[sherrybaby]

Because I'm procrastinating and this is fun, I figure I'll post pre-recruitment too (:

I was unable to get to any of the pre-recruitment events except one, an ice-cream social-type of event. I was definitely nervous since I really had no idea what to expect, but I resolved that I would try to work around my initial shyness and be calm and confident.

The way things were arranged was that the sororities all had representatives arranged in the courtyard area outside the ice cream shop. You basically could just go up to anyone wearing letters and start talking and asking questions, although I soon found they were pretty eager to come up to you and that I wouldn’t have to be doing much initiating of conversations.

The first group I came to was Bill. I saw the senior I knew and had a brief exchange where she told me she had no idea that I was rushing but was really happy I was. I moved on pretty quickly though, since I really wanted to make sure I had time to talk to Fred and Ginny.

The next group in the circle happened to be Ginny, so I chatted with a tiny, super energetic girl there for a few minutes. She seemed so excited to be there, which was nice but I felt sort of overwhelmed. I mentioned the girl I led with, who she seemed to know but not really well. It was a pretty neutral conversation – I didn’t get a bad impression but wasn’t really impressed either. I definitely wanted to learn more about them.

Next I spoke with two girls from Charlie. They were pretty sweet but our conversation was pretty surface-level. They were more down-to-earth than I expected but since I expected snobs (I know, I was so judgmental) that wasn’t saying much.

I ran into two Freds next. They were as nice as I expected but seemed a bit distracted by everyone milling around. I liked them but didn’t get to talk to them long. I was talking to 2 of them at once and so I got to see the sister dynamic at work. They really seemed to care about one another and I could tell they were best friends.

The next group over was George. I ended up spending most of the night talking to two of the girls. It turned out one of them had done Young Life her whole life (her parents worked for them) and was best friends with one of the girls I worked with at Young Life camp this summer. I was so excited to find that out and she told me a lot about George’s Bible study and other Christian aspects. The other girl was, like me, from the other side of the country from where we go to school. I found her super easy to talk to and ended up talking with her for a long time, with other pnm’s drifting in and out of our conversation. Overall I was really impressed with these girls and found myself thinking they were now tied for top with Fred.

After making myself leave the George I was talking to so as not to hog her the whole night, I saw the two Percys I knew from living in my dorm last year. I briefly spoke with them about rushing and classes before sort of slipping away. I still wanted to talk to Ron since I really didn’t know anything about them.

Unfortunately, it was now almost time to leave and the Rons had already left. I finished the circle at Bill again and had a girl walk over to me and start up a conversation. She commented on my accent and how it was close to the other Bill I knew, who grew up in the same area as I did. I was thinking in the back of my head how she was really nice but I just wasn’t interested in her sorority (awful, I know). Our conversation was cut short by the head Rho Chi announcing that the event was over and to finish up our last conversations.

Overall the event made me so excited for rush. I confided to my roommate how impressed I was by George and she told me that she honestly thought I’d probably fit best there, which made me even more excited. It was nice that I now would have two chapters I was really excited about as well as a third I’d be happy in, instead of just one I loved and one I was okay about, which is how I felt before the event. I was a bit disappointed I didn’t get to talk to Ron since they were still a wild card, but I knew I would get plenty of opportunity during official recruitment. Overall, pre-recruitment helped make me more sure about my decision to rush, and super excited for the week ahead.

Btw, I know I probably seem really judgmental & bratty in this, like I wasn't giving some of the sororities a chance, and that's for two reasons. First, because I had been on campus for a year, I felt justified in making judgments because unlike the freshmen, I actually knew people in most of the groups. I now realize that even that was pretty stupid considering how many girls make up a sorority and that I only knew a fraction of them. The second is because this was pre-recruitment, I knew I would get to spend a solid amount of time talking to each of the houses anyway, so I might as well make pre-recruitment more about the sororities I already felt a connection to. I guess that's solid reasoning considering I had to budget my time, but I just wanted to clarify.