A Sweet Retro Recruitment - as an Upperclassman
 

I love reading other people's recruitment stories, and I've toyed with the idea of writing my own for a while. I rushed about a year ago, so I've got a little bit of perspective on things – plus, I'm sick in bed today, so I figure it's as good a time as any :)

For starts, a little bit about about my school, and myself: In high school I had NEVER thought I would want to join a sorority. My main perception of them had been formed from movies like Legally Blonde. I did have one cousin who had gone Greek and wasn't exactly a stereotypical sorority girl in a lot of ways, but she still wasn't someone I had a lot in common with. NONE of my friends from high school were the type to rush (and I don't think any of them ever did). I thought sororities were dumb and, in fact, picked my school because Greek life didn't seem particularly huge there. It's a mid-sized school somewhere on the East coast in an urban setting – super liberal.

Fast forward to fall of my sophomore year – being that I was EXTREMELY shy and not very well-adjusted to college, I hadn't made a whole lot of friends. I was basically friends with my roommate, and friends with her friends only by proxy. A few girls on my floor freshman year had rushed and seemed to make a lot of friends that way. I saw girls wearing letters hanging out in the student union building. It seemed like they always had people around them, and I wanted that. Even if I wasn't sure I'd fit in.

My roommate had a couple friends in two sororities: I'll call them Lemon Meringue and Pumpkin (my theme is types of pies :D). According to her, they were “the only ones worth joining” because they weren't “stupid sluts” like the other sororities, which she, at least, perceived as being more “typical” sorority girls. Fall recruitment was that week, which is informal at my school – each sorority had two open parties and then pref before bids were given out. She had planned to go to Lemon Meringue and Pumpkin's parties and I asked if I could tag along.

I was nervous, mostly because I didn't know what to expect. I knew nothing about sororities, how rush worked, or what sororities really even did. I knew they did philanthropy and had formals, that was about it. I was very academically focused, didn't go out or party, and barely ever drank. But according to Roommate, these sororities weren't like that.

As a result of my shyness, I was also INCREDIBLY awkward. Being in college and away from home had helped me a little bit, and I didn't completely balk at the idea of talking to strangers, but let's just say I was not the best conversationalist.

The day of Lemon Meringue's first party, I had been in class all day, so I was pretty gross. I picked out a somewhat cute top and jeans, fixed my eye make-up so I wouldn't look so tired, and was ready to go. We were a little late. Girls were lined up outside the door, and there was a table set up at the entrance to the room. My roommate chatted with some of the girls in line while I glanced around nervously, wondering what was going to happen.

When I reached the table, the girls there had us fill out forms about our activities, interests, GPA, etc. I hadn't really been expecting this. I was involved with the Queers & Allies group on campus and wasn't sure if I would be looked down upon for that. I put it down anyway since I barely had anything else. I hoped my relatively high GPA would impress them, thinking they probably didn't get a lot of people with GPA's like mine (in retrospect, I realize how stupid this was of me!). A girl picked me up and we sat in two chairs facing each other.

That first conversation was a little awkward. She said it was her first time ever rushing someone and that she was very nervous too. She was sweet, but the conversation lagged a bit. She asked me a lot of questions about myself and I wondered if it was okay to ask about her, too. I just wasn't sure. Some of the later conversations seemed to go better. The girls were all very sweet and girly and all seemed to be named Sarah or Emily and were from either the South or the Midwest. I had a hard time keeping them straight. One girl was super intense about her Twilight obsession. She seemed a little ditzy, but I felt like I clicked with her. She told me a story about how she invited a sister who she didn't know very well home for Thanksgiving, and I thought it was very sweet. Another girl was kind of shy and quiet like me and took dance classes. I liked her a lot.

Looking back, I must have come across as a little weird to them. I kept asking questions like “So...what exactly do you guys DO?” and “How does this whole rush process work?” because I literally had no idea :P I think I asked a girl if it was all about drinking and partying, too. The rest of the time I kind of just sat there and looked terrified, and tried to make sure I didn't have food in my mouth when they asked me a question. I was having fun, though. I left feeling good. I had just spent two hours just talking to strangers, and I had actually enjoyed it.

I didn't know if Lemon Meringue was for me, though. It hadn't been what I had expected. They HAD seemed like typical sorority girls to me, despite what Roommate had said. And yet...I had a good time. I could see myself with these girls. But I wondered if my perceptions of the other chapters on campus were false as well. I wanted to get to know all of them before I decided. It was too late to go to all of the parties for fall rush, so I decided I was going to wait until spring...

Love the story!

Eeesh - yellow. My eyes, they bleed.

Yes, let's hope Lemon Meringue doesn't continue too long through this story, and DARK BROWN PIE is a winner.

Haha, sorry - the yellow is rather hard to read. I tried changing it to a slightly darker greenish color, hopefully that is a little better and won't get confused with a later sorority ;)

Spring of my sophomore year, I started having doubts again. I had moved onto a new floor with a lot of freshman and was starting to make friends with them. I also had a roommate who was a transfer student who had been in a sorority at her old school. All of the freshmen girls who were rushing were concerned about hazing, and New Roommate convinced me that it WOULD happen. I got scared. I remember looking at the registration form for rush the night before it was due and thinking about it. I decided not to. I was doing alright, I was making friends anyway.

But all the girls who were rushing seemed to be having such a great time. I went shopping with them to get outfits, watched them leave for parties, cry when their favorites cut them, saw the posters outside their rooms after bid night. I sorely regretted my decision. I decided I was going to rush in the fall, as a junior, no matter what. Nothing was going to hold me back this time.

Shortly after recruitment had ended, I ran into a friend from Lemon Meringue in a coffee shop on campus. She mentioned something about rush and I told her I was thinking about it in the fall. She told me that not a lot of sororities, if any, were doing fall rush, but they were doing some unofficial rush events right now (COB, although I didn't know the term for it at the time). She seemed really excited that I was interested, so I sat and talked with her and a few of the sisters. They seemed so different than the ones I had met the previous semester, very laid-back. I still wasn't sure if I would fit in, but my friend told me about how she had been very lonely before she joined Lemon Meringue and it had changed her life. She invited me to another COB event they were having that week and I said I'd be there.

The next COB event was a lot of fun. I got to know a few more girls and really liked them. However, I felt myself saying awkward things and wondering if the girls were judging me for it. I felt insecure. But I really liked them and decided I would take a bid if they gave me one. I didn't want to have to wait till next spring and go through formal recruitment as a junior, so I knew that this might be my last chance to join a sorority. My friend told me this was their last event, but she was thinking of planning another and would let me know.

After a week or so, I hadn't heard from her, so I contacted her to ask if there would be another event. She said there wasn't and they had already finished handing out bids. My options were to rush whatever sororities were there in the fall, or wait a full year until spring. I hoped she was wrong and that there would be more chapters for fall recruitment. I didn't want to wait.

I hate cliffhangers >:( Keep going! :D : D

more please, love the story so far!

Fall of junior year, I found out that only two sororities were doing recruitment: Pumpkin and Key Lime. There are a lot more than this at my school, so I felt like I would be missing out on places where I could fit in. I was really hell-bent on keeping an open mind, because I wanted to find the best possible fit. However, I didn't want to wait! While I had come out of my shell a lot the previous semester and made some great friends, I felt like I was still lacking a cohesive social group – plus, all of my friends in sororities seemed to be having so much fun. As a junior, I knew that my time in a sorority was already cut nearly in half and I wanted to be able to devote as much time as possible. I decided to go through with it anyway, and gave up on the other chapters that were not doing fall rush.

Recruitment was spread out over a week with the two sororities alternating nights when they had their parties, and pref over the weekend. I got everything ready in advance. Conscious of how awkward I had been the year before, I did some research (on GC :D). I planned my outfits well in advance and had a cute necklace that I planned wearing every night. I thought of questions to ask, things to talk about. I was so prepared. I was ready.

The first party was Key Lime. I was a little uncomfortable because I had a class that conflicted with half of the party and half of their other party – I wanted to meet as many sisters as possible! Also, one of the sisters was in the class, and I thought it might be weird if we ended up walking to the same place together. I thought it might look bad if I were to skip the class for recruitment – or maybe, if I didn't, I wouldn't look dedicated enough! I didn't know what to do, but I figured that if they didn't value academics, then it wasn't the place for me anyway. I felt a lot better when I saw the sister in class that day – if she wasn't skipping, surely it was okay that I wasn't.

This party was a lot different from Lemon Meringue's. They took down our names and contact information, but there was no sheet to fill out. The room was also set up differently, with a lot of round tables. This was a much smaller chapter and girls were being double-rushed. The vibe with the tables was VERY laid-back. A lot of times the conversations would include the whole table instead of just the sister and the two girls being rushed. It wasn't what I expected. But the decorations were SO cute, and they had really great food as well.

When I first sat down, I panicked. Across the table from me were two girls (PNM's) who I DID NOT LIKE. One of them, Casey, I hated because of some drama involving a boy, the other one had done something really nasty to a close friend of mine. I didn't want to be sisters with either one of them. Fingers crossed.


The first girl I talked to, oddly enough, was the girl from class. She recognized me and deflected any awkwardness immediately. This made me feel a lot better. I liked her a lot – we talked about academics and how she had never expected to join a sorority, either. The other PNM who was talking with us, though, was SO intimidating. She seemed nice, but she was talking a mile a minute and I felt like I would never get a word in! I hoped the sisters would remember me. When the conversation started to encompass the whole table, it was about a topic on which I didn't know much about. I just hoped I would be remembered. The second girl I talked to was nice as well. I didn't really click with her, but she was really funny. I decided I liked Key Lime, but I was disappointed I had only met two sisters and was convinced that this would work against me. I resolved to get there earlier to the next party so that I could meet more people.

Keep posting I am really enjoying your story.

I'm glad everyone likes the story so far :)

The next party was Pumpkin. I knew IMMEDIATELY that this would be completely different from Key Lime. They had us sign in just like Key Lime did, and they also had hand-made name tags for each PNM that we wrote our names on. The girls here seemed a lot more high-strung. The two girls I didn't like were also here. I was on time for this party, and they had us line up outside the door before entering. I wondered if Key Lime had done this, since I had missed the beginning of their party. When we entered, the girls were all singing and clapping – I knew that sororities did this during formal recruitment, but I was not expecting it in the fall. It was definitely cheesy, but kind of cute, and I liked that they had put in so much effort.

The girls here had a LOT of energy and all seemed very excited. Some of them seemed kind of ditzy and I felt like a few of the conversations were superficial. I talked about the Babysitter's Club books with one girl, another one told me all about their social calendar - which was REALLY impressive. The girls all seemed to be involved in other things as well, which was a huge plus for me. I felt like I had a lot less in common with them than the girls at Key Lime, but because they were all so outgoing I thought that maybe that was better – I tend to be friends with more outgoing people anyway. On the other hand, these girls were so intense that it was almost too much.

Their theme was definitely not as cute as Key Lime's, but I decided I was not going to be superficial. I was astounded at how close these girls seemed. I never believed girls who said they liked everyone in their sorority until I went to Pumpkin. These girls were insanely close. While I felt like I had more in common with the girls at Key Lime, I felt like Pumpkin had the closer sisterhood I was looking for. But I just wasn't sure.

The next night at Key Lime, I got to meet a lot more people than the first night. They seemed so much more intelligent and mature than Pumpkin, but at first I was kind of bored. I liked them, but I wanted sisters I could have fun with! At one point we had turned into a group conversation and I zoned out – a sister asked me a question and I had to ask her to repeat it because I was not paying attention! The conversation was just SO laid-back. We hardly talked about sorority things at all.

It got better as the night went on, though. I had a conversation about books with Rachel, a girl I had kind of known from outside, and felt like I really clicked with her. Their theme was, once again, adorable. And the girls all seemed really great. I just didn't click with most of them. It didn't feel like home. Neither of them, really, felt like home. After this party I was kind of depressed, because I didn't know what to do. I didn't know if I should wait till spring, I didn't know if I wanted Key Lime or Pumpkin or a different sorority or none at all. I was so confused. I felt like Pumpkin was going to overwhelm me and take up all of my time, but Key Lime was so laid back that I wasn't sure if it would be enough for me. At the end of the night I decided I was leaning Pumpkin. They had one more open party the next day. After that, it all depended on where I got invited back, and it was out of my hands.

Hope you are well and will soon have time to continue your story.

can't wait to hear more!

Please finish!

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