A SCANDALOUS NPHC Recruitment Story!

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Welcome to my recruitment story! I have been lurking in this forum for awhile and am so unbelievably excited to FINALLY be able to share my adventure into Greekdom. Because I joined an NPHC sorority, my journey doesn’t have nearly the suspense as the threads I’ve seen here but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless. The journey spans quite a few years so just keep reading—the ending is totally worth it, I promise!

And NO, there aren't any juicy secrets or melodramas in here. The names of the four contenders for my lifetime commitment are taken from characters from Scandal: Olivia, Quinn, Abby, and Mellie.

I can go ahead and give a mini-spoiler right now—I come from a family of Olivias so that is what I grew up thinking I wanted to join. However, no one ever pushed me in any direction. The women of my family made it clear that they would support me joining any sorority I wanted or even none at all. So I didn’t even really think about it until I got to college. The most prominent sororities on campus were the Olivias and the Quinns. Everywhere I looked, there were members of each in student government, community service projects, organization leaders, etc. It was clear that Greeks ran the campus and members of both orgs were at the forefront of the race. Abby and Mellie also had decent sized chapters and the ladies were SUPER nice and friendly so I didn’t count them out immediately. I did what all the freshman girls on the campus did—I hit the books and did my research on all four NPHC sororities. I found out everything I could about them, read all their national websites, looked through their initiatives and got to know the members on my campus. Knowing that this would be a lifetime thing (not just something you do in college and drop) really made an impression on me and I wanted to make sure I really stood for the ideals of the organization and could see myself putting everything I had into it.

While all 4 were admirable, I couldn’t really see myself fitting in with Abby or Mellie. The girls were great and several of my friends joined later in college but neither of them felt right for me. That left Olivia and Quinn. Just as an observation, the Quinns were….there’s no other way to put it….GORGEOUS. Just about every member of Quinn looked like a model. Not that looks are everything but you just couldn’t help but notice. They were always very well-dressed and known for being the sophisticated type. I only knew a few of them and, to be perfectly honest, they weren’t very nice. But they did amazing work in the community so I wanted to consider that these women in front of me would not be the only members I consorted with for the rest of my life. Of course, I wanted to fit in with the chapter but if I felt a connection to the overall ideals, that was more important, right?

Then there was Olivia.

The Olivias were some BAD CHICKS. They were all so….so….WOW. I don’t even have the words. They were some of the most influential names on campus. These women were dynamic leaders and real go-getters. They held many campus positions, were super politically active (which is a feat in itself for college students it seemed) and had the most community programs. They weren’t the friendliest bunch (as you’ll see later) but you could tell how much love they had for each other. Over time, I saw how much they had each others’ backs and it was incredibly touching.

Over the first 2 years, I had a lot of personal struggles. The adjustment of starting college across the country was difficult. Between friend issues, family issues, and multiple deaths of close relatives, it was really hard for me to keep my head above water. So I put the sorority observations aside and focused on keeping my grades up and getting myself a little stronger. I won’t go into too much detail but by junior year, I was in a much more stable place. I was confident, cool, a touch more mature , and had made a pretty good name for myself on campus. My grades were decent and I held quite a few positions of my own including community service chair of an organization. When I heard whispers of moves for an Olivia line, I decided I was ready to throw my hat in the ring. Look out world, here I come!