[USFrush09]

Day 4. Prefernce Day (Morning)/ Bid Day (Night).

I got really nervous the night of Sisterhood Day, I was praying that I would get no phone calls and I didn’t. So… I met up with my ΠΧ group and was told everything was “strict silence” no one was allowed to talk/chat unless they had questions specifically for the ΠΧ about their invite list or about today. They called my name and I was invited to: Sagittarius and Capricorn.

What happened to Virgo? What did I do wrong? I noticed a pattern..

Leo was my #1 pick for Spirit Day and the next day I got dropped.
Gemini was my #1 pick for Philanthropy Day and the next day I got dropped.
Virgo was my #1 pick for Sisterhood Day and the next day I am dropped.

What is going to happen later today when I rank? Will I even be offered a bid? I was extremely uneasy, all of my top choices were gone and I kept thinking about that and became more and more upset. I asked my ΠΧ if she could talk to me privately and she gladly did. I pretty much started to vent, I remember asking her what is wrong with me? She just told me that there was nothing wrong with me and that both of these sororities were great and have excellent members in their chapter. She said even though I don’t think so now, that I will understand when I get into one of these sororities that I have more in common with them than I think. She encouraged me to go to both of their parties, which I told her I was planning to anyway. As I started walking to my first house, Capricorn, I started thinking how my feelings have changed yesterday with both of these sororities. I began feeling better and waited to enter the Capricorn house.

Capricorn – The door opened and you can hear them singing softly, I was led to a table decorated nicely and talked to a girl who I met on the first day. Then we were served with food and a beverage and we continued talking, there was some awkward pauses in the middle of our conversation and I think the girl that preffed me wasn’t the best to pref me lol. I felt stronger connections with other members, not saying she was horrible, it was hard to find a lot in common with her. After we talked for a while we were led into the Capricorn house (before we were eating in a fraternity’s house) it was dark, drapes covered the windows, candles lit on the floor, and sisters holding a “flower”, singing as all the PNMs came in and sat down in a chair which many chairs were lined up in a semi circle, and behind were the Capricorns. The “public ritual” was so beautiful. The president stood in the middle and made a speech and started reading out of a book about sisterhood and bonding, I was then handed the “flower” from behind from the girl who is preffing me. Then the sisters talked about rough times in their lives and how their sisters were always there for them, how someone needed help from far away and their big came all the way out to help her, as they were talking they started to cry, every Capricorn started to cry, as did I. I heard these confessions made by all the Capricorns and I felt tremendous guilt for not seeing this sorority for what it really is. The president made a final speech while crying and by the time she was finished it was time for us to leave. As the PNMs were leaving there was a table with a dish filled with water, we were to pull a petal and place it in the water and place the flower beside the dish and walk out. But, typical me, I dropped my rose on the floor, quickly picked it up like nothing happened, did my thing and left. As the doors closed I really wanted to slap myself on the forehead. Only I can make a clumsy mistake as that.

Sagittarius – As I was waiting in front of the Sagittarius house, I kept looking back at the Capricorn house. Something was making me want to go back there, it was such a strange feeling. The front door opened and the tables had their sorority flower, cake which was in their sorority colors, as well as the soft drink they served lol. It was all very beautifully decorated. I loved the girl that was preffing me and I remember just chatting to her about completely random things and then she asked me how my day was going. I told her that I liked the members of Sagittarius more than the other sorority I preffed because I just felt like myself. I really felt comfortable and I could talk to any member of Sagittarius about anything and not be looked at weird or thought of as crazy. She told me she was happy to hear that and by that time we were led through the back door which there was a small building which they considered their chapter room. I sat in a chair and the members of Sagittarius were standing behind us. The president gave a few words and then the members also started talking about their rough times in life and how Sagittarius helped them through everything. I started crying a bit because I related to one girl’s story. After the president made her final speech I left the chapter room, walked around the corner and my ΠΧ was standing there.

My ΠΧ’s arms were crossed, waiting for me to come out. She looked directly at me and I shook my head up and down and then she gave me a big hug because I knew I could be happy in either sorority and I think she knew it too. I had a strong feeling my ΠΧ was a Leo, the sorority I loved the first day. I know I will never be a Leo… but I will always think so highly of Leos, especially my ΠΧ. I had no idea what my other ΠΧ was but I knew I would find out on Bid Day. I was given my ranking sheet and then I began to rethink about everything. I couldn’t choose…. I was so torn. I flipped a coin and it landed on heads-Sagittarius, but I decided to rethink about the FR days and even info night.

Both Capricorn and Sagittarius were friendly during info night, I loved both sororities that day, but definitely talked to Sagittarius the longest. I felt overall I had better experiences in Sagittarius. My ΠΧ told me to write a letter to both sororities stating why you don’t want to pledge them, and whichever seems the hardest is the one that I would probably want to pledge. The hardest to write was Sagittarius’. So I ranked them as:

1.Sagittarius
2.Capricorn

__________________________________________________ ________________
Bid Night.

So tonight is the night…. Where all the PNM eagerly await their bids. We had a DJ playing music outside, our ΠΧ group was taking pictures of each other and dancing. The ΠΧs were happy that they can finally show us who they really are and reunite with their houses. I was happy to finally join a house and get the most overwhelming week I ever had out of my way.

I think the most hardest thing about formal recruitment is the gossip you hear between PNMs despite the ΠΧs telling us to not talk about who we get. My group also talked about "tiers" and I know it affects PNMs in a bad way. For me, it was the rejection and not knowing why you were cut. It definitely took me down mentally at times.

Anyways, after about 30 minutes we got our bids.

Here was the breakdown of who got bids in my group (including me):

5 girls went Delta Delta Delta
2 girls went Kappa Delta
2 girls went Delta Gamma
2 girls went Alpha Delta Pi
1 girl went Zeta Tau Alpha
3 girls went Alpha Omicron Pi

….and I got a bid to…























SAGITTARIUS!













a.k.a.



































































































(my g.c. name is "mittens")
Alpha Omicron Pi (ΑΟΠ)


What happens is all ΠΧs do a little chant and then they announce the sororities in alphabetical order and we then run to our house. I saw a panda with my name on it and she ended up being my temporary big. I went into the house and we had our bid day party. I saw twinkle555 (you were hilarious that day and yes I am in twinkle555s chapter if anyone wanted to know) and I talked to quite a few girls. I was still overwhelmed meeting so many new girls. We ate some more food and then it was time for us to go back outside again for the ΠΧs do reveal themselves. My 2 ΠΧs ended up being a Leo and a Gemini.

I don't know why, but it hit me emotionally. I knew my ΠΧ was a Leo and not having her a sister kind of made me upset because she was like my temporary best friend for a week. As she was taking off her ΠΧ shirt (her sorority shirt with letters was underneath) she made her handsign and then she saw me, ran to me, gave me a big hug and said "love ya" and ran to her sorority. I did cry and I don't know why. After all the ΠΧs revealed themselves we went back into the house and I think girls started noticing that something is wrong with me and one of my sisters ended up talking to me personally outside. She told me that it is not like I will never see them again because we are all panhellenic sisters. She even told me a couple of Leos slept over their house not too long ago. She talked to me about other things and I felt really happy by the time I left.

I attended the get togethers that they had, but I ended up disappearing for 2 months and no one really knew why. As I wrote previously, my dad had a medical problem, physically and mentally and my parents were seperating which lead to other problems, etc. I don't want to get into deep detail about it, but yes, it was a very good reason to put my sorority aside. I chose my dad over my sorority at that time and during those 2 months I went to Capricorn's philathropy and sat with the Sagittarius members, but no one really said anything to me disappearing because I never told anyone why I just left. I know that isn't the right thing to do, I should of told somebody. I talked to only a handful of girls during my time away. I asked if I can return, which at that time everyone was wondering where their panda baby went. I felt awful, I told the members my situation, and at this moment I'm going through my nm process and formal pledging is coming up and I'm happy to say that everything ended up well for my dad and I can continue to move on with my sorority. I had to reconnect with every single member, I invited them out to eat with me and I even went to their spring recruitment to try to meet all the new members they got from COR, but since I was still considered a NM, they put me upstairs since I couldn't recruit, but I did have fun talking to everyone.

Actually today I'm going out to eat with my temporary big and tomorrow is "alpha night" where our spring NMs can get to know more sisters. I'm excited because this month is full of events for our spring NMs and me I am planning on attending almost every single event and getting involved in AOII.

That is my story. Thank you for reading. I know it was a lot.