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Two weeks or so before…….
The first activity is an open house/house tours, which occurs a bit before formal recruitment. Girls who have already registered are invited to attend, and bring friends who have not registered. It was scheduled to run about 4 hours. At the earliest time, Bridget was at the appointed place for pick up, but no one else was there. After a few minutes, she saw another girl, who was also there for tours. Within 15 minutes, the Rho Gammas showed up and had a fun surprise-the girls were being transported in a hummer limo. Basically, the limo drive shuttled the girls back and forth. (You can guess from this, it’s not a University of Alabama or UGA kind of recruitment……….there are typically about 75 girls in total per house, with a quota of 25 or 30. I received a couple of cute texts with the girls in the car and posing outside it.
Bridget left liking Jem the best, with Scout a close second. These happened to be two of the sororities that she had recommendations written for her. For Jem, she had a close family friend we have known about 12 years. She also had her cousin, who was in an SEC sorority. For Scout, she had her coach (and confirmation sponsor), who has known her since she was 6. In third was Atticus. Bridget also had a good recommendation for this chapter, from someone who happens to be an alum from this same chapter and has known her 6 or 8 years. Bridget liked them, just not quite as much as Scout and Jem. She thought Boo was fine or okay, just not a favorite. I assume she does not have a recommendation for this chapter. She was supposed to but I don’t think the person ever sent it. She didn’t really like Maudie. Maudie is supposed to be a “top tier” group (along with Jem and Boo). She has a recommendation for Maudie, but not from someone she knows.
Bridget really didn’t have specifics as to why she felt as she did-it was just her impressions.
Here is the recruitment schedule:
Day 1: Welcome, orientation and meet with rho gammas
Day 2: Dinner, visit all five houses, meet with rho gammas
Day 3:Philanthrophy/Sisterhood, visit up to 4 houses, meet with rho gammas
Day 4: Preference, visit up to 2 houses, meet with rho gammas
Day 5: Bid Day
Day 2 Bridget has a conflict-she has a mandatory school activity that overlaps dinner and the beginning of the visits. She is hoping to be allowed to leave her activity a little early, so she can run back to the dorm and quickly shower and change. She will have to ask someone from her dorm for a ride over to the houses (typically, the girls will meet and walk to the houses together). I am hoping that since there are many more sessions than there are houses, she will be allowed to do this.
Bridget let me know that she “needed” (her words, mom thinks “wanted”) a new dress for preference, but given my budget this month it just wasn’t money I wanted to spend. So, Bridget went shopping in a friend’s closet who lives in the area and found an adorable dress. For the rest of the events, she felt she already had what she needed. Or planned to borrow from friends she met at school.
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