A CrossFit Recruitment!
 

Hey all! A young women I am close to is presently going through recruitment at a midwest school with a small-to-medium sized sorority system. She is a sophomore and didn't know much about Greek Life last year when she started at this school, but made friends in several chapters last year and started getting interested. Between that, knowing of my involvement, and watching some of her friends love Greek Life she decided it's time to join the fray.

PNM and I share an interest in CrossFit, so I will refer to her as "Dottir" because a few of her favorite athletes are from Iceland and have last names that end in Dottir (like Thorisdottir or Davidsdottir). I'll refer to the chapters as famous CrossFit benchmark workouts!

1) Fran
2) Isabelle
3) Grace
4) Cindy
5) Murph

As I said before, Dottir is a sophomore. She has VERY high grades - almost a 4.0 - belongs to some significant campus orgs and held and extremely prestigious internship last semester as a freshman that normally would go to a junior, and is very personable. She had a reference to Grace but not to others because references aren't huge at her school and she also decided late in the game to go through recruitment.

Dottir says that the format for recruitment is 5-4-2 as far as she knows, but she then heard conflicting information about whether she could attend up to 3 prefs or just 2 prefs. So it might be 5-4-3 but we both doubt it.

Prior to recruitment, Dottir had a few friends in Grace and Cindy which gave her somewhat of a preference going in, but I explained to her she has 5 great NPCs on her campus any of which can be good. I explained the whole maximizing options and privilege associated with getting any bid (especially as a sophomore) so that helped her attitude.

Night one, Friday, was Philanthropy night. Dottir was SO SO excited to start recruitment that she woke up extra early that day and texted me a few times about how she was so ready to start. She reported for recruitment at around 3pm and after she got checked in they took phones away which made her crazy. Fortunately they gave her notebooks!

First up was Murph. Dottir said that Murph is the smallest chapter and a lot of the girls were quiet and conversations were not so great, which is a bummer for her first event. She wasn't super interested in their philanthropy but said some of the girls were very excited about it which was great. Even though Murph was a little rocky, she said that she could tell the likelihood of being able to have a leadership position in the near future that made a real difference was high - very important for her since she is already a sophomore with leadership experience on campus.

Next was Cindy. At Cindy, she was cleverly picked up by a girl she had JUST MET earlier that day at an orientation meeting for a campus group they are both in. Cindy's philanthropy is something that is very dear to her as it focuses on empowering young girls. She enjoyed all her conversations at Cindy and feels comfortable with them because of other friends and acquaintances she met last year.

Dottir's third event was at Fran. She doesn't know very many people from Fran - just people she had seen in classes last year so she didn't have an impression of them. Fran's philanthropy relates to medical research for a condition a close family member has which really stood out, and the women she met were fun to talk to. She did feel that Fran might be a little more prim/proper than she is but still enjoyed her time there.

She visited Isabelle next. She didn't really now any Isabelles from last year so she had virtually no impression of them - hard for a sophomore to see any house as a blank slate so this is great in my opinion! One of the Isabelles she talked to has 2 classes with her this semester and talked about some common interests that are not on the radar of most young women in college so Dottir loved that.

Finally, Dottir went to Grace. Grace is considered an awesome house on this campus and is the house where Dottir has the most friends. Grace also had a philanthropy that Dottir is very interested in due to connection with family and friends. Although it was the last event of the day and most people would be tired (PNMs and actives alike) she said some of her very best conversations were at Grace and she felt energized after the event.

After all the events, Dottir's said all the houses except Murph were super fun, that recruitment in general is a ton of fun, and she can't wait to go back tomorrow.

She ranked as follows:

1) Fran
1) Isabelle
1) Grace
1) Cindy
2) Murph

Day 2 is this evening, and neither of us can wait!

Hey all! Just heard from Dottir. She has a FULL SCHEDULE today!

Fran dropped her, so she will be the following houses today.

Isabelle
Murph
Cindy
Grace

More later!

Keep us posted!

I had a little time on my hands, so I have the school narrowed down to 3, but really 2. So I'm looking forward to seeing if I'm right :) There were 3 sororities I thought fit one of the descriptions for their philanthropies. 2 of them are represented at the 3 schools on my list. One of them is my own and is a school that I love. So we'll see!

This woman is wise beyond her years. She took a negative and turned it into a positive. Instead of turning her nose up and feeling like this chapter is below her, she sees the opportunities and wants a chance to make a difference.

It sounds like she would be a great addition to any chapter.

Good luck to her!

She is wise beyond her years, but to be perfectly honest I always ask girls going through recruitment for one positive on any house. Even in a house a girl feels she won't ever accept a bid to, there are usually a couple of positives.

Okie doke folks! Last night was SISTERHOOD and VALUES night. Here's the rundown!

First up was Isabelle. This place was pretty good - the conversations flowed fairly well and there were some values related to advocating for self-confidence that were really neat - not just a philanthropy event once or twice a year but on going activities! Also there was a moment in which Dottir shared a personal story about a family member who served in the military that caused her rusher to tear up because the rusher is planning to join the military after graduation due to similar values as Dottir's family member!

Next was Murph. Unfortunately, Murph did not really improve today. Dottir said that the conversations were all awkward and that she did not come away with an understanding of what special values Murph has as a chapter or a national org. The women that Dottir has talked to at this chapter are all in *very* different majors and have a very opposite personality temperament than Dottir so she feels out of place with them.

Cindy was her 3rd stop. Cindy's members expressed a huge interest in lifelong learning not just from educational areas but also from going out and experiencing the world. This plus a bunch of excellent conversations made Dottir feel that Cindy might be her new favorite chapter!

Dottir's final event of the evening was at Grace. Grace made Dottir feel welcomed and loved and at home in almost every way. One of Dottir's very close friends from last year is a member of Grace and had talked Dottir up to several people who went out of their way to come and meet her. Dottir learned about a very fun and unusual philanthropy event that Grace does each year which benefits a cause she cares a lot about and enjoyed that.

At the end of the evening, Dottir had 2 clear favorites and a clear least favorite. She ranked as follows:

1) Grace
1) Cindy
2) Isabelle
3) Murph

Well, pref invitations did not come back the way Dottir had hoped. She was dropped by her top 2 favorites, Cindy and Grace. Isabelle and Murph both invited her back, though.

I just talked to her for a few minutes between when she learned her invitations and when she had to decide whether to continue with the process. She was leaning towards not attending prefs at all and dropping out. I encouraged her to continue on with the process and drop after pref parties. We will see if she does that.

And do remind her that at a smaller school, one or two vibrant women can make a big difference to a whole chapter. She can be the change! With a pledge class of 125,yeah, no. Not gonna happen. But with a pledge class of 20? Yeah, she can. And if she brings along a super cool friend, even easier!

Believe me, I have reminded her of all these things. I am giving her all the space in the whole wide world this evening to make the decision she feels is best.

:)

Well, I talked to Dottir this evening! She ended up choosing to go to pref after all, and said she was glad that she went.

She still did not feel any connection at Murph, nor did she feel that she learned their values or get the feeling they really wanted her there. However, she had a very nice time at Isabelle! The girl she talked to on Day 2 who she got along really well with preffed her and she felt like everyone really wanted her there. She chose to write an intentional single preference for Isabelle, so we are of course all on pins and needles to see how things turn out. Stay tuned!

I hope you have good news to report from CrossFit Recruitment tonight!

I do!

It was a bit of a nervous night and morning/early afternoon today, but Dottir did NOT get the dreaded "phone call" from a recruitment counselor today.

Around 5pm, went to bid day. They gave everyone their envelopes and then once all were distributed, they opened them together. Dottir got a bid from Isabelle.....



Which is better known as....


DELTA DELTA DELTA!



She seems very happy indeed! She knew that if she didn't get a call that it would be a tri-delt bid since she only wrote one chapter down. She spent more time researching the national org last night and seemed more excited today. She loves that the group has the pearl as a jewel, and she read that a couple of their symbols are the dolphin and the pine tree which she loved.

They are having an 80s themed bid day which she loves and it sounds like she is having fun tonight!

I'm so happy for her! Sounds like the Tri-Delta house got a winner!