A Retro Recruitment - 'Game of Thrones' Style

[Hindsight]

I've lurked here for years, and each fall come back in excitement to read about the new recruitment season. It brings back such memories and nostalgia. I especially enjoy the recruitment stories, old and new, so thought I would share mine.


Intrigue, surprise twists, fascinating characters, perfidy, disappointment, and humor – I love the 'Game of Thrones' books and HBO series! I remember my recruitment in the 80s at the University of Oklahoma as having a lot of the same characteristics, so here we go. The 11 sororities at OU at the time were:


Cersei
Sansa
Jaime Lannister
Daenerys
Jon Snow
Arya
Catelyn
Tyrion
Shae
Ygritte
Bran


Back in those days it was still called ‘Rush.” During the summer after high school, I wasn’t sure I wanted to go through sorority rush until I ran into my good friend ‘Stephanie’ at the mall in early July. ‘Stephanie’ was a year older than me and had pledged Daenerys at OU the previous fall. She encouraged me go through rush.


I wasn’t sure if it was a good idea. My parents had divorced the summer before my senior year in high school and I had a really, really rough senior year as a result. To make matters worse, I’d been a cheerleader my junior year but didn’t make the squad going into my senior year. So: my parents split up, I didn’t make cheerleader – my little teen world came crashing down. As a result, my grades my senior year plummeted. Money was tight after the divorce, and I wasn’t sure I really fit in with my perception of ‘perfect’ sorority girls. In short, I felt I wasn’t really the ideal PNM candidate.


However, I really respected and liked my friend 'Stephanie'. We’d been cheerleaders together and she’d been very supportive when my parents split. She promised she’d help me get recs and prepare for recruitment. If 'Stephanie' thought I should go through rush, it suddenly seemed like a good idea.



So I decided to do it! My mom and I went on a flurry of shopping, hitting all the end-of-summer sales. I was the first person in my family to ever go through recruitment, so we had no idea what to buy (as you will see when I share what I wore to the parties!)



Despite “Stephanie” offering to help out with recs, the assistance never materialized, so we scrambled to figure out A) what recs WERE and B) how to get them. This was really, really last minute, like late July, with recruitment starting in early August. I can’t remember how many recs we finally ended up getting, but there weren’t many. At the time, I was too busy trying to find the perfect outfits to really think too much about it.


I recently found my daily calendar book OU Panhellenic gave us at the first orientation meeting, so I have actual comments written in my girlish curving cursive to draw from. We moved into the dorms, and since my roommate had decided not to go through recruitment, I had the room to myself for the week. I met several other girls who also lived on my floor: “Patsy”, “Sharon”, “Amy”, “Tamara”, “Lori” and “Jennifer.” I'll share what I can remember about their experiences, too.



The events were scheduled in this way:


Day One, Friday: Open House Day – 7 houses
Day Two, Saturday: Open House Day – 4 houses
Day Three, Sunday: 7-Party Day
Day Four, Monday: 4-Party Day
Day Five, Tuesday: 2-Party Day or Preference
Day Six, Wednesday: Bid Day


As we moved into the dorms, I found myself beginning to question what I’d gotten myself into. “Patsy” and “Sharon” across the hall were moving in what seemed like an entire luxury home into their dorm room, complete with mini-fridge and even carpet! Their clothes closets were full of multiple choices for each day (depending upon the weather.) This was the 1980’s, mind you, so we’re talking sweater vests, walking shorts, add-a-bead necklaces – complete Preppy. Their clothes were expensive and, to my clueless eyes, seemed ‘perfect’ for a potential sorority girl. I felt a little worried when I looked at my own dorm room – bare essentials, no carpet or mini-fridge, and all the clothes that had seemed perfectly fine when I bought them that now seemed all wrong. Already the comparison process was starting, and I felt woefully inadequate.


However, I’m not a shrinking violet and I usually make friends easily. I decided to give the experience my all, put my best foot forward and above all, to have FUN! Many of my older friends from my large high school had gone through recruitment the previous year, and so I figured I had a bit of an advantage in having good friends in most of the houses, a situation that just might offset my lack-luster senior year grades…