..is not very long, and doesn't have a happy (or unhappy) ending, but since I referenced it in a post about recs, I thought I should post it. I didn't want to sidetrack that thread!
I was a spring admit to UC Berkeley and spent the fall semester at a community college, as opposed to enrolling in the UC Extension program. I was very anti-Greek when I started at Cal--my mom had a somewhat bad experience in her sorority at OU, though she's still friends with some of her sisters, and my dad wasn't in favor of the Greek system. Combine that with academic struggles my first semester (I was an intended computer science major at the time)...I never expected to go through recruitment.
In my sophomore and junior years, I lived in a house with women who loved their sororities. I decided to try APO, a co-ed service fraternity, during my sophomore year, and I really liked it--but I also wanted the experience of an all-female group. I decided to go through recruitment in my senior year, Fall 2004, since I was planning to stay for a 5th year anyway (my grades had improved significantly by that point).
I didn't seriously expect to make it out of the first round because I was so old, and in most cases didn't feel like I had much in common with the women I met. When I was asked back for house tours, I was pleasantly surprised. When I was asked back by a house for philanthropy night, I was shocked. I wasn't surprised when I wasn't asked back again--the woman with me from that last house spent more time paying attention to other people than talking to me, and when I'd try to start up the conversation again, we would hit a brick wall pretty quickly. If she was representative of the house as a whole, we just weren't a good fit (and that's okay).
I hadn't asked for recs, and at the time felt they were kind of silly in my case--any house where a rec would normally make a difference wouldn't want me because I was an old fart.
If I could change one thing about the experience, though, I would change that. I didn't realize that they would be valuable in my case, and it would be nice to know that I really did everything in my power to find a sorority, but it doesn't make much difference now.
Even though I wasn't placed, I felt like the system worked--I wasn't unhappy with the outcome. I honestly didn't feel like I meshed well with many of the houses I visited, and I was able to confirm that by visiting some again through continuous recruitment events. I didn't regret giving it a try, and wish that I'd gone through recruitment sooner, when I would have had a more realistic opportunity to join more houses.
I never ended up joining any sorority--we had lots of other non-NPC sororities, and I wanted to check them out, but I got distracted by APO and other campus activities. I was still happy.
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