Unsure of my options...

[nothernyankee32]

Hi everyone!

To make a very long story a bit shorter (since this is my second time typing this up after I accidentally deleted the first post ), I go to OSU and decided relatively late into winter break to sign up for formal recruitment this semester. It went well until sisterhood round, which is when I got called back to only one house that I already wasn't liking too well. I made myself keep an open mind, but felt very little connection between the girls I talked with (I understand not being best friends with everyone in your sorority, but there really was no sense of sisterhood among them). Come preference round, I knew that I was going to drop rush, but honestly did try to give them a chance. After all, a lot of times your opinion of a house can change for the better in the next round, so I didn't want to not make any rash decisions. However, even after pref I still felt that this wasn't somewhere I'd be comfortable in, plus I didn't want to take a spot from a girl who wanted to be there, so I dropped out and didn't sign the MRABA.

Well, as many of you know from this forum, ZTA is colonizing at OSU. I checked them out because I was interested in them, but since 550+ girls were trying to get into the 194 spots that could be offered, a lot of people had to be cut, me being one of them (I'll admit, the rejection text I got this morning stung a lot more than I thought it would. I know it's not personal, but it's hard to not feel like it is).

Now I'm unsure of what to do. The house I ended up turning down is inviting me to COB events, but I'm not sure if this is the best thing for me to do. Other than that, I was thinking of do fall informal rush or even just go through spring rush again next year. If you all were in my shoes, what would you do?

PS, here are some other relevant things about me:
- Since I decided so late in the game to try out rush, I didn't have time to get recs. Even though OSU really isn't big on recs, I figured that they'd be good to have for next year.

- I found out in the middle of Meet the Chapter round that my aunt on my dad's side is a Chi Omega alumnae (turns out my mom didn't know this when I had asked her if we had anyone in our family who was Greek). As such, next year I'll definitely be sure that Chi O knows this if I decide to go through rush again.

Any advice would be more than appreciated!

[ChioLu]

For Chi Omega, Legacy status is from mothers or sisters, not aunts. Also Legacy status is not an automatic bid. For the next Recruitment, your aunt can write you a recommendation, so the chapter will know from that.

Get a recommendation for all chapters. Ask friends, friends' parents, teachers, etc. to find alumnae. I know women who've posted it to their facebook page, and friends who know or are related to alumnae come out of the woodwork. Contact the Alumnae Panhellenic Association in your city to let them know you're going through Recruitment & they may be able to help with Recs.

Since you know you'll be going through again, start preparing now. Besides getting Recs, make friends with sorority women in your classes, create a Recruitment Resume (the Houston Panhellenic Alumnae Assn has a good example on their website), get involved on campus, volunteer more & include that on your resume, etc.

[DGTess]

I'd recommend you attend the COB events you're invited to. You never know where you might find an aha moment, and at the very worst you've made new friends.

[SoCalGirl]

I second the check out COB advice.

1) Rushees and Sororities are not always best able to be comfortable during formal rush. You may find that you suddenly click with them in a more relaxed atmosphere.

2) It doesn't commit you, or them, to a bid. If it doesn't work out and you don't accept a bid you can still rush again in the fall. **I'm assuming from context that OSU does formal in the spring so same points would apply to any informal rush events in the fall.

Good luck!

[DubaiSis]

Stay positive and spend some time thinking about why you got cut heavily. Is there anything you can do to change that? Rushing again without changing any of the variables probably will result in the same outcome.

And I concur about giving that one chapter another shot. There's nothing to lose and only to gain.

[KSUViolet06]

Some advice:

Don't rely on recs or think they'll be your Golden Ticket next year.

We all know that OSU is not a "recs or die environment."

I say that to say that at times, people look at recs as the "maybe THAT'S the reason I didn't get a bid" factor instead of objectively looking at things they could improve on.

Get them if you would like (they can't hurt), but don't forget to ask yourself "What would be different about me THIS TIME that will make a chapter want to extend me a bid?"

I don't mean your appearance per se, but moreso your conversation skills and the degree to which you can hold a conversation, etc.

See also: KNOWING sorority members and having them as friends. No rec is better than an actual connection with a member.

A rec is not going to keep you on a chapter's invite list if you aren't that interesting conversation-wise or have no connections to sorority members.

So yes, get them. But work on other things as well.

Good luck!