Another Fall '07 Recruitment Thread---Midwestern University
 

Hello, All! I've been a lurker here for quite the while (it helps me through long, unproductive days at work) and I finally registered and I wanted to share in all the wonderful recruitment thread fun(Unless ya'll don't want to hear it, in which case let me know, until then I'll post away:rolleyes:), since I've learned so much(Southern recruitment is so Different from ours!) and have been so entertained...
I'll be posting the first installment in the story soon(today hopefully), but I thought to start it out I'd give you the background story:).

Ok, I attend a mid-size state university in the Midwest. Greek Life here is VERY active, with 11 NPC sororities and 12 IFC fraternities (As well several NPHC groups). Last Fall(2007), I was an incoming freshman and I knew I wanted to go Greek.
I think it's important for me to note that, I'm the first in my immediate family to attend university, let alone go Greek, so I didn't know anything going in.

Also, the timeline here is important, I think. My schools Formal recruitment takes place in the fall, but it isn't before school...it's during! Like, classes start in late august and formal takes place Mid- to Late September. The weekend before classes is welcome back! with booths to meet all the RSO, including a Meet the Greeks-type booth. So along with that and the active social scene, I had met a lot of sorority girls before recruitment(My best friend's older brother is in a Fraternity here, and that's pretty much the only place we'd go out to, since we knew alot of the guys already and they looked out for us not to get in trouble)

So...I'm naming my groups after famous royal mistresses(i'm a history geek and they are some of the most interesting people :)) Here they are...
Nell Gwynne
Louise de Kérouaille
Bessie Blount
Camilla Parker Bowles
Diane De Poitiers
Barbara Villiers
Madame De Pompadour
Maria Walewska
Lola Montez
Madame Du Barry
Alice Keppel
So...sorry for the long introductory post. But I'm working on the beginning of the Actual story.

What interesting code names! I can't wait to hear your story!

What I thought(and experienced) going it...
 

I realized I never told ya'll what I knew about the groups going into recruitment. I am going to strive to be very honest...so uh...here it goes.

Barbara Villiers- I had heard that these girls didn't have a strong sisterhood on the whole. Like older members(seniors) wouldn't hang out with newer members(sophomores) and they can be very divided, as a house. :(
Madame De Pompadour-Again a group I knew very little about, except that they were a smaller house.
Nell Gwynne--I don't think I knew anything about these girls going in. I had actually met a couple of the girls in this group(at the fraternity i hung out at) without even knowing it! This group was also known the be on the rise, so to speak on campus; they were bringing there numbers up dramatically and a lot of groups wanted to do things with them.
Camilla Parker Bowles-Oh, Camilla Parker Bowles....I can genuinely say these girls are nice, but exceedingly awkward...they have a lot of girls who don't seem as if they'd be in a sorority, but they have one of the strongest sisterhoods on our campus.
Madame Du Barry-These are the blonds with lots makeup, money, and tan...They are what one of my guy friends called "the girls you party with, but not the marrying kind". I met some very nice girls from this group, pre-recruitment, but they were a little dim, which turned me off. However, one of my very good friends "Sara" wanted this house very badly.
Alice Keppel- These girls I knew to be very down to earth and fun, but not very active and they tend to be partiers. A favorite teacher from my hometown had a daughter here, so they recruited me really hard.
Bessie Blount-Another group I knew only a little about. A smaller group.
Maria Walewska-Yet another group where I went in a little blind...I didn't know what to expect.
Lola Montez-I didn't start out knowing much, except that these girls have a lot of in-fighting and it's very public. Which is sad 'cause I know some of the most fun girls from here now, but going into recruitment, their reputation was very off-putting.
Diane De Poitiers-This group is notoriously competitive and close-knit.
Louise De Kerouaille- This is a group that a lot of the fraternities want to be with...the girls are very pretty, but like the Du Barrys they are all very similar in looks, except Brunette and this is a fact they are proud of. I met a couple of them, pre-recruitment, but they were Gamma Chi's so I didn't see them during...They have a reputation for being b****y to other girls...and I witnessed some of that first hand at some parties...so that's a little awkward.

First Day!
 

Ok, so our recruitment schedule goes as follows.
Monday Night-Orientation…this is where we meet our Gamma Chi’s and Our Gamma Chi groups :0)
Friday-Open Houses(each sorority was in a classroom in an academic building). This is the longest day. I think we spent 20-30 in each house with, maybe 5-10 minutes in between, with a dinner break. You get to meet with each house
Saturday and Sunday-House Tours-I think these days you can go back to up to 9 houses and you split them however you want, either 6/3 or 5/4,* This works because we have partially structured recruitment, so that you have to go to all the houses you’re invited to, but it’s up to PNM’s to decide how long they want to stay
Monday- This is Break Day. My Gamma Chi’s had us all get together for dinner, it was nice
Tuesday-Philanthropy Day, you can go back to up to 6 Houses
Wednesday-Sisterhood Day, this is like Philanthropy(6 houses again), but it showcases the chapters as a whole. What they do together, their social activities, how active they are on campus, etc.[/font]
Thursday- Pref! Up to 3 houses this night.[/font]

The 1st day of recruitment….yikes! I was so rushed! I had to work in the morning(recruitment started at 12) and I arranged to leave early but…I still didn’t have as much time to make myself cute as I would have liked….A lot of this day was a blur(except some real awkward moments), including what I wore, but I’ll try my best.
I was lucky when I went through to have a few friends going through with me, but none of them were in my GX group, so I usually wouldn’t see them until much later and they didn’t really color my opinions.

Barbara Villiers-I’ll be honest…I don’t know what happened here. Like, it was the first group…and I was still having a hard time trying to sort everyone’s letters out : / Luckily my Gamma Chi gave us all sheets with all the greek letters on them

Madame De Pompadour-I don’t think the game here went as smoothly as they would have liked. But they were pretty friendly overall

Nell Gwynne- These girls were all dressed alike…not in a creepy way, but like in t-shirts with our school name alternating in their colors and the flip-flops with their letters on. We played two games here and I saw the girl that I loved from the fraternity house! I was so surprised to see her! Overall- I think this party went pretty well

Camilla Parker Bowles- Shocker! As I sat down and started talking with one sisters, I noticed a girl that I knew from competing against her in high school…she was a couple years older, but it still made me real happy to see her. Unfortunately, they had the worse getting to know you game(ie, I didn’t really get to know anyone)…and I noticed that unlike the other chapters they hadn’t brought any thing, like boards or decorations to brighten up the classroom.

Madame Du Barry- I knew almost right away, I didn’t belong here. Anyway, we started out with a game very much like the one from CPB, and their President, although super bubble, came across as airheaded, because she had trouble explaining the game (and we were the third group). So after that, we split into small groups of like 8…and I just sat there the whole time thinking “when will this end?” I’m pretty sure the only thing they talked about was their Tiffany jewelry and nose jobs. Which, don’t get me wrong, I like Tiffany, but I don’t really think it’s the best way to showcase your group. I also feel that when rushing…you can probably leave your purse in a pile and not have it glued to your arm…I didn’t really care about their LV bags, I was trying to gage if these were my future sisters, not if they could dress well. Plus, the rusher I was paired with kinda kept looking at me with her mouth hanging open when I would talk

Alice Keppel-I don’t remember much. I just knew girls here.

Bessie Blount- Ok, so yes, this was a smaller chapter…but I don’t think Panhel could have put them in a smaller room that would have made moving around anymore awkward…I really didn’t like this game, but I did like the girls, even if their vibe came across as a little desperate

Maria Walewska-Wow. I just loved it here. The girl I was initially paired with asked my major, then introduced me to a sister with the same one and I spent the whole time chatting with her. She wrote down some suggestions for classes/professors for me to take and it was just great!

Lola Montez- The girl here didn’t talk much…like she just wasn’t into me or recruitment or whatever, so I don’t think I made much of an impression.

Diane De Poitiers-I felt grossly uncomfortable here. I don’t know that I wasn’t imagining it, but one of the girls kept giving me the dirtiest look. I spent a lot of time looking over my shoulder and feeling a little paranoid and very uncomfortable.:(

Louise De Kerouaille-Ugh. I guess I put my foot in my mouth here…but I don’t care, because…well, I’ll just tell ya’ll what happened. We walk in, their president talks to us, then we break into groups. Once in our groups, we play this game, where be basically share something we love and then a pet peeve. So I say, “I don’t like when people are needlessly ignorant, like there’s no reason to be an adult and not be aware of who the president and vice president are”. I mean really, there is no reason not to know that! So the girls go “oh”…then a couple seconds later, the girl to my right(a girl in the chapter, not a PNM), goes “So, who is the vice president?” I think that’s enough said.:rolleyes:

So at the end of the night, I sat down with my Gamma Chi, and did my Rankings. The only one that mattered were those I cut so, they aren’t really in an order on #1. They were as follows

1.Nell Gwynn, Barbara Villiers, Maria Walewska, Bessie Blount, Alice Keppel, Diane De Poitiers, Lola Montez, Madame Du Pompadour, Louise de Kerouaille
2. Camilla Parker Bowles
3.Madame Du Barry

Yea...it made for an awkward first impression...I mean some girls were in their element, but not me so much.

Hahaha I love your pet peeve about being needlessly ignorant. I agree! There is no reason to not know the names of the President and Vice President. I mean, come on, these girls are in college!!!

Were some of the chapters in houses and others in suites/rooms?

OMG! I can't believe she did that. Like right after you said "this is a pet peeve of mine".

update???

Sorry. I'm working on it...one of my sisters fathers passed away and we've been dealing with that.

Note to PNMs:

The last post is why sisterhood is importent...and, if you find the right fit...forever sisterhood.

candydelish,
please give our sympathies to your sister and her family.

Ok, Everyone...I really apologize for leaving you hanging, I really started with the best of intentions to update really quickly...then you know, tragedy strikes. So, I'm going to update sometime this weekend, since I should have time, now that the funeral is over. I apologize to all you greekchatters who are taking the time to read this, but I know you understand my need to be supportive of my pledge sister and her family at this time. And thank you for all the well-wishes.

Agreed - please, take your time and be there as much as you can for your sister (as you have been doing).

Day Two! House Tours!
 

Finally an update from me! Thanks so much for being so understanding!

So Saturday morning rolls around I get up really early and make myself pretty. Awesome, it's House Tour Day number one and I'm so pumped! I put on my dark wash skinny jean, wine colored suede-toe flats, a white button-down(like the ones at banana republic), camel cardigan, and pearls( I know, Jeans, but that's pretty standard here) and bounced out the door.

I think someone asked before if we had houses or dorm suites or what...All our sororities have houses. So I join up with my three friends doing recruitment with me, and we walk to "Greek Row" (not an actual Greek Row, just a street with most of the houses on it.) We split up and I walk down to my group. Our Gamma Chi's split us into 2 sections, and each one handled one. So our Gamma Chi's call us over to them one by one to hand us our schedules, so that we could look at it with them and they could make sure we were ok.
Which I have to say, I loved my Gamma Chi's so much! They were so supportive and the way they did schedules was just an example of that. I don't think anyone in our group dropped midway through recruitment!

Anyway I get my schedule and I look at it and....there are 6 houses on it. Ok, sweet. I mean that's good right, I still had half the houses? And I felt good, except this one girl in my group was like "oh, I got all 9...except there's one i really don't want. What's with that?" and I was like...uh..ok. She kinda made me feel bad...you know until the end when she was cut from everywhere.:o

So my schedule was this:
Alice Keppel
Bessie Blount
Camilla Parker Bowles
Maria WalewskaMadame De Pompadour
Nell Gwynne

Like I (think) I mentioned before, we use partially structured recruitment, so you can kinda go house to house as you want, so that if you're not that into a house you can go there first and stay for a polite period, then say "Well, Thank-you so much, but ya'll were my first house and I have to get going" or something. :)

So I talked to my GX's and told them that I was going to try and do all six in one day(which would give me Sunday off), so i set off to my first house, Nell Gwynne! Which in hindsight, I really should have planned my route better, i was up and down the row all day, like an idiot.:rolleyes:

Nell Gwynne- Gee, I liked them! I walked in right away (The house can only have so many PNM in it at a time, if they're at capacity you have to wait outside with the GX's who are stationed at that house) and the recruitment chair and president were standing there in dresses in the groups colors, so nice! So I get paired up with this girl, who turns out to be a junior, and we start off on our house tour. This house had just remodeled so they were really excited about that. In each room they had boards about their group and whatnot, so we go into one of the bedrooms, and we end up in there talking for like 10 minutes...about food. It was really funny and made me really comfortable. So after the tour, we went downstairs to chitchat, but I didn't really stay that long, 'cause I had other houses to get to! But after I walked out the door, I started worrying that I hadn't stayed long enough, what if they didn't realize I liked them...that would have been a tragedy, i loved them so much!

Next up, Alice Keppel- So I can't say I was blown out of the water by this one...but it's not like I didn't know how laid back they were, so not a big shocker. I liked their boards and everything...but my guide wasn't really that talkative and I didn't feel connected to anyone until I went into the room where my teacher's daughter was in charge of the board...but you know that doesn't really count; We're from a small town and had known eachother for years! Also, their basement creeped me out a bit...dark wood paneling reminded me of...1970's swingers or something.

Maria Walewska- Aww...their house just added to how much I liked them! It was so cute and had historical significance for the town...and did i mention cute? I got paired with the same girl as from Open houses initially, then after the tour was over we sat down to talk and they bumped around. This, however, was one thing I didn't like. the way they bumped was super obvious...but when the girl who was moving on did a recap for the the new rusher, they made sure not to repeat topics, which was really nice, like they were really paying attention :).

Oops. Time for work. I guess i'll have to finish the other 3 later. Hope ya'll enjoy!

I'm so sorry.
Really, I don't know why I didn't wait to start this :0( I should have, because now I'm in the midst of moving (my first apartment) and the start of a new semester and getting ready for Bid Day in the Middle of September and helping out with a leadership program for incoming Frosh, and as you all know the death of my sister's father. I'm just really busy with no time at a computer lately.
And I know...it's really obnoxious of me to do start and not finish...but I WILL! I promise. I don't want to be a lame hit and run poster, 'cause I love GreekChat.

But maybe before I head out to move some more stuff( I'm a bit of a night owl if i can away with it) I can give more of an update.

Ok, so for time's sake...I think I can Just skip ahead to Pref.
Ok, so when I ranked for my final three, prior to Pref, I put down Nell Gwynne, Madame De Pompadour, and Maria Walewska. I felt most strongly about NG and MW, but I was pretty sure I'd be alright with Madame, too.
So anyway the night of Pref I get all dolled up, which yay! I loved my dress so much. It was deep purple with bronzey-gold polka-dots. I wore bronze heels...so cute.

So anyway, we get to the meeting place and I got my list. I would be attending...
1.Alice Keppel
2.Nell Gwynne
3.Madame De Pompadour

I was pretty let down that Maria was missing from my list...but it narrowed my choices for me...'Cause I was pretty much sure that Alice keppel wasn't for me.
Anyway...that's all for now, time for moving then, bed. I'm sorry for going A-WOL. I feel so lame, but life got in the way of my good intentions.