Alice's Spring 2008 Recruitment
 

Hello Everyone! I am going through formal recruitment and it starts this weekend. I am sooo excited!!!! To keep everything nice and secretive I won't post anything until after bid day which is in about two weeks. But I promise that I won't leave out any details. Wish me Luck! ;)

yay a new thread to enjoy!! 2 weeks is a long time to wait..but its well worth it! good luck!!!!

Best of luck in your Recruitment, AliceDreams!


I have to tell you, I've always loved your name, and think your screen name is pretty cute, too!

good luck to you alice!

Maybe it's just me, but when I see the title of this thread I think of Alice Springs Chicken at Outback!

violetpretty-- I hope so too!! :)

Good luck!

Haha, that's really funny.

Halfway update
 

So I am halfway through rush and must saying that I am really enjoying it. My school is really big and rush is very competitive. I am rushing as a junior and it definately has not been in my favor, I've had some severe cuts from a lot of houses. But I am still very upbeat and determined to see this through until the end and hopefully recieve a bid. :)

Good luck! I'm glad you're having a good time!

That's a great attitude to have. Best of luck!

Don't worry about the heavy cuts. You have to expect that as a junior. Please stick it out till the end and keep up your positive atitude.

Keep going!! I went through formal rush as a junior, too. My friend who was Rush Chair of one of the chapters on campus tells me that in her house (and many others) juniors are cut without even so much as a peek at their applications. But I made it through in the end, and I LOVE my sorority. I'm really excited for you, and I wish you a very successful junior rush!!

It only takes one bid..... :)

Rush is over!
 

I have sooo much to write about but I can't right now because I have too much work to do :(. As soon as I am free I will update and tell you girls everything, dirty details included :D.

Speaking for my fellow GCers, we lurrrve dirty details :D Sounds like happy news though, and we love that even more!!!

OoOoO cant wait alice!! hurrrrrrrryyy!

I can't wait to hear what happened!

AliceDreams, sounds like you have some good news - don't be a tease!!!

I want to know how your story ends!!!

Maybe she went Tri-Delt with Chuck!

LOL! If she doesn't come and update soon, I'll just assume she did and that her and Chuck are too busy doing fun NM stuff to post :D

did Alice disappear down the rabbit hole? :p dont forget about us!!

I know! She comes on here saying she'll update soon but she's busy at the moment and it's been DAYS!!! WAAH!!!

The suspense is killing me

Ladies I am sooo sorry.
 

I've been sooo busy it's ridiculous, but I am finally able to update :)!

So there are 12 NPC chapters at my school. To make my thread different I decided to use code names from Victoria's Secret secret garden collection.

Love Spell
Pure Seduction
Amber Romance
Strawberries and Champagne
Blossoming Romance
Vanilla Lace
Endless Love
My Desire
Sweet Temptation
Passionate Kisses
Pear Glace
Blissful Moments

On the first day we visited 5 houses
Amber Romance, Blissful Moments, Pear Glace, Endless Love, and Passionate Kisses.

Amber Romance- The girls at this house were so excited when they saw us coming up the driveway. They were jumping up and down singing and banging on pots and pans. They had a very catchy song and it stayed in my head for days. There has been rumors on campus that even though this house has a lot of fun and is awesome to be in, they have a very tough pledge process, and that is something that kind of turns me off. The exterior of the house on the outside doesn't really look like much but the inside is very pretty, I was pleasantly surprised when I walked in. I got immediately paired up with a very pleasant girl that reminded me of one of my friends from home. I only talked to the one girl at this house, which was odd but we really got along. Other girls from my rush group talked to 2 or 3 other girls. I kind of got the feeling that I might not fit in but, I left feeling like I made a good impression and was even more excited to go to the next house.

Blissful Moments- This house was one of my favorites. It was sooo pretty and the girls seemed so nice and very genuine. I talked to about 4 girls at this house and had deccent conversations with all of them. No awkward moments or anything, but at the same time nothing really stood out, all our conversations seemed pretty basic. I felt comfortable here, which was definately something I was looking for in a house.

Pear Glace- I wasn't a huge fan of this house. It was pretty on the outside and inside, and the girls seemed pleasant enough but something just wasn't clicking. All of the conversations I had were very basic and the girls I talked to just didn't seem to be as motivated about things as I was. I felt like there was an aura of apathy. I left disappointed and knew that I was probably going to cut them.

Endless Love- Of all the houses these girls had to be the loudest. They were shouting, jumping up and down and banging on walls, doors and anything in sight. As frightening at first as it was, I have to admit that it did make me curious and excited to go inside. They seemed to have a lot of spirit and tenacity until we started talking. I probably had the 4 most superficial conversations of my life at this house. Everything seemed to revolve around what you looked like, what you owned and who you knew. As exciting and peppy as they were, I wasn't sure if I could keep up and spend hours trying to perfect myself everyday.

Passionate Kisses- This was the last house I visited. I have heard only really good things about this house so I was very excited to visit it. I had a really good time talking to the girls at this house except for one of them. She kept asking me awkward things like if I had a fake id, what bars on campus are my favorite and if I go to a lot of frat parties. I kept changing the subject and she kept bringing it back up. But besides that I really enjoyed this house and wanted to go back to it. It was very neat and pretty and also located really close to where I live on campus.

I'm glad to see the rabbit hole spit you back out! ;)

Time for another update.
 

So on day two we went to the remaining seven houses on campus. In order they were.

Pure Seduction
Strawberries and Champagne
Blossoming Romance
Sweet Temptation
My Desire
Vanilla Lace
Love Spell

Pure Seduction- I absolutely loved this house. The girls I met were really nice and I had soo much in common. I have to say that all my strongest conversations during round 1 took place here. I felt very comfortable and every girl I talked to seemed really thrilled. I left this house so happy.

Strawberries and Champagne- I felt awkward at this house. The girls were nice and everything but I couldn't help but feel like I was being sized up the entire time. It got even weirder when I was talking to one of the girls because she kept swearing and was not conducting herself in a ladylike manner at all. I definately think that they could tell how uncomfortable I was. I did not expect to go back to this house at all.

Blossoming Romance- I have to admit that this is the sorority girls love to hate. Secretly I have always liked them though. Their house is gorgeous and I like their symbols, and not to mention they have an amazing philanthropy. All the conversations I had were pretty deccent. I think I made a good impression on one girl but other than that I don't know if I made myself stand out enough.

Sweet Temptation- I really liked this house. The girls seemed so chill and laid back. I also hear that they definately know how to have fun as well. All my conversations were good except for one, it got really awkward and the girl wouldn't respond to anything I had to say, but other than that I enjoyed the house.

My Desire- This house was another favorite. All the girls here were so much fun and I really felt like I fit in with them. There was one girl in particular that really made me feel comfortable. The house was really pretty and I definately knew that I wanted to go back.

Vanilla Lace- I have to admit that this house probabaly has the worst reputation on campus. I went in with an open mind and I actually kinda liked them. I didn't exactly see myself fitting in there, but I wouldn't mind giving them a second chance. A lot of the girls are really awkward and kinda butch, but for the most part I though that they were sweethearts. While most people were planning on cutting them I thought that at least for the first round I wouldn't.

Love Spell- This was the last house of the day and I was very tired by this point. I liked this house except they have the reputation for being very selective and I couldn't help but notice that all the girls did look very similar. This kind of intimidated me. As nice as they all were I had the feeling that I might not fit in. But at the same time if they invited me back I would like to return and get to know them better.




At the end of day I had to rank. For round 2 we could be invited back to a maximum of 9 houses, so we had to rank our top 9 and cut 3.

This is what I decided:
1 Pure Seduction
2 My Desire
3 Blissful Moments
4 Sweet Temptation
5 Blossoming Romance
6 Amber Romance
7 Passionate Kisses
8 Vanilla Lace
9 Love Spell

I decided to cut:
Pear Glace
Strawberries and Champagne
Endless Love

Good luck on day 3! I think it's great that you didn't judge houses by reputation, rather you went in with an open mind. It's known fact that most rumors about houses have little to no ground.
Good luck again! Keep us updated as you have been!

good luck. i can't wait for fall recruitmnt at my school. i love reading recruitment stories and can't wait to read more. write soon

p.s. im going for love spell thats my fave:p

ALICE ooooh ALICE ... where o where have you gone?

Sorry about the suspense, just trying to keep up with everything and stay on top.
 

For round two out of a total of 9 possible invites back I only recieved 3 :(.

Passionate Kisses
Sweet Temptation
My Desire

At first I was really bummed, but I decided to look on the bright side and be happy with the invites I got. Two of the houses were in my top five so I figured that I should be thankful. Though I couldn't help but wonder why I got cut from Vanilla Lace. I was almost positive I would go back there considering most other girls didn't want to. I heard rumor though that some sororities don't take juniors no matter what, so I'm curious if that was the case. Rush at my school is verrryyyy competitive and some girls in my rush group that were younger than me got less invites and some didn't get any favorites at all. So I decided to hold my head up high and continue on.

Passionate Kisses- For this round we did crafts and got to watch videos that all the houses made to show pnm's more about themselves. The craft we made at this house were dreamcatchers. Although a little difficult to make the finished products came out beautiful. The girls I talked to this round were really sweet and I felt very comfortable. However, I was not a fan of their video. I felt that the video kind of made them look ditzy and portrayed the sorority in an unflattering manner. I still really liked them, I just wished that they had a more impressive video to display.

Sweet Temptation-The first thing that struck me at this house were the decorations, they were fantastic. You could tell that these girls put a lot of effort into presentation and included the sororities symbols which made it all the more meaningful. For their craft we made valentines with lots of glitter, lace and ribbon. I have to admit that mine came out beautiful and I was so proud of it haha. The girls I talked to this round were absolute sweethearts. Their video was better than passionate kisses' was but it still lacked excitement. I have to admit though, this house is definately growing on me.

My Desire-Being that this house was one of my favorites last round I was very excited to be going back. Their craft was origami, which was nearly impossible. I don't think anyones came out the way it was supposed to be. I actually ended up becoming very disappointed with this house. The girls I talked with today were nothing like the previous girls I talked to. They weren't as warm and inviting and the girl became slightly frustrated with me because I could not do the stupid origami to save my life. Their video was the best of the three houses but I wasn't pleased with them at all. I left with a slightly bitter taste in my mouth.


At the end of the day we were supposed to rank our top six and cut three. Since I only had three I ranked them all in this order.


Sweet Temptation
Passionate Kisses
My Desire


Hopefully I wouldn't get cut from anymore :(.

you seem like an amazing woman! I wouldn't be too worried about it, I know some women that were only invited back to 1 or 2 houses when they could have been back to (i believe) 8, they ended up getting into chapters and are come of the biggest assets in their houses!
good luck with the next round!!

Hmm. As a former recruitment chair, recruitment adviser, and former contributor to my GLO's recruitment manual, I'd have to say that origami would not be MY first choice of an arts and crafts project. The point is to get people to interact with the buffer of an activity, NOT to make people feel uncomfortable or inept. I wouldn't sweat it. I'm sure you weren't the only one feeling frustrated.

PS.Martha Stewart's staff once admitted that the dumbest arts and crafts project they ever conceived of in the magazine was an origami project., which looked fab, but no could do, not even the staff who tried to go back and make it. Nothing against origami, mind you. My dad is king of that--he can just look at a picture and do magic with his hands to make origami animals. But it takes a LOT of time and patience. Not something conducive to a recruitment event.

I'm trying to figure out what philanthropy/charity it is that has a burning need for origami.

hijack

The whole idea of doing something to contribute to the sorority's philanthropy is a nice one and was conceived with the best intentions, but honestly, I think it would be better and make more of a real impact if all the sorority members and PNMs got together and built a house for Habitat for Humanity or something.

/hijack

Philanthropy round can definitely be tough. My bet is they were trying to be trendy to compete with the chapter doing dreamcatchers. There is nothing that deters a good conversation and can put a bad taste in a pnm's mouth than a hard philanthropy project. It is the bane of many a chapter. It's hard to find something compelling and interesting that's easy to do. Many chapters on my alma mater often struggle on this night for one reason or another trying to keep things interesting by being too out there.

my daughter went through informal recruitment (only one house) a few weeks ago and she said the two activities they particpated in were cookie decorating and board games. The had the girls interested in joining rotate through different small group so that everyone got a chance to chat. She said they were both great ice-breakers especially since the games were noisy ones like Taboo and Balderdash

At our school, my chapter is the only one that doesn't do a craft on philanthropy day. We do a red dress fashion show instead, (because our philanthropy event is the red dress gala, which benefits women's cardiac care) the models are actives who are active in the community, and we talk about their involvement instead of the dresses. It was really successful, especially because a lot of the time the crafts aren't that helpful to the organizations we donate them to. Who really needs 200 decorated bookmarks anyway?

Sooo...