[lunalovegood]

I think I'm going to mention my mindset and preparation in going into recruitment at my school. My school isn't known for its sorority life, and girls aren't expected to prepare like they do at other schools. I knew my mentor was in Steve Madden, and she gave me some general advice, especially to dress kind of nicely. People get really involved in everything at my school, so girls came to recruitment rounds straight from sports practices or things like that. I had never been on GreekChat or anything like that. I essentially was just going into it like, "Eh, we'll see what happens." Anyone going to a school where recruitment is taken seriously: DON'T DO ANYTHING I DID.

Day 4: Invitational 2
Few, if any, cuts were made between today and yesterday.
Today we went to each house!

Today we all had to meet in the student union instead of the alumni house so that the rho chis could drive us to the various houses. There was one girl, who I'll call A, that had the curliest hair I had ever seen. She complimented me on my outfit: we were both wearing flare skirts with loose shirts tucked in. She looked so pretty and put together that I was immediately envious.

First on my list today was Sperry's. As soon as I saw their house, I was just like, "WOW!" Compared to some of the houses I've seen online it was definitely far from "beautiful", but there was something about it that clicked as soon as I saw it. Their inside was so pretty! I remember their living room couches and dining room walls were both their colors. They did an "around the world" theme which was so cute! My group was divided up and we were brought from room to room for various mini treats depending on the theme -- Italian, Asian, Mexican. I remember feeling a little nervous and overwhelmed, but I was SO excited because something just felt at HOME about the house. In one of the upstairs rooms we were going through and I was talking to a sister I hadn't spoken to yet, and it turned out that she had gone to my high school's rival high school! It was really funny since we knew some of the same people from back home. I left Sperry's with a really good feeling that I hadn't experienced before.

Next on the list was Steve Madden. They lived in school housing -- basically a set of apartments that had been combined. I loved how there were a bunch of small common areas with different themes! One of them was Vera Bradley, which I think every girl obsessed over! When we were first greeted by these girls, they did a cute skit and gave us each a certain flower to hold. I talked to quite a few girls and I loved how much sisterhood was in that house. It really did feel like a home with so many things around the house that showed how much their sisterhood meant to them.

Finally we went to Jack Rogers. For the first time, I was unimpressed. Beyond unimpressed. After all the presentation that had gone into their first few rounds… their house was awful. I know I was being judgmental at the time, and I'll be honest here: I was really turned off that a lot of their furniture was fold-out chairs and tables, something I hadn't seen at either of the other houses. They had a huge TV system and one of the sisters brought up that they'd all sit down and watch games together, which was also a turn off: I'm not really a sports person. But what shocked me the most is that they had the same theme as Sperry's: "around the world" where we were each brought to a room with a different multicultural theme. (I think their Mexican food was overall better, though.) I don't know if I was letting my disappointment get to me, but I wasn't clicking as well with the sisters, either. At the end of the "mini rounds" they sat us down and did a skit to "California Girls" and it was really funny! One of the girls was a really good singer, too.

As we were walking back, I caught up with Fraternity Brother's sister… turns out she had been dropped from Sperry's and had only been invited back to Jack Rogers and Converse! I was so shocked. From my uneducated judgmental PNM viewpoint, I thought she'd be a guaranteed Sperry's. It gave me a bit of hope that I'd have a chance of making it into Sperry's. (She ended up dropping out of recruitment all together.)

I sat down to make my rankings for preference, and I had to be honest with myself. I knew that Steve Madden felt so full of sisterhood, but something felt "off" about it. But being in all the houses really helped a lot, because it showed how the girls lived -- not just the buildings itself, but how they interacted with each other. I knew I just couldn't really see myself as a sister at Jack Rogers. And, if I had to be completely honest about myself… I was really starting to think that Sperry's was the one. All the PNMs I had talked to that wanted [COLOR="rgb(154, 205, 50)"]Sperry's[/COLOR] seemed a bit stuck up and "popular" for me. That wasn't me in high school. I was such a loner. It was hard for me to admit that I felt comfortable there. So in the end, I wrote down...

Sperry's / Steve Madden
Jack Rogers

As we were walking back, I was talking with Rho Chi's sister and another girl on her floor and told them that I think I belonged in Sperry's (because we all tent-talked and I had made it adamant that they were my third choice). They both thought I'd fit in there and were really excited for me. RC's sister even said, "I could see you as a sister there from the beginning." She was stuck between Sperry's and Steve Madden like me, and we were excitedly talking about the possibility of us being sisters!