20something's BRUTALLY HONEST Retro Recruitment Thread

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by Benzgirl

Whenever I drove by the house or helped with another chapter's recruitment it seems that I did. I'm sure GC gave it a big boost.

Recruitment is a pretty intense time and it deals pretty openly with rejection and acceptance, so if you buy into the idea that the things that you dream about are more about what they represent to you rather than the things themselves, it might be common to dream about recruitment anytime you were joining a new group or interviewing for jobs or whatever. Or it might be something that we associate with starting college when all the world's possibility seemed to be ahead of us, so we dream about it when we're feeling stuck.

I wouldn't be surprised if it were really common to occasionally have dreamed about it even years past your involvement in it..

Maybe we should do a survey.

ETA: and of course if you are present actually involved in it in one form or another, I'm sure it's just like having work related dreams.

[AlwaysSAI]

Whoop! Whoop! I'm so glad you're back!

NATHAN! NATHAN! NATHAN!

[kreich]

That's funny about the way Peyton bumps thats the only way I've ever seen it done, so its completely normal to me.

Really? I never witnessed the "flashing light" thing. We had "bump group leaders" who secretly kept track of when it was time to bump. We tried to make it seamless, though it required quite a stretch in conversation dynamics to make it happen sometimes.

[AlphaXi_Husky]

Originally Posted by kreich

Really? I never witnessed the "flashing light" thing. We had "bump group leaders" who secretly kept track of when it was time to bump. We tried to make it seamless, though it required quite a stretch in conversation dynamics to make it happen sometimes.

I have never seen the flashing light thing either. We did it similar to what you described, kreich, of having certain leaders who start the bumping and trying to make the bumping appear seamless. I think chapter on the campus I advise at would freak out at the suggestion of flashing lights.

And to the OP - keep it a-coming!

[20something]

Originally Posted by AlphaXi_Husky

I have never seen the flashing light thing either. We did it similar to what you described, kreich, of having certain leaders who start the bumping and trying to make the bumping appear seamless. I think chapter on the campus I advise at would freak out at the suggestion of flashing lights.

And to the OP - keep it a-coming!

I don't think the flashing lights thing is inherently bad. But on a campus where on Night 1, all the other other groups are doing seamless leader-led bumping (that has conversational transitions), the flashing lights and jumping up abruptly to go to another group looks stupid.

So the afternoon of Day 2 of recruitment, we went to a central location on campus to pick up our recruitment invitations. I went and met my Rho Chi and saw my invitation list.... I was invited back to...















Haley
Peyton
and Brooke!

I was honestly a bit disappointed I did not get invited back to Nathan. I knew that I had heard they were soooooooo hard to get into, but I really did love their first night of recruitment and I got the best impression of them as a group. But reflecting on it, I realized that knowing the two Nathans who hung out at MOR/Central was probably not enough to get me into that chapter. Nor was some random connection with the president.

It didn't particularly surprise me that Lucas cut me, either, and I wasn't too disappointed as I had no real vibe from them and only knew a few Lucases.

I was not surprised to see Haley and Peyton on my list and was happy to go to both of them.

Brooke was certainly not my first choice, but I thought given the fact that I was already going to one less than the maximum number of parties, it was a good thing they were inviting me back. I felt kind of crappy that I didn't have a full night of parties, but whatever at this point.

As far as my friends went:

Roommate was going back to Haley, Peyton, and Lucas.
Hallmate and Floormate were both going back to Haley and Peyton only.
I wasn't keeping up with what was going on with Girls from Across the Street that closely.

Does everyone want to hear how Skit Night went?

[AlphaXi_Husky]

Originally Posted by 20something

I don't think the flashing lights thing is inherently bad. But on a campus where on Night 1, all the other other groups are doing seamless leader-led bumping (that has conversational transitions), the flashing lights and jumping up abruptly to go to another group looks stupid.
...
Does everyone want to hear how Skit Night went?

I agree - I don't think it's necessarily bad, but considering all the groups on that campus I advise do leader-led bumping, it would be seen as drastically different and probably a little weird.

And as for your question - yes, yes, YES!

[20something]

Originally Posted by AlphaXi_Husky

And as for your question - yes, yes, YES!

OK, I'll go on and do Skit Night. Forewarning, some of my assessments here might seem a little harsh.

For Skit Night, attire was basically black pants and a dressy blouse. Like something you might wear to the firm's Christmas party. Or perhaps a fraternity party, but a more conservative version of what you might wear to a fraternity party. Think a lot of silk tops and pretty much all dressy black pants.

I wore black pants and I *think* the top I wore was a black and silver top, where the silver was basically thin lines of glitter across it. I can't remember what shoes I wore...

1. Haley. The Haley skit had a "TRL" theme. I remember thinking that TRL theme was a bit dated and out of touch. It was about a year or two too late to really make a TRL skit work, and I'm not 100% sure it would have ever worked with 2nd semester college women as opposed to high schoolers. The outfits that the membership at large (the people not in the skit) wore were cute. They had black tshirts with the Haley letters spelled out in jewels on them. Honestly, that was the biggest thing I felt Haley had going for them that night. It didn't appear that all the sisters were totally into the skit. On the other hand, a few people seemed *TOO* into it. There was a group of sisters playing insane fans at TRL, and they were just too into it. They were screaming enthusiastically and such, but in a way that was awkward and off-script and sometimes seemed to be drowning out, you know, the actual frickin' SKIT. My immediate thought was that the women portraying the TRL fans were insane losers who were completely out of touch with freshmen women and campus culture. Then there were segments of the skit where they changed popular song lyrics to fit Haley, and they also danced. Now granted, Haley had some good dancers (as I knew all of the girls who did dance from Haley), but the song/dance segments seemed to take up too much of the skit time and not really convey information about Haley, as the other skits would prove to do (also, none of the other skits had the song/dance segments, so after a night of the skits it seemed like the songs were "making time" and preventing them from really conveying info about Haley, especially the social aspects of Haley, which the other sororities focused on on Skit Night). I do remember that I liked the food at Haley that night - I think it was a cookie or something. I forget who picked me up at Haley that night - I think it was one of Roommate's good friends in Haley who I also knew pretty well. I also got to talk to the president of Haley at one point, who seemed to have a funny and cool personality, but honestly, she was kind of overweight and I just remember thinking that I didn't want to join Haley because of that. I didn't want to be in the "heavy" sorority, even I knew that that stereotype didn't seem to be true on the whole anymore. (I mean, I could look around and see that most members weren't heavy, but it still bothered me.) Oh, more cool thing Haley did do. At the end of the skit they did a Haley chant and then pealed off afterwards chanting the name of every member. I thought that was cool because none of the other orgs ended up doing that.

2. Peyton. I was picked up by my University Big Peyton's best friend. This made me feel much better because I had hoped one of UB Peyton's friends would pick me up the first night, just to reassure myself since UB Peyton would not be there for recruitment. I was actually curious to see what would happen with Peyton's skit since I knew UB Peyton was supposed to be one of the lead characters (UB Peyton is one of the most hilarious people I have ever met and would have been great in the skit). UB Best Friend was nice enough but at times I felt she might not be being totally sincere. She just had a weird vocal tone and I felt she wasn't saying things that rang true. Like when she said "I know we're all sorry UB Peyton isn't here because she knew so many great girls like you" I felt something was just... off. Peyton's skit was a version of ESPN's Sports Center. They had different "sports" reports on the various things Peyton did. Their skit was pretty funny and well-put together. It quickly became obvious to me that Peyton's skit was a LOT about parties and mixers that Peyton had with various fraternities. This started to bother me a lot because I had heard through the freshman and fraternity grapevine that Haley didn't have any mixers with fraternities. The fact that they hadn't focused on it in their skit (whereas Peyton was really using skit night to plug the social aspects of Peyton home) made me think that Haley really didn't have any fraternity mixers or social life. I did feel the absence of UB Peyton really badly on Skit Night, both in their skit and in my conversations. But the one good thing was I did have the opportunity to speak to more Peytons I knew. The girl who walked me out said "I hope to see you again" or something like that, which made me feel good and like they did want me.

3. Brooke. At Brooke I was picked up... Host Brooke! This made me really nervous and I didn't know if it was a good or bad thing. Host Brooke had been nice enough when I visited, but I hadn't really had much contact with her since starting college. The Brooke skit started right away when we got there. It was a "Late Night with Brooke" theme, with the top 10 list and everything. I noticed one thing immediately. Brooke had put all their most attractive members in the skit. Brooke had a lot of plain/less girly girls due to the high number of athletes in their sorority, and almost NONE of those girls were in the skit, despite the fact that almost everyone associated athletes were Brooke. I thought that was a little sketchy. I didn't really like Brooke's skit. It was well-enough acted, I think, but it seemed to be full of "inside jokes" about certain fraternities and parties and things. Looking around the room, I noticed that when those jokes happened, about half the PNMs laughed and the other half were as clueless as I was. I literally remember thinking "I wonder if someone is recording who's laughing at these inside jokes and eliminating everyone who doesn't laugh from membership in Brooke." That's how awkward it made me feel. There was another whole section that didn't really go along with their skit that was a "fashion show." Again, this was a whole section about the fraternity mixers, with the Brookes dressed up in various mixer outfits. Again, my heart sunk because I knew that Haley didn't have mixers and the other groups were really playing up the social aspects for skit night. Yet I didn't see what a fashion show had to do with "Late Night at Brooke." Also, all the girls were shrieking and going crazy when the fashion show girls came out in their frat mixer outfits, and it just seemed fake and over the top to me - not in the same off-script and socially awkward way that Haley had, but just in a lame way. I felt like they were TRYING to be like Nathan had been on Night 1 but failing miserably. Also some of the "fashion show"/fraternity mixer outfits kind of sketched me out. Just as one example, Host Brooke, who'd picked me up, was dressed up for some kind of redneck themed mixer and was dressed up in Confederate flag stuff. I found that a little offensive, both because it was a frickin' confederate flag at sorority recruitment, and because I was from a rural area and not a big fan of "redneck" stereotypes. So after the skit, Host Brooke picks me back up. The way Brooke had timed it, most of the chatting time would be after the skit. Host Brooke talked to me for a bit, and then awkwardly said, "Oh! I see someone I really want to talk to! I'll be right back!" And she ran off into another room and left me alone in the hallway.

I felt awful. Host Brooke had basically told me all I needed to know: I wouldn't be getting a bid at Brooke and she didn't even care enough about me or my opinion of Brooke to stick around and talk to me. I felt so stupid. I didn't even want a bid at Brooke that much; they were my bottom choice, but it still felt really awful to be left completely alone. I don't know how long I was standing there. It wasn't too long. Eventually the Brooke who'd picked me up from Night 1 saw me and ran to my rescue. She was really, really nice. Basically she had been the biggest thing going for Brooke throughout recruitment so far for me. I felt she was embarrassed that I'd been standing alone (though she didn't reference it), and we didn't talk for super long - I got the impression she was floating and wanted the chance to say something to me before the next "official" person to talk to me came along. She said how happy she was to see me back and I felt like she really meant it. At that moment I really felt like she was probably fighting for me to join Brooke against a lot of people who didn't want me or just didn't know me enough to care. In retrospect I feel I was probably right, and I think she probably came up to me knowing full well what the situation was with me and wanting to talk to me so she could write something positive on my comment card. Another person came up and relieved her pretty quickly and before long it was time to go. I left reflecting on how much Host Brooke sucked. When I visited, I had really despised Two Doors Down Brooke, and thought Host Brooke was alright except for drinking illegally in the dorms (which is something I never did do). But now a bunch of things she'd said to me when I visited came flooding back to me. For example, when I'd asked her what she'd like to do when she graduated, she said, "Oh, I never really thought about it or wanted to work. I figured I'd just work for my dad's company or maybe teach elementary school until I got married." I remember thinking it was lame at the time, but I was comparing her in my mind to girls like UB Peyton, who had awesome grades and wanted to go to a prestigious law school. I just remember thinking that Brooke was so shallow (only hot girls in the skit) and lame and antiquated and I didn't want to join there at all. I just had such a bad, negative feeling after Skit Night, but I was determined to plug on.

[Just interested]

I think I know who you are and thus your school and sorority. This is a great story.

I AM LOVING IT!

[LucyKKG]

Wowwwww Host Brooke SUCKS! Lame lame lame!

[AlwaysSAI]

PEYTON! PEYTON! PEYTON!

[Leslie Anne]

Enjoying your story! Can't wait to hear more.


ETA: Can someone clue this old lady into what TRL is?

[ForeverRoses]

Originally Posted by Leslie Anne

Enjoying your story! Can't wait to hear more.


ETA: Can someone clue this old lady into what TRL is?

Total Request Live. It was a show on MTV (it might still be on for all I know) that Carson Daly hosted at its most popular. It had videos and celebrity guests and a live studio audience.

[ASUADPi]

Originally Posted by Leslie Anne

Enjoying your story! Can't wait to hear more.


ETA: Can someone clue this old lady into what TRL is?

Total Request Live. It was a show on MTV hosted by Carson Daly. They had actors/musicians come to the show to plug their newest movies or songs. There was a live audience and they would show videos (I think). I rarely watch TRL, mostly passed by it during my channel surfing.

[33girl]

TRL is still on, but considering mothership MTV hardly shows videos at all anymore, I don't think they have the call in aspect - how could they? Call in the video you liked on youtube?

[20something]

Originally Posted by 33girl

TRL is still on, but considering mothership MTV hardly shows videos at all anymore, I don't think they have the call in aspect - how could they? Call in the video you liked on youtube?

I believe they now post people's comments about the video from the MTV website. People now mostly request online.

The thing about TRL is that it just seemed passe when I went through recruitment. I don't know if it was because I was in college and TRL is really more popular among the high school crowd, or if it was because just after the real bubble of TRL popularity passed. I remember TRL being HUGE my junior year of HS - some girls from my HS actually got into the studio and onto the show - and it was something everyone talked about. Maybe it's still cool with high schoolers?? I wouldn't know.

It's time for Day 3 of Recruitment! We could be invited back to a maximum of three parties.

I went and picked up my invitations with Roommate. (As a reminder, roommate had gone back to Peyton, Haley, and Lucas.) Both roommate and I had 2 invitations:

Peyton
Haley

It wasn't a surprise to either of us that Lucas and Brooke had cut us. I pretty much knew that would happen once I was abandoned during Skit Night and Roommate didn't really know very many Lucases. We were OK with our invitations since Peyton had been our #1 all along.

Now, in other news, both Hallmate and Floormate had been cut from Peyton. That left them with only Haley to go back to.

Hallmate was pleased. She hadn't been to fraternity parties at all first semester and didn't know any upperclass women except for the Haleys that had been in the theatre production with her. She basically wanted Haley all along and was happy because her attitude was "I only want to go to the groups that really want me and this way I only go to the group I really want to anyway." A very good attitude.

Floormate, on the other hand, was devastated. She was crying. I remember sitting in our dorm room (Roommate and I had a big corner room, probably one of the biggest freshmen dorm rooms in the entire school, and it was a major place to hang out - people were over 24/7. We also had the only TV on the hall, which encouraged people to come too.) Anyway, Floormate was just sitting there in racking sobs. She was so worried that Roommate and I would pledge Peyton and she would go Haley alone (nevermind that Hallmate was set on Haley, Floormate was still freaking out). Quite honestly it was Roommate's and my plan to do exactly that (unless one of us got cut from Peyton), so Floormate probably wasn't unjustified in that fear... I do remember thinking why was she spending so much energy on this? She must have freaked out for an hour or more.

So pretty soon it was time for Sisterhood Night. This was basically a video night where the sororities showed a sisterhood-themed video.

My outfit for Sisterhood Night still makes me cringe. When I bought it and when I put it on I thought it was a good outfit. But when I got to the houses I realized it was all wrong. The dress code was basically a "church outfit". As in skit and top. I was wearing a grey, blue, and lavender plaid wool skirt (this element of the outfit was OK) with a fitted white sweater (OK, although I wish I'd gone for a blue or lavender sweater) and a lavender jacket (ACK! ACK! ACK!). I don't think I can adequately describe why this jacket was so bad. It wasn't a blazer (although that would have been inappropriate too). It was like... a mom church jacket. I don't know if that makes sense but that's the best way I can describe it. When I got to the parties I felt flat out frumpy. All the other girls were wearing dressier skirt/top combinations. I sort of looked like a 40-year old woman. Like I said, I think the basic idea of the outfit could have worked out without the jacket and with a different sweater... but man oh man. I still wonder if this jacket hurt me in recruitment.

1. Peyton - I went to Peyton first. I was again picked up by someone I didn't know. She was a sophomore, at least. We watched the video while seated in chairs beside our rusher and the rushers described what was going on in the video. The Peyton did a really good job of explaining what was happening in the video. After the video she showed me around Peyton's formal living room. I believe we talked in a bigger group with some other PNMs here for a while. I think our conversations went pretty well, but I just remember feeling ugly and frumpy in my outfit (why the hell I didn't ditch the jacket midway through or something I don't know). I am betting this affected my conversation. I remember thinking the Peyton was friendly but somewhat cold behind the friendliness. I felt like she didn't really like me. I didn't speak to anyone else that night because Peyton wasn't bumping. I really think my outfit inhibited my social skills and confidence.

2. Haley - I have more trouble remembering this party than any other during the whole week of recruitment. I don't know why that is. I was picked up by a Haley sophomore I didn't know. She was really quiet. I could tell that from the beginning. Unlike the Peyton, who had talked throughout the video to the point where I missed a lot of the images because I was looking at the rusher, the Haley was quiet through a lot of the video and spoke up here and there describing things. I believe we walked around a bit after. I don't remember if I got to go the formal dining room (the first night you can see those on my campus is Sisterhood Night). Again, I felt awkward in my outfit, but I was less uncomfortable about that at Haley because I didn't think they would judge me as harshly on clothing as Peyton might.

I left the parties feeling a bit frumpy and ugly but not nearly as depressed as I had been after the horrid Brooke party on Skit Night. I was getting ready for Preference Night and for recruitment to be over.