Recruitment Story!
 

I participated in recruitment as a freshman last fall. I just thought I'd share my experience :)

First off their were 11 chapters at my school during this time.

I'll name them with cities:

Indianapolis
Washington
New Orleans
Houston
San Francisco
Phoenix
Chicago
Portland
New York
Los Angeles
Atlanta

None of my family had ever been a part of Greek life. The only real knowledge I had about it was from this website. I think my main reason for wanting to try it was (and don't laugh) Legally Bonde. I just thought the whole thing looked really sweet. Aside from that, who doesn't want to be just like Elle?

Opening Meeting
 

Although the whole day was really interesting, moving into my new room and leaving my parents and all that, I'll start in the evening.

I met the recruitment guide and a lot of the girls that would be in my group the first day. Everyone was being nice, but we were all so quiet. I guess it's a nervous thing. We traveled to the student union together for the big meeting with everyone. I don't remember a lot of this, I just know that I thought it was cute how the recruitment guides all gathered and sang this song that included chants and stuff from all the sororities.

This took a lot longer than you would think and I ended up going to bed right when we got back to the dorm because I was going to have to get up quite early the next day.

Round 1
 

This takes place over 2 days

We went to each house and just talked to about 3 or 4 members at each house. Also every chapter sang a song to us.

There were so many of them and we did this so fast that it was hard to keep it all straight the first few days.

Indianapolis
I had no real opinion of this house the first day. The girls were friendly but nothing stood out.

Washington
I first noticed that this house was very cute looking on the outside. When I got in I talked to several girls that seemed really excited about their house. Also everyone here seemed to be an honor student of some kind. Although I did well in high school, living up to the standards these girls did kind of worried me.

New Orleans
The girls in this house didn't really seem to have anything in common with eachother. They were all trying very hard to be friendly I left not really feeling like I could belong here though, because for some reason it didn't quite feel like anyone did. I'm not sure that it makes sense. It's not a bad thing, I was just looking for more of a togetherness type atmosphere.

Houston
I really did like this chapter the first day. I had a few great conversations with some of the members. I still remember a conversation about bikes with a girl that cracked me up. The house also just felt really comfortable.

San Francisco
The outside of this house is just beautiful. The girls were too. I had a few entertaining conversations with the girls here. It was absolutely one of my favorites.

Phoenix
The girls in this house seemed friendly. Their chapter was interesting because they didn't require members to live in the house for a year like all the other sororities did. I remember thinking that I didn't like that as well because I wanted to get to know my pledge class. It wasn't a huge deal though because I did like the girls I met.

Chicago
I keep talking about the houses but it did make an impression on me. This one was no exception. It was more modern than the typical sorority house, but I thought it was very pretty. The girls seemed more like the type of people I hung out with in high school. Overall I liked it.

Portland
I was tired going into this house so I know I could have payed more attention. It didn't stand out at all.

New York
I instantly really liked this house. The girls seemed so classy and in charge. I didn't really have any stand out conversations that I can remember, but I left with such a great impression of the group.

Los Angeles
From the few pictures I could look at online this group appeared like they were always having a great time. I went into recruitment thinking this was my favorite. The house didn't disappoint exactly, but I did have a couple chapters that I figured I liked better at this point.

Atlanta
The girls were quite energetic and friendly here. If any house deserves an award for best recruitment effort I would say it belongs here. It was actually not one of my favorite houses but I still thought it seemed fun.

Enjoying this story; it's simple and to the point!

Go Chicago!

Oh, this is exciting!! I didn't think there would be any more recruitment stories until August!
Team Chicago!

Go Phoenix!

End of Round 1
 

At the end of the day I decided to arrange the chapters like this:

New York
Los Angeles
San Francisco
Houston
Washington
Chicago
Phoenix
Atlanta
Indianapolis
Portland
New Orleans

We were allowed to be invited back to 9 houses the next day so my bottom 3 were Indianapolis, Portland, and New Orleans. I went to bed very nervous for the next day. Most of the girls I had talked to had family members in certain sororities. I didn't even have any letters of recomendation.

Round 2
 

We met at the union the following morning to find out what parties we would be attending that day. I was very shocked and relieved to find out that I had a full schedule. Especially because a lot of the girls in my group (even ones that were bragging about how many connections they had to the sororities) didn't.

It looked like this:

New York
Los Angeles
Houston
Washington
Chicago
Phoenix
Atlanta
Indianapolis

So I got cut from San Francisco, but overall I was really happy with how it had worked out. Right after I found out where I was going, I got super excited because it was house tour day! The houses were all so beautiful and I couldn't wait to see the inside of them.

Go Houston! :D

I'm confused - did you mean you could go back to 8 chapters out of 11? You said you ranked your bottom 3, and that you had a full schedule of 8 (including one you'd ranked - meh, stuff happens), so I'm guessing that round 2 was 8 chapters, not 9.

If I had to pick a chapter to cheer for based on code names, I'd say "go New York" - mainly based on my personal connections to that city.

<awaits next part of rush story>

Oops yeah something is strange there. I think it's because I was trying to make sure I told this right so I went to the recruitment thing for this fall at my school and they have added another chapter since then so it changes things. For some reason I still feel like it was 9 though. but I guess I'm just crazy haha

House Tours
 

New York
I remember that this was my second to last party of the day. I think the fact that it was dark out added to how pretty I thought this house was. The whole chapter just seemed very elegant. I knew that this was one of my favorites.

Los Angeles
This house was beautiful on the outside. I found it quite dark and small on the inside. I found myself really liking all the girls I met here, so the house didn't concern me at all.

Houston
This house wasn't one of the stunning sorority houses, but It just felt so cozy and nice inside. I also kept meeting girls that I absolutely loved. During the house tour the girl that I had met in round on and talked about bikes with came over and we chatted for a second too.

Washington
This house interested me because there were all of these paintings on the walls everywhere. It actually kinda struck me as a fairytale thing. The girl that was showing me around was an art major which excited me because that's something that I'm interested in. However at the end when we sat and talked, the girl I was talking to freaked me out by saying she had shared a toothbrush with a sister before because they were that close. That may have been my funniest moment during recruitment.

Chicago
I thought this house was neat the first time I stepped foot in it. It had the same appeal as it did in round one. They were planning renovations so the tour mainly consisted of talking about how everything was going to change. It felt pretty easy to talk to the sisters here and I liked it.

Phoenix
This house was more modern than the others and quite a bit smaller. It was kind of disappointing, but the members all seemed like they were having a good time.

Atlanta
Since this house was quite a bit newer than the others, it didn't have that historical type feel to it. It just felt like a really big house. I had to admit it was nice though. The girls were all so energetic.

Indianapolis
This house was ok. Agian I just really didn't have much of an opinion on this group. The girl giving me the tour seemed sweet though.

End of Round 2
 

So I ended up ranking them in this order:

New York
Los Angeles
Houston
Chicago
Phoenix
Washington
Atlanta
Indianapolis

By bottom 2 were Atlanta and Indianapolis.

Round 3
 

It was sisterhood day and we were allowed to visit up to 6 houses. I got my card and it looked like this.

New York
Los Angeles
Houston
Chicago
Atlanta
Indianapolis

Phoenix and Washington had cut me, but I wasn't super excited about either of those houses anyway so it wasn't a big deal.

Round 3 continued
 

New York
Again I loved this house. I was having a very entertaining conversation with the girl about strange things that had happened during the week, people tripping and losing things and such. It felt like this pary went by so fast. The girls were all wearing the cutest dresses and I remember thinking about how much I would like to be doing what they were the next recruitment.

Los Angeles
You could tell that the girls were very passionate about their philanthropy. They were also all dressed up so nice. I didn't have as great of conversations as I had in the past here, but I left still thinking it was one of my favorites.

Houston
I actually figured out from their philanthropy video what chapter my recruitment guide belonged to. Several of the other girls in my group noticed as well. Oops...haha. I wasn't very close with my recruitment guide, but I did still like this house a lot.

Chicago
This party was nice. It just felt comfortable. At this point it wasn't my favorite house, but I did like it.

Atlanta
I had fun at this event too. It was more focused on the activity rather than the video wich was a good change of pace.

Indianapolis
I think this is where I finally gained an opinion on this house. It just wasn't my favorite place to be. The girls were nice, but not the type of people that I would typically get along with.