olderPNM's retro recruitment....

[olderPNM]

I'm a sometimes poster on GC who went through recruitment at an undisclosed school many years ago. I'm going to follow 20Something's lead and attempt honesty but without disclosing anonymity. So here is my story...

The chapters at my school were as follows:

Huey - popular chapter but also known to be pretty into drinking and smoking. I saw a few girls smoking in Huey letters during my freshman year which I thought was a bit tacky.

Dewey - smallest chapter at my school. Also known as the "heavy" chapter at the time. (Looking back on it, they weren't heavy but for some reason had acquired that reputation.)

Louie - one of the smaller chapters. Louie didn't have too many mixers with the big fraternities but tended to socialize with the smaller fraternities.

Donald - I had heard of them but I didn't really have much of an impression of them prior to rush.

Mickey - Like Donald, I didn't really have much of an impression of them prior to rush. I did know one Mickey who lived in my dorm freshman year who was really friendly and was a dancer.

Minnie - A friend's girlfriend pledged Minnie during fall rush. I couldn't really get a feeling for Minnie's reputation on campus but found out later that they were a very popular chapter on campus.

Goofy - middle of the road chapter. I mixed them up with another chapter on campus who had a similar letter in their name. I thought they were the same chapter for most of my freshman year.

Pluto - In more detail below, I knew a few Plutos and was unsure of my opinion of them. I had heard a few unflattering rumors about some younger Plutos and their behavior at parties and mixers, but also knew some really nice ones.

Ariel - A popular chapter at my school. Known for having a lot of blonds and being popular with the guys. They also were known to party a lot.

Prior to beginning school at Anonymous University (AU for short) I had a pretty bad impression of greek life. I really don't know why I did, but the fact that no one in my family was greek probably had something to do with it. My sister's high school friend had joined a sorority at a VERY greek university and came home with stories about needing to get her nail polish color approved before painting her nails. Not a great first impression. A high school friend of mine actually asked if I was rushing and I had no idea what she was talking about. I thought she was asking if I was running short on time with my college preparations! (I was really clueless!) I think I said something along the lines of "ummmmmm, no....um, not really". Then she proceeded to tell me the chapters she was interested in joining at her future college and I felt like such an idiot, although I still had no idea what "rushing" entailed.

So I headed off to college with no intention of joining a sorority and not really much insight into greek life (except my mortifying answer to the "are you rushing?" question). I remember getting a rush flier in my mailbox at school and disregarding it completely.

During the beginning of my first year in college, a girl on my floor "Sara" had a friend who went through formal fall rush and joined Pluto. She seemed to really enjoy her time at Pluto and I met several Plutos that seemed really nice. Although they seemed to have a so-so reputation. I heard a few things from guy friends about their "loose-ness" at mixers and parties. I still liked the Plutos I met and wouldn't let one or two girls ruin a whole group for me just because they happened to be in the same sorority.

Sara decided she was going to go through informal rush in the spring. (Even though it was informal, all the chapters participated that year.) Sara convinced me to come with her because she didn't want to go by herself. (Looking back on this, not the smartest decision considering how opinionated she was.) Even though Sara's friend was a Pluto, Sara was dying to be an Ariel. She saw Ariel as being the "typical" sorority (i.e. blond, wealthy, pretty, etc.) and Pluto as not the typical sorority. Sara had pretty much made up her mind which houses we were to consider, so we went to four houses: Pluto, Ariel, Huey and Minnie.

[khlkcca]

I'm looking forward to another honest thread. Keep it coming.

[olderPNM]

The first house we visited was Ariel - I walked in and thought "wow all these girls are blonde". (That was definitely a true part of their reputation.) But once I started talking to a few of the girls I thought they were really sweet. Of course, Sara was in hog heaven. She was still dying to be an Ariel and thought she fit in perfectly. She talked incessantly about her future career plans, which I think she expected to impress the Ariel girls she spoke with. I thought she sounded arrogant and full of herself, but didn't know if that's what these girls wanted. I didn't really feel much of a connection at Ariel overall and was looking forward to the other houses.

I should mention that during this time I had become aquainted with an Ariel alumni through an activity on campus (I'll call her "Jane"). I thought she was really nice but wasn't sure what to make of her since she was pushing Ariel so strongly.

Next we went to Huey. Huey was a pretty popular chapter on campus, but I had no idea at the time. I don't remember much from this house except that one girl was extremely rude (looking back on it, she was probably just nervous) and was pretty much ignoring another rushee who seemed really interested in Huey. I didn't get a great impression and mentally crossed Huey off my list. Sara wasn't a fan of Huey either so we left the party pretty quickly.

We then tried to make it to Minnie before we went to Pluto. Now Minnie was also another popular chapter on campus, but I was blissfully unaware of this fact. A boy in our dorms had a friend who went to a nearby university where Minnie was, apparently, not a very strong chapter. His fraternity had made up a song about Minnies that was really awful. When we told him we were interested in Minnie he responded with a "no!!!! You can be a Minnie! They are all ____ and _____!!!" (Ridiculous sterotypes that don't need to be repeated.) We were surprised to see that the Minnies at our school were actually pretty and talkative! I had a great conversation with a Minnie from a town near where I grew up. We knew a few of the same people and got along great. I left with a really great impression of Minnie. Sara, on the other hand, got the impression that Minnies were all snobby. Of course, in my young mind I believed what Sara told me since she was the resident sorority expert, so I eventually decided that Sara was right, Minnies were snobby.

Sara and I then ran over to make an appearance at the Pluto party. The Pluto girls were nice (as usual) but I wasn't loving Pluto. They just didn't seem like girls I would be friends with outside of a sorority. But (as impressionable as I was) I went along with Sara's opinion of Pluto, that they were the only other chapter to consider other than Ariel.

The houses were supposed to call if you were invited to their preference ceremony. I received invitations from Pluto, Ariel and Minnie. Sara only received invites from Ariel and Pluto. I told Sara I was invited to the preference at Minnie and she said "well you're not going are you, those girls were so snobby!" I agreed and called the Minnies back and told them I wouldn't be attending. (I still cringe when I think of this.) So Sara and I both attended pref at Pluto and Ariel.

[OtterXO]

I'm loving all of these to keep me busy while I'm procrastinating at work.

[FSUZeta]

i love your choice of names. you can't go wrong with disney!

[olderPNM]

Thanks! I was trying to think of names and that's all I could come up with! I'll try to get another installment in this evening. There's a bit of a twist coming up.

[olderPNM]

First we went to Pluto’s preference. (I’ll stay away from too many details so as not to give away the chapters.) I spoke with a girl I already knew, but didn’t feel the connection that I expected to have when I found a place I wanted to join for the remainder of my college career and for life as an alum. When I left I knew I wasn’t too excited about Pluto. Sara was, of course, just chomping at the bit to get to Ariel’s preference. So we made our way over there together.

Ariel’s ceremony was a bit more casual. Here I was paired with a girl I didn’t really know and honestly, she didn’t seem all that interested in getting to know me. I liked the other girls I had met in Ariel but just didn’t feel a strong connection here either. I was regretting my decision to partake in this “rush” thing at all! Sara was sure she was going to become an Ariel. I overheard her, again, coming off as arrogant and boastful but figured the Ariels may like that type of girl. At the end of the day I went and spoke with a rush counselor who suggested that I wait for fall rush so that I could see all the houses. That sounded like a good idea to me so I decided to drop out of the informal recruitment and wait until fall.

Sara did not receive a bid to Ariel and ended up pledging Pluto. She acted happy but I could tell she was secretly jealous that I was going to go through formal rush the following fall.

So I waited patiently all summer to sign up for fall rush!

[AlphaXi_Husky]

I wondered if that's what was going to happen! Not the part about "Sara" joining Pluto, but you waiting it out for Fall Formal.

Yay - more more more!

[WinniBug]

I'm so glad that you decided to wait until to go through in the fall instead of following in pushy Sara's footsteps!

[olderPNM]

Fall rush of my sophomore year came quicker than I anticipated. Sara and I had a falling out over living situations and a boy - who I dated and then she decided to date right after me without so much as a conversation about it. I was just not sure she was a very good friend, and I seemed to be right. At the end of the prior school year I was upset about it, but looking back it was the best thing for me. I discovered that she was extremely insecure, which explained her desire to be “accepted” by the Ariels, who she perceived as being the perfect sorority girls. I was a little nervous about seeing Sara and the other Plutos during rush. I never knew whether they or the Ariels had extended me bids (I suspected that the Ariels did not!) but didn’t know if the Plutos would be upset at me for dropping out. A rush counselor, who I already knew to be a Pluto, actually came up to me and said “I’m so glad you’re rushing now. I was worried you went to another house!” It made me feel good to know the Plutos liked me, but I still knew I didn’t want to be one of them.

I was surprised how much more formal fall rush was than spring rush. The whole process was exhausting! At my school we had three nights where we first went to 9 houses, then 6 and then 3 for preference. Bid day was the day after preference.

The first day was overwhelming. I wasn’t accustomed to the singing, clapping and screaming that is part of fall rush at AU. I don’t remember the order I visited the houses but I’ll go through them all.

Huey: I still did not like Huey. The tent talk about Huey was very positive, but I couldn’t forget the rude girl from spring rush and the smoking I had seen the prior year. I made the decision to cut Huey that night (much to the surprise of my rush counselor). I think it was a principle thing or something, I just didn’t want to be associated with rude smokers. (Apparently I also grew a pair of cojones over the summer!)

Dewey: Poor Dewey. Dewey’s number had dwindled so badly that they had to invite an entire chapter from a neighboring university to assist with rush. These girls were actually rushing girls, not prepping food or drinks. I remember walking in a being picked up by this classy, fun girl and talking to her non-stop. I glanced at her nametag and it said “Laura Smith – University of Near Anonymous (UNA)”. I asked her why she had a nearby university’s name on her name tag and she said she didn’t actually go to AU, but was just helping with rush. I looked around the room and saw that a majority of the girls also seemed to have UNA on their nametags. I asked which girls were actually in the Dewey chapter at AU and it was about 12. 12 girls. It was so sad. All the girls seemed really nice, but a bit defeated. That never translates into a good rush. (Dewey ended up closing its doors after disappointing numbers that year.)

Mickey: If you remember I didn’t really know anything about Mickey. I knew one girl from my dorm freshman year, who (coincidentally!) picked me up at the door. She was really friendly and I really loved all the girls I met. I bonded with one girl over being starving since the parties started really early that day and not many people had time to eat. I appreciated that food was not a taboo subject with these girls! haha The Mickey’s seemed really fun and friendly. I liked them a lot.

Pluto: Eek. Pluto. Luckily the girls didn’t seem to share my “eek.” mentality. They all seemed genuinely happy to see me and all said they hoped I would rush in the fall when I dropped out of spring rush the year before. It was a little awkward to see Sara since we hadn’t talked over the summer. She was very nice, but I sensed she was being really fake. I had a nice time, but still didn’t think I would end up at Pluto.

Louie: Louie didn’t have a great social reputation on campus, but they seemed like nice girls who really like to be together. I really wanted to like Louie but I felt like they were trying too hard. I came off as a bit desperate, which turned me off.

Minnie: The first person I saw at Minnie was my friend’s girlfriend who pledged the year before. She was so happy to see me, which made me really happy. I had always liked Minnie and was finally going to see if I actually fit in without Sara’s influence. I just wasn’t sure if declining to accept a preference invite the year before would hurt me with Minnie. I mentioned it to my friend and she didn’t seem to think so. I hoped it wouldn’t!

Goofy: I entered Goofy feeling so-so about them and left feeling the same way. I had finally learned that they were not one and the same with the chapter with the same letter in their name, but still didn’t see any defining characteristics. I don’t know if I was just tired or overwhelmed by all the new people. I didn’t hate Goofy, but didn’t love them either.

Donald: Like with Goofy, I was just so-so about Donald. They were nice girls but didn’t seem to enjoy being around one another. It was a weird vibe, like they didn’t know each other very well or something. I wasn’t sure about Donald but felt like I’d give them another shot.

Ariel: Another eek. My Ariel experience was not as awful as I thought it would be. I was paired with a girl who had been abroad the prior year and was a real sweetheart. I knew I would probably get cut that night! I didn’t want to be an Ariel so I was fine with it!

That night we had to rank our top six and cut three. I ranked the houses as follows:

• Donald, Goofy, Pluto, Mickey, Louie, Minnie
• Ariel
• Huey
• Dewey

The next day I met with my rush counselor and saw my schedule. It was:

Goofy
Pluto
Mickey
Louie
Minnie
Dewey (?)

I was so confused, why was Dewey on my schedule!? Apparently I had been cut from Donald (no skin off my nose with that one) so I was put onto Dewey's party list since they had such poor returns. I was definitely happy with my schedule otherwise, especially to see Mickey and Minnie on my list! They were my favorites so far. Several girls had been cross-cut in my group, I guess due to their sophomore standing, so I wasn't complaining!

[AlphaXi_Husky]

Wait, I'm confused - you were cut by Donald? But they're on your list, so did you mean Goofy? Or Huey?

Yay for Mickey and Minnie though! Can't wait for the next installment!

[WinniBug]

[olderPNM]

Originally Posted by AlphaXi_Husky

Wait, I'm confused - you were cut by Donald? But they're on your list, so did you mean Goofy? Or Huey?

Yay for Mickey and Minnie though! Can't wait for the next installment!

The way it worked at AU was that we would put down our rankings and then they matched us with the houses that invited us back. I was released by Donald but wasn't upset about it since I didn't feel a great connection with them anyway.

[SigKapSweetie]

Girls were cross-cut after round 1? Yikes! Glad you made it back to your favorites - and I'm rooting for Mickey!

[AlphaXi_Husky]

Originally Posted by olderPNM

The next day I met with my rush counselor and saw my schedule. It was:


Donald
Pluto
Mickey
Louie
Minnie
Dewey (?)

I'm sorry - usually I'm not this slow, but I like your story so I want to understand what's going on. You said you were dropped by Donald, but Donald was on your schedule?