Haven't been on here in awhile and found a thread on the front page concerning my school's recruitment! Though that was kinda neat. Anywho, I'm a sophomore member of a GLO and can't believe this time last year I was prepping for recruitment! I thought I'd share some tips unique to OSU recruitment.
-Bring an Ethernet cord! While this seems random, it is incredibly helpful! The campus wi-fi isn't fully up and running during recruitment (or it was really weak in my dorm building). Your phone is taken up in the morning and usually not given back until dinner time, so your communication is cut off. You do have some downtime in the afternoon, after attending all your parties for the day. During that time I know a lot of girls who skyped their mom/sisters/etc back home. I'd much rather get to talk to my mom at 2 pm rather than wait until 6 pm. Communication windows are a small inconvenience, but understandably placed for the right reasons. But, definitely bring an ethernet cord! Mindless pinning on Pinterest could calm some recruitment nerves, right?
-I did have a rec for each chapter on campus. Some were from very close family friends, others from distant acquaintances. Every Panhellenic woman I have met was very willing to write a rec; all you have to do is ask respectfully and be sure to send them a nice thank you note as well. As stated many times in this thread, recs aren't absolutely-completely-positively necessary, but providing a foundation for your already stellar or not-so-stellar resume never hurt anyone. While I haven't been on the other side of recruitment yet (will be very soon!), it's safe to say that recs are highly recommended at OSU
-Be emotional! It's a roller-coaster of a week, with just about every emotion in between. While you might not experience every emotion, there is guaranteed someone in your rush group who will. Embrace it! It's okay if there's are times when you're disappointed; you'll end up at the chapter you're meant to call home by the end of the week. There will be tears of happiness and tears of joy. In the end, you'll more than likely only have this experience once, so give it all you've got!
-Get to know your rush group. You don't have to become BFFs with all of the girls, but it'll be nice to have friends in different chapters right off the bat. If you are in your permanent dorm for the school year, you will see these people all the time as well. It's also nice to thank the girl down the hall by name when she holds the door open for you in March... Try to avoid making things sour/awkward before classes even start.
-I came in without knowing any of the 'reputations/stereotypes' of each chapter because I was an out of state PNM from far-away. Honestly, had I'd known, I probably would have pursued chapters I didn't have any interest in or turn the other cheek to chapters I genuinely enjoyed. So if you come in with a blank slate, that's awesome! If you enter recruitment with any prior knowledge, try to clean your slate as much as possible. Try to ignore any gossipy-chatter from other PNMs as it can poison your experience. Your Gamma Chi's also hear all the chatter going around, so be respectful; they could easily be in the chapter that you are speaking negatively about!
-I'm not sure if all groups did this, but my Gamma Chis provided this for us. A 'warning' system of sorts, we could privately leave our name, cell number and the name of a chapter with a Gamma Chi at our nightly meeting. This way they could call you in the morning, before we would meet up as a group, to inform you if you would not be revisiting that chapter. If you didn't get the call, that chapter would be on your schedule for parties that day. Your schedule is passed out at a morning meeting with your group; they call your name and you receive your schedule in front of the group (tiny piece of paper no one can read from afar). Sometimes you could see the victory or disappointment on a girl's face as soon as she got her schedule. If your Gamma Chi's provide this, definitely take advantage of it if there is a chapter you particularly like.
I'm willing to give more advice if anyone has a PNM going through this fall!
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