(Un poco loco) recruitment story!

[_RushPuppies_]

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