[belated] Recruitment story!

[Miriverite]

I realized that I've never posted my story, despite being a sister for over three months! I personally regard my experience as one of the "all's well that ends well" ones, so I thought I'd share it with you all =)

From my signature, you already know what GLO I'm part of, and can very easily figure out which university I attend, so I won't attempt to mask that. I'll use code names for the chapters, of course.

The six lovely sororities on campus:
- Alpha Chi Omega
- Alpha Epsilon Phi
- Alpha Phi
- Kappa Alpha Theta
- Pi Beta Phi
- Sigma Kappa

Our chapter of AEPhi only participates in informal recruitment and has traditionally remained very small (20 or so girls). In order to pledge AEPhi, after Day 3 (day before pref) you had to essentially drop out of formal recruitment, which meant not being able to continue with the parties of the other sororities. Since I knew I was looking for a larger experience, I did not take the offer to participate in AEPhi's informal recruitment and decided to rush for the remaining five.

And here my code names for them (in no particular order):
(a selection of awesome zodiac signs!)
- Aries
- Gemini
- Leo
- Libra
- Aquarius

Recruitment schedule:
- Day 1: Welcome and Greek Unity Day
- Day 2: Philanthropy Day
- Day 3: Sisterhood Day
- Day 4: Preference
- Day 5: Bid Day!!

===================

First, a little about my background:
I came from Austin, Texas, and my only exposure to "sorority life" was through (incorrect) gossip from friends and parents. Thanks to books like Pledged and untrue rumours, I eventually came to view sororities as nothing but groups of girls who partied with frats and shirked their studies. When I came to my university, I could tell that my preconceptions were a bit wrong, but I was still hesitant on joining. When some of my friends decided to rush at frats like Kappa Sigma and Zeta Beta Tau, I hung back, swearing that I would never join a sorority.

However, throughout my freshman year I began attending sorority-hosted events, including the philanthropic events from Kappa Alpha Theta and Sigma Kappa. I met a ton of wonderful friends who later pledged to a variety of sororities and still remained every bit as amazing and compassionate, if not more. I soon decided that I wanted to be a part of this amazing community of women, and thus decided to rush my sophomore year.

Day 1: Welcome and Greek Unity Day
Rush/recruitment is traditionally started with a barbeque kickoff event, where members of all the GLO's on campus (most were either NPC or NFC) mingle with the freshmen and PNM's on the large field in front of our main buildings. I chatted with a few fraternity men, including some really nice guys from Theta Chi who invited me and my friends to their rush parties. We gladly accepted the rush event cards

Before long, all of the PNMs who planned to go through recruitment gathered in the student center's dining hall and found their rush groups. Most of the girls in mine were freshmen, although there were two other sophomores and one junior also participating. As we struck up some conversation, it was hard to keep an open mind, especially when I had already heard stereotypes and opinions of many of the sororities ("the pretty sorority", "the girly sorority", etc.) In fact, to this day I must confess that I went into recruitment foolishly hoping that I would get a bid from one specific sorority (obviously not the one I'm part of now, but we'll get into that later). I can't for the life of me know why - I barely knew anything about the sorority except a handful of friends and whatever I'd read on the Internet!

Anyways, the first day's parties were a simple meet-and-greet by all of the sororities, including AEPhi. I began by entering Leo, a bit nervous because all of the girls looked so pretty. I stood at a high table with one of the girls and chatted about arbitrary things like major, year, where I came from, etc. They provided water for us, and I must admit I was really impressed with how refined and elegant everything was. I found myself trying really hard to give a good impression, because it seemed as if talking to the PNM's was something that happened easily to these girls. We switched conversation partners a few times, and then were led out while the girls clapped and sang us away.

Next, I went into Libra's room, which was set up with round tables. The girl I spoke to was super enthusiastic about her sorority, and although I didn't originally think I would fit in there, she made me feel very comfortable. The second girl I spoke to, however, was a bit more nervous. There was a small visual presentation, which was full of happy pictures of the sisters. I started feeling myself warming up to them, but I still wasn't quite sure whether I would fit in or not.

After that, my group filed into the room for Aquarius. It was partially due to the poor quality of the room, but the sound in it was deafening. I was all of a sudden very overwhelmed and just now realized how tired I was. Thankfully, we were instructed to sit down and chat. There seemed to be a lot of energetic girls in this sorority, and I was constantly being passed off from one girl to another, each one who seemed to have something interesting to say. I really liked their symbolism and felt touched by how open-minded the girls were.

Next, I entered Aries's room. It was definitely a huge contrast from Aquarius. These girls were very sweet and nice, asking me not only about myself, but about how I felt about the recruitment process and if there was anything they could do to help us feel more comfortable. The introductory talk from the chapter president was short but adorable. Although I was really touched by their efforts, I couldn't help feeling as if it was a bit too subdued for my tastes.

My last part was that of Gemini. I once again felt very overwhelmed, and although I spoke to one sister with whom I really clicked, I found it really hard to get conversations going with the other sisters. At one point, I even saw the sister I was speaking to look around to see if there was someone she could pass me off to. It was a bit of a turn-off, but I tried to strike up conversation where I could.

We were not asked to rank at the end of day 1, and to tell the truth, I was unsure myself. Thankfully, there were still three more days to get through...