NWgirl's Fall '07 Recruitment at University of Washington!
 

Hello Everyone!

I’m 10 days away from starting recruitment at the University of Washington and I am so excited! I feel like I’ve been dreaming about this for the past two years! There is no Greek in my family but nonetheless I have always envisioned my college years spent at one of the amazing chapters at UW. I wanted to first say thank you for all the amazing posts and advice that I have gotten from this site, I feel now more prepared than ever for recruitment. As I’m sure many of you know there are 16 chapters at UW.

Alpha Chi Omega
Alpha Delta Pi
Alpha Gamma Delta
Alpha Pi
Alpha Xi Delta
Chi Omega
Delta Delta Delta
Delta Gamma
Delta Zeta
Gamma Phi Beta
Kappa Alpha Theta
Kappa Delta
Kappa Kappa Gamma
Pi Beta Phi
Sigma Kappa
Zeta Tau Alpha

I would also like to take a moment to introduce myself! I’m an incoming freshman and participated in Greek Weekend last spring (an opportunity for women interested in Greek life to spend a weekend at a chapter, and visit half of the other chapters over a two day period…throughout the week it was stressed to us how they were promoting the idea of going through formal recruitment, never their particular chapter). I graduated with honors from my high school which is only about 20 min away from campus. I was involved with Student Council, Dance, NHS…and much more. I guess the most important question is why I want to join a sorority. And really, I can’t really pinpoint one answer. I’m looking forward to the community of women who will support, encourage, challenge and guide me through not only these next for years, but also for a lifetime. I’ve researched, and there are some of the chapter’s philanthropies that really hit home for me, so of course, that interest me as well. I have about 5 good friends that are going through recruitment with me, and we’re all pretty much nervous wrecks. We’ve all decided that we’re not going to talk about our impressions or rankings throughout the week; we think that’s the only way to make sure we all end up happy.

We also knew that recommendations weren’t really a big deal at UW, even the actives we talked to at Greek Weekend agreed, but even so we’ve all reached out and gotten a few. I have three to chapters that I all really admire; all from women who have known me my entire life. If anything else, I figure it can’t hurt!

More to Come! Your continued advice is most welcome!

Good luck with your recruitment! I know people from Puyallup, Lake Tapps, Kent, and Renton. Since they're mostly my outlaws, some I even speak to! ;) Beautiful country, though - should you decide to use code names, I'm suggesting forest critters!

Although I'd hate to be a weasel...

Good Luck to you.

I am so jealous of the houses! Univ. of Washington is so beautiful!

Woo Hoo another one at the UW...

I am incredibly impressed with you! This reminds me of the PNMs in my group from when I was a Rho Gamma in the spring. I gave them a little spiel about not influencing each other (expecting it to go in one ear and out the other) and they really took it to heart. You have a great attitude and are going to a great school in which to be Greek. I can't wait to see how your recruitment goes. Good luck to you and your friends!

I'm impressed too! This is the best reason any PNM has ever given for wanting to join a sorority:


I hope you have a great time with Recruitment and find yourself a wonderful home. :)

Hello Everyone!

First and foremost, I am SO SORRY that my “H” key was a little sticky last night. Of course, when I hastily typed “Alpha Pi” I meant “Alpha Phi”. Thank you for clarifying my mistake. I tend to make a lot of typos when I get to typing quickly…so I apologize in advance!

Thank you all for your kind words, I hope that everything during recruitment runs smoothly.

As for my using code names, I decided to go for it…thank you again for your advice! It may seem a little materialistic…but I don’t mean to be! But I love getting together with my friends at the shopping place right next to campus…so I picked my regular stores so that I can remember them all quickly!

J - Crew
Sephora
Coach
Lucy
Mercer
Lucky
Fireworks
Abercrombie
Anthropology
Banana Republic
Victoria’s Secret
Ralph Lauren
Northface
Gap
Kiehl’s
Seattle Sun

A little background:

During Greek Weekend I stayed at Coach, and I have one close friend there. Their philanthropy is probably the one that I am the most passionate about. I don’t really have a strong opinion about any of the houses yet, but I really loved the girls when I stayed here. I also have a rec for this chapter.

I also have recommendations for J-Crew and Mercer.

During Greek Weekend the only houses that I really remember, besides Coach of course, were J-Crew, Lucky and Sephora...I just felt really comfortable there. Of course, that was a while ago and I promise I’m going in with an open mind!

I can’t wait!

Even though I've never been there, the pics of the campus look beautiful.
Good luck to you!!!

ZTA 72

Good luck! I'm going to have to say... go Lucy!! :D ;)

So excited about a Washington recruitment thread!

I'm excited for you~NW girl
 

Northwest Girl- I'm excited for you to experience the wild and wacky thing we call recruitment. AND more than anything your reasons for wanting to join a sorority are exceptional. Keep that in mind as you go though recruitment ( sounds like you have a great purpose!) and make sure it comes up in your conversations.

My hat is in the ring with the rest of the women here-- I'm excited for you and look forward to hearing about your experiences each step of the way during your upcoming recruitment at UDUB:D.

Here's to a LEFT COAST recruitment thread!! WOOHOOO!!!

Out of those stores I like Banana Republic and GAP best. Of course, my favorite would be Ann Taylor/Loft. But that one is not on the list.

it sounds like you and your friends are going into this with really open minds with is great!! good luck to you and your friends!! you should have them post their stories on here too!! its always nice to read rush threads that have my sorority in it!! (even though i read the ones that dont too!)

I agree with other posters - it sounds like you have a wonderful attitude about Recruitment. Good luck to you at UW!

Well because there is an Alpha Phi chapter, and some of my A-Phi sisters work for J. Crew, i'll say GOOOOOOO J. CREW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Let's go Sephora!

We had a Greek Chatter on here a few years ago who went DG at UW. :)

Day One
 

Hello Everyone!

Today was our first day of Recruitment…orientation. It was a quick day. We met up with our RC’s and went over the scheduling for the upcoming week and reviewed all the rules. They also gave us all an idea for the questions to expect for tomorrow, and encouraged us to think about our answers tonight…as well as brainstorm qualities that are important to us so we can ask about them tomorrow at the chapters we visit.

Tomorrow we visit the first eight out of the sixteen sororities. I know it’s going to be a long, hot day (at least for all of us Seattleites) but I am still VERY excited. The girls in my group are all so diverse and we all are bonding really well. Plus, our two RCs are ridiculously excited for all of us, and their energy seems to spreading to everyone!

As always, thank you for your words of support and encouragement! I look forward to reporting back to everyone tomorrow night! Wish me luck!

Good luck to you! I visited UW this summer and it was an amazing campus!

Good Luck!!!

I'm excited to hear how it goes. Have fun! :)

UDUB recruitment
 

NW girl have a great recruitment! Enjoy, have fun and be yourself! It's such a great campus and great place to spend your college years!:)

I LOVE your code names!!!! Good luck! (and as of right now I'm rooting for like 5 of those stores).

Good luck, enjoy recruitment, and may your invites be the ones you hope for! :)

GOOD LUCK from one Seattlite to another! Crossing my fingers you have a fun and successful recruitment!

If it's hot in Seattle, it's hotter everywhere else in the country. Except San Francsisco.

yay for san francisco!

Bwhahahahaha...i think my parents would agree with you on that. They think San Francisco is tooo cold, even during the summer.

No, that's why I LIKE SF!

Oh me too!! While I lived in that area I got so used to the weather. Compared to SF everything is hotter. I was burning up when I went to SD on vacation! lol.

Go Huskies! My money is on the Huskies in an upset over Ohio State this weekend. Maybe you will get to go to the game with your new sisters!

hope you werent too hot today!! it was really hot in portland (mid 90's) and i hope it was a little cooler for you up in seattle!

Having gone to school in the area and having lived in the SAE chapter one summer, I too know how nice the UW and Greek row are( UPS a bit nicer however:D)
Best of luck. Just keep you mind, eyes, and ears open. Ask questions. And listen and observe well.

And GO Dawgs!!!!!
Gooo Loggers!!!
O' How I Hate Ohio State

Best of luck to you!!

I go to UPS and I just want to wish you good luck! Tell us all about it!

Also, I'm from San Francisco, and it's totally true about the weather thing. It's really depressing in the winter though, when I check the weather reports at home and it's like 10 degrees warmer.

Woo UPS represent! Once a Logger! Always a Logger! Ok I'm done shamelessly plugging my school. Back to the topic at hand...

Day Two
 

Today was a whirlwind...and VERY hot. It felt like a rollercoaster, but overall as I left my last chapter, I felt like I had made the right choice in going through with recruitment and felt proud of how I represented myself through out the day. Here is a little bit about the chapters I saw today:

J- Crew : A personal favorite of mine from Greek Weekend, the conversation was effortless. I had met a lot of girls with similar friends, interests or hobbies. But overall, I loved the diversity of the house. Of course, I brought up topics that were important to me. So we discussed how they ranked in overall chapter grades, the amount of community service opportunities they were involved with and so on. All of their answers just made me feel more like this is were I belong. I guess in short it just clicked. I adore this house; I really hope I get the chance to visit them again.
Kiehl’s: Although I try to steer clear of stereotypes. I admit, I had heard some unflattering things about this chapter. However, I am thrilled to report that these girls were great. A lot of the women were from where I’m from, so we talked about our favorite places and activities. I met a girl with a really large family that she’s really close with and we really connected about that. I was overall very impressed with this house; I would love to come back.
Sephora: OK, so I really wanted to like this house. I don’t know why; I just had a really good impression of them during Greek Weekend and was really excited to see them again. Let’s just say it didn’t quite click. One of the girls in particular seemed not to have any interest in talking to me about her chapter activities. We spent our time talking about material things, which really annoyed me. Sorry, but I’m going through recruitment to find out where I’m living; not what destination I should head to next Spring Break. The other girls were sweet and I had okay conversations with them, but I almost felt my self feeling pressured to act like someone else to make the conversation flow, a big red flag if you ask me. I would be willing to go back again, maybe when it’s not one of the last chapters we visited, but overall…I don’t see myself here.
Victoria’s Secret: This was a good chapter for me. The girls all seemed really genuine and again, we had many things in common, and the conversation seemed to flow very easily. We discussed leadership opportunities and it seemed like they were interested in what I had to say, and of course that made it just overall more inviting. All the girls that I talked to said goodbye to me on my way out and said that they hoped to see me soon, which made me happy! I would be happy to come back.
Lucy: I really really really liked this house. The initial girl that I was paired with and I had a great conversation. Again, we didn’t really have to go back to the “what’s your favorite movie” back up question and I don’t even think we talked about majors…it just seemed like we were catching up. I really great energy was at this house, the girls seemed really close and very proud to be members of their sorority. I would love to come back.
Mercer: This house was good. The impression that I got, although I felt like I didn’t hit it off right away with anyone, was a solid, positive one. I really like their philanthropy and cause and the girls were great at keeping the conversation new and not just the standard 5 or so questions were asked. I was comfortable and relaxed at this house; I would love to come back.
Anthropology: Great conversations. I felt really great at this house and I really felt like I could relax and just get to know the girls. In my notes I have a giant YES. The girls weren’t afraid to just let the conversation flow and I found my self laughing and smiling the entire time. There was no awkward moments or comments. Again…effortless. I know it’s a favorite though, my entire group was still glowing as we were walking to the next house. Fabulous, I would love the opportunity to come back. One of the girls that I talked to did make of the mistake of talking about “when” I came back for the philanthropy night, like it was a done deal. I know it was a slip up, but I would love it if that if it happened!
Seattle Sun: Alright. So I am not one to discredit the amazing organization that this chapter represents. But really, I could never see myself here. In by booklet all I have is “I don’t think so”. I don’t really know what to say. They were very quick to point out how they were greater than every other sorority in any topic that I brought up. It seemed like they viewed this time as an opportunity to see if I was right for them, with no thought of how the girls going through recruitment felt. Of course I know this is a first impression, but honestly, it was NOT a good one. I don’t know if I would like to come back.


Now an opportunity to vent, let’s just say I can not agree more with the advice NOT to talk to ANYONE about your personal opinions of the chapters you visit. Two of my friends felt like sharing their every opinion about every moment of their day was suddenly a grand idea. And on the ride home with them I almost wanted to cry about how quick they were to judge women on their physical attributes or what clothes they were wearing. They rely so much on the stereotypes to determine their favorites. No matter what their opinions, even if they were mutual, disrespecting someone or something they love should never be an option. On our ride there tomorrow, I plan on reminding them our deal not the talk…I hope that they listen.

Please know that I am very tired, and there might be numerous typos and perhaps some unfinished thoughts, but it’s the best I could do.

Yay for day three tomorrow…only eight more to go!