[elle1776]

Okay, here we go part two!! I was beginning my my new school and preparing myself for recruitment a little bit more than I had for the last year. My school is still on the West Coast but has a smaller Greek Life presence on campus compared to my last school. There are 9 NPC chapters and one associate chapter. However, one NPC chapter and the associate chapter don’t participate in formal recruitment. I got Letters of Rec for nearly all the chapters this time instead of just two. Eventhough most girls going through recruitment at my school didn’t know anything about sororities and I’m sure Letters of Rec are somewhat rare, I wanted to be extremely prepared this time around.

I had all of my outfits picked out and was ready to go. During 0 Week, I went to a Meet the Greeks/Activity Fair event and made sure to talk to girls at each chapter. This time I wasn’t going to focus on the “ranks/tiers” of the houses, but rather how I felt when I was in them and how they treated me. Focusing on other people’s opinions had hurt me the year before now I knew that this wasn’t the way to go.

With 8 Chapters, instead of using just colors I’ll use colorful fruits instead!

Watermelon
Strawberry
Grape
Green Apple
Coconut
Orange
Blueberry
Kiwi

DAY 1: OPEN HOUSE

I drove to school and met up with my Rho Chi group where the Greek Houses were. We were a super mixed group of freshman, sophomores, juniors, and even a senior or two. It was nice to have such a diverse group. The Panhellenic website had said that today everyone should dress casually and showed examples of jean shorts, jeans, tank tops etc., but I didn’t feel like that was appropriate so I wore a casual sundress with fancy sandals. I'm glad I dressed up a bit because I felt like it would've been better to be overdressed than under. With the actives wearing dresses and heels, a crop top and ripped jeans (what most girls were wearing) didn't feel like it would've made a good first impression

BLUEBERRY: My first house of the day was BLUEBERRY. I went in and was picked up by a sophomore who was super bubbly and asked me the usual first day questions like ‘what’s your major, and where are you from.’ She was really pretty and sweet. Another girl came over and was so outgoing that we were cracking up the entire time. I remember this house being so hot, because of the way their house faces it gets direct sunlight all day. Which is nice in some occasions, but with no air conditioning, we were all sweating during this party. The active I was talking to then led me out to their patio where they did a little song. They had remixed a current song with stuff about their sorority and I thought it was cute but a little cheesy at the same time haha.

GREEN APPLE: My group was then led over to our next house. I really liked how the outside of this house was designed and where it was located compared to the other houses. I was picked up at the door by one of their girls that they showcased a lot on their social media. She was on the cheer team and had a major similar to mine which made the conversation really flow. Another girl came over and we both had the same minor as well. She brought me over a water bottle with the paper wrapping being designed to say their sorority’s name. I thought it was really cute and I greatly appreciated how well they had done trying to match me up with girls they thought I would get along with.

Coconut: This house was known as being the struggling chapter on campus. They were super small and normally only got about a third of what quota would be for a new pledge class. I was picked up at the door by a junior and she grabbed the girl behind me as well. This other PNM was in my Rho Chi group and I had already gotten the feeling that she was a girl who would just say whatever was on her mind, no matter the context. This girl was so rude to the active and kept bringing up super inappropriate topics. I was shocked. I tried to ignore her and just talk politely with the active, even changing the subject a few times on my own away from what this girl was trying to talk about. I didn’t want the COCONUT girls to think I was rude like this girl was! Another girl came over and we chatted for a bit as a group of 4 before we were led out.

GRAPE: The next house was right next door to COCONUT so we didn’t have to walk far. I was picked up and led to their patio where the active I was talking to had the same major and was also a junior transfer from an area near me. We had a lot to talk about and the conversation went really well. However, when the next girl came over there were a couple of awkward pauses which made me feel like I had not had the best time there.

ORANGE: ORANGE was the next chapter that my group went to. I had a close friend who had gone to my community college in this sorority and she was super excited that I was going through recruitment. The active that grabbed me was so outgoing and nice, but there were sometimes where she came off as being a little to “tryhard-ish.” She was selling her chapter HARD and I felt like it was a little much for it just being the first day. My friend came over for a little bit to chat and say hello which I thought was really sweet. She was one of their sisterhood chairs and told the active I was talking to how awesome I was. Overall, when I left I could definitely picture myself in this chapter.

STRAWBERRY: I was a little nervous going to this house next, as it is known as one of the more competitive houses to get into. But I reminded myself not to feed into the stereotypes that each house had and to base it on how I felt coming out. I was picked up at the door by a super beautiful active who was extremely involved on campus. She made me feel at home right away and the short party flew by. Another active stopped by to say hello and chat briefly, but I only talked to that one active for the entire party. It made me a little nervous not to have been able to talk to more girls and I hoped I made a good impression because I really wanted to come back to this house the next day.

WATERMELON: At this point in the night I was so tired from such a long day. But when I left WATERMELON I felt renewed. A petite senior picked me up at the door and led me to their patio. It was finally cool outside and was a welcomed relief compared to the heat we had experienced during the day. She was from out of state and we didn’t have much in common on the surface but she was so kind and welcoming that we clicked right away. I talked to four more girls that party including, a sporty waterpolo player, a girl who was in a campus program I wanted to join, one of their seniors who (based off of social media) was really well respected in the chapter and who I had met at the Activities Fair, and their Recruitment Chair. It was a whirlwind of a party, but each one of them connected to me in a different way. I walked out absolutely loving this house.

KIWI: After having such a great time in WATERMELON I was hoping to have a great time in KIWI too but the conversations here felt flat. I honestly can’t even remember what I talked about in this house but I left not really wanting to return.

WOO! Day 1 was done! I walked back to where we would be ranking our houses and talked to my Rho Chi a bit before submitting

1. WATERMELON
1. STRAWBERRY
1. ORANGE
1. GREEN APPLE
1. BLUEBERRY
1. GRAPE
2. KIWI
3. COCONUT