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I went into the Recruitment experience with virtually no knowledge of what it entailed. I had the resume and the leadership experiences. I was a first-generation Greek. I had no family members or friends who were Greek who could provide advice.
In addition, I was one of those silent but observant types. I didn't know that while the active members of each chapter were telling me about their sisterhood and activities, that I should in turn be doing the same. I did not even attempt to convince them that I would be an ideal member, I did not know that it mattered. I did not realize that by keeping my head down and creating the best darn crafted project for their Philanthropy round did little to let them know who I was, what I had hoped for, what I could contribute. When it was all said and done I was full of regret and rejection.
While this may not have been what happened for you during recruitment, it was, in hindsight what hampered me from having what some would consider as a 'successful' recruitment. I am writing this mostly because I know there are other women who are in your same situation. Despite the fact that I may not have had the recruitment that I would have hoped for, the organization that I initiated in was one that I approached with full intensity and I am still very active with them as an alumnae and national volunteer 15+ years after I walked through the first recruitment door. I made the best of it and now I could not begin to imagine my life anywhere else.
You will likely never know why you were released when you were, but what you can do is look forward on how you can be the best member of the chapter who saw something valuable in you. Find the chapter where you feel at ease and comfortable and ignore the stereotypical signs of superiority. How you can be the best sister with all of your pledge sisters and all of the other members that you will become friends with? Tiers are an extension of a high school hierarchy and once you graduate and move on to other parts of the country you realize that the national organization as a whole is what matters more because you have sisters virtually everywhere. Four years is a short time frame within a lifetime of involvement.
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