[rubyrose]

What the heck, I'll throw my story in too. It is also the traditional route, but with a twist. (Sorry this is so long, but I couldn't cut it down any further, and believe me I tried!)

On my college campus, recruitment was deferred until the Spring semester. As an entering freshman, I had not really thought about joining a sorority at all and I probably would not have gone through "rush" that year if it had been held in the fall. I don't know how it is now there, but when I attended, Greek life was a VERY big deal. Girls on my freshman floor cried hysterically and some even left school when they did not make it into their mother's sorority. As for me, I was just giving it a try to see what it was all about. My parents were not originally from the South and certainly had no Greek ties. They were concerned because they didn't want joining to interfere with my studies, but they stood behind my decision to try it out. I just didn't get this whole sorority thing because I didn't really know how it worked. My best friend did get it so she literally obtained some recs for me while she was getting them for herself. She really wanted me to go through rush so I did partly just to make her happy.

There were 10 sororities on campus at the time. I didn't know a lot about any of them except I knew which one that all of the famous people tended to join, and I do mean famous. I certainly was NOT famous, so I went into rush figuring I would probably not make it through. Talk on the freshman girls halls was focused on sororities and rush, but I was trying to keep an open mind. AOII had a reputation for smart girls who were very involved on campus with tons of leadership in other organizations. Needless to say I really enjoyed myself going through rush and was extremely impressed with AOII all the way through. I learned that the girls really were smart (highest sorority GPA on campus) and involved and extremely gracious and warm. They have won the Chancellor's award for outstanding chapter on campus quite a few times over the years. I have to say that many of the sororities on campus including the famous one were filled with wonderful, smart, friendly girls. I have a very good feeling about the Greek system there, at least the sororities, and I had many friends who were members of all of them. (I don't know about some of those fraternities though.)

We had 4 rounds consisting of open house, philanthropy, skit night, and preference. I cannot remember who cut me and where I went back for the first 3 rounds (it's been 20 years gone by now), although I know the famous sorority and a few others cut me right after first round. I do remember attending preference for 4 sororities which is the most you could attend. If you were invited back to 4 or more for pref, you had to attend 4 pref parties. Boy that was a long night, and my feet were killing me! And it was cold outside!! Truth be told, I only remember the AOII party at this point since quite a few years have gone by and it really stood out for me. They sang such a beautiful song ("A rose ever blooming..."), and it really stuck with me. Those girls had beautiful voices! Needless to say, AOII was my first choice although I really liked one of the other sororities as well and think I could have been very happy there too.

On the morning of bid day, my rush counselor came to my dorm room and told me I had fallen through rush. I was disappointed but okay with it since I originally did not expect it to work out. A couple of hours later, she came back and told me that they had made a huge mistake due to some computer glitch and had inadvertently told about 100 girls that they had fallen through rush. She was thoroughly embarassed and apologetic about it, and I became panic-stricken because I really wasn't even planning on getting a bid and now I had to readjust my thinking again. I went into the hallway and several other girls were there who were also told about the big "mistake". We looked at each other and asked, "what just happened here?" What a total range of emotions I went through that day!

Two other girls from my floor and I went to pick up our bids together, and I was sure there wouldn't be one for me because of the big "mix-up". We were given our bid cards, and when we opened them, we all had AOII! Not only did I have a bid, but I had my first choice! We screamed, hugged each other, and then realized that we were going to have to run to the sorority house during "Pig Run". Pig Run is when the rushees run to their houses and the fraternity guys sit on their front lawns and yell at them, heckle them, and throw stuff at them. (I hope to heck they don't do that anymore!) We devised a way to get to the sorority house without enduring this by taking a slightly different and backwards route. It might have taken us a couple of extra minutes, but we were dry!

It was very exciting and a little overwhelming to run up to the AOII house with 100 girls on the front lawn yelling at the top of their lungs over and over, "A-A-A O Pi, Alpha Alpha Omicron Pi, me-for my-for AOPi, how I love my AOPi." All of the sorority houses were yelling and chanting, and so the noise level was unbelievable on Greek row. It was truly spectacular and very overwhelming! They threw a red AOII jersey over my head and gave me a ton of AOII stuff. It was wonderful and very memorable. Oh and my best friend pledged the sorority across the street, another great group of girls. We ran into the street and hugged each other. She was more thrilled for me than I think I even was. The morning after bid day, I was kind of wondering what I had gotten myself into because after all, I was just trying this sorority thing out and really didn't expect to get a bid. But the chapter did a great job of getting our pledge class involved and teaching us about AOII. By the time initiation came around, I was sold that this was the right thing to do!

During my college years, I had the pleasure of watching both of my biological sisters be initiated as AOIIs. During that time, my mother became a huge fan of AOII. She would tell her friends she didn't necessarily like sororities very much but this one was special. She would help out during rush events in the kitchen and got to be big buddies with the house mother. All the other girls just raved about how great she was. I have always suspected that her underlying motive for helping was to peek in on my biological sisters when they went through rush to make sure they were okay. My mom is a hoot! At any rate, AOII truly became a family affair for us, and now I have 2 wonderful daughters who I can't help but think.... just maybe....