A Wicked Recruitment: Fall '08

[Smile_Awhile]

A quick Preface to the beginning of my tale: I was not educated about Greek life at the beginning of my journey. Please do not take my initial impression about what it was to heart, as they’ve done a complete 180 in the three months since I entered university. Thanks.

I come from the South- I’ve always had a vague idea about sororities and fraternities, and had some friends who were intent on going through recruitment. Throughout my senior year, I was set on not going through recruitment; there was no way I would fit in a sorority. My parents were just fine with that- my mom attended a school with no Greek life, and my dad was not a Greek, though there was a large system at his alma mater. Neither never really mentioned the thought, although I do recall my father asking if I intended on going through recruitment- I believe my response was “Heck no!” The people I did know who were already discussing such things were… let’s just say not my type. They were the blonde bombshells who loved partying, and I was the sweet, intelligent girl. I didn’t think there was any way I’d ever fit into a sorority. I already had two biological sisters- I didn’t need thousands more!

Finally, after a four hour ceremony, I graduated from high school. In the fall, I was attending Performing Arts U (PAU for short). At my school of choice, performing arts are huge- it’s not unusual to have two student productions going on in the same weekend, with at least three more in rehearsal. While it is fairly small, it’s a great fit for me. PAU’s unique environment plays heavily into my experience.

At some point in June, I received a call from a sophomore at PAU. She was the same major as me, and was also a member of a sorority. We talked about our department, she asked if I had any questions, and then asked if I was considering going through recruitment. I told her I really didn’t think so- I didn’t think it would be a good fit for me. She said that she had the same thoughts, but decided to do it anyway. She absolutely loved it. After we hung up, I just shrugged it off. I still wasn’t going to do it.

Fast forward to July. I was preparing for my college experience, and since I happened to be bedbound for a few weeks (I had my appendix removed), I was researching anything and everything I needed to accomplish before I got to school. One day, while looking through the mail for my housing info, I received a nice thick packet from Performing Arts U. I was absolutely sure it was my housing info- wrong! It was actually a letter from the Greek Life Advisor at my school, advising all of us girls about Recruitment, which would be happening during my first week on campus. It came complete with a booklet that contained brief bios on all the fraternities and sororities, as well as the typical “Why Go Greek” section. I leafed through it, and put it into the recycling. Nope, not interested.

But after getting that booklet, I started thinking. I really wanted a social life in college- something that was sorely lacking in my high school career. Was going Greek a good way to do that? Through the magic of Facebook, I asked some sophomores at my future campus. They recommended I try recruitment, “just to meet some people.” I was initially resistant. If I wasn’t going to fit in, why even bother trying? But the idea kept bumping around my head… until one late night I decided “Why the hell not? I can always drop out if I hate it.” I filled out my application (“Why so many questions about involvement in high school?”), and sent it off into the wonders of cyberland.

[TriDeltaSallie]

Woo hoo! New rush story!

[twinkle555]

yay!

[breesquared]

oh boy!!

[Smile_Awhile]

Finally, the appointed move in day occurred. Mine was a day before the majority of the freshman class, as I am a member of the Honors program, and we had a retreat while everyone else was moving in. As I was walking around the campus, I saw some sorority girls lining the basketball court. I knew they were sorority members from their shirts, as they were all wearing the “Go Greek!” shirts from Panhellenic. My stomach churned as I saw them. I was getting a little worried about my decision to go through recruitment, but I ignored it, as I had to get everything up into my room!

After moving everything in, I said goodbye to my family, and there I was, out on my own. The Honors students had a cookout that day, which I attended. The first person I met was “Dancing Darcy” (names changed to protect the innocent!). She was a dance major, and we met as she was coming out of her room- she just lived down the hall from me! We exchanged pleasantries, but I didn’t really like her right off the bat- just one of those things. She seemed sweet, but we didn’t’ click right off the bat.
I remember the cookout as nice- I talked to “Dancing Darcy” and someone else, who I cannot really remember. We didn’t really mention recruitment.

Later, I went down and knocked on a girl’s door. We’d been talking through Facebook, and I was bored out of my skull with no one else in the dorm. I hit it off with “Business Betty” right off the bat. She was majoring in Entertainment Business, and was a really sweet girl. We talked for a while, and ended up watching a movie later that night. She was really great- and she was going through recruitment too! It was exciting to meet someone else doing what I was doing, and she had the same attitude- if it wasn’t for her, I’m not sure if I would have gone through with it. Her mom had been Greek at our school, although it was at a chapter that had long closed.

At the honors retreat the next day, I ended up hanging out with Dancing Darcy and Business Betty the majority of the day. We also added one more to our crew “Acting Amanda”. She and I were the same major- theatre. Throughout our first few days, we all stuck close together- eating together, hanging out together. It was great. Initially, Acting Amanda, Business Betty, and myself were all going through recruitment, while Dancing Darcy was not. After much convincing, we got her to go through the process with us. We were all nervous/excited… Business Betty and I ended up walking to our first recruitment events together, in which we both commented on how nervous we were.

A quick description of recruitment at my school, as it’s different. We do have recruitment counselors- they have no Greek name. However, those groups are very loose- we don’t meet them ahead of time. The groups are pretty large too- we had about 100 girls go through, and 4 groups. There is no required informational session- a session occurs, but it isn’t required (something I wish would be changed). First night you go to all the houses for 15 minutes. Second night was skit night, with a max of three invites back (which would be every house). Third night was preference night, with a max of two invites. Finally, Bid Day!

There are three sororities on my campus: due to our size, I won’t be revealing which groups are there until the end, or possibly not at all. As cheesy as this sounds, I’ve decided to use the character names from the musical Wicked. The three groups are:

Elphaba

Glinda

Nessarose

[Benzgirl]

Gaaa - linda!

[carnation]

Popular! You're gonna be pop-u-larrrr!

[Jobellesis]

Originally Posted by Smile_Awhile

We do have recruitment consolers-

I hope you didn't need any consoling!

[Smile_Awhile]

Originally Posted by Jobellesis

I hope you didn't need any consoling!

Doh! I new I needed to fix that, but i managed to slip past me. I've never been able to spell that word right...

[LoggerTheta]

It's time to try defying gravity......
Love the code names. I like your story already.

[breesquared]

yay wicked code names! can't wait to read more =]

[SWTXBelle]

Hmmm . . .Kristin Chenoweth is a Gamma Phi . . .she played Glinda - GO GLINDA!

[breesquared]

Originally Posted by SWTXBelle

Hmmm . . .Kristin Chenoweth is a Gamma Phi . . .she played Glinda - GO GLINDA!

good call.

[Smile_Awhile]

After picking up our nametags, we were briefed on what was to happen. Due to the number of girls going through recruitment, there were four parties that night, meaning there would be a break somewhere in there for all of us. We were then lined up into a giant alphabetical line, and then separated into our groups from that alphabetical group. Dancing Darcy’s last name and my last name were similar, and we were very close together in line- even in the same group! This was comforting for me, as I was very nervous. Our break was during the first party, which was nice because we didn’t have to walk to the houses and back more than necessary- it was quite a distance between the meeting houses (no living in on my campus) and our meeting spot.
After some typical, and kind of awkward, conversations with some other PNMs who I didn’t know, it was finally time for the walk across campus. My first party was at Glinda.

Glinda: As we walked in, there was an abundance of singing and clapping. I had not been warned about this- and it was scary! I was picked up by a girl who had given me a tour of the theatre department, so it was nice to kind of know her. After we were seated, they did a song. I don’t remember what it was, but I do remember lots of head bobbing. You know the one- the side to side that you see in a lot of recruitment songs? That one. It was perfectly in sync, and while I had a nice, pleasant mask, inside I was freaking out. There was just something about it that freaked me out! To this day, I don’t know what it was. The active was perfectly nice- we had a good, but fairly forgettable conversation. If I remember right, I wasn’t ever bumped at this party. After some chatting, we watched a video about their chapter. There was a narrator who had a thick Australian accent, and most of the material talked about their philanthropy and their social gatherings. There were a lot of pictures taken at parties- I could tell from the costumes (the fraternities throw a lot of theme parties) and the backgrounds. That kind of turned me off, because it didn’t seem like these girls really did much else. After the video was finished, it was time to go. Overall, it was a nice party, I suppose- but I knew that it wasn’t for me.

As we lined up for our next party, I discovered that I wasn’t alone in being a bit freaked out by them. I think it was the sheer fact that I was a very unprepared PNM- I had no idea what would happen, and it just freaked me out at first. But I still knew that this wasn’t a good fit for me. Later that night, I still hoped I’d get an invite back- mostly because I thought that maybe I was just too freaked out to click with anyone. I also began musing to Darcy that maybe I wouldn’t fit in anywhere. Maybe this was all pointless, and I’d just be miserable the entire night. Finally, it was time to go back in. This time, we were entering into Elphaba.

Elphaba: We walked into a song here too- but it wasn’t quite as scary as Glinda’s. I met with a girl that I didn’t know, but we clicked right off the bat. She was very sweet, and I remember sharing a lot of interests with her. I was bumped from her (very naturally too- just smooth) to a girl I had met the day before at dinner. We had talked about our height at dinner (we’re both extremely short!) and we both looked at each other’s heels. Just a fun fun conversation. We then sat down for a song: it was something about fraternity boys, and while I’m not sure what it had to do with Elphaba, it was still cute and fun. I think I was bumped once more here, but I don’t remember what we talked about or who the girl was. What I do remember is that this felt right. The conversation was easy, there was a vibe that I loved, and it just felt good. I remember one girl saying they were more of the “jeans and sweatshirt” house. I understood that, and I loved it.

My friends loved this chapter too. We chatted while we lined up for the next house, and it was almost unanimous about our feelings. The girls made a very good impression on everyone. There was a girl in front of me in line- “Musical Mary”. Darcy, Mary, and myself had many conversations, but I specifically remember one right before we went into the next house. She told us about the reps she had heard about from the fraternity boys she knew. Glinda was the “slutty” house, Elphaba was the “goofy” house, and Nessarose was the “nice” house (can you tell I did a lot of tent talking? I feel terrible about that now…). She personally had her heart set on Nessarose, as she had a good friend in the house. Just after we discussed this, it was time to go into Nessarose.

Nessarose: They sang as we walked in, I think. I have no strong memory of this. Here, I was double rushed, with two PNMs to one active. The majority of the group was, I noticed- obviously a smaller house. I remember talking to the active, and for some reason, I got no vibe. Nothing positive, nothing negative, just… nothing. I actually asked the active why she chose this house, as I just wasn’t picking up anything. I was bumped- I don’t remember the other conversations. We watched a slide show, and our active explained the pictures to us as we went. It wasn’t a very well done slide show- I picked up on this as I’m a bit of a computer geek. I left without a good or negative impression. Just… blah. It was really weird.

As we walked back, I was almost postive of my rankings. I knew which house I loved, but I debated between my other two. Should I rank up the house where I didn’t get anything, or the house where I felt something? It didn’t take me too long to decide though:

1. Elphaba
2. Nessarose
3. Glinda

[GammaPhi88]

Well...I guess Glinda is popular with the boys...haha sorry, I know thats terrible, but I couldn't resist.

Great story...keep it coming!