A Lucky Charms Recruitment Story

[~sunflower~]

Hey Everyone!
Well, I thought that since you guys had all been so helpful with me trying to decide to rush, I thought I would share my recruitment story with you! I am going to be posting these a few days delayed though so you won’t be able to figure out what school I am going to.

For a link to my previous post:http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/sh...d.php?t=119660

There are seven sororities at my school. Six are National, while one is local. Since everyone else had creative code names I decided to use the marshmallow shapes from Lucky Charms They are:
HEARTS
STARS
RAINBOWS
CLOVERS
BLUE MOONS
GOLDEN TREASURE
RED BALLOONS

And these names have no connection to their symbols or colors or anything, and if they do, it was completely random and by mistake

Here is a brief description of what happened last year though: I decided as a sophomore that I really wanted to go through recruitment and signed up and was really excited for the process. After the Open Parties I was invited back to :
STARS
CLOVERS
BLUE MOONS
RED BALLOONS

My absolute favorite was STARS and I also really liked RED BALLOONS. The other two were not my favorite and I had ranked them at the bottom of my list. For Prefs I was invited back to

RED BALOONS
CLOVERS

I was disappointed to have lost STARS, but was really excited about RED BALLOONS. Our Rho Chi had pretty much assured us that if we were invited to Prefs that meant that they really wanted us, and in pretty much 98% of the time you get a bid from the one you rank #1. Well, I ranked RED BALLOOONS as #1 feeling very confident that I would be soon joining them the next day. I was completely shocked the next day to see that I had received a bid to CLOVERS. I was pretty upset, but ended up signing the bid. A few days later I ended up telling them that I was unable to join.

I was very disappointed in both having received a bid from them, but also for the fact that I hadn’t even given them a change and regretted my decision to quit a lot. I kind of wish now that I hadn’t, but I can’t think about regret, so here I am trying again. I honestly have no idea how the process will go, but I am determined to give it my best shot and see what happens.

[~sunflower~]

DAY 1
Today we visited 3 of the sororities for their open events. Our Rho Chi gave us our order and told us we were visiting STARS, RED BALLOONS, and CLOVERS. These were the 3 groups that I was most nervous about because I had really liked STARS and RED BALLOONS a lot last year, and CLOVERS was the sorority I had pledged the year before. I knew worrying about it would do no good though, so I gained my composure and got pumped up for recruitment! The sororities at my college do not have houses, so we are bused to different buildings around town where the sororities have set up.

STARS:
This was the group I was most excited for. My best friend from High School was in this group, and had been the group I had liked the best last year. I felt really comfortable at this party. The first girl I talked to was a mutual friend that I kind of knew, so it was easy to find things to talk about since we already knew some things about each other. All of my conversations here were really good though. It probably helped that this was our first group we visited and I still had all my energy too! They showed a brief slideshow of some of their sisterhoods and when I looked around the room I just saw a bunch of girls that all looked really nice and like girls I would have been friends. In my individual conversations too they were all really relaxed and we just talked about school and other things and it didn’t seem like there was all this pressure to say the right thing. Two of my friends who are in this sorority came by and said hello as well which was nice. I left feeling a lot more confident about my decision to go through recruitment again.

RED BALLOONS:
We went here next. I was also excited about this group, because this had been one of the sororities I had preffed at last year and had really liked it. My favorite part about this sorority was how much of an emphasis they put on sisterhood and in this sorority compared to all the others you can see that sisterhood is truly the most important thing. The room was really loud though so at some points it was hard to hear what the girl I was talking to was saying and our conversation didn’t seem quite as natural as the one I had at STARS, but I still thought it was really good and when I talked to her about the fact that it wasn’t my first time through recruitment she didn’t seem to think it would be a problem. In fact when I talked to all of the sororities they all said that they usually take several juniors each year which I found reassuring. They also showed a slideshow and I liked it a lot!

CLOVERS:
This was the last party of the day. By this point we were all kind of getting pooped out and our voices were getting hoarse, but we were all really excited too. I was SUPER nervous going into this party because I had no idea how they would respond to me returning. It was definitely not as bad as I had been thinking it would be. I talked to several girls and when I mentioned that I had actually been a pledge for a few days they all seemed surprised by the fact-especially the girls who would have been in that pledge class with me. I don’t know if they were just pretending to be surprised or if they genuinely were, but either way it felt reassuring to know that they didn’t hate me. In fact, the girl who had been my assigned partner on our Bid Day came by and said hello and I had been sure she didn’t like me at all. Even though the girls were all nice and we had good conversations, it just didn’t seem quite as natural or comfortable as the conversations I had been having with the other sororities. It wasn’t bad though and it felt comfortable to be there unlike I thought it would be.

Our Rho Chi told us to put the groups in order of our preference after having visited the first groupings of the sororities and I decided on :

STARS
RED BALLOONS
CLOVER

Tomorrow will be HEARTS, RAINBOWS, GOLDEN TREASURE and BLUE MOONS.

[CougarGrad]

Looking forward to hearing more!

[~sunflower~]

Day Two:
Today we visited:
RAINBOWS
HEARTS
GOLDEN TREASURE
BLUE MOONS

RAINBOWS:
I wasn’t sure how to feel about this group. Last year I hadn’t gotten an invite back from them so didn’t know how they would feel about me this year. I had a really good time though. I started out talking to one girl and then another girl came over and joined us. It was kind of awkward though because they were sitting on both sides of me so I kept looking back and forth between them as I was talking which got awkward at times. We mostly talked about ourselves and our families and things like that, so we hardly got a chance to talk about the sorority at all, which I’m not sure is a good thing or not. I guess we will see. The girls I talked to though were really nice and I felt very comfortable. There was an awkward moment though when the girls were asking me why I hadn’t gone through rush before so I was telling them my story about rushing last year and I said that I had gotten a bid and the girl asked me, oh who was it from, so I felt really uncomfortable because they told us we shouldn’t discuss other sororities, but luckily the other girl who was rushing me said, oh you don’t have to answer that, so I got out of that awkward situation. The girls in RAINBOWS though are known as being kind of stuck up and full of themselves, so I had conflicted feelings as I left.

HEARTS:
We went here next and I again had mixed feelings because I hadn’t gone to their Invite party last year. I had really good conversations with the girls though about the sorority such as sisterhoods and why they loved it. The conversations were all pretty good. The only awkward moment was when the girl asked me why I was rushing as a junior, and then asked me again. She was really embarrassed, but it was ok, we just laughed it off. One of my friends from this sorority dropped by and said hi which was super nice. They showed us a slideshow and it was really cute and it was very obvious that these girls really love their sorority.

GOLDEN TREASURE:
This sorority is relatively small on our campus compared to the other National Sororities on campus, but still much larger than the local sorority. I didn’t have any friends in this sorority so I didn’t feel like I knew very much about it going in, but I had a really good time. Every single girl I talked to was super nice, but the conversations just didn’t seem to flow and did not come naturally. They had several of the girls go up and talk to us about why they love their sorority and they shared some of the fu n sisterhoods they have had over the last few years. I also really liked the cheers they did for us at the end when we were leaving. I left with a good impression, but definitely not my favorite either.

BLUE MOONS:
This was our last Open Party. This is the local sorority on campus and they only have 10 girls or so, so it was awkward because two of their girls were mixed up with 8 or 9 of us PNMs. It was just an awkward mess really. They didn’t really know what to say to us, so a lot of the time the PNMs just talked to each other. Which was nice, but we didn’t really learn anything about the sorority and I left not having a very good impression. This was my least favorite group last year too.

After getting back from the parties we had to rank the sororities in order of our preference. I ranked them as:
1. STARS
2. RED BALLOONS
3. HEARTS
4. RAINBOWS
5. GOLDEN TREASURE
6. CLOVER
7. BLUE MOONS
I really have no idea if I will get any invites in the morning or not….I’m not feeling that optimistic..but that may also just be a psychological protection technique so that I won’t be hurt if I don’t get any invites or not…..

[~sunflower~]

DAY THREE

Our Rho Chi had told us to be ready for a call or text from her early the next morning. A call if we had invites, or a text if we didn’t. I was pretty sure I would be getting a text, but when I looked at my phone I had an incoming call. She told me that I had some invites and to come meet her. I was almost crying I was so excited to get a call. We could be invited back to 4 places. When I opened the envelope I had been invited back to:
STARS
BLUE MOONS
I wasn’t really surprised that I only had two invites. I was actually surprised that I had any. I had gotten my first and last choice. I was really excited to see STARS. I know that it’s wrong to go in with this mentality, but it is now the only group I really wanted to join. Nothing against the BLUE MOONS but I really like the idea of a National Sorority, and that’s something that BLUE MOONS doesn’t have. Plus the fact that they’re so small. I know that may not be the right mentality to have, but it’s what I feel is right for me.
I feel like just having gotten invites today I have passed my first hurdle. Obviously I received some major cuts today so maybe I truly have a shot at making it into STARS if I made it this far with them!

STARS
This was the first party of the same and I was blown away. It was a lot like the Invite Party I went to last year, but I still had a fabulous time. Every single girl I talked to was really nice and I felt like we had legitimate and meaningful conversations. One girl was in my Rho Chi group last year and another had been in class with me the semester before. We also got into some good conversations about their Philanthropy. Their philanthropy was something that hit close to home for me, so I really enjoyed the craft we did to go along with it, and I was actually able to relate some of my experiences with the philanthropy with the girls I was talking to. They also sang some songs for us which was adorable and I had an all around great time. My best friend from High School and two of the girls I talked to at the Open Party stopped by to say hello and to say how excited they were that I was there and had come to their invite party. This is definitely a group I could see myself in.

BLUE MOONS
This party was pretty awkward. Since there are so few active members ,the girls that I ended up talking to were both alumni who had come back for the weekend to help with recruitment. Both girls were really nice, but the conversation was more awkward. There were 3 PNMs at my table and although I participated in the conversation and was friendly, it just wasn’t a great conversation.

After getting back we had time for dinner. Since this was my last party of the day I ranked them with my Rho Chi as
1. STARS
2. BLUE MOONS
I’m really hoping that I get a call from my Rho Chi tomorrow that I have an invite for the Preference Parties….but I guess it will be another tense evening of waiting to find out. Wish me luck!

[PanseyGirl]

Wishing you lots of luck!

[squirrel_love]

Good luck to you and STARS! I hope you have the outcome you're hoping for. However it turns out, you have made tons of new friends =)

[~sunflower~]

DAY FOUR
I woke up early again to wait for the call from my Rho Chi. I was pretty much expecting her to tell me I hadn’t been invited back to anything, but when she did call she sounded very excited and told me I had some invites. Yes, INVITES with an S! I was completely shocked and excited. I pretty much ran over to our meeting place to pick up my envelope. Inside were invites for the Preference Parties from:
STARS
BLUE MOONS
I was over the moon ecstatic to see STARS. They had been my number one ranked group all of this rush and last rush as well. I never got this far with them last year though so I am really excited to see what happens today. I was actually surprised to get invited back to BLUE MOONS today. I didn’t think it went very well yesterday and didn’t think that they would want me back.

STARS:
After attending the Pref Party I left the room saying “I’m in love with this sorority”. We walked in and the girl who preffed me was my best friend from high school and it was amazing. We hadn’t been able to talk for over a month and it was great to not only have a chance to talk about our lives, but the sorority as well. She told me that she really hoped I would join and I did my hinting of how much I loved the sorority and how I felt like I could really belong there. It was a beautiful ritual and I left knowing that STARS was the place where I belonged.

BLUE MOONS
It was just an awkward event. Since it’s a local sorority they do thinks so differently than the National ones and it just moved along really awkwardly. I didn’t know the girl I was preffing and it seemed like the girls really didn’t know what they were doing. I left knowing for sure which sorority I wanted to join.

After visiting both parties we had another group meeting with all the members of the Recruitment Team and the Rho Chis where they explained what we were about to do for ranking. I had a really tough decision. Not over which sorority I wanted to write down as my first choice but if I would suicide or not. I knew in my heart that I would not accept a bid from BLUE MOONS so I felt weird about singing the preference sheet stating that we would accept a bid from the sororities we listed. I talked to my Rho Chi though and she said it is very unadvisable to suicide and that it severely hurts your chances of even getting a bid from your first chance if they wanted you. I deliberated and deliberated but finally decided that I would list both of them because I didn’t want to hurt my changes at all by not listing them. I figured that if for some reason I did get my second choice I would just decline and join the Social/Service sorority on campus. So, after this deliberation I finally wrote down

STARS
BLUE MOONS

Tomorrow they will call us early in the morning to tell us if we got a bid and then we can see who the bid is from later in the afternoon. I am crazy nervous!!! Wish me luck!!

[IrishLake]

Originally Posted by ~sunflower~

I talked to my Rho Chi though and she said it is very unadvisable to suicide and that it severely hurts your chances of even getting a bid from your first chance if they wanted you.

I know they are trained to encourage all girls to maximize their options, but I hate when they say this.

Good luck Sunflower! I hope you get a happy ending!

[carnation]

Originally Posted by ~sunflower~

I knew in my heart that I would not accept a bid from BLUE MOONS so I felt weird about singing the preference sheet stating that we would accept a bid from the sororities we listed. I talked to my Rho Chi though and she said it is very unadvisable to suicide and that it severely hurts your chances of even getting a bid from your first chance if they wanted you.

It angers me incredibly to hear that recruitment counselors still say things like this. This is never, ever true.

[FSUZeta]

Originally Posted by carnation

It angers me incredibly to hear that recruitment counselors still say things like this. This is never, ever true.

me too!

[~sunflower~]

DAY FIVE aka BID DAY
Our Rho Chi called us at 7 this morning to tell us that we had a bid, but not where our bid was to, so I had to spend the entire day wondering if it was STARS or BLUE MOON Finally, it was time to open our bids. I was so nervous by this point I was literally shaking. My Rho Chi and I entered the room to open my bid and I saw


























STARS








also know as............













SIGMA KAPPA

and my best friend who preffed me was also my Heart Sister! I am so happy!!!!!! <3

[BraveMaroon]

Originally Posted by ~sunflower~

DAY FIVE aka BID DAY
Our Rho Chi called us at 7 this morning to tell us that we had a bid, but not where our bid was to, so I had to spend the entire day wondering if it was STARS or BLUE MOON Finally, it was time to open our bids. I was so nervous by this point I was literally shaking. My Rho Chi and I entered the room to open my bid and I saw


























STARS








also know as............













SIGMA KAPPA

and my best friend who preffed me was also my Heart Sister! I am so happy!!!!!! <3

I always love a happy ending, and Sigma Kappa endings are my favorites.

Enjoy your new member period and I am glad you found your sorority home!

[IndianaSigKap]

Congratulations! I wish you all the best! l just love Sigma Kappa endings! :-)

[IrishLake]

Congratulations on a happy ending!