Greekgirl12's TV Recruitment

[Greekgirl12]

Hello Everyone!


After reading a bunch of these recruitment stories I decided I would like to post mine, and I want to be very honest about my experience both through recruitment and after I joined. Because of this, I would feel most comfortable keeping everything as anonymous as possible, i.e. no revealing the real name of the chapter I ended up joining, no major details about my school, etc. I understand this may frustrate some readers, but I hope my story still has some value for those going through recruitment in the future. That being said, is there still any interest in hearing my story?

[Splash]

I want to hear.

[AnotherKD]

You won't reveal your affiliation at all once you're done? Or will you? Not the chapter name, but you will share the name of the sorority you chose, right?

[KKGCaroline]

i'd like to hear too..

[Greekgirl12]

Originally Posted by AnotherKD

You won't reveal your affiliation at all once you're done? Or will you? Not the chapter name, but you will share the name of the sorority you chose, right?

I am not 100% sure yet, but I don't think I will share the name of the organization at all. I'm sorry if this ruins the story for anyone, but I would really feel more comfortable keeping it anonymous.

[AnotherKD]

Originally Posted by Greekgirl12

I am not 100% sure yet, but I don't think I will share the name of the organization at all. I'm sorry if this ruins the story for anyone, but I would really feel more comfortable keeping it anonymous.

That's fine, though I think that most of us share what sorority/fraternity we are in at a minimum. Perhaps you're at a local where there is only one chapter. If you're in a national, though, I would think it's a bit weird, but that's just me. Speaking for myself, I just always think it's great when someone shares a story where they are really happy in the same org that I am in.

[Greekgirl12]

I will try to write everything I can remember, but it's been a few years so some of the details may escape me...


There are 17 NPC groups at my school, and I will refer to them by the names of TV shows I have liked over the years:

Arrested Development
Chopped
Fresh Prince of Bel Air
George Lopez
Glee
Hey Arnold
Hoarders
Home Improvement
House
Iron Chef
Lost
Parks and Recreation
Seinfeld
Survivor
The Office
Twilight Zone
Wife Swap

Some background: My mom loved being Greek, so she was the one who convinced me to try recruitment out. I was pretty sure I wasn’t the “sorority type,” but she told me to go through rush just to give it a try, and if I didn’t like how it went, I could always get involved on campus in other ways. Her organization however does not have a chapter on my campus, so I wasn't a legacy anywhere.

My college has deferred recruitment, so many "Meet and Greet" type events were held during my first semester where PNMs could stop by to meet sisters of the different chapters. Here were my thoughts after first semester BEFORE recruitment started. I am not proud of the stereotypes I listened to and generalizations I made, but like I said before, I want to be very honest about how I went through recruitment:

Arrested Development: I don’t think I met anyone in this group prior to recruitment, but they were known as kind of a “slutty” group around our campus, so I did not want to join.

George Lopez: I met a bunch of these women at some of the Go Greek events and they were very welcoming and polite. I also loved their T-shirts! (just a side note) Everyone I spoke to was really friendly and nice, so I thought this would be a great group to join.

Glee: I met a few of these women at a Go Greek event also, and I absolutely fell in love. I could tell the group was pretty popular among PNMs, and I had great conversations! Going into recruitment I was absolutely sure this was THE house I wanted. (In hindsight I know this was a horrible attitude!)

Hey Arnold: I talked to a few of these women, and I mentioned that I thought one of their members had a class with me, so they spent a lot of time trying to figure out who it was. They seemed nice enough, but I wasn’t sure they would be a good fit.

Hoarders: One of my teachers from high school was in this chapter at my school many years ago, and she had a great experience, so I was excited to meet these women.


Lost: When I first met some women from this group, they were instantly friendly at a particular Go Greek event where I was feeling pretty ignored by a bunch of women I had tried to talk to from a few other chapters. We got along right away, and soon we were laughing and having a great time. I remember that I called my mom after this event to tell her how much I loved this group! I went to another event to meet this chapter and I saw some of their composite pictures on the wall, and I noticed the chapter was much smaller than the others I had seen. I started to wonder what was “wrong” with them, and through campus gossip and whatnot I learned that they were not a very desirable chapter among PNMs because many considered it to be the “fat” chapter. However, I loved the women I met and was still considering them.

Parks and Recreation: I met some of these women at a Go Greek event, and I ended up talking to one member for most of the time, and she came off to me as extremely ditzy, and that ended up putting a bad taste in my mouth. So, I unfortunately took that to mean that the whole chapter was kind of ditzy, and I did not want to join.

Seinfeld: There was a girl from my high school in this chapter, but other than that I did not know anything about them.

Survivor: A couple of girls from my high school were in this chapter, so I was very excited to meet them at an event. One of the girls from my high school immediately came over to greet me once I arrived, but she had to go and then I felt kind of lost so I went to get some food. Finally, another member noticed I was alone and came over to talk to me. She was a senior, and I had a really good conversation with her about her time in Survivor and balancing Greek Life with her pre-med major. I wasn’t sure this group was for me, but I definitely wanted to consider them.

The Office: One of the girls in my dorm had an older sister in this chapter, so I heard a little about them from her. She said they were a really smart group, and took studying and grades very seriously. I liked hearing this since I am not really into going out and partying, and I definitely wanted to get to know this group better.

Twilight Zone: This was another group that I had heard was on the “sluttier” side, so I did not really think I would want to consider them. However, another girl from my high school was a member and she was very friendly and involved and told me how much she loved her chapter.

The remaining six chapters I really knew nothing about going into recruitment, and I had never even heard some of their names until I got my rush booklet.

[Greekgirl12]

Formal Recruitment at my college is set up as follows:
Open House- 17 parties (2 days)
Skit Round- 12 parties (2 days)
Philanthropy Round- 7 parties (1 day)
Preference Round- 3 parties (1 day)

Even though I had my preconceived ideas about some of the chapters, I wanted to make a good impression and have as many options as possible once I got to know the women better during recruitment. I didn’t really know what to expect (I couldn’t go to many info sessions in my dorm fall semester because of a night class conflict), but I prepared outfits with my mom over winter break that I thought were appropriate for each of the rounds, and I spent a lot of time making sure my hair and make-up were perfect so that I could make a good first impression to women I hadn’t already met. I went into each of my open house parties with a smile and tried to be as friendly and engaging as possible with everyone I met.

I can’t remember the order of most of my parties and I also can’t remember all the details from each party, and unfortunately I cannot find my old rush booklet with all my notes but I will do the best I can. I think I mostly wrote down details about what the women were wearing and some basic impressions to jog my memory- and a couple of names if I could (I am horrible with names, and I spoke with at least 2-4 women at each party)

For the Open House parties, we were put into groups of around 30 and lined up alphabetically to go into each party, and (just my luck!) I had to be first in line. That was definitely intimidating to have tons of women staring at you and cheering as soon as they opened the door and then be paraded around the room! The parties were generally the same format; the PNMs walked in during cheering, the President and Recruitment Chair spoke to the group, and then we talked with some of the members.


Lost: I do remember that this was my first party. One of the women I had met from Lost at one of the Go Greek events lived near my hometown, so she gave me a ride back to campus before recruitment since I didn’t have a car. At the party, the sisters were wearing matching polo shirts with the sorority’s letters on the pocket. I was picked up with the PNM right behind me in line, and the girl who had driven me back to campus saw me and waved- it was good to see a familiar face. Once everyone was inside, the President and Recruitment Chair welcomed us to Lost and told us some basic facts about the island (err...chapter) We then went to sit down with the member who had picked us up at the door. The woman that the other PNM and I were paired up with was one that I also remembered meeting a few months prior to recruitment so I felt like I was seeing yet another familiar face! I wasn’t sure how the conversation was supposed to flow between the three of us, and while I wanted to be considerate to the other PNM, I also felt like I was competing against her for our rusher’s attention. I left the party feeling very happy that I got to see these women again, since I already felt a connection with them from the pre-rush events Fall semester.

Hoarders: I am pretty sure this was my second party, and it told me, along with my subsequent parties, that Lost’s party was not the norm. When I walked into the Hoarders party, the level of excitement among the women was much higher, the cheering was much louder, and there were many more members. I was not double-recruited at this party or any of the others. All of the Hoarders seemed to be gorgeous and tall. They were all wearing different outfits, but they were all very dressed up. There were a lot of cocktail-style dresses, fancy tops, and high heels. One of the women I spoke with asked me where I liked to shop and then commented on how difficult it was to shop between seasons. I pretended to wholeheartedly agree. In my head, however, I instantly thought that this was probably not the group for me, and that it must have changed a lot since my high school teacher was in college since she seemed so casual and laid back.

Arrested Development: I came into this party expecting to meet very ditzy party-animal types of women, but I was pleasantly surprised! The first thing I noticed was that they were all wearing really cute matching tops (I think they were purple). Everyone I spoke to was really friendly, and one even told me that she was in the honors program at our college, which I was impressed by.

Chopped: I knew nothing about this group going into recruitment, but after their party I was in love! I met a member who shared my love of musicals (especially Wicked) and told me about how she had seen Idina Menzel perform in London. I was so excited to meet someone who shared my love of Idina that I was practically jumping up and down, and in retrospect, I probably came off as really weird!

Fresh Prince of Bel Air: This was another chapter I knew nothing about, and while I enjoyed the party and the women I met, nothing really struck me as particularly exciting or memorable. I laugh about this now since this chapter was apparently one of the most sought after by PNMs.

George Lopez: I was really excited to go to this party since I enjoyed meeting a lot of the women during Fall semester. Unfortunately, I had pretty awkward conversations and a couple of the women I talked to seemed a little ditzy (I know I use that word too much but I don’t know how else to describe it).

Glee: Since I knew I wanted this chapter, I was really worried about making a good impression. I tried to appear extremely interested and engaged in everything that was going on, and I was very conscious of how I acted with the women rushing me. I made sure I was always smiling and maintaining eye contact, even though I was dying to look around the room and take everything in at once. One of the women I had met during the Fall semester even stopped over to quickly say hi to me! Even better, I remembered her name! I thought these were all very good signs.

Hey Arnold: I talked to a member during this party who talked about herself way too much and didn’t seem to want to get to know me, so I left this party feeling like this chapter was kind of stuck up.

Home Improvement: I don’t remember any specifics, but I definitely enjoyed this house.

House: This party started out just fine, but during one of my conversations, the member asked me about my high school activities and I told her I was in the band and played percussion, and she smiled and replied, “Oh, what’s that?” Frankly, I then thought she was kind of stupid, and although I answered as though nothing was amiss, I didn’t really feel good about this chapter after the party.

Parks and Recreation: I went into this party expecting the women to be fairly dumb based on my previous impression, but luckily this was not the case at all. I enjoyed the party, but nothing really memorable happened.

Seinfeld: This party was not very memorable either. I saw the woman I knew from my high school, but I was unable to catch her eye during the welcoming cheering to wave hello.

Survivor: I was hoping to see one of the women from my high school in this chapter during the party, but I didn’t see either of them in the room. I had a couple of really funny conversations, one of which was about a member’s and my mutual dislike of cheese (weird I know).

The Office: I enjoyed this party, but I felt like I was getting drilled by one of the women rushing me. She kept asking questions like “Why did you choose this college? Why did you choose your major? Why are you going through sorority recruitment?” Now I realize these are normal recruitment questions and she was probably just nervous, but at the time her tone made me feel a lot of pressure to have really good answers to impress her.

The Twilight Zone: I wasn’t really sure what to expect at this party since I knew a really nice, classy woman from my high school who was a member, yet I also heard this was known as another “slutty” chapter. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I enjoyed the party very much! The women seemed genuinely interested in what I had to say, and one even high-fived me when I told her about other activities I had gotten involved with on campus!

Wife Swap: This was the only chapter that I felt like I really had had a “bad,” awkward experience in (looking back this seems like such a small, silly thing to even worry about). The woman who picked me up started making small talk with me, and when she found out where I was from, she commented on how we must have gotten a lot of snow over winter break. I replied that it wasn’t that bad, just a few inches. She said she had heard it was a lot worse, like a couple of feet of snow. So I said in what I thought was just a friendly, casual, conversational kind of way, “Oh we didn’t get that much snow. Who said that?” She then gave me this weird look and said sort of condescendingly, “I did.” This created a very awkward moment as you can imagine, and I don’t really recall what else happened during that party.

Iron Chef: This was my last party of Open House, and I really enjoyed it. I was somehow “coincidentally” paired up with a woman who had been active with yearbook in high school, just as I had been. I enjoyed meeting someone who had a lot in common with me.


The tent talk wasn’t too bad yet, but I had heard general dislike of Lost. It was pretty difficult to rank, since I did like some things about all of the chapters. I felt confident about Open House overall, and I figured I would be asked back to most of my favorites. My rankings ended up looking like this:

My top 12 (in no particular order):
Arrested Development
Chopped
Fresh Prince of Bel Air
Glee
Home Improvement
Iron Chef
Lost
Parks and Recreation
Seinfeld
Survivor
The Office
Twilight Zone

My bottom 5:
1. Hoarders
2. George Lopez
3. Hey Arnold
4. Wife Swap
5. House

[violetpretty]

Originally Posted by Greekgirl12

no major details about my school

Originally Posted by Greekgirl12

There are 17 NPC groups at my school

My college has deferred recruitment

That's not very anonymous.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by violetpretty

That's not very anonymous.

All the schools I found with 17 groups are un-deferred rush.

[ASUADPi]

Originally Posted by violetpretty

That's not very anonymous.

True but I think most people on Greekchat have lives and aren't going to spend the time searching the internet to just "out" an old PNM.

Her story is a couple of years old and if we can't sit back, read, and respect her opinions, well then I don't know what to say.

To the OP, I appreciate your honesty. I'm guessing you were 18-19 when you went through your recruitment and you had preconceived notions, it happens.

On another note, I understand not wanting to tell the code of your chapters, but I personally don't understand the harm in saying, at the end, I'm a member of XYZ sorority.

[violetpretty]

A lot of new posters/PNMs think that there are dozens of schools just like theirs. I'm just making her aware that she is not as anonymous as she thinks and she might want to decide which is more important, being anonymous or being "honest". Though, one can be honest and tactful at the same time. Many times, wanting to be "honest" means looking for a venue to bash chapters.

[*winter*]

OMG...a "Hoarders" sorority! Sorry that is too funny! I watch that show too BTW! Guess "Intervention" would have been a bad choice..."is that the party house?"

Ok...carry on...

[Greekgirl12]

Originally Posted by violetpretty

A lot of new posters/PNMs think that there are dozens of schools just like theirs. I'm just making her aware that she is not as anonymous as she thinks and she might want to decide which is more important, being anonymous or being "honest". Though, one can be honest and tactful at the same time. Many times, wanting to be "honest" means looking for a venue to bash chapters.

You make a lot of very good points, and I understand that I definitely need to be careful what I am posting, especially since, as you pointed out, my school is fairly distinctive. The number of chapters and the fact that we have deferred recruitment are very relevant to my story so I felt I had to include that. I have absolutely no intent to bash any chapters, and I sincerely apologize if it came off that way. I was merely trying to show, that maybe like some other PNMs out there, I too was naive enough to believe ridiculous stereotypes and make generalizations based off one member.

[Greekgirl12]

Most of the women in my dorm freshmen year were going through recruitment, and we were all crowded together in the hallway when we got our schedules for Skit Round from the RC. We could go to a maximum of 12 parties, and as people around me received their schedules, it looked like the ones I glanced at had full lists of 12 or close to it. (To be fair, I only saw a few so this may not have been common, and I know I really shouldn’t have been looking to begin with.) Finally, I received my schedule, and was immediately filled with shock.

Four.


Iron Chef, Lost, The Office, and George Lopez

Out of 17 groups and 12 possible parties, only 4 sororities wanted to get to know me better, and my favorite, Glee, was gone! “What had I done wrong?” I thought, “Why didn’t they like me?”

I went back into my room and I held myself together for a while because, I thought to myself, this was not something I absolutely had my heart set on. I was just trying it out. If Greek life was not for me, that’s okay, there is more to life. Once I got in the shower to start getting ready for my parties, however, I started to silently cry because all I could think about was that 13 sororities had instantly decided they did not like me.