MaggieXi's Retro Elon Recruitment Story

[violetpretty]

When I went through recruitment, my boyfriend was not thrilled about the idea, but he wasn't totally against it. He was younger than me, so therefore, still in high school, and he thought that I wouldn't have time to come home and be with him if I joined a sorority. He realized that denying me of a good time at college would just be selfish and he was ultimately supportive.

[PinkRose1098]

It is so funny to me when I hear other people say that a boyfriend didn't want them to join a sorority. My boyfriend was much more supportive of my decision to go through rush and kept encouraging me when I had bad days during rush. Come to think of it, he was more supportive than my family ever was during that time.

[trojangal]

It definitely helps. While I was in college, the bf, who had a huge family of Greeks, actually offered to pay for my rush fees if I decided to do it at a later time. My parents never had a clue about Greek life on campus.

Hooray for the young woman who encouraged having an open mind and not to listen to the naysayers!

[MaggieXi]

Monday's parties were an absolute blur!!! I rushed back to my room after classes and got ready. The weather was really really bad outside. It was sleeting and its expected to snow tonight. My Rho Chi sent messages to all of us saying that recruitment was on until otherwise announced. So I had to change my outfit plan and I wore black pants, a blue/gray button down and black boots. Sarah did my hair and helped me with my make-up. Sarah is a hair stylist now!

Courtney and Traci were freaking out because the weather screwed up what they were going to wear and were frantically pulling things out of their closets to figure out what to wear.

So I got to Moseley to meet my Rho Chi group and then we trekked in the sleety-rain down to the greek courts. At this point, the greek courts (later known as the Loy Center) were under construction. Not all the organizations had houses yet but they were being built We got in line outside Down Dog in alphabetical order. The sorority girls were banging on the door and I could hear them singing inside and doing cheers. I couldn't help but laugh at the whole thing. The the doors bursted open and Heather took our coats and in we went.

Down Dog was really nice. I was met by Beth, a girl from one of my classes who is a sophmore. She asked me a lot of questions like where I was from, where I lived on campus, what my major was, what my parents did, etc. Turns out she is from New Jersey and went to high school with my cousin Rob! Beth introduced me to a lot of other people and I have no idea who I met or if I was supposed to say something special. But all in all, I liked Down Dog. I guess you could could consider them "classy" or whatever like Courtney said, but I thought they were just normal people.

Shanti was next. They had a really pretty house too! I don't know who the first girl who was who took me around and she asked me a lot of the same questions that Beth did at Down Dog. She also took me around to some tables they had set up with pictures of all the sisters, awards, their philanthropy and activities. I kinda thought the girl was bragging though when she was telling me how much stuff that Shanti did. At the very end of the party I ran into April, my orientation leader. She gave me a big hug and told me that she was really excited that I was going through recruitment. I guess Shanti was ok but I think Courtney was right about them being "know it alls". But I was surprised that April was in that house because she just didn't ever seem that way to me.

Warrior was last. They do not have a house in the greek court yet. They have an old house on Haggard that we had to walk up a hill to in the snow. We were all cold and tired already! We got to warrior and I was immediately a little freaked out. They brought us into this room where they had all these antique dolls on the shelves. I hate antique dolls! I felt like they were looking at me! Warrior also showed us a video about their national sorority -- not their chapter which I thought was kind of pointless and made us sit on the floor to watch it which was kind of wet from all of our shoes. I was brought around by one first and she kept leaving me with other people. I didn't like it at all! I really don't want to be a Warrior!

I got back to my room and shared stories with Courtney, Traci and Karen. They all had good nights and visited some of the same houses and some of the houses I will see on tuesday. Traci told me later that at Om, the girls like scream at you when you get inside of the house and she totally got scared!

[sailboatgirl]

What a great start to your recruitment story...minus the sleet and snow, of course!

Oh, and I can't stand antique dolls, either...especially the ones with the big, blinkie eyes...they totally freak me out, too! It's kind of like my aversion to clowns.

[Xylochick216]

Originally Posted by MaggieXi

Traci told me later that at Om, the girls like scream at you when you get inside of the house and she totally got scared!

I think I know who Om is. They still do the same thing.

[MaggieXi]

On Tuesday I had to rush to get ready. Luckily, the weather got a little bit better. It is still raining, but we will be in Moseley to visit two of the sororities whose houses aren't done yet so we will only be outside to go see Om. I am glad I laid out my clothes before I left for class and Sarah was right there to do my hair. However, I was soo hungry 'cuz I didn't have time to stop at Harden to grab someting little to eat so my dinner is mostly gold fish! I met with my group in Moseley and we all walked down to go to Om. I walked with Torey and she told me that Down Dog was already her favorite.

I'm really glad that Traci told me that Om was kinda scary in the begining. We lined up and walked in. It was completely dark and silent. Not like yesterday's visits at Down Dog and Shanti. We all sat on the floor and all the Oms got in a circle around us and sang this song about their sorority that was practically silent and then all of a sudden they screamed out their letters! Even though I was waiting for it, it still made me jump a little bit. After the yelling, I got picked up by this girl Kristin. She was nice but kept me off in the corner and I didn't really get to meet anyone. Kristin asked me the usual questions and seemed really not interested in talking with me so I felt really awkward. I even tried to make conversation with her and she really didn't have much to say. I saw Katrina for a second and she said hi, but she looked really busy and stressed out. I was kind of glad to leave the party at Om. I just didn't see what the big fuss was over being an Om. They just seemed stuck up to me.

Next we all walked up Moseley to see Half Moon. They were all yelling and singing in their room before we went in. When the doors opened, I was linked arms with this girl Jen. She was sooo nice. She didn't just ask the regular questions, we just hit it off and talked about Philly. She was actually from one of the suburbs too so we mostly spoke about all the things we missed from home. Jen also introduced me to lots of people and left me for a little bit to talk to her roomate Michelle. Michelle was really nice too! I couldn't believe when the party ended. On a bunch of TVs in the room they had vidoes of pictures that they had collected set to music which I thought was a nice touch. It went by so fast and I really liked all the girls I met. Plus, I don't know what Courtney was talking about them being all "southern". I met girls from all over and they weren't at all what Courtney was making them out to be!

The last house was Lotus. According Courtney this is the "party" sorority. We lined up outside their room and they were singing a cheer and we were all led in and sat down in chairs. (None of the other sororities had chairs for us to sit on) We were shown a video show of pictures of all the sisters doing stuff over the last year from like greek week and homecoming and their formals and stuff. The sisters cheered at some pictures and called out people's names. They all seemed to be very close, and although they have probably seen this video now a bunch of times, they still seemed to enjoy it. None of their pictures were of them partying! Then the president welcomed us and then we were picked up by one of the girls in the room. The first girl I met was Ashley, she was this short little blonde who was just funny, and then I met her roomate Anne and a bunch of other girls. One of the girls, Hope I ended up talking to for a long time because she is a communications major and was the one who put the slide show together and since I was thinking of going into communications, I got a lot of feed back from her about it. This party was also over really quickly! I liked these girls a lot too.

When we were done with Lotus, my Rho Chi group went down stairs and Heather had us tell her about how we were feeling and that tomorrow our invitations to the second round would be ready at 12 and to meet her outside the Panhellenic office. She also told us to go home and write all this stuff down but to definetly keep our minds open about all the different sororities because each one had something to offer us.

When I got back to Staley, Courtney & Karen were ranking the sororities. I thought this was a little silly because I think it is probably more up to the sororities and less up to me. But Traci and I joined in.

My favorite is Half Moon, followed by Lotus & Down Dog who are tied, and then Shanti, Om and Warrior. Courtney and Traci told me that I was being stupid to put Lotus and Shanti ahead of Om. But I told them it was just a list for now. And I think I really offended Karen by putting Om second to last 'cuz it is her favorite and its her sister's sorority. But oh well!

[OldAOPi]

The dolls remind me of that Seinfeld episode where Susan has a doll that looks like Georges' mother...yikes!