My Bookish Recruitment Story - Fall 2012

[Crowxx]

My Bookish Recruitment

Just a little background information before I start this story: I go to a large commuter state school on the west coast. It isn’t hard to find out which one if you do a little digging. I’m 18 years old, but this is my Junior year of college (which is an interesting story). It doesn’t really matter that much, but I’m an English major with a possible Japanese minor. I have fairly standard sorority girl style, clothing- and hair-wise, at least, but I also have quite a few miscellaneous ear piercings, with my bottom lobe piercings stretched to 4g, and my septum is pierced, and I also have two small and easy to hide tattoos (one on my shoulder, one on my ankle). There were around 500-600 PNMs at my recruitment, and my Rho Chi was literally the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen (not that that last part matters, but I just thought I’d throw it in there).

My campus doesn’t have a traditional Greek Row, and the first day of recruitment was held on campus. The second day we carpooled to the houses for tours and philanthropy crafts, then the third day was the same as the second. Bid night, the fourth night of recruitment, was on campus again, but the girls who received bids went to their sorority’s house afterwards for a little party type thing.

The week before recruitment, there was a two-hour orientation that went over the basics of sorority life and what would be happening during the weekend of recruitment. My school’s formal recruitment is four days, Friday through Monday, and it takes place a month into the Fall semester, so I didn’t really know any of the sorority girls going into recruitment, which I’m happy about. I didn’t feel like I had any obligations going into it to pick a particular sorority or not pick one. Also, my school doesn’t really have any rumors about the reputations of sororities/fraternities (at least, none that are really known by people outside the Greek community), so that wasn’t an issue.
My theme for this recruitment story is going to be book genres, and they are picked mostly randomly, and therefore do not reflect on the sororities. For instance, Horror is not necessarily a bad sorority, and Romance may not be my favorite. You’ll just have to wait and see

The six sororities on my campus are:

Literary
Urban Fantasy
Science Fiction
Horror
Romance
Mystery


Day 1 – Meet and Greet Day

Check-in time for day 1 was at 9AM, but I was a little early and tried to talk to some of the other PNMs. Most of us were too nervous to have an actual conversation, and we mostly just talked about how nervous we were.

Next, we were given our t-shirts to wear for the day and introduced to our groups and Rho Chis. My group had two Rho Chis, one for each letter of the alphabet that we had. There were about 45 PNMs in the group.

The first chapter we met was Literary. I was so nervous at first, but ended up loving them! I felt like I really connected with all the women I spoke with, and there were never any awkward lulls in the conversation like I had at some other chapters. All in all, a great start to the day. I felt like I left a great impression, and I really hoped I would be invited back to this chapter the next day.

Next, I went to the room Science Fiction was set up in. I didn’t connect as well with these girls, but the conversations weren’t bad, and I loved the focus on academics. I was sure that I would do well in this sorority, even if it wasn’t my first choice.

The third sorority I met with was Romance, and though the conversation got a bit stale at times, I loved that the girls I talked to had similar television obsessions, and one even had a septum piercing, which we talked about for a few minutes. This sorority was slightly forgettable, however, and I had to look at my notes to remember my impression.

After Romance, I went to Horror’s party. I felt like I connected well with some of the girls I spoke with in Horror, but not so well with others. Horror’s New Member meetings were also on a really bad day for me, which is something I had to take into consideration.

Urban Fantasy came next, and one of the things I remembered about them from orientation was that they had the highest GPA, which gave them a few extra points in my book. The conversations were slightly forced, but I’m not sure if that’s just because it was so late in the day and I had already discussed pretty much everything there was to discuss. Although the conversations weren’t great, I felt good about the girls and I could see myself fitting in well as a member. Again, not my first choice, but definitely not my last, either.

Mystery was the last party of the day, and my feet were killing me at that point. The conversations flowed really well, although they were slightly boring, and I liked the girls I spoke with. However, the New Member meetings were on the same day as Horror’s, and I wasn’t sure about this sorority.

After the first day, my rankings were:
Literary
Science Fiction
Urban Fantasy
Romance
Horror
Mystery

I didn’t dislike any of the groups, and the biggest reason Horror and Mystery ended up on the bottom was their meeting days. Oh, the joys of a commuter school.

[Crowxx]

Day 2 – Philanthropy Day

For the second day of recruitment, I arrived on campus around 10:30 in the morning after accidentally going to a bar for breakfast (long story). I found out once I got there that I had only been invited back to one sorority: Romance.

Apparently the random genre that I picked for Romance was correct, because while our relationship didn’t start off all that great, I felt like it really blossomed on Philanthropy Day. I got to speak with a lot of the same girls as the previous day, and a few new ones, and I felt like we connect a lot better than on the first day. Maybe I wasn’t so overwhelmed on Philanthropy Day, but I went home that night with a really good feeling about Preference Day.

I also realized when I got home that I had no idea what to wear.

[Crowxx]

Day 3 – Preference Day

For Pref Day, I spent like a zillion hours picking out my outfit that morning, and then made the hour long drive to school to see if I’d been invited back to Romance. I was terrified that I wouldn’t have been invited back, and I’d have to rush again the next year. However, my fears were unfounded, and I did receive an invitation to return to Romance!

The women of Romance sang a Romance-themed version of Call Me Maybe, and it was so cute! After the song, they came out one by one and welcomed the PNMs back to their house. I was first (yay!) and the woman who prefed me was one I’d spoken with the previous two days, so I was already pretty comfortable with her.

The president of the chapter and her best friend read each other letters about what their friendship had meant to each other during their time in Romance, and quite a few actives and PNMs (including me) shed a few tears. I was really touched, and on the way out I discussed how nervous I was about bid day with the woman prefing me. She basically said that I had nothing to worry about, which went a long way toward soothing my nerves, and then we said goodbye.

[Crowxx]

Day 4 – Bid Day

Thankfully, the dress code for Bid Day was the same as for Meet and Greet Day, so I didn’t have to change after class. I ran from my last class to the area where the festivities were being held, touched up my makeup in the bathrooms, and went to go grab a seat in my Rho Chi group’s section.

Each of the PNMs who had received bids were handed their cards, in envelopes, and instructed to sit on them. I was so happy that I had a bid! Before we could open our bids, the Rho Chis revealed their affiliations. My Rho Chi was a member of my sorority!
Finally, we were allowed to open our bid cards. I already knew what mine would say, but I was still excited to see the words

DELTA ZETA!!!

[ADPi95]

Congrats!

[Crowxx]

In case anyone was wondering, the sororities were as follows:

Literary – Alpha Chi Omega
Urban Fantasy – Sigma Kappa
Science Fiction – Alpha Delta Pi
Horror – Gamma Phi Beta
Romance – Delta Zeta (obviously)
Mystery – Zeta Tau Alpha

[AZTheta]

What a sweet story! I must admit that "accidentally going to a bar for breakfast" made me go "huh? How did THAT work?" Matters not, because you found a great home in Delta Zeta - congratulations!

[IrishLake]

Congratulations!

[SigKapSweetie]

I like a story with a happy ending, and I LOVE a story that is all posted on the same day! Congratulations to you and Delta Zeta!

[Sciencewoman]

Congratulations!

I do wish "Horror" hadn't been Gamma Phi Beta, though. lol

[adpimiz]

Congratulations!

[honeychile]

Congratulations to you and to Delta Zeta!

[FSUZeta]

Hooray for you and DZ!!!

And ditto on posting all on the same day. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!