Recruitment thread junkies...
 

Since its the slow period for recruitment threads...

While going through some items I still had stored at my parents' house, I came across my recruitment journal. It has all the juicy details and commentary that I may have shared on a forum such as GC, if it had existed at the time. (I definitely got a kick out of reading it after the fact, and seeing the perspective of my 18 year old freshman self who had absolutely no clue about Greek Life - not in general, and certainly not at my particular campus. :o:) )

Without any current recruitment stories to keep the recruitment thread junkies going, I had wondered whether it might be fun to share a slightly older story... :confused:

gosh, i would love to hear it!! i wish i had mine-i remember taking copious notes-it would be fun to go back and read my impressions.

no, i can't think of anything less interesting.

haha, get it started!!!

Just delurking to say that I think it would be fun to hear old rush stories!

Yes, my name is RoxyGrrrl and I too am a Recruitment thread addict. ;)

Okay, I'm probably not going to have time to get too much into the story today. I'll just start off with listing the basics about my school, along with my code names for the individual chapters. (Which I suppose is the way that most current recruitment stories would go on GC anyhow...bit by bit.)

16 NPC groups:

Alpha Chi Omega
Alpha Gamma Delta
Alpha Omicron Pi
Alpha Phi
Alpha Xi Delta
Chi Omega
Delta Gamma
Gamma Phi Beta
Kappa Alpha Theta
Kappa Delta
Kappa Kappa Gamma
Phi Mu
Pi Beta Phi
Sigma Delta Tau
Sigma Kappa
Zeta Tau Alpha

My code names come from characters on The Simpsons. (Note - names were assigned at random, with no underlying meaning attached. ex - Just because I used "Barney Gumble" doesn't mean that group was a bunch of lushes, etc. :) )

Moe Szyslak
Disco Stu
Lenny Leonard
Carl Carlson
Waylon Smithers
Monty Burns
Barney Gumble
Artie Ziff
Milhouse VanHouten
Clancy Wiggum
Nelson Muntz
Ned Flanders
Groundskeeper Willie
Mayor Quimby
Troy McClure
Sideshow Bob

Lol @ Simpsons code names :D

Oh gosh, I hope she goes Alpha Gam!!!! I love our house at Michigan State!!

;)

Love ya Susan!

I really hope she goes Sideshow Bob to be honest, haha.

Except she didn't actually say (in this thread) where she went to school....:D

I did not know Moe's last name! This has been educational already!

I thought it was improper to announce the PNM's school if she didn't do it herself. :rolleyes: I hope it doesn't affect the results! lol. :p

I love it! Thanks for feeding the addiction. :D

Well, it's pretty obvious from her location that she had to go to Michigan State.. it's the only school within 900 miles of her location that has those NPCs. If she had gone to Michigan, she would NEVER have her location listed as Ohio cuz, well, they take away your degree if you move to the Buckeye State and you're a U of Mich alum, don't they?

(look at her signature)

Oops. I guess I've slid to being the PNM who reveals a little too much. After all, it would be easy for the GC gang to quickly track down my chapter name... :eek::o

(Maybe I should check past threads and delete any references to my recruitment experience that might give away which chapter is which before the big reveal... ;):))

Continuing with the background update before hitting the hay... :)

Picture an 18 year old new freshman who has absolutely no background information whatsoever about Greek life, and you have me. I came from a small town - my high school graduating class had 92 students. Never gave Greek Life even the tinest bit of consideration while making my college plans - I wasn't opposed to it, the thought just never crossed my mind. As far as I knew, I didn't know anyone who had ever been in a sorority.

I deliberately selected my university b/c it was huge, and it would give me the opportunity to meet tons of new people. When I arrived on campus, I loved it instantly! Though it was a huge culture shock coming from a small town where I had known everyone since I was an infant to going somewhere much larger where I knew no one.

After I had been on campus a few days, I had a phone conversation with a friend from back home. Gina was a new freshman at another school, however she was living at home and commuting. One of her first questions to me was "so...are you going to rush?" Being completely clueless I had to ask her what she meant. :o She explained that it was the process of joining a sorority and that she had decided to go through rush at her school to get involved and compensate for living at home. She was so enthusiastic about the idea that we could go through rush at the same time that I thought "what have I got to lose?" I found a copy of the Panhellenic rush brochure in with a bunch of new student paperwork. Turns out that rush started the next morning, so I hurried over to the Panhellenic office before it closed and registered.

In the span of about 20 minutes, I went from being a clueless freshman who didn't even know what rush was to being a PNM. Little did I know what was in store for me!




Cast of Characters
(aka Individuals who influenced my actions during rush. Note - first names may or may not have been altered to protect the innocent :) ):

Steph: Sophomore. Lived a few doors down from me. She was not in a sorority, but was very opinionated about sororities and which ones were "good." According to Steph, there were only 4-5 sororities on campus that were "worth being in." (Isn't that ridiculous? We had 16 NPC groups with a Chapter Total of 110 at the time. If only 4-5 chapters were "worth being in," that left a whole lot of women in those "other chapters" who were wasting their time. :rolleyes:) But, I was a clueless freshman, and she was one of the first friends I made in the dorm - for better or worse, she had some influence over me.

Laura: Steph's roommate. A junior. Also one of the first friends I made in the dorm. According to Steph, Laura had rushed the year before and ended up in "a shitty sorority" (Steph's words, not mine - see description of Steph above to see why that comment should be taken with a grain of salt!) Laura was a member of Sideshow Bob, however she no longer participated in anything with her chapter - including rush.

Bethany: Lived on my floor. She was a Tri-Delt. Unfortunately, Tri-Delts closed suddenly before the beginning of the school year - they were even printed in our rush booklets, and the Rho Chis had to tell us to disregard their page. Bethany was awesome, and the only sorority woman I could talk with throughout the experience. Thank god I had her, because she helped counterbalance the evil influence of Steph! :) (Looking back on it, I realize how painful it must have been for her to talk with me about rush, when she was still coping with the closing of her chapter. But she was an extremely good sport throughout the whole thing.)

Gina: My friend from back home who convinced me to rush on a whim.

Suzy: A girl from my floor who was in my rush group. Suzy's roommate was a member of Carl Carlson. With a Greek roommate, Suzy had plenty of opinions and background knowledge on the different chapters.

Rush Process

Phase A: Attend all 16 chapters
Phase B: Attend up to 12 chapters.
Phase C: Attend up to 6 chapters
Preference: Attend up to 3 chapters.

Between each phase, you received a list detailing where you were invited back. If you were invited back to more chapters than you had room for, then you had to drop houses. If you were invited back to the same number or fewer chapters than there were parties for a phase, then you had to attend all chapters. (Ex - for phase C, there were 6 parties. If you were invited back to 9 chapters, you had to decline 3 invitations. If you were only invited back to 4 houses for phase C, you had to attend all 4 chapters.)