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A Weasley Family recruitment (:
So I’ve been lurking here since my own recruitment roughly a month ago, and I’ve realized since I love reading recruitment stories so much, I might as well share the love and post my own (: Since I love Harry Potter, I’ve decided to make this a very Weasley recruitment. I go to a school with seven sororities, so it works out perfectly.
I went through rush as a sophomore for a few reasons: I am a Young Life (Christian youth group for high schoolers) leader, so my faith is pretty important to me. I also sign a behavioral contract stating I can’t drink underage or engage in any other behavior that would be considered a bad example. I just didn’t know if there were any sororities I could feel at home in because of this. However, I found out that several of my fellow leaders are in sororities, which made a huge difference. Being at a Christian school with a dry campus and no sorority housing also helped. I also found myself longing to be a part of a community, since I am a little shy when it comes to meeting new people. I’m really outgoing as far as talking to people, but horrible with inviting myself places or organizing nights out – being in a sorority would break down that barrier. Although I now cringe at the fact, the sorority stereotypes were in the back of my mind throughout recruitment since I rushed as a sophomore. I learned a huge lesson about that, so I thought I’d post my original notions of the sororities going into rush and then my impressions afterward. Going into rush, this was how I thought of the chapters: Charlie – Known as the most “stereotypical” sorority in that they have a reputation for being pretty, blonde, rich, and superficial. I didn’t personally know anyone in this sorority, but I had heard stories of last year’s pledge mom giving them alcohol on bid night. I suppose the term would be “classy party girls.” My cousin is a part of this sorority at another school and fits this stereotype pretty well. I knew I could probably get her to write a rec but I didn’t bother. Because of my concerns with drinking, I wasn’t too interested in this sorority, although since I do enjoy shopping and will admit I’m pretty spoiled, I knew I’d probably be able to carry a conversation pretty well with them. Bill – Known as the crazy, fun, party girl sorority. I knew one girl in this sorority, a senior who pledged as a junior last year and who I would say fit the stereotype. She grew up around me (which is on the opposite coast of where I go to school) and was close with my best friend's family. I didn’t know her too well but I knew she was a nice, fun girl who drank on weekends. I didn’t know much about them as a whole but really didn’t have any interest in getting to know them since I figured I would probably feel awkward as a member who didn’t drink. Percy – One of the newer and definitely the smallest sorority on campus. They are known to be really sweet girls but pretty awkward. I like the girls I know in this chapter but I didn’t think I would really fit in with them at all. They pretty much extend a bid to everyone since they are looking to boost numbers and get off probation. This is the place where a lot of girls who get dropped from everywhere else tend to go if they don’t drop out. I thought I would most likely like the girls individually since they’re so sweet but I couldn’t see myself there at all. Fred – Known as the sweet, smart sorority (highest GPA on campus) and one of the more Christian ones as well. This was a top contender going in for me, since most of my fellow Young Life leaders are in it as well as girls I go to church with and I like everyone I know who’s a part of it. I fully expected this to be my top choice. George – I knew next to nothing about this sorority before recruitment except that they tended to cut a large number of girls early on in rush since they were a popular choice. They don’t have a single defining stereotype, except that they’re also known to be really nice and fairly preppy. I sat next to a girl in one of my classes last semester and we got along pretty well, but I knew some of the girls were partiers, so I was kind of reserving judgment. Ron – Known for having a wide variety of girls. I knew one girl from this sorority and I didn’t really felt like I clicked with her, but I also knew since their girls were known for being involved in a huge variety of activities that that didn’t necessarily mean I wouldn’t click with others. I really didn’t know too much about this one at all. Ginny – Also known for being a sort of mixed bag. Girls in this sorority are known for being less involved in the sorority than some of the others, but another of my fellow leaders were a part of this chapter and therefore I knew I could be a sister here without compromising my values. I also really liked the girls I knew in here, so I thought this would probably be my second choice, although I wasn’t as enthusiastic about it as I was about Fred. Once again, these are just my honest impressions in the beginning, which went on to change drastically. I definitely learned firsthand that you should never go by stereotypes during rush. I’ll be posting about the pre-recruitment event next, which for our school involved going out for ice cream at a place really close to campus (: |
Are these NPC sororities?
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Because I'm procrastinating and this is fun, I figure I'll post pre-recruitment too (:
I was unable to get to any of the pre-recruitment events except one, an ice-cream social-type of event. I was definitely nervous since I really had no idea what to expect, but I resolved that I would try to work around my initial shyness and be calm and confident. The way things were arranged was that the sororities all had representatives arranged in the courtyard area outside the ice cream shop. You basically could just go up to anyone wearing letters and start talking and asking questions, although I soon found they were pretty eager to come up to you and that I wouldn’t have to be doing much initiating of conversations. The first group I came to was Bill. I saw the senior I knew and had a brief exchange where she told me she had no idea that I was rushing but was really happy I was. I moved on pretty quickly though, since I really wanted to make sure I had time to talk to Fred and Ginny. The next group in the circle happened to be Ginny, so I chatted with a tiny, super energetic girl there for a few minutes. She seemed so excited to be there, which was nice but I felt sort of overwhelmed. I mentioned the girl I led with, who she seemed to know but not really well. It was a pretty neutral conversation – I didn’t get a bad impression but wasn’t really impressed either. I definitely wanted to learn more about them. Next I spoke with two girls from Charlie. They were pretty sweet but our conversation was pretty surface-level. They were more down-to-earth than I expected but since I expected snobs (I know, I was so judgmental) that wasn’t saying much. I ran into two Freds next. They were as nice as I expected but seemed a bit distracted by everyone milling around. I liked them but didn’t get to talk to them long. I was talking to 2 of them at once and so I got to see the sister dynamic at work. They really seemed to care about one another and I could tell they were best friends. The next group over was George. I ended up spending most of the night talking to two of the girls. It turned out one of them had done Young Life her whole life (her parents worked for them) and was best friends with one of the girls I worked with at Young Life camp this summer. I was so excited to find that out and she told me a lot about George’s Bible study and other Christian aspects. The other girl was, like me, from the other side of the country from where we go to school. I found her super easy to talk to and ended up talking with her for a long time, with other pnm’s drifting in and out of our conversation. Overall I was really impressed with these girls and found myself thinking they were now tied for top with Fred. After making myself leave the George I was talking to so as not to hog her the whole night, I saw the two Percys I knew from living in my dorm last year. I briefly spoke with them about rushing and classes before sort of slipping away. I still wanted to talk to Ron since I really didn’t know anything about them. Unfortunately, it was now almost time to leave and the Rons had already left. I finished the circle at Bill again and had a girl walk over to me and start up a conversation. She commented on my accent and how it was close to the other Bill I knew, who grew up in the same area as I did. I was thinking in the back of my head how she was really nice but I just wasn’t interested in her sorority (awful, I know). Our conversation was cut short by the head Rho Chi announcing that the event was over and to finish up our last conversations. Overall the event made me so excited for rush. I confided to my roommate how impressed I was by George and she told me that she honestly thought I’d probably fit best there, which made me even more excited. It was nice that I now would have two chapters I was really excited about as well as a third I’d be happy in, instead of just one I loved and one I was okay about, which is how I felt before the event. I was a bit disappointed I didn’t get to talk to Ron since they were still a wild card, but I knew I would get plenty of opportunity during official recruitment. Overall, pre-recruitment helped make me more sure about my decision to rush, and super excited for the week ahead. Btw, I know I probably seem really judgmental & bratty in this, like I wasn't giving some of the sororities a chance, and that's for two reasons. First, because I had been on campus for a year, I felt justified in making judgments because unlike the freshmen, I actually knew people in most of the groups. I now realize that even that was pretty stupid considering how many girls make up a sorority and that I only knew a fraction of them. The second is because this was pre-recruitment, I knew I would get to spend a solid amount of time talking to each of the houses anyway, so I might as well make pre-recruitment more about the sororities I already felt a connection to. I guess that's solid reasoning considering I had to budget my time, but I just wanted to clarify. |
well, you do seem opinionated but you are truthfully stating your opinions, although not in a derogatory way. depending on the way your story goes, this might be a great example to other pnms on trying to look past stereotypes and hearsay and giving each chapter a fair chance.
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trust me, my story really does turn out to be a lesson in looking past stereotypes, and (I think) is a good story for other pnms to hear for this reason. i cringe looking back at how set I was going into recruitment, but i'm going to report that honestly because it's important to the story. you'll see how much things changed over the week!
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looking forward to your story!
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I've enjoyed this story so far! Can't wait to hear more
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more please!
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Day 1– Open Houses Part 1
After being so pleasantly surprised by George, I was starting to realize that I (obviously) didn’t know everything there was to know about the sororities on campus. I still had some of the things I specifically knew to be true in the back of my mind (e.g. girl from this sorority came back drunk from bid night – she was in the suite where I most hung out freshman year, girl from this other sorority and I didn’t really get along) but I recognized that perhaps they didn’t represent the sorority as a whole. I vowed to be more open-minded (although I’ll admit I wasn’t exactly expecting that many other surprises, just recognizing they were possible). I found out that several girls on my floor, as well as my RA, were all rushing, which definitely made me feel better about rushing as a sophomore (considering that my RA was a junior). I met up with my RA where we were all meeting before getting our Rho Chi groups and nervously but excitedly began chatting with some fellow PNMs, wondering all the while if they’d become my new sisters. We were given short speeches by the Panhellenic president and the presidents of all the sororities, and then our Rho Chi groups (by alphabetical order) were announced. I followed the Rho Chi carrying our sign to our designated area, happily noting that my RA was in my group. Our Rho Chis introduced themselves, and I’ll call them by Harry Potter names as well. They informed us they were each in different sororities, and we’d get the opportunity to guess where they belonged at the end of the week. My first impression of Luna was that she was a little offbeat and so excited for us. She kept reassuring us that she never thought of herself as a typical sorority girl but loved where she had ended up. I was excited to note that I already knew Lily. She was a member of Fred, which I knew because I had gone to church with her a few times the first semester of freshman year. I knew she was a really sweet girl (I feel like I have overused/will continue to overuse the words “sweet” and “nice” in this story, but when you only have a little bit of interaction time with a person, it’s hard to come to many conclusions except whether or not you thought they were nice/genuine) but didn’t know much else. I really didn’t get any strong impressions from Cho. She seemed sweet as well but a bit quieter than the others…the word “poised” came to mind. Hermione was wearing an adorable necklace that was exactly my style, and had her hair cut in a sort of daring, trendy style with stark bangs. I liked her style, but didn’t get any other huge vibes from her. I’ll admit she intimidated me a little, but more like I was impressed than scared. (I’m only mentioning how she looked because it stood out to me; the others probably also looked really nice in whatever they paired their rho chi shirts with, I just don’t remember). Of course, I immediately started trying to guess where the three I didn’t know were from; I love that sort of guessing game. I thought maybe Luna was in Percy, since she really kept stressing how untypical of a sorority girl she was, but I knew I could very likely be wrong since it was early in the game. Since Lily was in Fred, I knew none of the others were. I thought maybe Cho was in Charlie or maybe George, but I really was unsure about her since I wasn’t getting a distinct impression from her. Hermione, I couldn’t even begin to guess. I wanted her necklace, though! :P For the first day, I found out our group was going to Fred, Ginny, Ron, and George. I was excited to be going to my (so far) “forerunners” all in one day, but kept trying to quash those kinds of prejudiced thoughts every time they came up. Easier said than done! Fred was first. I was nervous, I’ll admit, because I wondered if it would actually hurt me knowing some of them. Since I’m shy but willing to talk to people (I just find it hard to take things to the next level), people sometimes assume that I’m a snob or I don’t like them. I worried since I knew and liked the Freds I knew but wasn’t superclose with them, they might think of me as standoffish. I prayed this wasn’t the case. The minute I stepped into the party, though, all my fears melted away. Their song was adorable, their beaming smiles seemed genuine, and my conversations went so easily. We mostly talked about what I was passionate about and my hobbies and I was happy to find that a lot of the girls rushing me shared at least one of them, so we had something real to talk about as opposed to merely the pleasantries. I was sad to leave but beaming on my way out of this party. Next came Ginny. The girl I talked to at the pre-recruitment event seemed indicative of the whole party that night in that their song consisted of a lot of clapping and they were very loud and enthusiastic. I had a sort of mixed bag of rushers here. One or two of them I liked but didn’t really click with, but I also talked with my TA from chem lab last semester, who I liked a lot, as well as some other girls I clicked with better. Although the party was a little overwhelming and there were some girls I was unsure I would fit in with, I left thinking I definitely wanted to know more about these girls. After Ginny, I had Ron, who I had wanted to learn more about since pre-recruitment. I enjoyed my time here although I didn’t have as deep of connections as I had felt in Fred and with some of Ginny. I thought they’d probably make it in my top 5 (that was the first set of cuts we had to make) but I wasn’t 100% sold on seeing myself as one of them. Finally came George, who I had been excited about seeing all night. They went as well as I had hoped; I had great conversations and they all seemed to share at least one of my interests. I was a little worried that I didn’t get bounced around more though, since I had been hearing that it was arguably better to get bumped more so that more girls could be able to vote on you. I loved their table set-up and looking at all the fun they seemed to have at their events. I couldn’t wait to learn more about George! A few other notes about that night – first of all, none of us really realized that tent talk was a no-no. We were all told we should avoid saying anything negative about other sororities to avoid influencing other PNMs, but most of us figured as long as we didn’t badmouth any of them, it would be good to bounce our impressions off one another. Plus, since it was obviously the main thing on our minds at the time, it’s where conversation naturally drifted. I of course now realize this was an awful idea, but that’s how you learn I suppose. I started to get to know the girls around me in line, especially one I’ll call Lavender. Lavender enjoyed George and Fred as much as I did (although maybe George more), but seemed to like Ron more than Ginny. She told me she could really see me as a Fred, which I took as a compliment since I could as well. (Perfect example of why tent talk is a bad idea - talk about influencing one another!) I walked home that night with my RA, chatting about our impressions. She seemed to be set against Ginny, but open to the others we visited. When I asked about her aversion to Ginny she said that while she liked all the Ginnys she knew, they seemed to be trying to define themselves as a sorority, and as a junior she didn’t want to be caught up in that. I saw her point in that they did seem to be going through a transition period as far as not having a single defining characteristic, but I didn’t see it as as much of a minus as she did. Overall, Day 1 was a great experience for me and I went to bed vibrating with excitement for what was to come. Next up – Open Houses Part 2 |
Open Houses - Day 2
First off, I'll be really honest and say how glad I am that our first cut is a max of 5 sororities. Having to put down five, in no order, quashed the temptation to sort of discount this day. I am so glad it did because I needed to stop being so judgmental. Nonetheless, the fact that I had already had good parties made this day less nerve-racking for me - all these sororities could blow me away and I'd have a hard choice to make but know there was a place for me, or they could be less-than-stellar and I'd still have places I'd like to be asked back to. I also was extremely optimistic since there hadn't been cuts yet - I believed wholeheartedly in the mutual selection system. Since our Greek life is comparatively small, it isn't as competitive and so I thought most cuts really would be mutual - if I didn't feel at ease at a party, they'd sense it and cut me but I wouldn't be surprised, I'd probably have cut them too. I expected the parties I'd love to have felt the same click I did and ask me back. Since I wasn't really concerned with tiers (and really, how many tiers can there be with only 7 sororities?) I would honestly be ranking sororities I felt comfortable with, not ones that were really "prestigious" or anything like that, so I wouldn't have to worry about being "good enough" or any of that, right? (: Bottom line, I was very naive, calm, and confident that rush would work out perfectly going into this day. I think this helped me put my best foot forward on the rush floor. Today's chapters were Charlie, Bill, and Percy. I had Bill first. I don't remember our specific conversations, but they were very outgoing, fun girls who bumped me a lot. Every time I would mention an activity or interest, they would say, "Oh, you like ____? Let me introduce you to my sister, she loves ______." It made conversations flow really well and assured that there was always something to talk about. The only problem with it was that double rushing would happen sometimes because of it, but I feel like they handled that well. Overall, I was surprised at how much I liked the girls but thought that I might be a little shy for this group. I also was realizing from talking to other PNMs that being known as the party house might be attracting a certain type of PNMs, so that even if this reputation wasn't totally deserved, the new pledge class might end up making it so. This made me very cautious. Next was Percy. Because they were a smaller chapter, they had girls from a close-by chapter helping them with rush. I felt a little weird about that, but I didn't know, maybe they really did hang out with the other chapter a lot? I tried not to discount them because of that. I liked one of my rushers who seemed pretty personable, but the rest of the party wasn't too good. I was bumped by a girl from the other chapter who didn't seem like she wanted to be there at all. I tried not to let this bother me since she was one girl from a different chapter than I would be joining, but it made me hope that the explanation I had thought of for their presence wasn't true. The other girls rushing me were okay, but I didn't have any in-depth conversations and didn't see myself as one of them. Overall, the party wasn't exactly negative, but most of the conversations felt forced and I didn't really like that they had other girls rushing that weren't even part of the sisterhood at my school. I understand their logic in doing it - I mean, they honestly didn't have enough girls otherwise - but I didn't like having to take my experiences with a number of the rushers with a grain of salt. How was I supposed to learn about the sisterhood on campus if not through rushers? Also, Percy has a very different reputation on campus than they do nationally. Even if I loved Percy, I was going to have to deal with the reputation, and I wanted to know how other sisters dealt with it/whether I loved them enough for it to be worth it. I couldn't find either of those things out from these girls from other chapters. Last, I had Charlie. They seemed to have drawn the short straw as far as rooms that night because this was definitely the loudest/hottest. They were also kind of at a disadvantage being the last group and my stamina running out, but I tried my hardest to put aside these negatives and see what they were really about. Since I didn't personally known any Charlies, tonight's party was going to be my main source of information. I didn't talk to a ton of girls here. The conversations were decent, but nothing earth-shattering. I mentioned my Charlie cousin but we didn't really discuss her. Overall, I liked these girls but didn't love them. Ranking for me that night was mostly easy; I knew I liked all the sororities from my first night the best, it was only my fifth I needed to make a decision about. All three had reputations I was concerned about, so my decision was basically which of the three I loved enough to look past that. I wavered a little between Charlie and Bill, but finally decided it was Bill. I just didn't feel a big connection at Charlie and since the thing I knew about the pledge mom providing alcohol was actually true and not just a rumor or reputation issue, I wasn't sure I could deal with that. Even though she wouldn't be my pledge mom, if that was something a lot of Charlies were okay with, I was probably not going to fit in. For a dry campus that holds its GLOs to strict alcohol policies, this is really a no-no. (I later would learn of at least one girl who chose on bid night between Fred and Charlie, so I might have actually found a niche there, but at the time I didn't know this, and I don't regret my decision since I believe everything happens for a reason. Just thought I'd let you know that I don't judge Charlies as harshly now.) An important thing to note is that when I was ranking, I was under the impression that I might see back my second-to-last group if they wanted me back, but ranking a group as bottom meant I didn't want to see them again and even if they wanted to see me, the computer wouldn't match us. I later would find out this isn't true at all, but I thought so at the time, so that says something about my rankings. Even though we were asked to just rank our bottom two, at this point this was what my ranked list would have looked like: 1. tie between George & Fred, though maybe with George edging out Fred ever-so-slightly. 2. Ginny 3. Ron 4. Bill And bottom two: 5. Charlie 6. Percy Walking back with my RA (who I realized I should name - she's Parvati from now on), I found out she had put Ginny and Percy at her bottom, in that order. I was beginning to realize that while not nearly at the level of disadvantage of Percy, Ginny wasn't a super popular choice with PNMs either. I decided I didn't care though. I went to bed feeling very happy with my choices. |
sounds like you were really thinking about where you would fit in best. can't wait to read more.
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Day 3 - Video Day
Going into today, I was starting to notice some negative effects of tent talk. The night before, I had walked home with a girl, Petunia, who had told me that going into today last year, she had been dropped from every single sorority except Percy. She told me this before we met up with another group, who then proceeded to discuss the likelihood/unlikelihood that we would have full schedules tomorrow. One girl said, "Well, I wouldn't be too worried...I mean, you'd have to be a total social (r-word) to be dropped completely the first day, right?" I glanced at Petunia in horror, who quietly admitted that that had happened to her. Now, the thing about Petunia: she was drop-dead gorgeous and, if you wanted to put it that way, seemed like what at other schools might be termed "top-tier material." (Just writing that phrase made me cringe, I just don't know how else to put it that it would seem very bizarre that she would be cut so heavily). The others expressed shock and dismay and all of us, I think, commenced worrying. (I later would find out that Petunia made a very bad first impression on a lot of people freshman year and had since turned that around.) Other problems with tent talk emerged the next day. Since we had to be there waiting for our schedules for almost a full hour beforehand, it was inevitable that people would be talking. I noticed that it especially hurt Percy. I think girls who normally wouldn't say bad things about a house felt like it was okay to mention how turned off they were by having girls from other chapters rush them. Then, their negative attitudes towards Percy and its less-than-awesome rep would come out. I saw several rushees who reminded me of girls that I knew and loved in Percy who now seemed reluctant to put down Percy on their slips. This really made me sad, that they might miss out on a sisterhood that was the right fit from them (and honestly, full of really great girls!) and Percy might miss out on them because of some stupid tent talk. I vowed to be relentlessly positive and tactful when discussing sororities, even ones I didn't think were a good fit for me (Note that I didn't think of just stopping engaging in tent talk altogether :rolleyes: ) Anyway, Parvati and I instead turned to discussing where we thought our Rho Chis were from. Since she was a junior, she also knew where Lily was from, so I was glad I didn't have to tiptoe around that. She suggested Bill for Hermione, and I immediately thought she was right, though I hadn't originally thought of it. She disagreed with me about Luna being in Percy, since she had been discussing it with Luna yesterday and Luna told her most people were surprised to learn her sorority because she wasn't as involved as most girls were in that sorority. When Parvati replied that must mean she wasn't a member of Ginny or Percy, since they were considered "lower-involvement" sororities, she sort of winced, having given away some information. This was a relief to me, since I would have felt so bad for Percy Rho Chis having to deal with our Recruitment Group. We both were sort of stumped as far as Cho went. Finally, after what seemed like hours of anticipation, we got our schedules back. I unfolded mine to reveal: Bill Percy Fred Ginny Ron I felt the bottom of my stomach drop out. No George? How could my good feeling have been so wrong? I quickly recovered, though. If I wasn't supposed to be there, this just made my ultimate decision that much easier. I still had Fred, which I had felt almost equally as good about, and four of my top five in all. But Percy? Where was the mutual selection in that? I had dropped them, I thought that was it? I was starting to realize that the recruitment process wasn't quite as perfect as I had believed. I still thought it would work out in the end, but I wasn't anticipating the kind of smooth sailing I had originally expected. Of course, PNMs immediately began comparing to see if they would be visiting any groups together. Lavender ended up with my original top five, minus Ginny and plus Charlie. I tried to squelch any envy I felt, because I was honestly learning that although I liked Lavender, I didn't think we belonged in the same sorority. She had started becoming close with a girl I'll call Pansy, who was in love with Charlie because of its reputation. I found Parvati with a strange look on her face, and she informed me she had been invited to Percy and Ginny. We both knew things were tough for juniors, but we didn't think they'd be this tough first cuts. I hoped she didn't drop out, because I honestly she'd be happy in Ginny. Petunia was going back to Ron (which she seemed especially excited about), Ginny, and Percy. I was feeling very grateful for my full schedule all of a sudden. Then, the parties began. I headed off to Bill where I had a bunch of girls sit with me and introduce themselves. Being at the end of the alphabet and therefore the line meant I generally would get more than one girl rushing me. One of the girls and I clicked more than the others, though, and I talked with her mainly. The video had technical difficulties since we were the first party, and I felt bad for their president as she struggled with it. I was relieved to find that most people continued talking while the video rolled. I really liked the girl rushing me first, but it was clear from the video that these girls were crazy and fun. The question was, was I crazy and fun enough for them? Even though the video didn't show drinking since that isn't allowed, I found myself wondering. I wished there was a way we could find out about that sort of thing during rush. In the line on the way over to Percy, I talked with a few other older girls. Two of them made it clear that they wanted either Bill, Charlie, or Ron because they wanted to party and it seemed these sororities had arguably the best social life. One expressed her distaste for my beloved Fred because it seemed like they weren't into partying. This girl, who I'll call Millicent, told us she "didn't even try at Fred...I would never, ever accept a bid there." I wrinkled my nose at her rudeness but agreed aloud with her that it would be nice to be able to find those sort of things out about sororities during rush. (I'm a non-confrontational person in general). Her story about Fred made me think: although she was handling it very rudely, at least the girls in Fred wouldn't be wasting a spot on her. I thought maybe, while remaining absolutely polite!, that I should disguise my discomfort a little less at houses I felt uncomfortable in. I'm a little too good at acting and I didn't want to, for some reason or other, end up with places I wouldn't feel comfortable in. I thought of it less as "not even trying" and more of "really being myself" although I knew it would be a fine line. Looking back, this is one of the things I cringe at, but my reasoning was coming from a good place: I didn't want to lead girls on. So at Percy, I started my new, honest policy: with girls I got along with, I still got along with them, but girls I was uncomfortable with, I tried less to conceal this. (This was easier since I was double-rushed a lot here: I just let the other PNM take the lead on the conversation). I was honest when they asked about today ("Emotional") and how I was feeling ("Unsure"). The one dishonest thing I did was that I made it sound like I was unsure about joining a sorority in general, rather than unsure about joining theirs. There was absolutely no reason to be insulting, rude, or to hurt their feelings by insinuating it was just them I didn't want to be part of. Even though I tried my hardest to be nice, I still look back and feel awful for the girls rushing me; even if I disguised it with politeness, I was still kind of being a brat. The thing was, in line, I had actually met girls who really liked Percy and wanted to be a part of them. I'm not saying that I have this amazing, sparkling personality (it's very clear from this thread that I'm not perfect!) and all the sororities would want me, but I would hate it if by some fluke I ended up taking the spot of a girl like that at a sorority I didn't feel comfortable in. Overall, I had basically the same experience at this party that I had the day before: a lot of rushers from a different chapter, a lot of girls from my school that I didn't click with, and my rusher that I liked from the other day stopped over to say hi. They were definitely all very nice though. I went to Fred next. Their video sealed it for me: I wanted to be a Fred. There were all these pictures of the pledge class sleepover and different activities that I so wanted to be a part of. The difference between the girls I talked to at Fred and the girls I talked to at other parties was this: when I would share different organizations I was involved in or my plans for after graduating or whatever, everyone would say, oh, that's great and ask to hear more about this organization or that organization, but the Freds I talked to shared a lot of my goals, experiences, and interests. For example, after I graduate I want to spend a year working with an organization called Youth with a Mission. Everyone I talked to about it thought it sounded cool, but I met a girl at Fred who shared the experiences she had already had with them and told me how much I would love it. This party made me feel so much better about being cut from George; if I was meant to be in Fred, then my decision was just made easier for me by not having George in the mix. Ginny continued to be a mixed bag for me. I loved some of the girls I talked to but couldn't see myself as a sister to some others. Not that I didn't like them, just that I didn't feel that connection. I felt like each party at Ginny was making me more confused rather than less, but I still felt good enough about them that I'd like to visit again. Ron was the last party and a bit strange in the way they did it: all the pnms sat on the floor in the middle of the room to watch to video, with all the sisters standing in a circle around the edges of the room. We watched the video in complete silence. After that, the girls did a little thing where we got to see all the different activities they were involved in, which was a ton. This made me feel like I could probably find a niche here. My conversations didn't go as smoothly, though; during one of them we ran out of things to talk about and were reduced to talking about Silly Bandz! I realized from meeting some of the sophomores that I either didn't know or didn't click with a lot of the Rons in my year. When it came time to make my rankings, I was torn. Fred was in there, of course, and Ginny too, but I couldn't decide on my third one. I just didn't want to put Bill if I was going to end up sitting by myself on weekends or being a DD all the time. I needed to know about that aspect of Bill, and didn't know how I'd find out. Parvati confided in me that one of the PNMs had seen Hermione in the Bill video (oops!), and asked me if I wanted her to try and find her and bring her over. I replied yes and Hermione sat down with me. I confided my concerns, and she told me that while they were certainly valid concerns, she "was friends with a lot of Bills" and the executive board was really trying to turn around that reputation. This was the first I had heard of this and so was pleasantly surprised. She told me that the pledge class the year before had been very different from years previous and that a lot of them didn't even drink. While there would certainly be partiers, that was true of most of the sororities, and I wouldn't feel left out at Bill. If that was my only concern, I shouldn't worry. She made me realize that if I were to go strictly off my experiences at rush, then I would have put Bill down easily. I was still concerned about the reputation attracting the wrong kind of pledge class, but I knew I wasn't a Ron and was willing to give Bill another chance. Once again, we ranked only the bottom two in order, but my ranking sheet would have went: 1. Fred 2. Ginny 3. Bill Bottom: 4. Ron 5. Percy |
Percy sounds like a house when I went through rush. I was unable to drop them until the 4th day as I always received the exact number of invites for the number of parties each day. We did not rank the houses each day, so they were the bottom in my head, but not on paper. I was happy the day I was able to drop them. I felt like they were "the proverbial bad penny that kept returning." Now, had KD dropped me I would have been devastated as they were the only house I wanted from day one (prior to the first day parties I had no intentions of pledging. I only went through rush as an excuse to move out of the house a week early since my mother was the ultimate PITA).
DaffyKD |
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