Paige's recruitment story!

[violetpretty]

ZTA was one of the first few sororities that I heard about. In fact, when I met a couple of Zetas (plus girls from a couple other chapters) in a class of mine, they made me want to go Greek.

I know that before I joined and shortly after my bid day I was unaware that there were more than 14 NPC organizations. During recruitment, I remember talking to a friend of mine from another school about "a chi o" (this was on AIM so when we talked about it it was lowercased). She said something about how the Make a Wish Foundation is their philanthropy, and I thought that sounded weird because the "a chi os" told me their philanthropy supports victims of domestic violence. I shrugged it off to a difference in local philanthropies. Turns out, she thought I was talking about Chi Omega instead of ALPHA Chi Omega. We don't have Chi O at Maryland (plus at my friend's school they got by Alpha Chi--probably to avoid confusion--and she probably missed the "a" since it was lowercase), and I was unaware that such a grand sorority existed. Also, I remember looking on websites while I was pledging and seeing shirts with Phi Mu or Pi Beta Phi letters and being confused, since we also do not have those orgs at Maryland. However, during my new member period, we learned about Sigma Kappa as a member of the NPC, and that there are 26 NPC sororities altogether. It was an aha moment.

I would be put off too if someone asked me if my sorority was a "real" sorority, particularly because it's NPC and that's what the question connotes. Even if you can't name all 26 NPC sororities and are only familiar with the ones on your campus, the comment would come off as both rude AND stupid/ignorant, because more importantly, both NPC and non-NPC sororities still "real" sororities.

ETA:You mention that your mom and a bunch of other women in your family joined ZTA at the same big southern school. Did you attend school in the South? If yes, I would be extra appalled that the girl at Gingerbread hadn't heard of ZTA, since I think it's big all over the country, but especially big in the South.

[AOII Angel]

Zeta Tau Alpha is a fairly well known organization. I guess the woman at Gingerbread had no prior knowledge of sororities before joining and buried her head in the sand during her NM period when they learned the NPC groups! My aunt is a Zeta, but I've never talked to her about Greek life.

[Scandia]

Zeta Tau Alpha was also one of the first sororities I recall from UF. I found out about it because one of my classmates was a Zeta Tau Alpha pledge during my first semester. She later became president of UF's ZTA chapter.

I did not find out the names of all 16 NPC sororities at UF till my second semester when I got an official list of them.

And I found out that there were others besides those 16 that summer when I went to see the FSU campus with my family. At the time, FSU had 3 sororities that were not at UF. Now one of those is at UF, plus FSU has another new one not present at UF.

I did not find out about Theta Phi Alpha till I joined Greek Chat last year...but boy did it call my name out loud and clear.

[GoPaige]

Hey Everyone! So I was super nervous going into round 2. I was nervous that the houses I wanted wouldn't invite me back..I was soo nervous! But I knew that I had been myself and if they didn't like me, then I wasn't meant to be their sister anyway. Hopefully some of the houses I liked would ask me back. When I got to my rho gamma meeting place she handed out invitations and I was slightly disappointed to see that I was only returning to 5 out of a possible 7 houses..oh well I got ones I really liked! On my invite list it said: Stocking, lights, snow, santa, and candy canes! I liked 4 of those 5! Not bad!

Santa This one was my definite front runner as of round 1. However, when I went back this day, I was sad to be paired with someone who I didn't click with. I was then talking to another girl in the house, and I didn't seem to have much in common with her either. It was slightly disappointing, just because I had loved this house so much the first day. Their philanthropy was cute, and definitly for a good cause. I'm not sure if I'll be invited back.. there were lots of awkward silences in the conversation..ouch.

Stocking Oh stocking..stocking, stocking. I wondered what these girls had seen in me the first day to invite me back. At least the girl I talked to today didn't have something stuck in her teeth like the girl on the first day.... Haha! These girls are trying really hard and I really respect them for it, but I just can not see myself in this house. Their philanthropy was nice, and I hope I made it clear to them that I didn't see myself as their sister, without being rude.

Lights I love this house's philanthropy! My mom wants me to be a "lights" because of their philanthropy haha! I'm not quite sure if I would fit in with these girls. They don't seem too excited about their sorority, and they aren't as peppy as some of the other groups. Their house wasn't very "homey" to me. It didn't make me feel like I could just sit down on the couch and watch some TV. Lots of girls had singles, which I didn't like. I prefer to have a roommate. I did talk to some nice girls today, so we'll see. Maybe I will get invited back and meet some others.

Candy Canes The girls in this house are full of enery! This house seems to be the complete opposite of "Lights". These girls love their sorority, and you can tell when they're doing all of their cheers. They almost make me want to get up and do the cheers with them! Their philanthropy project was really fun. It involved a lot of running, which was fun. Their house is nice and really big. There are lots of quad and triple rooms. I would really liked to be invited back here!

Snow This house suprised me today. I didn't expect to like it as much as I did. There's a certain bond that you can tell all of the sisters have between them. They seemed proud to be a "snow", and I liked that. Their philanthropy craft was really fun. I talked to 2 girls while making the philanthropy craft, as well as one of the girls from my rho gamma group. We all got along great. Their house is super nice from the inside, and most girls have doubles. The rooms were huge compared to some others I saw today! I really would like to go back to this house.

Ok well thats the end of round 2..we'll see who invites me back!

[Just interested]

Congratulations!!! It sounds to me like you found a perfect home!!!!

[When Doves Cry]

Yeah. I definitely enjoyed your story lol. That was very creative the way you told it. And interesting congrats on AXO! We have an AXO at our school too and theyre awesome

[aggieAXO]

Welcome to AXO!

[SMUalphachi]

I love stories that end in Alpha Chi Omega! Sounds like you had a great recruitment, sister!

[SthrnZeta]

First, congrats on getting your first choice - AChiO! And you told your story very well.

Second, ZTA is big in the south (has the most chapters in SC out of all the NPC orgs) but not as big as others in other regions, so I'm not surprised if she hadn't heard of it if your school isn't in the south like where the rest of your family went (and I know firsthand how you can't hide Zeta pride) BUT, I remember looking up the NPC website as a NM and finding out about the other orgs we didn't have at my school. I wanted to know all about sorority life, not just my specific org! So really, asking if it's a real sorority is just, well, ignorant.

Congrats again, and thanks for feeding the GC love of recruitment stories until we get our fix next month when spring recruitment begins! And thanks for not trying to do it in real time - we appreciate it

[LegallyBrunette]

Aww congrats!

What chapter is Lights?

As much as it irks me now, there were probably a few groups in college that I wouldn't have recognized as NPC. I know in the last few years Theta Phi has revamped its new member program to include more info about all the NPCs.

As a slight hijack, my boyfriend went to college in the south and he was shocked that my school didn't have Chi Omega. He said, "I thought every school has Chi O!"

[violetpretty]

Originally Posted by LegallyBrunette

As a slight hijack, my boyfriend went to college in the south and he was shocked that my school didn't have Chi Omega. He said, "I thought every school has Chi O!"

Hahaha we don't even have a Chi O chapter in the entire state of Maryland. Go figure.

[GoPaige]

lights = Delta Delta Delta

And Stocking is definitly not Chi O lol

Maybe I'll let everyone know what my code names were. We'll see

[LOVEinZTA]

Congratulations on AXO!!!

Your story reminded me of this past year - there was a girl who rushed at my school who was a 32 time legacy to one of the chapters on campus!

[PeppyGPhiB]

Originally Posted by violetpretty

Hahaha we don't even have a Chi O chapter in the entire state of Maryland. Go figure.

Chi O and Zeta aren't very big on the west coast, either, at least not in comparison to other sororities. For example, in California (which just has a ton of GLO chapters), Chi O has six chapters, ZTA has three, Gamma Phi Beta has 18, and Alpha Phi has 22. Most of the NPC sororities have regions they're particularly strong in.

[NutBrnHair]

Originally Posted by LegallyBrunette

As a slight hijack, my boyfriend went to college in the south and he was shocked that my school didn't have Chi Omega. He said, "I thought every school has Chi O!"

Awww...he sounds like a great guy!