[Retrorush09]

Pre-Recruitment

Honestly, I did not do very much prep for recruitment. I didn’t secure recs and I didn’t go shopping, but I did obsessively look at the national and local websites for the chapters on my campus. By the time the first day of recruitment came, I was so excited that I literally could not talk about anything else. I still hadn’t had very many interactions with sorority women except for my classmate from Rapunzel.

Open House

Our first chapter of the night was Tiana, which was the new, colonizing chapter. We attended presentations in our Rho Gamma groups and were allowed to speak with and ask questions of the national representatives. I was definitely impressed by Tiana's presentation. The representatives were very well put together and very charismatic. The only con I could really see was the price. Dues for the colony would be nearly double the dues for established chapters. Tiana dropped out of formal recruitment after this round, so in order to rush this group, a PNM had to drop from formal recruitment before signing a bid card.

Cinderella was up next. For the first 5 minutes of the party I think I was absolutely useless because I just could not get over how loud everything was. There were over 100 women trying to converse in that one room and it took me a while to adjust. The girls I talked to at Cinderella were friendly and very pretty, but I didn’t really feel much of a connection.

Aurora’s party was next and I felt MUCH more comfortable here. All of my rushers at this house were so friendly and I remember laughing a ton. They had done a great job decorating the room and I was really impressed by how much effort they had put in. I definitely wanted to get to know them better throughout recruitment.

Unfortunately, after Aurora, my next party was a dud. I don’t remember much about Mulan except that my rusher (only one for this party) talked at me for just about the entire time. Instead of asking me questions and having a conversation, she just talked about the various room decorations. I had a bad taste in my mouth after this party.

Ariel was a bit better than Mulan, but not by much sadly. The women here were nice and welcoming, but I just didn’t click with any of the ones I talked to. Maybe the women I talked to the next day would be more my speed?

Snow White brought my mood back up, although my energy was starting the flag. I was double rushed here, which I didn’t like, but the sisters were upbeat and excited to talk to us, which made up for it. I left with a good impression of the chapter, although I was confused as to what it meant to be double rushed…was it just a style choice or was there a reason?

My last party of the night was Rapunzel and by the time it started, I was completely dead. Luckily, my rushers seemed to understand how tired we all were and a few of them made jokes to try and get me laughing and back in the moment. The conversations here were really fun and relaxed and I felt like each girl I talked to was actually interested in getting to know me. I was excited to see them again tomorrow.

Because there were no cuts after this night, we did not rank. Aurora and Rapunzel were clear favorites though; however, Tiana intrigued me, too. I was exhausted but so excited for Philanthropy Night the next day!