[ree-Xi]

Originally Posted by crosscaravan

My school is a mid-sized campus with six NPC chapters. Recruitment begins about a week after classes do, both to give PNMs the chance to settle into their classes and see how busy they'll be, and to give Panhellenic the chance to get people to sign up. Compared to larger schools, we do not have a very competitive or a very dressy recruitment. The majority of PNMs coming through are not legacies, either because none of their family has been Greek or because none of their family has been to college - the legacies we do get are usually the younger sisters of current members, though we do occasionally get legacies from chapters in other states. Recs are not strictly required, but they do help to give a PNM an edge over the others. At the time that recruitment takes place, it's usually stupidly hot out but, thankfully, not terrifyingly humid. While Greek Life is not as prominent as it would be in, say, SEC schools, Greeks do have something of a "presence" on campus - I'm not really sure exactly how to describe it, but there you have it.

To preserve anonymity - since my recruitment happened during the 2010-2011 school year, and the chapters are still here on campus and only a handful of girls have graduated from each - the names of people appearing in this story have been changed, and I will be naming the chapters after places I hope to visit someday.

Andorra
Hong Kong
Malta
New Zealand
Seychelles
Sri Lanka

I don't plan on revealing the full code at the end, and I apologize in advance for that. If you think you know which campus I'm talking about, please just PM me and I'll be glad to confirm your suspicions privately.

Also, I don't have this written out in its entirety just yet - I'm writing it post-by-post and looking back on my recruitment booklet and emails I sent to my family while I was going through to refresh my memory. I'll try to get it all up ASAP and I hope to post once or twice a day, so you shouldn't be waiting too long. But, this school year is about to begin and I sometimes find myself getting carried away with work and last-minute class prep, so if I miss a day or two, I am very sorry in advance and I'll post as soon as I can.

And one more thing - if any of you with more experience notices things that I or other PNMs did that were either good or bad, please point them out so that anyone reading can learn from these experiences. Thank you very much!

Originally Posted by crosscaravan

If I said that I'd known all my life that I would go Greek, I would be lying. In fact, I didn't even think about Greek life until my first semester of my freshman year, when I passed a table on my way to class and a girl waved me over to ask if I'd thought about sorority life at all. Call me stupid, but I hadn't. She was really nice and answered my questions, helped me fill out my recruitment registration sheet, and sent me on my way with a booklet of information.

I didn't really give what I signed up for much thought until later that night, when I was back in my room and my roommate Alison and I were settling down to watch a movie. She noticed the booklet peeking out of my bag and asked what it was. I brought it out and told her, and she made a face - sort of an "Oh, you too?" kind of thing. A high school friend of hers had registered for recruitment earlier in the week and was trying to get her to do it along with her, but she wasn't interested. She said she hadn't pegged me as someone interested in sororities and said that she hoped I wouldn't go all "Greek-crazy" during recruitment week. We watched the movie, but I'd seen it before and was only half paying attention - I kept flipping through the recruitment booklet to read up on the chapters. Oh, there were dress codes for each of the days, too... I felt glad that I'd brought more than just jeans and T-shirts along with me.

Fast forward to orientation.

There were so many girls. I mean, I knew Greek life was present on campus - after signing up, I'd noticed a lot of girls wearing Greek letter shirts or carrying totes with letters on them (I'd taken astronomy in high school, and our teacher had us memorize the Greek alphabet because of naming conventions). But I hadn't realized that there were quite so many people who were interested.

I was like, "Oh my gosh, there has to be hundreds of us, how are we going to find where we fit in at just six places???" Silly me!

Our orientation was sort of a mini-introduction to Greek Life and an overview of each chapter; it sort of felt like a lot of what was covered, was what had been in our recruitment booklets. They went over the dress codes for each round, too, with a different girl coming up onstage in what would be considered acceptable for each party. Then they introduced our recruitment counselors - they called them something different at my school, but I usually see them called Rho Chis here, so I'll just go with that to make it easier to remember.

There were four rounds: Open House, when you could visit every chapter; Heritage, when you could visit up to five chapters; Philanthropy, when you could visit up to four chapters; and Preference, when you could visit up to two. Bid Day was the day after Preference, but because of classes, the ceremonies weren't going to be starting until evening.

Then, each of the Rho Chis called out groups of girls. These were going to be our recruitment groups, though we were cautioned that as time went on our schedules weren't going to match up perfectly. Mine was a group of nine other girls, plus me - ten in total, eleven if you counted Mandy, our Rho Chi. We introduced ourselves, talked about our hopes for recruitment, and listened to Mandy as she explained that while we were looking to find a chapter full of girls that would become our sisters, the girls we were doing this with could also be our sisters as well, so we should try to get along and support each other. She was probably required by Panhellenic to say it, but I think it's a good sentiment nonetheless.

A couple of the girls in my Rho Chi group tried to guess which chapter Mandy was from. Her answer to everything was "Maybe!" - no hesitation or any other verbal or visual cues. After that, we exchanged phone numbers, decided on where we'd meet Mandy the next day, and hung out for about an hour before a passing professor reminded us that we had homework that needed doing.

I'm not sure how much sleep the others got that night, but I know I had trouble falling asleep - Alison finally threw a pillow across the room at me and said she'd be investing in a pair of earplugs, if I remember correctly. Her snores were a lot louder than my tossing and turning, but I tried to stay quiet until I finally drifted off to sleep.

Ready or not, recruitment, here I come...

Originally Posted by crosscaravan

We were due to meet Mandy at 11:00 that morning, a Saturday, and though I'd had trouble falling asleep the night before, I found myself awake just a little after 9:30. Alison was not there. I guessed she was out to find that pair of earplugs she was talking about or something, I dunno. It was nice to have the room to myself as I was getting ready, but I was a little worried because I didn't have anyone to bounce my outfit ideas off of.

I finally settled on a purple, white, and black top with cut-out sleeves (not identical to these sleeves, 'cause they were a bit shorter, but this is kind of what I'm talking about as far as sleeves go), paired with denim shorts similar to ones that had been worn by Rho Chis during orientation and black sandals. I straightened my hair and left it hanging down my back, and once it was time to go I headed out to meet Mandy and the rest of my Rho Chi group.

When we all arrived, Mandy explained the process: We'd have about 25 minutes at each party to get to know the girls, we'd have to arrive at each house early, we couldn't bring our purses or cell phones in, there'd be water and stuff outside so that nobody passed out, if we needed to use the bathroom we should do it before going into a party. It all made sense. I mean, why would you want to bring stuff in that could distract you when you're trying to get to know the people you're talking to? ...that's what I thought, anyway. Some of the other girls seemed a little miffed, but they ended up having to accept it and left their stuff outside with the Rho Chis once we arrived at our first house, with a few of the other groups.

Hong Kong - Even though we'd talked about what would happen on the visits, I was not prepared for the clapping girls when the doors opened and we were brought inside. It was so loud! But the girls had so much energy that it wasn't really possible not to feel swept up in the excitement. I was smiling as I met Maria, the girl who was going to be showing me around. She was about my size, but had darker coloring and her outfit was just too cute. She was wearing an adorable necklace which I found out later was one of her chapter's symbols, and we talked about it for a minute before moving on to why we'd come here for school, what we were studying, and stuff like that. As we talked, she started showing me the pictures that were hanging up in her house's hall. We wound up in the living room, and she sat me down on one of the couches with another active and PNM. They'd been talking about movies, and the other active, Jamie, asked what the last movie I'd seen was. Alison had begged me to see Vampires Suck with her not too long before, and I wasn't thinking when I answered - but I wish I had! Jamie looked shocked for a minute before she was like "Oh, I really liked Twilight." Awkward... I couldn't figure out how to say I didn't hate Twilight, that I'd only gone because my roommate hadn't wanted to see the movie alone, but... everything I thought of sounded like backpedaling. We changed the subject and talked about music instead, and it turns out all four of us liked some of the same bands. The whole time, though, I was really scared I'd slip up and accidentally insult someone's tastes again... The conversation flowed more easily between Maria and me than it did between Jamie and me. I was a little disappointed that I'd messed up so quickly, but when it was time to go, I was determined to not do the same thing at the next house I visited. The actives sang to us as we left and we headed over to our next party.

Seychelles - After the last party, I was super-scared that I'd end up saying something bad again, but I wanted to try really hard to make a good impression. There were a lot of girls in my group who really, really wanted to pledge here, and it was easy to see why when we entered their home. The girls were so bright and energetic - it was obviously a strong chapter, and they all seemed really happy to see us. It felt like there were more actives than PNMs, that's for sure. A girl named Tiffany came up and introduced herself to me, and started showing me around the house, which was... well, gorgeous. There's really not any other way of describing it. Not too long into our conversation - about majors, classes, professors - one of her sisters, Megan, came up and introduced herself as well, and after the three of us talked for a little bit Tiffany left to go talk to other PNMs. Megan and I ended up talking about the Pretty Little Liars books; midway through that conversation, another sister, named Vanessa, joined in and after Megan left, the conversation shifted to movies (I didn't mention Vampires Suck, this time!) and she talked about how she and her sisters watched movies together a lot. From there the conversation turned to their sisterhood and the things they did together on campus, which I found really interesting. While we were talking about some of their events, we were told that it was time to go, and both of us had lost track of time so we were like, "Oh!" I left the house feeling much better. I thought that had gone well, and I hoped the next party would go just as well, if not better.

Malta - This was another strong chapter, and I think they had just as many, if not more, members than Seychelles. They were chanting, but their claps were a lot less frequent, so that was a nice change of pace. This time, the first girl I met was named Brooke, and she was just so cute - she was the definition of petite, but she was so enthusiastic about everything and talked with her hands and just had so much energy. We talked about where we came from, majors, what we did in high school - I mentioned playing volleyball, and she said she had been on her chapter's intramural team the year before. Turns out, Brooke and I play the same role whenever we play - we're the ones who chase after the balls and dive for them even when it looks like it's out of our reach. We giggled over the various "battle scars" we'd ended up with, and then one of her sisters came to join us. Sophia hadn't played intramural volleyball, but she did play racquetball with a group of sisters every weekend. I was really impressed by how much time it seemed like the girls were spending together. Brooke, Sophia, and I ended up talking about sports for awhile, and somehow were on the topic of riding bikes (Sophia and I couldn't to save our lives; Brooke biked everywhere) when it was time to go. I was smiling as I left - the first party hadn't been anything that was going to set the tone for the day. I was having fun.

New Zealand - This was the newest chapter on campus and they were unhoused, but according to the more "worldly" PNMs - the ones who claimed they knew everything about Greek Life - they were very strong and were "the next Seychelles." I didn't know about that, but I figured it'd be interesting to see what these girls were like. I was under the impression that the girls at the other houses had been so close because they lived with each other, but obviously housing was not everything because New Zealand was doing great. My first impression of them? "Oh my god, I love these girls." If I hadn't known better, I'd have thought they'd all grown up together - they all seemed to know each other so well. The room we were meeting them in was a little crowded, but they thoughtfully provided ice water for us indoors. The first girl I talked to was named Michelle, and while we didn't have much in common, majors and classes carried us well until one of her sisters bumped in. The other girl was named Sara and we talked a lot more - about their projects around campus, their symbols, the things they did together, and we were just getting on the subject of theme parks when we were told that, once again, it was time to go. This seemed to be becoming a theme - right when we'd start getting into a conversation, we had to leave! Well... we only had 25 minutes, so I guess it was to be expected. They sang to us as we left. Four down, two to go!

Sri Lanka - I hadn't heard much about this chapter from the other PNMs, but as we were walking over a girl in my group, Chloe, started talking about how she was a double legacy here because her mom and sister had been Sri Lankas on another campus and how she was a shoo-in. Another girl, Macy, asked about it... and was like "Dude, that doesn't count!" when Chloe let it slip that her mom had depledged before initiation and that her sister was still in the new member period at her campus. They were sort of bickering about it until it was time to go inside. There wasn't chanting and clapping at this chapter - instead, the members were singing as they walked us in. I remember thinking it was really cute but being surprised about it - after four parties I was starting to think chants and claps were the norm! Once again, our conversations started out with our majors, our classes, and stuff like that. One of the PNMs, Naomi, had the same major as me, and one of the actives had taken a class with one of the same teachers we'd both had. However, the subject soon changed to magazines, jewelry - since both actives were wearing interesting necklaces, and Naomi and I had complimented them - and things we did in our spare time. When we both got bumped, our new actives took us off on our own. Mine was named Rachel and we ended up talking about our favorite things to do. I love baking, so I ended up talking about that, and she seemed sort of interested but not especially impressed. The subject got changed to TV shows, which I didn't know much about, but we were able to make small talk until, once again, it was time to go. Maybe it was just because the houses I'd visited right before this one hadn't really made me struggle to keep talking, but I was feeling kind of iffy about this chapter. But I tried not to dwell on it. Now there was just one more left to visit...

Andorra - These girls were clapping, but they were also singing - it was sort of a cross between what I'd seen at Sri Lanka and the other chapters. While it wasn't as loud and out-there as some of the other chapters, it still had a very powerful effect. We were paired up with actives as we walked in and were shown around the house, which made it easier for the conversation to flow - there were a lot of interesting trinkets up that were serving as decorations, and whenever I'd ask about them it seemed like the girl I was talking to had an amazing story about how it meant something to the chapter. They had a lot of pictures out, even of girls who had graduated in the last few years, and I heard a lot of stories about how they kept in touch with everyone. I think one of the girls I talked to, Willow, said it best, when she was talking about how Andorra had provided her with a sisterhood that was going to last a lifetime. From there, we talked about so many different things - Willow and I clicked really well and I had a great time, and we never seemed to run out of things to talk about. The time passed way too quickly. When it was time to go, I was really sad to have to leave.

Now that our last party of the day had finished, it was time to go and rank our choices. Since we'd be able to visit five chapters the next day, what we were really doing was listing our top five chapters in no particular order, and listing the one chapter we wouldn't mind not returning to if we were invited back to all six. Our Rho Chi was careful to remind us that it didn't mean we were cutting them, though - it was just ranking. With that in mind, I stared down at my card and considered my choices. Finally, I ranked the chapters the following way:

Andorra
Malta
Seychelles
New Zealand
Hong Kong
Sri Lanka

I handed in my card and left to go back to my room. When I got back, Alison was there. She asked how I'd liked the chapters, and I said they were nice and that I'd had a good time. She seemed unimpressed, and immediately changed the subject to a movie she'd rented that she wanted to watch. I said I'd watch it with her as soon as I called my mom and let her know how the first day had gone.

So far, so good. I'd enjoyed myself and was looking forward to what was in store the next day.

You have a great memory to recall all those small details and conversations.