Fall of junior year, I found out that only two sororities were doing recruitment:
Pumpkin and
Key Lime. There are a lot more than this at my school, so I felt like I would be missing out on places where I could fit in. I was really hell-bent on keeping an open mind, because I wanted to find the best possible fit. However, I didn't want to wait! While I had come out of my shell a lot the previous semester and made some great friends, I felt like I was still lacking a cohesive social group – plus, all of my friends in sororities seemed to be having so much fun. As a junior, I knew that my time in a sorority was already cut nearly in half and I wanted to be able to devote as much time as possible. I decided to go through with it anyway, and gave up on the other chapters that were not doing fall rush.
Recruitment was spread out over a week with the two sororities alternating nights when they had their parties, and pref over the weekend. I got everything ready in advance. Conscious of how awkward I had been the year before, I did some research (on GC
). I planned my outfits well in advance and had a cute necklace that I planned wearing every night. I thought of questions to ask, things to talk about. I was so prepared. I was ready.
The first party was
Key Lime. I was a little uncomfortable because I had a class that conflicted with half of the party and half of their other party – I wanted to meet as many sisters as possible! Also, one of the sisters was in the class, and I thought it might be weird if we ended up walking to the same place together. I thought it might look bad if I were to skip the class for recruitment – or maybe, if I didn't, I wouldn't look dedicated enough! I didn't know what to do, but I figured that if they didn't value academics, then it wasn't the place for me anyway. I felt a lot better when I saw the sister in class that day – if she wasn't skipping, surely it was okay that I wasn't.
This party was a lot different from
Lemon Meringue's. They took down our names and contact information, but there was no sheet to fill out. The room was also set up differently, with a lot of round tables. This was a much smaller chapter and girls were being double-rushed. The vibe with the tables was VERY laid-back. A lot of times the conversations would include the whole table instead of just the sister and the two girls being rushed. It wasn't what I expected. But the decorations were SO cute, and they had really great food as well.
When I first sat down, I panicked. Across the table from me were two girls (PNM's) who I DID NOT LIKE. One of them, Casey, I hated because of some drama involving a boy, the other one had done something really nasty to a close friend of mine. I didn't want to be sisters with either one of them. Fingers crossed.
The first girl I talked to, oddly enough, was the girl from class. She recognized me and deflected any awkwardness immediately. This made me feel a lot better. I liked her a lot – we talked about academics and how she had never expected to join a sorority, either. The other PNM who was talking with us, though, was SO intimidating. She seemed nice, but she was talking a mile a minute and I felt like I would never get a word in! I hoped the sisters would remember me. When the conversation started to encompass the whole table, it was about a topic on which I didn't know much about. I just hoped I would be remembered. The second girl I talked to was nice as well. I didn't really click with her, but she was really funny. I decided I liked
Key Lime, but I was disappointed I had only met two sisters and was convinced that this would work against me. I resolved to get there earlier to the next party so that I could meet more people.