[Storytime!]

Day 3 (45 minute parties)

Chapters typically showed a sisterhood video and/or had sisters talk about what the chapter meant during this party.

All of us swimmers had to stop by in the morning to see our invites for the day and rank them for our pref invites. For whatever reason, we hoped that we could stop by the sororities we were invited back to in person before our meet, but whether we didn’t ask about this ahead of time or no one disabused us of this notion, I can’t remember. So we went to the pool for warm-ups, did our hair makeup and got dressed up, and ran over to the student center where they gave us our cards and said in no uncertain terms that we could not stop by the chapters before our meet. All of that work for nothing… oh well!

I came back, and for the 4 parties I had:

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Rachel
Monica

I was shocked. I only had 2, and I didn’t have Phoebe on my list! I had such a great connection there. Was it that I missed the first day? Did they not think the conversations were as good as I did? And nothing from Chandler or Joey? I didn’t do great at Joey, but I thought I had done better at Chandler. PNM lesson: Looking back, it was that I tried too hard to fit the Joey personality and because I thought I was “too cool” for Chandler I’m sure that came across in my conversations and who wants to invite back someone that doesn’t seem to want to be there. Also, missing one of the days could not have helped.

My decision on which 2 chapters I’d like to go back to for pref was easy, so I ranked them:

Monica
Rachel

My friends’ invites were:

J had Ross, Chandler, Phoebe and Joey
A had Rachel, Chandler, Joey and Phoebe
E had Rachel, Joey, Phoebe and Monica
L had Chandler, Joey, Rachel, and Monica
N had Monica, Chandler, Ross and Phoebe

I went back to the swim meet, and had to spend the day worrying that if so many cut me after Day 2, would I have any for pref? My Rho Chi would call me that night if I had no invites back, and I was a mess waiting. Luckily, 9pm came and went and no phone calls came, so I had at least one invite back!

J’s boyfriend was a Junior in XYZ fraternity, and the homecoming king, and was telling her that Joey was really the best chapter for her, and that she shouldn’t go for her other chapters. He was not a great guy, and I think he didn’t want a girlfriend in Ross, Phoebe or Chandler. Boys suck, and should keep their noses out of a decision that will not affect them in any way. PNM lesson: your boyfriend is not going to go to chapter meetings, sisterhood events, work on recruitment, share the joy of big/little revealing, live in the house, or watch Keeping Up With the Kardashians in someones bed with you, but your sisters will. Make your decision based on those things, not some fraternity guy's opinion. If he's the right guy for you, he'll still take you to football games and date parties and formal no matter what letters you wear!

My roommate N was making a similar decision, but entirely self-driven. She decided that she only wanted to be a Monica, and just knew that it was the right place for her after today and that they had such a connection she could not see being anywhere else. I’m sure we tried to talk her out of this, but I’m also sure we didn’t know enough about the system to really make a good argument.