Well all my parties are over and tomorrow is bids day! So I figured now is a good time to come by and tell you all about my recruitment experience.
First of all, I'm going to code name the sororities I met with. Since I like American Idol, I'm going to use the names of female AI contestants for sororities names. There were 7 sororities participating in rush here:
Kelly
Fantasia
Diana
Carrie
Jasmine
Kimberley
Jessica
Last Monday: First night of recruitment. Nothing major except "Meet Your Rho Chi" night. They put us in Rho Chi groups by color. I started off in group purple, but was later switched to group white. I also tried to get to know other rushees. Discovered that one of the girls on my floor in the dorm was rushing.
Last Tuesday: Sweeten-ups. Not sure if any other school does this (I haven't heard it mentioned by other schools), but first they put the rushees in one room and did a brief power point on what sisterhood means to some of the girls in Greek Life here. Then we went to another room where the different sororities had tables set up and they talked a bit about their history, how many sisters in their chapter, dues, etc. This was really important for me because it was the start of determining who I could click with.
Last Wednesday/Thursday: Opens. We went to one of the academic buildings and our Rho Chis took us around to different rooms where the sororities again had their displays set up. This was an opportunity to ask any questions you had about the sorority and the sisters also set up various icebreakers. Four sororities were present on Wednesday: the Kellys, the Jasmines, the Carries, and the Jessicas. Thursday there were three sororities: the Kimberleys, the Fantasias, and the Dianas. We also got little gifts from the sororities on our way out of their rooms.
Friday: Informal signups in the Greek Life office here. We had to go into the office during a certain time frame and once we got there, we selected our top five choices for houses we wanted to visit for informals. Rush at my school is not extremely cuthroat...we did not have a ton of girls rushing this semester, so for us, jeans/nice tops were acceptable for informals. For my parties, I selected: the Jasmines, the Jessicas, the Kimberleys, the Fantasias, and the Dianas.
Friday/Saturday: Informals themselves. The rushees had either 2 parties Friday/3 Saturday or vice versa. This is when we actually walked down to the houses (without our Rho Chis) and got to meet the sisters. I was a little nervous but when I was with the Jessicas, I felt completely relaxed. Their house was really well decorated and something just told me I was right at home here. I went to the Jasmines and although the girls were nice and I had heard good things about them, I didn't feel as though I quite clicked with them. The conversations didn't have a good flow to them...and I just wasn't sure if I would want to come back again for formals.
Saturday's parties started early afternoon for me. My first stop was the Fantasias. I think I made a mistake selecting them for informals...not because the girls were rude, but because I just didn't feel like I clicked there. I felt kind of lost...not sure which sisters to talk to, only really talking to other rushess...there was no chemistry here. I knew when I couldn't really make any conversation that I was not going to fit in here.
I went to the Dianas about an hour later. The girls were great and I felt like I was making good conversation with them. I had actually been anticipating coming to their house because this was another informal I had picked without being totally sure if I wanted to be there. Sure enough I ended up liking them, but I wasn't sure if I could be their BEST friends. They seemed to be the girls I could casually hang out with but not be with all the time.
My last informal was the Kimberleys. When I initially arrived, they were finishing up the party with the last group (our informals last an hour), so we had to wait around for a little bit. In that time, I talked with some of the sisters and checked out their scrapbook. The scrapbook got me pretty excited because I am starting to develop an interest in scrapbooking so I mentioned that. Unfortunately, this was my 3rd party of the day and last informal, so I was a little restless. I tried not to let that show through. I knew to be nice to the sisters and not to look bored, but I guess it didn't help much. Maybe they thought I was forcing myself to be nice.
Sunday: No events.
Monday: Went back to Greek Life office to sign up for formals in the time frame specified. Formals were invite only so I was anxious to see where I got invited back to. I wrote down my top three (the Jessicas, the Kimberleys, and the Dianas), but I found out only the Jessicas had invited me back. I was a little disappointed that I hadn't been invited back to all three but I told myself "I may be upset about the Kimberleys and Diana not inviting me back, but at least I got invited back to one so I am happy to feel wanted somewhere." And as it turns out, the Jessicas were my top choice!
Last night: Formals at the Jessica house. I went down and again, felt right at home when I stepped inside. I realized why I've loved these girls since I met them at opens: they weren't uptight, they were laid back...they made fun of themselves and teased their sisters...you could see the fun they had together when you watched them interact...you didn't have to be talking to them to see that. I made sure to use a lot of the same mannerisms that got me invited to begin with: being courteous to the sisters, looking them in the eye while talking, complimenting deocrations I liked, etc. I'm not going to detail the activity they did with the rushees, but let me just say I was very touched by it.
Bids day (tomorrow) can't come fast enough! Here, the sororities come around to dorms and do their chants as they hand out bids. I will let everyone know how I make out.
P.S. If anyone wants to know more than what I put here, PM me.
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