway, back on topic. We had been instructed by Panhel that casual dress was fine for each of the parties so I wore a chocolate J.Crew cowl neck, Abercrombie jeans (I’m guessing many southerners just cringed?) and camel colored leather boots. I arrived at Ron Weasley’s party by myself (for the life of me, I can’t remember why I wasn’t with the other girls). The room was nicely decorated with lots of white Christmas lights and pictures and various paraphernalia everywhere. However, I was immediately intimidated because all of the sisters of Ron Weasely were wearing black cocktail dresses, which was a little off-putting in contrast to my casual outfit. Fortunately, all of the other rushees had also followed panhel’s advice and were dressed casually too. As I was still adjusting to the initial shock of entering a room with 30 women in cocktail dresses, I was warmly greeted by a sister named Kirsten. When she found out I was transfer she introduced me around to a sister who was also a transfer student. That sister, Melanie, showed me some various photo albums and their “brag book” and explained how Ron Weasley had helped her transition to Merrimack. After having some fancy little hors d’ouevers and punch she introduced me to the chapter president and a handful of other sisters. At some point, dues and various social activities were discussed, too. As I had already figured out, Ron Weasley was really involved on campus and had some great campus leaders in their chapter. I really enjoyed meeting everyone and was feeling pretty comfortable. Altogether this mingling probably lasted about 45 minutes.

Next, a couple of the Ron Weasley sisters sang a popular song with the words changed to be about their chapter. It was a moving song to begin with and a few sisters cried during the personalized parts. It was touching and I remember thinking I’d like to feel that strongly about an organization that I could be moved to tears. After the song, there was more mingling and Kirsten came back over to me and whispered “Don’t mention it to anyone else, but we’re having a party on Saturday night in my apartment and you should come.” I didn’t make the connection at the time, but Saturday was AFTER bid day. I thought it was pretty cool that she wanted to hang out with me and as the party ended I felt good about Ron Weasley and decided I would really like to get a bid from them. Most of the sisters remembered by name and specifically said “Bye, LegallyBrunette!” as I was leaving.

Later that evening, Megan, Melissa, Caroline and I met to discuss the party. In spite of her earlier statements, Caroline had actually missed Ron Weasley’s party because she had a night lab that had run late. She was a little upset, but since it was informal, she planned to meet with some sisters later on and figured it wouldn’t be a big deal. Melissa had really liked the party as well and was pretty much ready to be a Ron Weasley right then. Megan had a good time but had described Ron Weasley as feeling a little “too fancy” for her.

The four of us all were in agreement that we wanted to see what the other chapters, especially Hermione Granger, had to offer. I called my boyfriend, who was still less than thrilled with the whole idea of my joining a sorority, but I was so upbeat from Ron Weasley’s party that I didn’t let his negativity bother me. I went to bed in a really good mood.

Whoa! I'll take that as a dose of bid promising...good thing you didn't make the connection!

UPDATE! UPDATE! UPDATE!

Hermione Granger's Party
 

AlwaysSAI, I definitely didn’t make any sort of connection about bid promising at the time. Even now when I think about it, I’m not positive what Kirsten said actually amounted to bid promising. Even though the process was somewhat structured, it was informal recruitment so even if it had been reported to panhel, I’m not sure what consequences, if any, there would have been. I didn’t mention it to the other girls I was rushing with so I don’t know if this was something Kirsten repeated or if she just got excited and said it to me in the moment.

Anyway, on Wednesday morning I woke up excited to check out Hermione Granger that night. Much to my dismay, however, as I was getting ready for class, I glanced at my planner and noticed I was scheduled to work that night (I was working 20 minutes off campus at a restaurant). I had completely forgotten to take that night off from work! Disappointed, I spent the day on my cell phone calling other people I worked with to see if anyone could cover my shift. Unfortunately, no one was available. With no other options, I headed to work, resigning myself to missing the Hermione Granger party :(

More Please!

When I arrived at work that evening around five, I noticed I had a new voicemail on my cell. As usual, I was running late so I didn’t bother to listen to it and just ran inside. As I passed my manager, she stopped me and said “Didn’t you get my message? I overscheduled tonight and don’t need you here. You can have the night off.”

WHAT?!? At this point, I was a little torn, as I said my job was 20 minutes off campus and I was dressed for work already. Plus, I could definitely have used the money now that I’d trekked all the way here. But on the other hand, I really wanted to check out Hermione Granger. Initially, my inertia at immediately turning around and rushing back to campus led me say, “Are you sure, I can stay if you need me?” To which my boss replied that I could stay if I really wanted to, it was up to me. I worked for probably a half an hour (it really was dead, I had nothing to do) when my curiosity about Hermione Granger really got the best of me, and I decided to book it back to campus and check out Hermione Granger. After all, I didn’t want to end up wondering “what if.”

Sooo, I raced back to campus, changed as quickly as possible into something presentable and somehow managed to arrive only 15 minutes after the party had started.

This time when I entered the party, I was expecting black cocktail dresses again but instead was greeted by all the sisters wearing jeans and red t-shirts with silver writing that said “Filled with angels, but one hell of a sorority!,” which I thought was a riot. Like at Ron Weasley, the room was decorated with lots of picture albums and paraphernalia and white lights. The sister, Sara, who met me at the door was, by sheer coincidence, also a transfer. We went through the initial discussion of how Hermione Granger helped her adapt etc, like I had with Melanie but it was slightly more natural. Maybe I was getting good at this?

Next Sara led me to a sign in table and took my picture and asked me to fill out a “little questionnaire.” Well, this questionnaire thing was NOT little at all. It felt like an epic and had lots of silly questions in it like “If you were a fruit, what kind of fruit would you be?” I really was not a fan of that but while I was filling it out, sisters kept coming over and introducing themselves. I remember thinking how natural and down to earth they all were. They seemed a bit more diverse and accessible than the ladies I’d met at Ron Weasley, but I remember thinking that could have been because I didn’t feel ridiculously underdressed here. After meeting each girl, I remember thinking, I could really be friends with her! After finally finishing the questionnaire that rivaled my current Con Law textbook in length, Nicole from my class came over and we chatted for a bit and she introduced me to the chapter president, as well as two girls who literally looked like twin sisters. I later found out they weren’t biological sisters at all, but just happened to look very, very similar.

After a while of mingling and snacks (not as fancy as Ron Weasley’s, I noted), all of the rushees were asked to follow two sisters out into a smaller separate room and wait for just a few minutes. In that room, we made small talk and it dawned on me that if I joined Hermione Granger, these girls would be my pledge sisters. Looking around, I was okay with that. Aside from the girls on my hall, I didn’t know any of them personally, but they were friendly and I felt comfortable with them.

After a few minutes, we were led back into the main room where the sisters performed a really moving song (NOT adapted from popular culture) and gave us all a flower to take with us (since it was informal). Now that I’m thinking about it, we were allowed to take Ron Weasley pencils with us when we left that party.

Thrilled that I had decided to go to Hermione Granger’s party after all, I headed back to my dorm with Caroline, Melissa and Megan to discuss the night’s events.

I’ll update tomorrow. I can’t believe how long this is taking—sorry to drag it out!

YaY for Hermione Granger!! :)

Thoughts
 

After Hermione Granger’s party, the four of us met to discuss our thoughts. Caroline still preferred Ron Weasley but admitted that she liked Hermione Granger as well. Melissa also preferred Ron Weasley, but I remember she just kept saying how NICE everyone at Hermione Granger was. Megan, on the other hand, loved Hermione Granger and said she felt much more at home there than with Ron Weasley. Finally, I was torn. I had really liked both groups and knew it would be a tough decision choosing between the two. Plus, there was still Harry Potter! Also, I was trying not to get too emotionally invested in the whole process and agonize over a future decision when I knew it was possible I might not get a bid to either group.

One thing we all agreed on though: The survey at Hermione Granger was too much!

I'm swamped at work today, I'll try to get to Harry Potter soon. Thanks for reading :D

Loving it! More Please!

ive been rooting for Hermione from the beginning! and i dont even watch Harry!

Harry Potter
 

Harry Potter’s party was scheduled for Thursday, and despite my lack of previous exposure to them, I intended to go to the party. But during that day, I got a bad headache and had a fight with my boyfriend (about joining a sorority). By the time the evening rolled around, I really was not feeling very social at all and only wanted to sleep. Since I felt like I had a decent chance at receiving a bid to either Ron Weasley or Hermione Granger combined with what my high school friend had said about Harry Potter at her school (I stupidly didn’t take into account the fact different chapters vary at different schools), I made the decision to just skip the party. I felt a little bit guilty about that, since I had almost missed Hermione Granger, and it had gone so well. Melissa and Megan went to the party without me. I can’t remember if Caroline went to that party or not.

As it turned out, Megan and Melissa weren’t too impressed by Harry Potter. They said all the sisters were nice, but seemed kind of disorganized throughout the party, like they didn’t really know what to do with the PNMs. Leslie Ann’s description of Fishing in her thread reminded me of how my friends had described Harry Potter—nice girls, but sort of sad. After getting the scoop from my pals, I felt a little more at ease about skipping out on the party. It didn’t sound like I missed a group I would have loved anyway, BUT I still realized I had taken a bit of a gamble and hoped I wouldn't regret it later.

Sooo, that was the end of parties for informal recruitment. Next up, bid day…

oh no i smell trouble...

BID DAY!

BID DAY!

BID DAY!

(Chanting)

Bid Day
 

Friday morning. Bid Day. It is absolutely POURING outside. I took that to be a bad sign.

I woke up rather nervous. I was still trying not to get too emotionally invested in the whole process in case it didn’t work out. I knew I wanted to be in Ron Weasley or Hermione Granger, but I wasn’t positive that they felt the same way. I kept telling myself that I’d survived two years of college as an independent just fine, and I would certainly be fine for another two years (and beyond) if that’s how it worked out.

As I had mentioned before, I don’t recall ever being told that bids were going out at a specific time, so I felt a little unhinged, how would I know if I got a bid? When should I stop expecting them??

I went to my first class of the day, which Megan was also in. She had already received a bid to Ron Weasley! AWWW. They had come to her dorm room first thing in the morning. I figured that meant I wasn’t getting one from them. I thought that was kind of a shame because Megan had liked Hermione Granger so much better anyway. Afterwards, I had a short break and then another class with Megan, where she told me she had just been given a bid by Hermione Granger too. What the…? I was a little upset, even though I was trying not to be. She had two bids and I didn’t have any. Oh well, I kept my composure and decided to take a nap and refresh before my last class. I thought there still might be a chance I could get a bid, and I was determined to stay optimistic.

I sloshed back to my dorm room and on the way I saw a sister from Ron Weasley, but she didn’t say hi. Suspicious. I guess they really weren’t interested at all. Maybe Hermione would still pull through. I crawled into bed for a nap and a little while later was awakened by thunderous banging on the door. I stumbled out of bed and was greeted by four sisters of . . .

















RON WEASLEY!! There was lots smiling and hugging and cheering and I was a little overwhelmed and out of it from my nap. They handed me a bid card and a champagne glass with their letters on it filled with smooth stones in their colors. They explained how to accept my bid and show up on Saturday night at one of the function rooms on campus. I couldn’t stop smiling :D. I know I didn’t accept on the spot, but I told them I was very excited.

Buoyed by the fact Ron Weasley had pulled through, I got myself together and headed to my final class of the day. On the way, I stopped at the on-campus coffee shop for some hot chocolate. While I was there, I ran into the president of Ron Weasley, who said “Don’t forget about Saturday night.” I replied that I wouldn’t and practically skipped off to class.

Oh, and this was the class I had with the two sisters, Nicole and Jenn, from Hermione Granger…

I am glued to my computer in SUSPENSE!!!!

Bid Day, Part Deux
 

So, I head into class all fired up about my bid to Ron Weasley. I’m pretty much planning on accepting, as it’s now 1pm and Hermione Granger is still M.I.A. I don’t know a thing about bid day, except that I feel like it’s getting late for this type of thing. Megan had had both of her bids for hours, after all.


As soon I as I get into class, however, Nicole approaches me and asks to speak to me in the hallway. I’m thinking, “Am I in trouble?” I haven’t been asked into the hallway in class since I got caught chewing gum in elementary school music class. This does not seem like a good thing. Maybe I totally offended someone. My answers to the epic questionnaire were rather cheeky towards the end because I was getting bored. Oops.




Well, turns out I had nothing to worry about. As soon as we get outside, Nicole launches into a very nice speech about how the sisters of Hermione Granger would love to welcome me and hands me a hand painted gourd with Hermione’s letters on it (like a mini pumpkin, I have no idea if gourds are common in the rest of the country) and a hand written letter on Hermione Granger stationary explaining how to accept my bid. It’s all very nice. Again, I’m overwhelmed & excited and I tell her so. But I don’t tell her that now I’m confused too! What am I going to do!!?!?


PS, I know I am very lucky to have been in this situation and I attribute it to the fact that I attended a not-very-competitive school in New England and have decent interpersonal skills. I have no idea if I ever would have been able to get one bid at a competitive school.

I know you're there, I can see your little green light...and I want to know the end!!!

I'm typing frantically in Word/trying not to get found out by my boss. Will post ASAP.

Okay, so after receiving my bid from Hermione Granger, I headed back to my dorm to try to find Megan, Melissa & Caroline and see what their situations were and where they would be going.

Well, as I’ve said, recruitment at Merrimack, especially informal, is not very competitive.

Caroline received a bid from Hermione Granger. She was disappointed about Ron Weasley, but apparently had never made plans to see them later in the week so had been banking entirely on her high school acquaintance. Even at Merrimack, this is a bad idea. We had until the next day to decide which bid to accept. She was pretty sure she would accept Hermione Granger, rather than wait and try again for Ron Weasley in the spring, but she wasn’t positive yet.

Megan & Melissa both received bids from ALL THREE chapters. They both immediately decided to forgo Harry Potter. Megan was 99% sure she was going with Hermione Granger. Melissa was leaning more towards Ron Weasley, but she was still deciding.

I was completely torn. On the one hand, I had been totally ready to accept Ron Weasley when that was my only bid and was super excited about it. But, I had felt a bit more comfortable with Hermione Granger. But as I’ve said before, I thought that could be attributed to the fact it was my first party and I felt underdressed at Ron Weasley. I could really see myself in either group. Since I had about 24 hours before I had to contact either group, I decided to go to my boyfriends for the night (since I knew he wouldn’t want to talk about it) and sleep on it. I think I was hoping for divine intervention or something, I don’t know.

The next morning I still was undecided. Divine intervention had not worked. I spent some time on each groups national website. I could tell Ron Weasley was a bit more polished, slightly more together. Hermione Granger on the other hand seemed a little more accessible and down to earth. In retrospect, it's funny to me that the national sites seemed to mirror how I had percieved the chapters on my campus too. Both aspects appealed to me, and if I could have taken all good the characteristics of both groups and merged them, I would have. Essentially I ended up asking myself…which group do I think would be a better fit for me not just on my good days, but my bad days? I reflected back to why I had become interested in Greek Life to begin with, lifelong friendships, and thought about all the women I had met over the past week. Who would I ultimately feel more at home with?


Finally, after hours of deliberation that afternoon at work. I made two phone calls. One leaving a message politely declining my bid, explaining I was honored, but I had found a home elsewhere and one to speak to a sister and tell her I was ready to accept my bid to…………










HERMIONE GRANGER, or THETA PHI ALPHA.

Ron Weasley was Zeta Tau Alpha.
Harry Potter was Alpha Sigma Tau.

In an unexpected twist, all four of us ended up as pledge sisters in Theta Phi together. Caroline decided not to wait for second semester for ZTA and accepted her bid. She ended up depledging a few weeks later though when she decided to transfer (again!). I have since lost touch with her. Megan followed her heart to where she had felt at home from the very beginning. She is currently a very involved alumna. Melissa agonized over the decision as well and, completely independently, decided that although she was impressed by ZTA and all they had to offer, she did really feel more at home with Theta Phi too. She was elected Recruitment chair the very next semester & convinced the chapter to scrap the questionnaire. I found mine in a file right before graduation and had a really good laugh over it.

In case you couldn't tell, I definitely belong to the school of thought that you CAN find your home in more than one chapter and I still hold ZTA in very high regard because of my positive experience with them during recruitment.

Finally, the end. Thanks for reading.

Loved it! Thanks for the read!

Hooray, thanks for finishing! Great story and so glad you went with your heart, sounds like you made the right choice:)
Also, I thought this was brilliantly put and is the final question that every PNM should ask themselves when trying to make a tough decision:
I realized after reading this that it was unconciously what I asked myself when having to make a tough choice very early on in the recruitment process (basically cutting myself from all sororities on campus but two because of scheduling conflicts) and is how I ended up a Kappa Delta (and I couldn't be happier :rolleyes:) Anyway, lurking PNM's (and we know you're out there, many of us used to be you) take note of this!

oh yay! great story! i love that you all ended up pledge sisters and not because you decided together to join the same GLO. very nice!

I KNEW IT! I KNEW IT! I KNEW IT!!

GO THETA PHI ALPHA!!!! :D :D :D :D

Yay! I love the ending, and congrats on Theta Phi Alpha! People at Merrimack are just awesome, & I'm glad you found a home :)

Okay.... so four years later.... I stumbled upon this thread.... and loved hearing the story of a northern recruitment... but I'm also 90% sure that one of my closest friends from growing up (middle and high school)'s sister (who is also fabulous) was in your pledge class. I know she was definitely in your chapter. Nice ending!