My Recruitment Experience: Everything Happens For A Reason!

[SouthernBelle52]

I am very new to GC and after reading all of these recruitment stories I felt like I needed to share my experience. Note the key word: needed to! I feel like finally telling my story might be some sort of therapy to me! You see, recruitment for me did not go as perfect as I had expected but I want girls to know that everything happens for a reason! First some background info on me... I go to a college that only has 5 NPC sororities, however recruitment is actually pretty competetive. Our rush is deferred to Spring semester. Some may think that deferred rush is a good idea because it gives you a whole semester to get to know the girls in the different sororites and vice versa, however I found many problems with it. Going a whole semester waiting for rush just left more room for dirty rushing and after spending a whole semester on campus, I already had my ideas about the sororities based on their reputation without actually getting to know the some of the girls. I went into recruitment very closed minded!

When your Pi Chis advise you not to do this... they really mean it. I had been dirty rushed by 2 of the sororities and I wasn't even considering the other 3 based on other people's opinions! Im trying to be creative here but Im just going to use purses because I love to shop! The 5 sororites on my campus in no order are:

*Coach
*Kate Spade
*Longchamp
*Vera Bradley
*Burberry

At our school recruitment lasts 4 days. The first night is philanthropy and you visit all 5 sororities , the second is skit night and it is narrowed to 4, and the last night is pref and you can go to up to 2 sororites. Then that Monday is Bid Day!

Night One:

So here were my impressions going into recruitment:

Vera Bradley- I loved this sorority! I had been dirty rushed by these girls for a whole semester, but I trusted them. The whole week before recruitment when sorority girls were not allowed to contact PNMS they had been sending me facebook messages making sure that I had signed up for recruitment and saying how excited they were about me (even though I was a good PNM and didnt respond of course!) I was pretty sure this was where I was supposed to be!

Longchamp- This was my second choice sorority! This sorority has been on our campus for a long time and they are very well established! The only thing that worried me was their reputation as partiers and I was kind of intimidated about the hazing stories I had heard. I still thought I might fit in here because many of the girls were very nice and the conversation was comfortable.

Kate Spade- This was the newest sorority on campus. I hadn't heard much about them good or bad so I didnt really know what to expect. They had a very good mix of girls and they were very sweet but I just didnt see myself fitting in.

Burberry- this sorority had the reputation of being the very goody goody girls and that also kind of intimidated me! I had fun, but once again didnt see myself there because I was so closed minded!

Coach- this sorority had the worst reputation on campus and since I went in with a closed mind I really wasnt even willing to give it a try which is a shame because there are actually many nice girls in there!

So after Night 1 I went to rank the sororites on the computer. We pick our top 4 and then pick 1 to drop and the next day we can get invited to up to 4 sororites. I ranked:

-Vera Bradley
- Longchamp
- Kate Spade
- Burberry

And I choose to drop Coach.

Night 2:

I got invited back to the 4 that I wanted and I went to all of their skit nights. They were all great but of course I was mesmorized by Vera and Longchamp. Well I dont want to drag this on so Ill just say that my opinions stayed the same from the first night and this time we were supposed to pick our top 2 sororites and drop the other 2 sororites. Night 2 I ranked:

-Vera Bradley
-Longchamp

And I choose to drop Kate Spade and Burberry.

Pref Night:

So Pref Night I was REALLY nervous because everything was going good so far and I was just waiting for something to mess up! I opened up my invitations and luckily I got invited back to both of the sororities that I wanted (vera bradley and longchamp)! They were the top 2 sororites on campus and I was so excited!

Here is a description of their pref nights:

Longchamp- I went here first and I really enjoyed it! The whole ceremony was very sweet and moving and I was prefed by a girl I have known since I was 10. I really liked it here, but she kept pressuring me to say where I wanted to go and at this point I was so confused! She said "Its a gut feeling... you just know what feels right and where you're supposed to be" but I honestly didnt!

Vera Bradley- This was the ideal pref experience for me! One of my good friends prefed me and the whole ceremony was so moving that I started crying! I thought "maybe this is the gut feeling Im supposed to get!" The my pref asked if this is where I wanted to be and I said yes. I told her that I had been considering Longchamp but she told me that I needed to suicide Vera Bradley because this was the only place for me and they were going to give me a bid tomorrow! I was so excited we cried and hugged and I left feeling amazing! I had found my home!

So I went to right my choices on my bid card, I though long and hard but my prefs words were echoing in my head so I wrote down Vera Bradley only and left the rest up to fate.


Bid Day:

I woke up on Bid Day feeling great! This was going to be the best day of my life! I had already called my parents and they were coming up to witness the activities! At 11 AM I went with my friends to pick up my envelope containing my Bid! We all recieved our envelopes but we werent allowed to open them on campus so me and my 3 friends piled into my car and drove to the nearest parking lot. For some reason the instant I grabbed my envelope I knew something wasnt right. I didnt want to open mine so I just sat and watched my friends. They all received bids to their 1st or 2nd choice sororites and a long letter telling them further instructions about the activities later on in the day. They waited for me to open mine but I wanted to do it in private since I just had a gut feeling so I dropped them off at the dorms and went to my room. I could barely see through the envelope but I noticed my letter was only a couple of sentences long while my friends' letters were a page long. Thats when I knew for certain. I opened the letter and it read "We're sorry to inform you that we were unable to match you with the sorority of your choice". I was stunned. I didnt get a bid even though these girls had been gushing over me for a whole semester? It was like an out of body experience haha I think thats the best way I could explain it. I was a ball of mixed emotions!

I spent the whole day crying in my room! I called my parents and told them not to bother coming. I looked out the window and saw all of my friends running to their sororities while I sat alone in my room devasted! Later on in the day our Panhellenic Advisor called me and told me that a certain sorority was interested in giving me a bid. I was so upset at the time and I really wasnt interested but I figured that things couldn't get any worse so I thought I would give it a shot. I went and hung out with these girls on their bid day and even though I hadnt accepted a bid from them yet they welcomed me with open arms. After spending the day with these girls I wondered why I had been so blind in the first place! This was exactly the place for me! The girls were real and genuine and one of the worst days ever turned into the best! Obviously I didnt go from being devestated to thrilled in a few hours. I was still very hurt and upset even after hanging out with my new sorority friends and I'll admit it took me a few good months to get over what happened with but after getting to know everyone better I truely realized how great it was. So after a lot of serious thought and consideration...
That night I accepted my bid from....






















KATE SPADE!!!! OTHERWISE KNOWN AS>>>








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SIGMA KAPPA!!!!

We are the newest sorority on campus but I am proud to announce that we reached quota plus 1 during our Spring 2008 recruitment! It took the last sorority that colonized on our campus 15 years to meet quota and it took us only 4! I am so proud to be a part of building this sorority and I personally believe we have the strongest sisterhood on campus! And as for my so called "Friends" in Vera Bradley... they barely speak to me now but I dont take it personally. I understand thats how recruitment goes with some sororities I mean you do "recruit" and there will always be people in life who will dissapoint you. You just have to hold your head up high and move on. So to any girls who are thinking about going through recruitment: IT IS TOUGH and it doesnt always work out how you want it to but it does always work out how its supposed to! I have made memories that will last a lifetime in Sigma Kappa and I hope every PNM finds the same lasting sisterhood that I have found!

[SoCalGirl]

Yea for the Mystic Bond!

[baci]

Your journey was an important one and a great lesson. Thank you for sharing and I hope some young women learn from this.

[Scandia]

Things have a way of working out for the better. Congratulations to you and Sigma Kappa!

[SigKapSweetie]

YAY! Welcome to SIGMA KAPPA! Come on over to the Sig Kap forum and say hi!

[SigKapAngel767]

Welcome to the Sisterhood that lasts a life time!

[SouthernBelle52]

Hey guys~ someone sent me a private message and asked me why I would even want to join Vera Bradley in the first place!

Well going into recruitment, even after spending an entire semester on campus, I had no idea what true "sisterhood" was all about. The only sororities I had been around were Vera Bradley and Longchamp and they were seriously lacking in the sisterhood department! Many of these girls talked bad about their sisters and their was also a struggle for attention within Vera Bradley, but I just figured thats how all sororities were. I thought that was bound to happen when you put that many girls together. Its sad that there are chapters out there that give greek life a bad name but thats just how it is. And Vera Bradley had been dirty rushing me all semester. Everytime I was out and about a group of them would swarm me and start asking me all of these questions or if I was at a party a Vera Bradley would take me around and introduce me to sisters I hadn't yet met. I went into recruitment wanting the Vera Bradley letters, not the sisterhood. Which I hate admitting... I know its horrible, but it was almost like I was brainwashed and I was an ignorant, naive little PNM.


But going into the 2008 recruitment season, we really tried to show the importance of sisterhood. Besides the recruitment workshops, we also had many bonding activities and I think our bond was displayed well on campus. I wanted girls going through recruitment to want to be a Sigma Kappa because of our amazing sisterhood and not just our letters and it worked! Girls went into recruitment this year looking for sisterhood and not just letters to wear around campus and I am so proud of that! Even to this day I still have people assume that Im in Vera Bradley so that gives me even more reason to wear my Sigma Kappa letters around campus and I wear them with more pride then I would have ever worn Vera Bradley's!

[violetpretty]

A belated welcome to Sigma Kappa! It sucks that Vera Bradley bid promised you AND told you to suicide, but the title of your thread is very apt, everything happens for a reason.

[barbino]

SouthernBelle52-

I was under the assumption that if you were invited to a house's pref night, you had to be somewhere on their bid list - you cannot be left off of it. You can be ranked the very last number, but you will be on it. Could it be that Vera Bradley really did want you, but wanted others-more? Did they take quota that year? Also, as a former rush counselor (Rho Chi, etc.), I have to say that we both know that suiciding is definitely risky and there is always a higher chance to not match.

It is said that you will always end up where you belong -- in your case, it seems that you "took the long way home" - but you still got there.

[BetteDavisEyes]

First, let me welcome you to Sigma Kappa.

Second, I realize it's your personal opinion here and facts you would know since you were the one to experience them BUT I would recommend you be careful of what you say because it's not that hard to figure out what chapter you are from, what campus this is, what other chapters are on your campus, and what chapter did not make quota thus telling us who Vera Bradley is. It's one thing to feel personally vindicated but it's another to disparage the reputation and character of another sorority.

[SouthernBelle52]

I was under the assumption that if you were invited to a house's pref night, you had to be somewhere on their bid list - you cannot be left off of it. You can be ranked the very last number, but you will be on it. Could it be that Vera Bradley really did want you, but wanted others-more? Did they take quota that year? Also, as a former rush counselor (Rho Chi, etc.), I have to say that we both know that suiciding is definitely risky and there is always a higher chance to not match.

Well from what I have heard, all of the sororites on our campus our different when it comes to who they invite to pref night. While I know that many sororites put a girl on their bid list before they are invited to pref, a Vera Bradley personally told me that they do not. They do not have their final vote until after Pref. night and up until that point a girl is not on the bid list.

[QUOTE]Second, I realize it's your personal opinion here and facts you would know since you were the one to experience them BUT I would recommend you be careful of what you say because it's not that hard to figure out what chapter you are from, what campus this is, what other chapters are on your campus, and what chapter did not make quota thus telling us who Vera Bradley is. It's one thing to feel personally vindicated but it's another to disparage the reputation and character of another sorority.

Second, I realize it's your personal opinion here and facts you would know since you were the one to experience them BUT I would recommend you be careful of what you say because it's not that hard to figure out what chapter you are from, what campus this is, what other chapters are on your campus, and what chapter did not make quota thus telling us who Vera Bradley is. It's one thing to feel personally vindicated but it's another to disparage the reputation and character of another sorority.

And to this comment... like I said I am not celebrating in the fact that they did not meet quota. I am just pointing out that a sorority who has only been on campus for 4 years was able to meet quota and the so called "Top Dawg" did not. I just wanted to state the facts and show that the dynamics on our campus have changed over the last year. I personally think they are changing for the better without bashing any sorority. There was more then one sorority that did not meet quota so I hope that it would not be an obvious statement, but I probably should have worded it better. Is there any way to edit that post without deleting it entirely?

[SouthernBelle52]

Okay I figured out how to edit and I removed anything that may be offensive to anyone! I really am not trying to bring any other chapter down. I just wanted to share my story of warning! Sadly some sororities do things that they are not supposed to do such as dirty rushing and promising bids and I just wanted to warn girls while still sharing my "Happy Ending". I also took out a view details about my school, I didnt realize how obvious it was until I re-read my post so again, I apologize for that! :-)

[violetpretty]

Click edit, make the changes you want to make, and then save. I do it quite frequently myself.

[SouthernBelle52]

Thanks I finally figured it out! :-)

[honeychile]

Originally Posted by SouthernBelle52

Im sorry I keep messing up the quotes Im still new to GC and trying to figure all of this out! Im horrible with computers :-)

Not to worry - we all had to learn at one time or another.

Congratulations to your Sigma Kappa bid! May you always feel the sisterhood you feel at this time.

That said, please realize that the "Vera Bradley" who told you to suicide, saying that you were already as good as a sister, committed a very serious recruitment infraction. Even if you decide against reporting it, be sure to remind YOUR sisters about how badly that can hurt someone!