(Un poco loco) recruitment story!

_RushPuppies_ · #1 07-19-2018, 12:37 PM

Long time lurker in this forum, so I figured it was time: here is my recruitment story! I am still a collegian and truly enjoy my sorority experience. I went to a bigger school about three hours away from home where I only knew a couple of people because I had received a great scholarship. I had a very strong high school GPA, lots of extracurriculars, and I couldn’t have been more excited to have a fresh start! I came out of a tough senior year of bad friendships, an emotionally abusive relationship, and some really awful mental health issues so I was BEYOND ready to make a big school feel like a small school through sorority life. I had one aunt (by marriage) who was Greek, but other than that, it’s never been a thing that my family has been into.I lived with three other girls in a beautiful suite-style dorm, and all of us would be going through recruitment. There are a few twists and turns on my journey to sorority membership, so hopefully it’ll be somewhat entertaining.

We visited fourteen chapters for the first round. One of my majors is Spanish, so I’ve named them after Spanish-speaking countries:

Argentina
Chile
Colombia
Costa Rica
Cuba
Dominican Republic
Ecuador
Mexico
Panama
Paraguay
Puerto Rico
Spain
Uruguay
Venezuela

Spain
I was extremely nervous coming into my first party. I had no idea what to say! Luckily, I had been able to tour a few of the houses during my senior year and this happened to be one of them, so I walked into a somewhat familiar environment. I remembered that this house had cold dorms, and I was super weirded out by the idea of sleeping with twenty other girls in the room, so I convinced myself that if I ended up here that I would make a makeshift bed in my room, LOL. I talked to two girls in this house. The first girl was very formal and asked a lot of good questions, but had almost robotic responses - appropriate, but very formal, and she repeated the affirmations in a cycle (she had like three positive responses, so if she liked something, it was always “great, awesome, wonderful” (not the actual words, which I don’t even remember), never “wonderful, great, awesome” - it always in the same order and that was her response to everything. I got bumped to another girl in the kitchen, which was the LOUDEST room of the entire open house round. She told me that their house is known for being the loudest. (I heard louder songs, but not louder conversations). Screaming to the MAX. We talked about crafting and leadership *basic voice* Hashtag so srat. I left feeling good about this house, but not having anything to compare it to, I wasn’t quite sure. I felt like recruitment was something I could manage well after this party - nothing too intimidating.

Mexico
This is a house that everyone likes, myself included. I got to tour Mexico senior year, and I was in the last tour of the day, but the girls thought the one before was the last tour and had gone upstairs to change into comfy clothes and slippers, so when our group came knocking, they all came running down the stairs like chickens with their heads cut off and gave us a tour in their comfy clothes - they seemed so real, cute, and fun and I was totally into it. I had very natural, fun conversations with both girls. First was a girl who had taken a class that I had my first semester (which has 400+ students in it) with the same professor and we talked about that for a while. Great advice. I got bumped to another girl who was equally bubbly and friendly and very easy to talk to. We talked about our hometowns and being in choir. At the end of the round, everyone packed into the living room for an adorable song. All the PNMs kept talking about it! This was one of my favorite houses of the first round.

Cuba
I talked to two girls here as well. With one, I discussed cheerleading (which she did, I can hardly do a back somersault without injuring myself) and our home states. I noted that she had super long lashes (IDK, but this is what I have written down. Little hints). I bumped to another girl and we discussed travel, the a cappella groups here on campus, and a few other things. I had to repeat a couple of things, and I had to ask her to repeat a couple of things. (Not as much as in Spain, though). I left this party feeling like I would be ranking Cuba lower since Spain and Mexico had wowed me far more. (Sorry, Fidel.)

Dominican Republic
While waiting in line outside this house (which all PNMs agreed was beautiful), the sprinklers turned on. We were expecting rain that night, but we didn’t expect water to come UP from the ground. They let us into DR before anyone got too soaked. I talked to a senior who was in a music group on campus. She asked me about what I was looking for in a sorority, since we have a values-based recruitment. There were just a couple of awkward “...so” moments and I felt myself touching my face a lot. She mentioned how much her sisters were really there for her, especially when she had the stomach flu - they brought her soup and meds and it was very sweet. I thought that Dominican Republic was a nice house with nice girls but I felt like I needed to meet more people to get a better sense of it.

Puerto Rico
This house is beautiful! I again talked to two girls. With the first, we talked about Disney World! I’ve been so many times that I’ve lost count because my grandparents live 40 minutes away, and I even road-tripped there over Spring Break senior year with my three closest friends. It was a free-flowing conversation. Then, I got bumped to a girl who was very laid-back. We talked about our love for leggings as pants. They did an adorable values speech as a chapter and it was cute! I liked Puerto Rico, but thought I needed to take another vacation there to get a connection because the two girls I talked to seemed a little more outgoing and wild than little freshman me.

Costa Rica
These girls are very sophisticated! They have a strong GPA and are very beauuuuutiful. I talked to a girl who had amazing curly hair, and we discussed the community aspect of a sorority as a home away from home. Next, I talked to a girl in their kitchen. They sang a fun sorority song together in the kitchen. I liked the girls here, but was worried that I wouldn’t get called back - there seemed to be a “look” here that I don’t mirror.

Panama
I talked to one girl and we sat in the kitchen, where they had unusual decorations in bowls on their tables (I won’t say what since I’ve never heard of it being used anywhere else and I don’t want to give it away). We talked about concerts, recruitment weather (it was burning hot her year), choir, and Chipotle. This house is very involved, and has a great GPA as well. This was another house that I thought might be too “cool” for me, and our conversations were just kind of surface level, but it was round one and that’s what I had been told to expect, so I went with it.

Colombia
Wow!!!! I had a moment of “I WANNA BE HERE” - the president (who I met at the event I went to senior year for Greek Life information) was giving a speech when ten or so girls burst out in a rap in the middle of it! It was such a funny moment, and a total groove along jam kind of song. I talked in the basement kitchen with a girl, who is from a very small town, and who knows a girl with my exact name (I have a common first name, but a weird, unpronounceable last name)! She played french horn, I sing, so we discussed music. We also talked about our very unusual German teachers from high school. I left this house feeling so rejuvenated and relaxed. This was totally one of my favorite houses for round one!

Venezuela
I talked to two girls here - first was a girl who was on the cheerleading team and is from the Southwest, and she was really friendly! I then got a quick visit with a girl, then got bumped to another girl and we talked about travel, specifically Italy, where both of us have been (she studied abroad there). I had heard tent talk that this was a really well-liked house, and I could see why. Each girl was a great conversationalist and their house was stunning, inside and out. I wanted to learn more about Venezuela for sure!

Argentina
I talked to an adorable girl and we discussed how I was in synchronized swimming in high school and our mutual love for Michael Buble. Then, I got bumped to another Argentinian girl with the most gorgeous freckles and was losing her voice like I was. I wrote down “pretty house, pretty girls” and had a smiley face next to it. I especially loved their philanthropy and how down-to-earth the women seemed, even though they all were dressed and made-up to the nines...and sixes and sevens with you...Don’t cry for me, Argentina, I hoped to be back the next day!

Chile
I had been waiting for a chapter that I could easily cross off of my list, and boy, did I find it. I talked to one girl the whole time, and this would be her second year living in the house. This was one chapter where I asked darn near ALL of the questions. I basically walked in, got seated in a room that looked like a basement storage closet, and she asked “So what do you want to know about me?” - not at all in an egotistical way, in an AWKWARD way. She was a junior who had no idea how to keep a recruitment conversation going, who didn’t ask a single thing about me, and who gave the most vague answers possible. I felt bad for her because she just seemed so out of her element and nervous the whole time. It was so painful, but I was simultaneously grateful to have one easier decision to make at rankings.

Uruguay
Again, one girl here. She was from the city where the university is, and we discussed travel and hockey. She lived in the building next to mine her freshman year, which has the same living style (which I absolutely LOVED). She was a sweetheart. All the sisters gathered round for a speech and song. Whenever anyone slipped up a little bit, everyone giggled supportively (weird wording, I know) but you could tell that they have a very close sisterhood! Lots of laughs, and adorable songs!! I was smitten by Uruguay and they had a gorgeous house all decked out in their sorority colors. I definitely wanted to be back.

Ecuador
This house was another one that I had toured, but they had completely renovated the first floor since I had last visited and it’s like my Pinterest dream house! I noticed that the girls had a certain look here, not in a Stepford Wives way - just in a natural, relaxed way - but then I realized that I totally looked similar to a lot of girls in the house, haha. I talked to a bunch of girls here! I talked to two girls and then the president popped in to talk to me, and then a fourth girl, who brought me over to the living room for the song, which was...amazing. Everyone had it stuck in their heads for the rest of the day. I seriously liked this house so much - I felt like every girl I talked to had real ambitions, was super smart, very laid back, and incredibly classy. Totally up there with at the top of my list!

Paraguay
This was my last party of the day, and I don’t know if I had a drop-off after the adrenaline rush of Ecuador or something but I was ZONKED. I had toured the house before, but sort of forgot what it looked like. I talked to three girls - the first one wasn’t too memorable. The second girl was nice, but we only talked about recruitment and how odd the process is. The third girl asked me the basics - hometown, major, etc - and repeated a couple of questions. I was tired, she was very clearly tired, and that made it easy to rank this one the lowest of Round One.

I ranked:
Mexico, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Argentina, Uruguay, and Ecuador as 1s
2 Spain
3 Cuba
4 Chile
5 Paraguay

FSUZeta · #2 07-19-2018, 01:15 PM

Love, love , love your descriptions. Really great!I find it interesting(and a little unusual) that rushing was going on in the kitchens. Is this the commercial kitchen where cooks prepare the meals for the house, or a kitchen for the sisters to use for snacks?

_RushPuppies_ · #3 07-19-2018, 01:41 PM

I guess it would be more of a dining room, not a kitchen. I just lump the two things together in my head because “dining room” seems formal to me. We call our house dining room “the kitchen”, the area where the snacks are “the snack kitchen”, and the area where our chefs cook “the chef’s kitchen”

navane · #4 07-20-2018, 01:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by _RushPuppies_

Argentina
I especially loved their philanthropy and how down-to-earth the women seemed, even though they all were dressed and made-up to the nines...and sixes and sevens with you...Don’t cry for me, Argentina, I hoped to be back the next day!

Hahahahahahahaha!!!! I love it!

_RushPuppies_ · #5 07-21-2018, 10:29 AM

I woke up to the list already being out (about an hour early)! I was hoping for at least 6 out of a possible ten parties. I was shocked and very pleased to receive ten parties!
Colombia
Spain
Dominican Republic
Venezuela
Uruguay
Argentina
Panama
Costa Rica
Mexico
Ecuador

9 of my 1s, and my 2 (Spain). Puerto Rico had dropped me, and looking back, I wasn’t bothered by it since there really wasn’t a “click” moment.

I set off for…

Colombia
One of my favorites from Round 1 as my first party! I was stoked. I was paired with a girl and we related over how our brains were still waking up for the day. Then, I got bumped to a girl who I had met at the preview event - she immediately said, “I remember you! Not to be creepy! I just got really excited!” and I said that if she hadn’t said that, I was going to! I remembered her too and really liked her. We got to talking and gabbing, and we got so distracted while talking that we didn’t notice that almost everyone had already assembled into the living room to sing. They had a problem with their sound system, so they improvised and sang a cappella - and NAILED IT! Lots of giggles within, and I knew I wanted to come back. Loved, loved, LOVED Colombia. Didn’t want to leave.

Spain
I felt good about returning to Spain for the next round. In Cuba, Chile, and Paraguay, I felt negative about the parties, I had felt positive about Spain and was happy that they liked me enough to invite me back. I got paired with a girl who was in an a cappella group on campus! We really got to talking and their philanthropy video was beautiful. Then, I got bumped again and we talked about moving away for college. Again, sort of formal, and a little low on energy. Nice, but not exciting.

Dominican Republic
I talked to a girl here who was crazy and goofy! A good boost of energy after Spain. I got bumped to a second girl and we discussed more about campus and activities. Their song was a fun pop medley and they all were having CRAZY fun. I felt like I had to ask a lot of questions to keep the ball rolling here. The girls all seem loud and comfortable with each other, but quieter with me so far, except the crazy/goofy one who honestly just intimidated me with her energy.

Venezuela
This house has a reputation for making really big cuts, so I was pretty pumped to be asked back! The girls are very beautiful, though I did see more girls who looked like me today, which was nice. A girl picked me up, and we talked about recruitment process (which I was shockingly really enjoying) and how you can tell when people are being genuine and comfortable. I felt so comfortable talking to her! A second girl came to talk to me and we talked about food, the ultimate conversation starter. The girl who floated to me on the first day came back to do another quick meet-cute. She seemed sweet! The song here was great - it started out with a ukulele and two girls singing before everyone joined in. These girls seemed to have a great quality about them that I can’t put my finger on, but I couldn’t help feeling like they’re cooler than I was.

I then had lunch and a break, so I headed back to my dorm to put on some more undereye concealer (a necessary thing, let me tell you!)

Uruguay
For the first girl I talked to, we pretty exclusively talked about food (oops!) so I made sure that when I got bumped that I asked about the philanthropy, which I really like! I saw one of the girls from the first day, and she smiled at me, which was reassuring. Their song was wonderful! Again, lots of laughs. Such a beautiful house and you could tell that these girls just really freakin’ liked each other. I had developed a little bit of a crush on them and was totally feeling it.

Argentina
I absolutely LOVED Argentina’s philanthropy and they did a beautiful job presenting it. It’s such a serious topic but they did a wonderful job setting the mood. These girls definitely stepped it up in terms of outfits today - each girl was Insta-ready in clothing, hair, and makeup, and frankly, I felt pretty lame in comparison in my sundress which was getting more and more wrinkled with every folding chair that I sat in. I don’t really remember what we talked about here. I still left feeling that the house was very friendly and down-to-earth and I never felt like I was being rushed here - I just felt like they were really trying to get to know me, instead of it being a formal interview like at other houses.

Panama
Panama started with a presentation, but whoever was speaking started with a line that was something to the effect of “Panama is a top house and you must have been cool to get to day 2”, but not in so many words. I think it was meant to be more of a “welcome back, we saw something in you yesterday and we’re so glad to have you here at Panama today” but it came off as SO prideful and egotistical. I was totally turned off by it and barely remembered anything else except that everyone was in super color-coordinated outfits, down to the shade - it looked like they had all been cut out of one bolt of fabric like the von Trapp kids with the curtains, and I decided that I didn’t want to frolic around the streets of Salzburg as a Panama woman.

Costa Rica
I didn’t learn much about Costa Rica’s philanthropy. The one thing that stood out to me during this round was that I had missed a spot shaving my legs and had a few little blonde hairs on my kneecap and the girl I was talking to would not stop staring at my knee. It was weird. I still think about how weird it was sometimes. The girls still seemed smart and sophisticated but the house just didn’t seem like it would be one for me.

Mexico
After leaving three parties feeling “meh”, I was thrilled to be going back to Mexico and they did not disappoint! These girls were so smart, relaxed, and fun, and I just loved every conversation I had with them this day. At the end of the round all of the PNMs sat in the living room and the Mexicans stood around us and sang a beautiful song and I teared up a little bit. I loved Mexico and so wanted to come back.

Ecuador
Another party I was excited to come back to and such a great one to finish off the day with.
These girls were so passionate about their philanthropy and put themselves in such a good light. They had little iced coffee drinks that were so tasty (and NEEDED) and again, I was just so impressed by these women. They sang another song at the end of the round and it happened to be one of my favorites. I had the tingles here!

At the end of the round, I ranked the houses accordingly:
1s: Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Uruguay, Venezuela, and Argentina
2: Dominican Republic
3: Spain
4: Costa Rica
5: Panama

ChioLu · #6 07-21-2018, 11:22 AM

Great recruitment story. Looking forward to reading more.
Trying in figure out what school gets to serve drinks other than water. With “no frills” recruitment at UCLA, all chapters can only serve ice water (with a fruit/veggie slice — like a lime or cucumber slice — or an edible flower, or mint sprig). Then on Pref, you can serve a sparkling drink, like ginger ale.

FSUZeta · #7 07-21-2018, 12:32 PM

Panama's introduction sounds like those inside jokes sorority members mistakenly make that non members don't get. Sounded great in rehearsal, but the audience was not taken in to account. Yikes!

_RushPuppies_ · #8 07-22-2018, 07:36 PM

Round Three: House Tours

I opened my schedule today and was a little disappointed to see only four houses. Two of my roommates and a few other girls in my hall had all six houses, but those tended to be the local girls who went to high school in the area or in the big city an hour away - but I honestly had no room to complain, because my other roommate and many other women in the hall had one or two houses left, and they tended to be the houses that had trouble recruiting (one house that had only been on campus for about five years and another that joined much later than the vast majority of houses). A lot of people dropped out today, both before and after parties. I felt okay about having four events, especially because I still liked all of the ones that I had left at least a little bit, if not a lot:

Dominican Republic
Ecuador
Colombia
Venezuela

No Mexico and no Uruguay, which bummed me out. I had developed such a crush on both of them, and I remember just looking at my schedule and thinking “I will never be a Uruguay” and walking past Mexico on the way to parties sadly. But I still had houses on my list, so my moping had to end and I had to refocus on the women who wanted ME.
Today was house tours, which was just so darn cool. I still think that sorority houses are some of the most interesting things - just looking at various pictures of where women have some of the best years of their lives and how beautifully they’re all designed is something that totally gives me the feels.

Dominican Republic was good today - they had kind of been middle of the pack all week but I met some girls that were more relatable today. I had a girl give me a house tour and then I got bumped to go to a different floor by her big and they had the cutest hug and were just so happy to be in each other’s company. It was super adorable. Other than that, nothing really stood out, but I liked that there weren’t any cold dorms. (Ah, the young innocent freshman mind had still not softened to the idea after hearing plenty of women say it was nice). I hadn’t really clicked with anyone at this house yet.

Ecuador - the lovefest continued. Their house was one of the biggest on campus, no cold dorms, big (okay, huge) rooms and newly remodeled bathrooms, and still just the most classy and genuine women. I wanted to be just like their seniors by the time I graduated college. The girl who gave me a house tour was one of the girls I talked to on the first day and she was showering me with compliments and seemed soooo excited to see me again. I totally wanted to have Ecuador back for pref.

Colombia - After two perfect days here, I couldn’t have been more excited to come back...but the girl I was paired with just didn’t connect with me at all. She seemed tired, cranky, and just not super enthusiastic. This house is an older one and because of that, they are a little cramped. They have some cold dorms and some small bedrooms and it was so hard to see it all because there were so many bodies in such little space. I left feeling weird today, because the girl seemed so disinterested and didn’t connect with me at all...but still wanted to go back for preference because of how passionate I had felt about Colombia the first two days.

Venezuela - I felt more and more at home here as the week went on. They had lots of gorgeous dark wood and the house seemed so airy and roomy. The girls were so welcoming and friendly but definitely seemed so cool and I wasn’t sure that they liked me as much as I liked them. My roommates and I had discovered that my recruitment counselor was a Venezuela after looking at the chapter’s Instagram page - she was all over it! We all loved her and she was such a positive, uplifting, and level-headed presence for our whole group - which was great, because about half of the group decided not to go through preference round. I decided I would rank the houses like this:

1s: Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela
2: Dominican Republic

I was so worn out from a long, hot week - I was just ready for Bid Day! And I was less excited about wearing heels the next day for Pref.

Any guesses as to where I ended up?

FSUZeta · #9 07-22-2018, 07:54 PM

I don't recognize the campus, so not from me, but I can't wait to find out.

_RushPuppies_ · #10 07-24-2018, 05:14 PM

Preference Round!

I received my schedule back and it said:
Ecuador
Dominican Republic
Colombia

I felt so lucky to have two houses that I had loved throughout the week (except the prior day at Colombia, but every house has a fluke day, right?) and one that I didn’t mind. I was a little disappointed to see that Venezuela hadn’t invited me back, but I didn’t think much of it. I started out the day at Ecuador, and one of my roommates was also attending Ecuador that day and we were going to be at the same party. We ate lunch together in the dining hall, went back and changed, and got ready to head to the house.

Ecuador:
I talked to three girls at Ecuador during the preference round. The first was a senior who had the same major as I did - plus five minors! I was so impressed and she just seemed amazing. The second was a girl that I had gone to a summer camp with the year prior (she was a sophomore). She told me how excited she was that I had come to Ecuador for Preference. She said that the whole chapter had been talking about me and that the girl who gave me a house tour/talked to me on the first day had been saying that she could see me as her little. She told me about their Bid Day shirts and what their fun activity was and how she could see me in her chapter doing great things. The third girl came and reinforced everything that Summer Camp Girl had said - everyone was so excited to have me back. I felt so loved and welcomed at Ecuador and as I was walking out, I looked at my roommate and said “I think I’ve found my home”, but I felt like I still had to keep an open mind for the next two parties.

Dominican Republic
Dominican Republic had a very serious ceremony during their preference round. It was a stark contrast from the previous party, but I appreciated how seriously they took it (although as a singer, I was cringing - the vocals of the girl doing a solo were...not great). The girl that I was paired with during this round was from the suburb next to mine from home, and although we had some mutual friends, we had never met before. She asked me how I felt about preference round, and I said honestly, “I think I know what I’m going to do, but I want to make sure to keep an open mind.” I walked out feeling like Dominican Republic was a nice house, but just not one that I felt a connection with.

Colombia
I was so excited to be back at Colombia. They had a classy set up that looked like a little cocktail party, although it was about three in the afternoon. However, the way it worked was just odd. They had about two active members to three PNMs standing around the little tables and then they sang some songs. I didn’t see familiar faces and the actives that I was paired with didn’t really seem to be paying attention. I was a little crushed by Colombia - after being so thoroughly wowed the first two days, they just didn’t seem to put any effort into the back nine holes. The magic was lost. I just didn’t see myself standing here among these women.

I felt so strongly about Ecuador that it was easy to list them first, but I thought over Dominican Republic and Colombia for a long time. On one hand, Dominican Republic had fallen in the middle of the pack for the whole week. There was never a bad moment, but there wasn’t a strong, convincing moment that showed me that this could really be my home on campus. Colombia, on the other hand, had started out so strongly - it was in my elite, top-favorite houses for the first two days, but then had fizzled out in Rounds 3 and 4. Should I list the house that was “nice” but not great - maybe a 5 out of 10 every day - as my second choice? Or, should I choose the house that was a 10 twice in a row, followed by two zeros? I decided that I would rather make the best of a house that I had always felt decent about rather than one that was completely hit-or miss, so, I filled out my MRABA accordingly:
Ecuador
Dominican Republic
Colombia

One of my roommates had dropped out of recruitment after the parties on the third day. The girl who shared my bedroom had attended Dominican Republic, Argentina, and Costa Rica, and had decided to list Costa Rica as her first choice, Argentina as her second, and elect to not list Dominican Republic at all. My third roommate had attended Ecuador with me, as well as Costa Rica and Venezuela. She was from the area and felt very pressured by Venezuela to join them, but felt so much pressure and no real emotion that she chose to list them third, despite having many friends in the house. She chose Costa Rica as her first option, followed by Ecuador.

Bid Day was just one sleep away!