GreekChat.com Forums - briteyes' recruitment story!!

Ok so i'll start by saying that I grew up in the south and always knew I wanted to be in a sorority. My mom got a bid from a sorority when she was in college, but dropped out when they were making the pledges clean the house the day before one of hre finals. Even though she never became an active, though, my mom always spoke very highly of sororities and it was always kind of assumed that I would join a sorority. All throughout highschool I had a very close group of girlfriends, but I went to a small private school where the kids went to good colleges all over the country and didn't just stay in the south to go to the big state schools. None of my girlfriends were really preoccupied with greek life as much as we were with academics, so I went to school not realizing recruitment was such a labor intensive proccess. In fact, my cousin, who was a sorority active at a school in the midwest that was close to the university I would be attending, is the only reason I even knew about recomendations. She, thank god, sent me an email right before rush asking about my highschool gpa, activities, and interests and wrote me a recomendation to her sorority. She also had her friend and her mother-in-law write me recomendations to two more sororities about a week before rush. I don't think recomendations are that important at my school, but it certainly didn't hurt me.

About my school...it is in the midwest, is small to mid-sized, and had 11 sororities when I went through rush last year. I'm going to name the sororities after hollywood starlets

1. natalie portman
2. lindsay lohan
3. christina aguilera
4. scarlett johanson
5. jennifer aniston
6. drew barrymore
7. sarah jessica parker
8. jessica biel
9. kirsten dunst
10. mandy moore
11. kate hudson

While rush isn't as competetive as the big southern schools, it is still pretty intense at my school, and over the years there has been some buzz about our rush.

Recruitment is deferred to the winter for freshmen, so I had to wait a few months before I could begin recruitment. During this time, I obviously heard rumors about the "top three" at our school. The top three, in no particular order, were considered lindsay lohan, natalie portman and christina aguilera.

Before winter break, we had philanthropy round and meetings with our rho chis to talk about all the details of rush. As soon as those meetings started, recruitment was absolutely the only topic a group of girls could talk about. Everyone wanted to be in the "top three" and seemed to forget that there were 8 other sororities that had to make quota. Quota for each of the eleven sororities ended up being around 36, and i think a little over 100 girls dropped out of recruitment.
So as soon as winter break came, I went home and began shopping for recruitment. It was hard, because where I'm from it is about 65 degrees in december, but at my school it is like -10 degrees. I had a very cold rush ahead of me.

I went shopping, and spent all my christmas money on clothing. I finally settled on some outfits: for the first set, which was casual, I wore citizens jeans and a fitted, light pink lily pulitzer sweater. For set two, which was slightly more dressy, I wore black express dress pants with a cuff and a light grey pinstripe that ended just below the knee. I matched those with some killer black franco sarto boots and a fitted white button down. For set three, informals, I wore sevens and a jcrew top. And for pref night, I picked out a gorgeous red, satin, rouched nicole miller dress.

I knew my recruitment was going to be a little complicated, because I had some conflicts. I had cheerelading practice for one night, had to cheer a basketball game on another night, and had a very important lab for one of my classes on pref night. I decided that recruitment was too important for me to miss, and that while i might miss one class or make my cheerleading coach mad that I would skip everything for rush. Well, I did make my coach very angry, and we (me and the two other cheerleaders who missed for rush) had to do tons of conditioning, but it was definitely worth it. I decided I had to skip since I wanted to be on an even playing field with all the other girls and get the opportunity to be seen by all the houses. Not to mention, I knew that if rush went poorly for me than I would always blame it on missing days for cheerleading/class. I knew that if I skipped and had a bad rush then I wouldn't be able to regret missing and always ask myself "what if."

Soooo...round one came, and it was certainly freezing. Set one was split up over two days...the first night we went to five houses and the second night we went to six. My rush happened about a year ago, so I don't really remember the order, so I'll just list them all.

1.Scarlett Johanson- The house was beautiful, but I must admit that I went into rush being a little bit more superficial than I had wanted to be. The Scarletts were all very sweet, and i had alright conversations, but something was missing. The Scarletts were by no means unpopular on campus, but they weren't a top house and they seemed a little discouraged and insecure about that. Still, I decided that I liked them enough and would try and go back the next round to give the Scarletts another chance to wow me.

2.Mandy Moore- The Mandy Moores were known on campus as being very sweet, and put together, but a little too goody goody for my tastes. In the time I had been at college, I had not met any of them. One even lived the same floor of my small dorm and I had never heard of her. I decided I wasn't very comfortable at this house, but would still put them in my top 8.

3.Christina Aguilera- This was considered a "top three house," though it was probably the 3rd ranked out of the top three. Christinas went out alot, and were very "friendly" with guys, but they also had a tendency to dirty rush pretty hard. I had been dirty rushed by them since I had been at college and it really turned me off. A senior in Christina who knew one of my girlfriends had even taken three of my freshman friends and I to get coffee the night before rush started to talk about recruitment. What is even wierder is that I had never even met this girl when we went to get coffee...it was super awkward. Still, I had pretty good conversations during rush, and their house was beautiful and big. I was going to put them in my top eight, but didn't really see myself there.

4. Sarah Jessica Parker- SJP was known on campus as not being very popular and was kind of labeled socially awkward. I know that is horrible to say, but as a freshman going through rush, most people consider reputation. I had alright conversations with the girls I met, but was certainly not wowed. I would not put them in my top eight.

5. Jennifer Aniston- I had not really heard much about the Jennifer Aniston's on campus, but when I got to their house I was very pleasantly suprised. I talked to some really sweet, pretty and cool girls. I really liked the house and their philanthropy and the Jen Aniston's made me realize that would still have a great experience if I didn't get into a "top" house, and that the houses that were considered the most popular by a few guys weren't neccesarily the best houses on campus.

6. Natalie Portman- A "top 3" house, I LOVED natalie portman! The girls were all so beautiful and well-spoken, and I could immediately see myself in this house. The Natalie Portmans seemed like they were so proud to be in their house and really cared about each other. Their philanthropy was great, and everything seemed perfect. I was definitely going to put them in my top eight.

7. Jessica Biel- Once again, these girls were known as being socially awkward, and the ones I talked to certainly were. I didn't have any good conversations, and felt like I had to carry the conversation. There were so many awkward silences that I excused myself to the restroom during the party. I would not be putting them in my top eight.

8. Kirsten Dunst- These girls were sweet, but boring. A girl on my squad who was not very nice or interesting was a member of Kirsten Dunst, and she came up to me during the party and acted so overly nice and friendly. It was so fake and really gave me a bad feeling. I decided I would not put them in my top 8.

9. Drew Barrymore- Again, the girls at Drew Barrymore were nice, but were't very known on campus. They looked like they really liked each other, though, and my conversations weren't too terrible, so I decided to put them in my top 8. I knew I would not be happy if i ended up at this house though, and couldn't see myself being a Drew Barrymore.

10. Kate Hudson- The Kate Hudsons were a really great group of girls. They were considered an up and coming force to be reckoned with and there was a buzz that they might end up replacing the Christina Aguileras in the top three. I had a few friends in Kate Hudson who I saw out all the time. There girls were fun and well-liked. I knew I could fit in at this house and would put them on my top 8.

11. Lindsay Lohan- One of the "top 3." Lindsay's were known as being very beautiful, but very stuck-up and kind of bitchy. There was talk on campus that Lindsay Lohan's rushed by looks and would never cut a pretty girl, regardless of reputation. I have to admit that I was very anxious to go into the Lohan house, but I was confident that I could hold my own with these girls. However, I was not sure that I would ever feel at home in the house, and that I would always have to be on my toes around them. I didn't want to live in a house where I had to put on my best designer clothes to eat breakfast, however there was just something about the Lindsay Lohans. It may have been superficial, but I wanted to be liked by the Lindsay Lohans, and they were definitely going on my top 8.

So, my top eight ended up being Natalie Portman, Lindsay Lohan, Christina Aguilera, Kate Hudson, Mandy Moore, Jen Aniston, Scarlett Johanson, and Drew Barrymore.

I didn't put SJP, Jessica Biel, and Kirsten Dunst in my top 8.

I voted and went home. I tried to get to sleep, but was just too excited and ended up recapping the night with my roommate and friends.

More to come later and Merry Christmas!!