JessSigKap's Retro UMD Recruitment
 

Ok, so we all know that I am a Sigma Kappa at the University of Maryland. I joined my chapter in Spring 2004, so you know this story has a happy ending. However, we all like details and recruitment stories on GC, so I’ll try to make it suspenseful for our entertainment until we get the real recruitment stories in August. Maybe you can guess which one is Sigma Kappa.

We have 14 chapters at Maryland:
· Alpha Chi Omega
· Alpha Delta Pi
· Alpha Epsilon Phi
· Alpha Omicron Pi
· Alpha Phi
· Delta Delta Delta
· Delta Gamma
· Delta Phi Epsilon
· Kappa Alpha Theta
· Kappa Delta
· Phi Sigma Sigma
· Sigma Delta Tau
· Sigma Kappa
· Zeta Tau Alpha

Last semester (Fall 03), I had mixed feelings about sororities. My friend Jessie from high school had joined The Producers at her school and I was very turned off by her accounts of how stupid events were required, fines, shallowness, outrageous dues, and how she became a total alcoholic. I don’t drink, so I wondered if I would fit in a sorority. I’m a rather strong (or stubborn) person in that I don’t do things just because other people tell me it’s cool. In high school, I did drama, and I was very un-cliquey, preferring to be friends with a wide variety of people, so I thought a sorority might make me become an exclusive stuck-up snob.

However, I have to admit, this is stupid, but in high school, I also LOVED dressing up for prom and homecoming and my mom planted the “if you join a sorority, they have formals and you can dress up” seed in my head.
I also had a rough first semester socially. I lived in a forced quad in East bufu (Denton, for any of the UMDers reading this) on campus with 2 girls I absolutely hated (plus one neutral girl), so I went home a lot and didn’t really give myself the chance to meet people. I was thinking about transferring to a smaller school like St. Mary’s College, but I thought, hey, maybe I will find my niche in a sorority. I got switched to a double in LaPlata for this semester and my roommate is much less abrasive than the girls in the quad. I am so relieved.

My only experience with sorority women was the stereotypical dumb, tan, blonde, bitchy whores. As a short, smart, pale, non-promiscuous brunette with short hair, I saw myself as the antithesis to sororities. That changed when I met Catherine (Thoroughly Modern Millie), Breanna (Thoroughly Modern Millie), Katie (42nd Street), and Natalie (Anything Goes) in my theater history class. They let me sit with them in class and were all so real and nice and accepting of someone as dorky and shy as myself. Plus, I felt that if girls from 3 different sororities were genuine people and good friends with each other, then the whole Greek community might be worth a look.

Like dgdramadawg, I did drama in high school, I decided to code the 14 chapters with Broadway musical names. I have also changed some of the names of people I know and met to make it a little more anonymous. Here were my impressions before recruitment:

· Hello, Dolly!- I know Kelly from high school. Some people told me they are slutty, but a “good” house. I don’t know what to make of this since Kelly is anything but slutty. She has a 4.0, is captain of the dance team, in Honors, and has a very nice boyfriend, so if the stereotype were true, she would definitely be the oddball.
· Oklahoma- There is a girl in my theater class in this chapter (not one of the 4 that I mentioned), but I never got to know her.
· Anything Goes- I know Natalie from theater class. My friend Richard tells me that these are a nice bunch of women and thinks I would fit in well here.
· Rent- My friend Becky is interested in joining this chapter. She mentioned they have a lot of Jewish girls.
· Hairspray- I know Alli from my chemistry class but had little idea of the chapter. Richard says that these are “fat” girls, but Alli is a rail, so I am taking most of his comments with a grain of salt.
· The Producers- My friend Jessie just joined this sorority at Tennessee. Richard says these girls are “hot.”
· 42nd Street- I know Katie from my theater class, but I don’t know anything about the chapter or its reputation.
· Wicked- In the fall, I visited the room in LaPlata that I am moving into, and two members of Wicked lived there. They decided to move into the house. I met Erica and she was nice. I still have no idea about this chapter otherwise.
· Sound of Music- I know absolutely nothing about this chapter.
· Thoroughly Modern Millie- I know Catherine and Breanna. Richard says they are “ugly” but again, I didn’t care because I had already met two amazing women, who by the way, were pretty, so Richard’s negativity has proven to be mostly bullshit.
· Les Miserables- I know nothing except through researching online that this is a nationally Jewish sorority.
· Phantom of the Opera- I knew Karen from high school, but had little idea of the chapter.
· West Side Story- I know absolutely nothing about this chapter.
· Chicago- Richard says Chicago girls are “hot.”

I am rooting for Anything Goes and 42nd Street!!! :)

Sidenote: I can't believe I didn't put Peggy Sawyer or Dorothy Brock in my thread! I knew I was missing something!

Well I CLEARLY forgot RHPS! Maybe because it's not in the typical "Broadway musical" schema. I have a sweet vinyl corset that I loved wearing to the shows at UMD.

Haha, I remember the first time I saw the play and people showed up dressed up with newspapers and squirt guns and such... they thought they were going to see the movie instead of the actual play! So funny.

At UMD there is a group called the Satanic Mechanics and they have shadow cast shows, where they play the movie and act it out silently in front of the screen. They also do other cult movies too, like Princess Bride, Clue, Young Frankenstein, Little Shop of Horrors, etc. Good times.

I'm going to root for Phantom of the Opera!!! I love that play!

sound of music or phantom, all the way

By the end of the fall semester, I decided that I wanted to at least check out the sororities, but I wasn’t bent on pledging for sure. I was so clueless during recruitment about how to join. Looking back, I realize that PHA did a pretty poor job of PRing recruitment if someone who was interested couldn’t figure out what to do! Over winter break, I got a postcard with the recruitment dates and a website to download the printable form. We couldn’t register online. I filled it out and sent it in. It said that I would get a Rho Gamma and she would help me through the process.

I'm rooting for RENT (since I love the musical) and Oklahoma! since that's where I'm from!

Rent or Hairspray :)

BTW - when RHPS was on Broadway I saw it 5 times.....and it was expected to have audience participation! They SOLD AP Kits!!!!

Question: Do we want the full, sometimes ridiculous descriptions of these chapters without a reveal, or do we want a PC version with a reveal?

DO THE RIDICULOUS & THE REVEAL!!!!!!!!!!!

(that's just my opinion!)

But what if I don't get a bid because of my lack of tact?

Hahaha the issue is more that I wouldn't want any Maryland PNMs to read these and be influenced or have actives or alumnae be offended about what I say. Admittedly, some chapters gave some um, interesting, impressions, and from being Greek at UMD for 4 years I have realized that those impressions were not necessarily how I feel about the chapters today.

gotcha.....makes sense

i guess the more ridiculous would be more fun. don't do the reveals....

again, just my opinion!