Long story short: she had an absolutely fantastic recruitment and a very happy ending. I was hoping to write an actual real recruitment story, since I enjoyed reading the ones on here so much! Unfortunately I never got very many details during the actual recruitment, but here’s the abbreviated version--please forgive me if I get some of the vocabulary/details wrong here.
Round one: A seemed to go into the first round with a truly open mind. She loved almost every house, although there were one or two that she felt she didn’t really click with during this round. Her only real complaint during this round was about the terrible heat--it was well over 100 degrees and they were trooping from house to house in the blistering sun. She ended up with what I think was a full schedule after this first round, which was obviously a big confidence-booster.
Round two: A visited nine houses this round and loved every single one. She’s a talker, so I’m sure she just enjoyed the opportunity to gab nonstop with fun girls for hours and hours. At this point, any initial nervousness had worn off; she texted me that she was just having SO MUCH FUN seeing all the houses and meeting all the sisters. I was so glad she was authentically having fun, because that would show.
After round two, A got six houses back, which I think was also a full schedule, but this was also when the first realization about cuts set in: one of the girls she had made friends with in her recruitment group had only gotten one house back after round one and then was cut completely after round two. Apparently, this was entirely a grade issue. A was upset about this for her friend, but I figured it was a good lesson about keeping your grades up!
Round three: After visiting her six houses during round three, A still loved everyone and was sort of panicked about narrowing it down to two for pref. I encouraged her to talk to her RC, which she did and that was very helpful. By this point, I could tell she was starting to get a little tired from the long days. It never occurred to me during my research just how exhausting this would be, even for people who are naturally extroverted. I’m having a hard time imagining how you do this when classes are in session?
Pref: A got her top two choices back for pref and was thrilled. Fortunately she had figured out the whole pref dress thing before leaving home, so there was no stress there. As an aside: the wardrobe aspect was made much easier by the very helpful videos and photos all the houses and the university’s Panhellenic post about what to wear and what not to wear. A’s pref dress was absolutely adorable, although I’m ancient enough to think that everything is way too short, but from what I could tell from Instagram and YouTube, her outfit was right on point.
She enjoyed both pref ceremonies--she was a little afraid she’d cry, but said she just got a little teary. I couldn’t really figure out from the information available if she would be “guaranteed” a bid since she went through the whole process and always maximized her options. I asked her, and she said that there’s no guarantee but that it would be very unusual for someone at this point to not get a bid. That’s when I realized that I was probably just as nervous (maybe more!) than she was about bid day! I kept thinking, oh my goodness what if she goes through all this and gets dropped after pref…?
Bid day: Obviously I didn’t need to be nervous. After being on pins and needles for quite a few hours, we found out that she ran home to…
[this scrolldown thing was always my favorite part of the recruitment stories I read lololol]
PI BETA PHI!
Pi Phi was always one of her favorites all the way through, and now she is absolutely thrilled and I am thrilled for her. So now there are only two things left for me to do:
1. Go to the Pi Phi store and buy her lots of swag! There’s a beautiful sterling silver bracelet I have my eye on for her.
2. Put out a thousand huge and grateful thanks to every sorority woman who contributes to this site. The knowledge, insight, and expertise on these boards was absolutely invaluable. So, from this “GDI” but now proud Pi Phi auntie:
THANK YOU!!