We break the open round into two days of parties, visiting 3 on one day and 3 on the next. At my school, sororities don’t have chapter houses, so the parties were held at venues around town and we were bussed to each location. I love classic rock music, so I have given the sororities at my school according code names
The Doors
The Rolling Stones
The Beatles
Jimi Hendrix
Pink Floyd
Led Zeppelin
First up was:
The Doors: This was the only chapter I had a rec to, but my school doesn’t place a ton of importance on recs in the first place.I loved this party. The snacks were delicious and the girls I talked to were very friendly and down to earth, which was important to me because I’m a very “no frills” kind of gal. I talked to 4 girls here, and every conversation was comfortable. I talked about everything from the weather, to basic get-to-know-yous, to awful roommate stories. These girls seemed very open, funny, and confident. They showed us a hilarious video about their sisterhood. Overall I left feeling very happy and confident I had made a good impression. I really wanted to go back and felt extremely comfortable here, especially for it being my first party of recruitment!
The Rolling Stones: This was the small local sorority on campus. We were seated 5 PNMs to 1 rusher at tables, which was very awkward and difficult to hold a conversation. How it went for the most part was that the active would ask the table a question and all of us PNMs would answer her one by one. It was hard to find a groove. We were told to help ourselves to some cookies which were ok, and then when conversation dwindled we all went to see the nice displays and scrapbooks that had been set out. The girls seemed very nice, but nervous. For some it was probably exactly what they were looking for, but it was not my cup of tea.
The Beatles: This is the largest sorority on our campus, but I felt a little bit of a disconnect between all of the girls. The girls were nice but a few conversations felt very forced. I had taken a school trip to Spain the summer before, and after my first rusher got bumped, that was the only topic I discussed the rest of the night. (Four times I heard "This is kayrule, we were just talking about her trip to Spain!" "Oh my gosh, tell me all about it!")
I didn't feel like I really got to know any of the girls here, or truly express myself. Overall, it was a so-so experience. I left feeling good, but not as great as I had leaving
The Doors.
I went home exhausted, but excited for what the next day of open parties had in store!