A Recruitment Chair's Retro Recruitment
 

Hi everyone! I've been lurking on GC for awhile and I really love all the Recruitment Stories. As the title suggests, I'm actually the recruitment chair for my chapter this year, and all the planning has brought back so much recruitment nostalgia! I figured I'd post my story for y'all to see. :)

Background & Pre-Rush:

I was a Greek virgin--no one in my family is Greek, and very few high school friends went Greek in college. In fact, I arrived at school certain that I would NOT be rushing. Although I can be quite the girly girl, I just didn't quite "get" the whole sorority thing. I don't have any (biological) sisters, all my best friends from high school are guys, and I absolutely hate drama and catfights. Basically, Greek life just didn't seem like it was for me.

That being said, my school has Spring formal recruitment, so I had quite a bit of time to think about it. I spent my first semester getting adjusted to college life and focusing on classes. As time went by, Greek life started to appeal to me more and more. I really wanted to branch out and make new friends (I liked the girls on my hall but I could tell they weren't "lifelong friends"), I loved the social aspects of sororities, and I really wanted to get involved with something on campus (I literally had not joined a single club). In addition, my school doesn't have houses so it seemed like less of a "traditional" Greek life. So, I decided to register...

My school has 9 NPC sororities, and to keep things as anonymous as possible I'll be using code names. This summer heat wave inspired me, so I'm going with Ben & Jerry's flavors :)

Banana Split
Cherry Garcia
Chunky Monkey
Cake Batter
Half Baked
Phish Food
Butter Pecan
Peanut Butter Cup
S'Mores

Round 1 coming tomorrow... :)

Yum! I'm rooting for half baked :)

Half baked all the way!

phish food is the way to go! mmmm i might just go out and get some right now...

Round 1
 

So, Round 1 at my school is broken up over two days--you visit 4 or 5 chapters the first day, and then the rest on the second day. Since we don't have houses, the sororities are in rooms around campus. Each sorority performs a short skit about their history, symbols, motto, etc.

Before I start, I'll also add that Greek life at my school revolves WAY too much around "tiers" and "rankings" and all that stupid anonymous website stuff. Since I wasn't in any clubs and didn't know many upperclassmen, I (unfortunately) relied on those websites a little too much before recruitment. I definitely went in with some preconceived notions about the chapters.

I don't remember the exact order that I visited the sororities, but I'll try my best!

Day 1!

Cake Batter was my first chapter of Recruitment. Though my Rho Chis had prepared us for the chanting, I can't say I was totally prepared when the doors opened and I heard the roar. :p Cake Batter has a reputation on campus of being the "good girl, Christian" sorority...which is totally not me. I tried to keep an open mind anyway. The first girl I talked to was really friendly and sweet, and I started feeling like this whole recruitment thing was something I could handle. The first girl was then bumped by a GORGEOUS blonde, who happened to be best friends with a girl who lived on my hall. She complimented my outfit, we had a nice chat, and then she was bumped by an equally gorgeous blonde. I will always remember that she sat down and said "So, give me three interesting facts about yourself!". It kind of put me on the spot, but she was so bubbly and friendly that I didn't care! We had a great conversation, she reviewed the three facts about me as she walked me out, and I felt really good about Cake Batter!

Next up was Banana Split. One of the only upperclassmen I knew (my friend's sister) was a Banana Split so I was pretty excited. The girl who picked me up at the door was AWKWARD. We sat down and she literally just stared at me for a good 10 seconds. My mind started racing..."isn't she supposed to be the one initiating conversation?". Eventually she started talking, but it wasn't a great conversation. Finally, she was bumped by another girl who I absolutely loved. She was super cute and, like me, was from the Northeast. She eventually was bumped by another girl I really liked...we talked about our respective pro basketball teams and, when we found out we liked rival teams, jokingly said how this clearly wasn't going to work out. Again, I left Banana Split feeling good.

Peanut Butter Cup was the next sorority I visited. The common consensus on campus was that it was better for your social life to be an independent than a Peanut Butter Cup. Again, I tried to keep an open mind. The first girl I talked to was painfully awkward. We really had nothing in common at all, and she was a little too shy and reserved. Just as she was about to get bumped, we started talking about how I was an ice skater in high school (a topic I got quite sick of discussing by the end of rush). Coincidentally, the girl who bumped her also used to be an ice skater in high school! We had an AMAZING conversation filled with funny stories and memories. It was the first truly NATURAL conversation I had during rush. Though I couldn't forget how awkward the first girl was, I also couldn't help but think that I should actually give Peanut Butter Cup a shot.

My fourth sorority of Day 1 was Half Baked. I knew from gossip sites that they were definitely one of the top sororities on campus; they had the reputation of being the rich, snobby, party girls. As soon as I lined up, I could see why they were a top sorority--the girls checking us in at the door were STUNNING. I was incredibly intimidated. The girl who met me at the door and took me into the room was adorable. We sat down on the floor and the skit started not long after. It was HILARIOUS (note that it's one of the only skits I actually mentioned...because it's one of the only ones I actually remember)! Then I started chatting with the girl who had picked me up. We found out we were both Econ majors, both loved the same professors, and she had tons of interesting stories and advice. She was awesome! I think Half Baked messed up their bump because she was the only girl I talked to during the entire round, but I totally didn't care. When it was time to leave, she walked me out, gave me a hug, and said "see you soon babe!". I was so excited!

My final sorority of the day was S'Mores. Another "top" sorority on campus, they had the reputation of being "the pretty blondes". I totally didn't connect with S'Mores. I thought their skit was kind of conceited (guess what, every sorority has had a ton of Miss Americas/Miss America contestants) and the girls I talked to just seemed totally disinterested in what I was saying. Despite their reputation, I really didn't like them.

After an exhausting day, I went back to my room and rested up for Day 2...and tried to avoid all the "dorm talk" (aka "tent talk").

I started off Day 2 with Cherry Garcia. From what I had heard, all the PNMs had been absolutely RAVING about Cherry Garcia. Everyone kept saying that, even though they weren't a "top tier" sorority, they were definitely on the way up. I must admit, I did kind of like them. I didn't really have a connection with any of the girls I talked to, but they were all sweet and friendly. Their skit was also very cute. Again, I didn't feel the connection, but I thought (probably from what I was hearing around me) that I might fit in at Cherry Garcia.

Next up was Chunky Monkey. They were definitely a top, if not THE top, sorority on campus. As soon as I lined up outside the room, I could see why: they were GORGEOUS, SKINNY, and extremely well dressed. Unfortunately, the girl I was matched with could not have cared less about forming a connection. Our conversation was filled with terrible awkward pauses and we really had nothing in common. At one point she resorted to the "Oh, I really like your nail polish" line. Eek. Anyway, Chunky Monkey's skit was kind of a hot mess and I just wasn't really feeling it.

Butter Pecan was my next chapter. On campus, they are known as the "chill" top sorority--they're really popular but they don't care as much as the others. For that reason, I was really excited to go to Butter Pecan. I sat down on the floor with the girl who picked me up and we started chatting. Unfortunately, she was kind of awkward and we didn't have much to talk about. She was bumped by another girl who I had equally little in common with. Even though Butter Pecan had a really cute skit and I wanted SO badly to like them, I wasn't feeling it again.

My final sorority of the first round was Phish Food. They had been popping up on the gossip sites recently; literally, hundreds of posts were dedicated to saying that Phish Food had now overtaken Peanut Butter Cup as the worst, ugliest sorority on campus. Again, I told myself to keep an open mind. Unfortunately, I was disappointed. The room was SO crowded and hot. There weren't enough chairs at the tables for both PNMs and actives, so the actives were kind of squatting at our feet as they talked to us. The skit was overly cheesy. It was just bad. Even though I discovered a connection with the girl I talked to (her grandma lives less than 10 minutes away from me), I didn't think that made up for how much I just didn't like Phish Food.

I went back to my Rho Chis to rank the groups. At my school, you can go back to up to seven sororities for Round 2. I don't remember my rankings exactly (I know the top and bottom for sure), but I think it went something like this:

Half Baked
Cake Batter
Banana Split
Cherry Garcia
Butter Pecan
Chunky Monkey
Peanut Butter Cup

And the ones I wanted to cut:
Phish Food
S'Mores


Stay tuned for Round 2 tomorrow! :)

Lovely so far! Cake Batter is my fave.

Round 2
 

After Round 1, I was feeling pretty good. Although I knew little about Recruitment, I was under the impression that sororities didn't make very many cuts after Round 1. "Don't worry," I reassured a nervous friend, "I'm sure they only cut the girls they really hate."

Round 2 at my school is Philanthropy Day. As I said before, you can go back to up to 7 chapters. I'm not sure if I expected to have a full schedule, but I was just hoping to get my favorites back. While some of my friends said things like "I can ONLY see myself at one of the top 4 sororities", I knew I would only be truly upset if I didn't get Half Baked back. The other "top tier" sororities completely underwhelmed me.

I met my Rho Chis and they handed me my schedule. To my horror, I saw only FOUR chapters:

Banana Split
Cake Batter
Phish Food
Peanut Butter Cup

I was devastated. Not only did I not get Half Baked back, but FIVE chapters dropped me...and the five "best" chapters at that. What did I do wrong? Why didn't they like me?

On my way to my party, I ran into my roommate. To make matters worse: she had been invited back to her top 7 chapters and managed to release Phish Food and Peanut Butter Cup, the bottom two on campus. Although I was upset, I tried to think positively. "Well," I thought, "at least Banana Split,Cake Batter, and Phish Food all mix with my favorite fraternity." ;)

My first party was Peanut Butter Cup. I thought their philanthropy was meaningful, which I liked...although the video they showed was so sad it almost made me cry. I don't remember the first girl I talked to at all. The second girl was much more fun: we talked about our mutual love of pro basketball. I remember thinking she was someone I could definitely get along with, but I couldn't help but notice the rest of the chapter was overwhelmingly awkward.

My second party was Phish Food--the chapter I ranked in my bottom two for first round. However, Round 2 was a complete turnaround! I LOVED their philanthropy. Two girls (a big and little) got up to talk about how personal and meaningful their philanthropy was, and I remember being obsessed with the big. She was so cute and bubbly, but not in an over-the-top way. As for the girls I talked to, I loved them just as much. They were BEAUTIFUL (which made me reconsider that whole "Phish Food is the new ugly sorority" thing I had been reading on all the websites), interesting, and--most importantly--easy to talk to. I couldn't believe how much more I liked Phish Food today compared to yesterday.

Next up was Banana Split. I really liked them Round 1, so I was hoping to be equally excited today. The president got up to talk about the philanthropy. I remember thinking that I wasn't as interested in this philanthropy as the others--it didn't seem to have as big of a scope to me. On top of that, the president was annoyingly bubbly. Yes, she was very pretty and friendly, but when she talked it nearly made me cringe. The girl I was paired with was completely the opposite: boring and disinterested. I got all excited when I found out that we had both taken gap years before college, and I mentioned how it's sometimes weird that I'm older than my friends. She responded with a very bored "Oh, well I was young for my grade so I never get that". I wanted so badly to like Banana Split because my friend's sister was so fun and had so many things in common with me. Unfortunately, they disappointed me during Round 2, but I was still hoping I'd be able to find that connection.

My final chapter of Round 2 was Cake Batter. Their philanthropy was fine but I didn't really like the craft we were doing. I loved the first girl I talked to--she had been an Orientation Leader for my dorm--and felt like I made another good connection here. The second girl I talked to was really not my type. I was really happy, though, when the beautiful blonde from Round 1 (who was sitting across the table from us) looked at me and said "Hi, ShortAndSweet!". She remembered my name! I was really excited and still really liked Cake Batter.

At the end of the parties, I went back to my Rho Chis to rank. Since you can go back to up to 5 chapters for Round 3 and I only had 4 chapters left, it didn't really matter what my rankings were. But this is how I wrote them down:

Phish Food
Cake Batter
Banana Split
Peanut Butter Cup

Stay tuned for Round 3 tomorrow!

Round 3
 

At my school, there is a week in between Round 2 and Round 3--possibly the longest week of my entire life. I tried to keep my mind off recruitment but I could help but think about which chapters I got invited back to. I knew I had the four least popular chapters on campus, so I was hopeful that I would get invited back to all four. I tried not to get my hopes up as much as last time, though.

On the day of Round 3, I was at the store picking up some nail polish when my cell phone rang. I looked at the screen and my heart dropped: my Rho Chi was calling me. I picked it up. "Hi, SweetAndSour," she said in a calm voice. "I wanted to let you know that you have two parties tonight, at Phish Food and
Peanut Butter Cup." I tried not to let on how upset I was, thanked her for letting me know I didn't have to get ready as early, and hung up the phone.

Again, I was devastated. How was I dropped by half my chapters for the second round in a row? How was it that only the "bottom two" chapters wanted me? I already struggled a bit with self-confidence, and this surely wasn't helping. Going into recruitment, I thought I was pretty enough, friendly enough, fun enough, smart enough. But apparently I wasn't.

Nonetheless, I stayed positive because I remembered how much I loved Phish Food during Round 2. So, I went off to my two parties...

I don't remember for sure, but I'm almost positive my first party of the night was Peanut Butter Cup. To be honest, I remember NOTHING from this party. I do remember that, after two rounds of actually feeling a connection with the girls I talked to, I didn't get that this round. The girls I spoke with were certainly awkward, and just not the types of girls I would've hung out with normally. Their skit (Round 3 is skit night) was cute, but Peanut Butter Cup was slowly fading in my mind.

Next up was Phish Food. I didn't really connect with the girl who picked me up at the door, although I remember being reassured when she told me that she, too, was friends with mostly guys in high school and never saw herself joining a sorority. The skit was fine (I wasn't really big on the skits anyway), but I remember feeling like I was really pushing to make a connection. I knew I didn't see myself in Peanut Butter Cup, so I wanted Phish Food to work out SO badly. This probably contributed to a somewhat lackluster Round 3, but I still knew that Phish Food was my top choice.

I went back to my Rho Chis to rank the sororities for Pref--although, again, it didn't really matter since you can go back to 3 and I only had 2.

My order was:
Phish Food
Peanut Butter Cup

Stay tuned for pref tomorrow... :)

seems like Phish Food is a sure fit, c'mon with Pref Night! :)

Can't wait to hear what happened during pref!!

Sorry everyone, it was a very busy weekend! I'll update after work today! :)

Pref
 

Actually, scratch that...I have a bit of time for pref before work :)

The day before Pref, I was so nervous to see which sororities I got back. I kept thinking to myself about what I would do if I didn't get Phish Food...part of me thought I should just drop out of Recruitment on the spot, and the other part of me thought I should at least give Peanut Butter Cup a chance.

I got all dressed up (I had this fabulous silver, one shoulder dress and felt AMAZING) and went to meet my Rho Chis. She handed everyone their schedules and I looked at mine nervously. Thankfully, I saw two chapters:

Peanut Butter Cup
Phish Food

I was SO thrilled to have Phish Food on my schedule, especially after a somewhat bland Round 3 conversation-wise. I put my smile on and headed to my first Pref party.

Peanut Butter Cup was the first on my schedule. There were so many girls in line who I could tell didn't want to be there. One particularly snobby girl from my Rho Chi group (who ended up in Half Baked) was sitting near me; she looked disinterested--purposefully so--during the entire party. Judging by the empty seats at the table I was sitting at, I figured many girls had actually done what I considered: dropping out of rush once they saw only Peanut Butter Cup on their schedule. Overall, I thought Peanut Butter Cup did a good job with Pref. I talked to a girl I don't think I had talked to before (at least, I didn't remember talking to her), and she was pretty awkward. We didn't hit it off at all. She did, however, say she had heard a lot about me and they were absolutely thrilled that I had come back for Pref. The girl I had met during Round 1 also came up to say how pretty I looked and how glad she was to see me back. I don't remember the ceremony at all--I just remember being anxious to get to Phish Food.

I really loved the set-up at Phish Food. I was sitting at a small table with only the active I talked to. I had never met her before, but clearly someone had done a good job putting us together: I ADORED her. She was beautiful, I loved her dress (Phish Food, like most if not all other sororities on campus, wore black on Pref), and we had so much in common. She was one of the few Econ majors I met during rush, so we talked about that for a long time. She gave me class recommendations, talked about her experiences abroad, and then talked about me for awhile too. Needless to say, I loved her and felt really great about the conversation. The ceremony was also very nice. I'm not an outwardly emotional person, but I definitely felt more of a connection to Phish Food's ceremony than I did at Peanut Butter Cup . As the girl I had been talking to led me out the door, I knew exactly what to do.

Until I ran into my Rho Chi. She asked if I needed any advice, and I realized I did. I knew, unconditionally, that I wanted Phish Food. However, I also hadn't thought about whether I would be suiciding or not. I knew I didn't belong in Peanut Butter Cup. Although they had all been very sweet and I met a couple girls I liked, they just weren't for me. I appreciated that they didn't care about how they were perceived on campus or what other people thought of them, but to be quite honest: I did care. I didn't want to have a label put on me for my 4 years in college just because of an organization I joined. It's not that Phish Food had a great reputation on campus either, but I felt a real connection to the girls there that I didn't feel at Peanut Butter Cup.

I talked to my Rho Chi about suiciding. The rule at my school is that you are guaranteed to get a bid if you make it to Pref. So, if I didn't receive a bid from Peanut Butter Cup, I would very likely end up in Phish Food. My Rho Chi was very honest with me about this. She asked me if I thought I would get a bid from Peanut Butter Cup...I was pretty certain I would, especially after the gushing from the actives I talked to during Pref. So it all came down to this: if I didn't receive a bid from Phish Food, would I rather be in Peanut Butter Cup, or nothing at all?

My final decision was based on the fact that I couldn't imagine myself not participating in all the bid day activities as my friends all had an amazing time with their new chapters. As my Rho Chi put it to me: "Worst case scenario: at least go, get the free shirt, and then make a decision after that." I agreed, and I filled out my bid card:

Phish Food
Peanut Butter Cup

I'll tell y'all about Bid Day tonight! :)

I can't wait any longer!! Tell us about bid day!!

Bid Day
 

Eek sorry everyone, it's been a crazy couple of weeks, but finally...Bid Day!

On Bid Day, every PNM meets their Rho Chi group at a different spot on campus. Of course, those girls who didn't receive bids get a call from their Rho Chi beforehand. I didn't expect to get a call, to be quite honest. I felt like I would receive a bid from either Phish Food or Peanut Butter Cup--the question was, would it be the bid I wanted?

I, in fact, did not receive a call so I went to meet my Rho Chi group on the morning of Bid Day. This almost made me more nervous. I wanted Phish Food SO badly. Since the lack of a call meant I had definitely received a bid, I knew I had to prepare myself in case my bid card said Peanut Butter Cup.

The way my Rho Chis did it, each PNM in my group went into a room with them one at a time and they handed us an envelope with our bid in it. We then opened up our envelope, read our bid card, and then either celebrated with our Rho Chis or let them comfort us. I must admit, it is a very terrifying moment, especially since your Rho Chis know how you ranked your final sororities and thus can tell which bid you received just by your reaction.

I was the first of my Rho Chi group to enter the room, and I was so nervous, I can't even explain. I think one of my Rho Chis asked if I was ready, and then slid the envelope across the table to me. I opened it up, at first very confused. As a Greek virgin, I knew nothing about chapter names, and it just so happened that the bid card for my sorority had the chapter name first. To make things more confusing, the chapter name was the same as another sorority on my campus...one that I had not attended a Pref party at. However, I kept reading and soon found out that I was a sister of...










PHISH FOOD!!! , better known as...











ZETA TAU ALPHA!!!

When I get a chance, I'll post more about what I learned from rush, and my experiences after Recruitment as I think they could help many a PNM.

yay!!!