One more before the real thing...

[LegallyBrunette]

This totally makes my day--I'd been hoping for another Theta Phi thread!

[AlwaysSAI]

Wooooooooohooooooooooooooooooo!!

I've been dormant for a few days and I'm so glad to come back to another retro thread!!!!!!!!!

YESSSSSSSS!

[AlphaFrog]

Wait - I thought you went to Bridgewater?

They only have 3 NPCs now....did they really loose 5 GLOs in 4 years?

[LegallyBrunette]

Originally Posted by AlphaFrog

Wait - I thought you went to Bridgewater?

They only have 3 NPCs now....did they really loose 5 GLOs in 4 years?

I don't think those posts are about Bridgewater....the requisite retro thread twist.

[AlphaFrog]

Originally Posted by LegallyBrunette

I don't think those posts are about Bridgewater....the requisite retro thread twist.

Ah, Gotcha. Sorry if I ruined the surprise.

Although retros are kinda like going into the movie Titanic knowing the boat sinks. Not a huge surprise.

[LegallyBrunette]

Originally Posted by AlphaFrog

Ah, Gotcha. Sorry if I ruined the surprise.

Although retros are kinda like going into the movie Titanic knowing the boat sinks. Not a huge surprise.

Yeah, the suprise element is usually lacking in retro threads anyway, unless it's from an entirely unknown or new user. I know sangers mentioned this on GC before anyway. I am curious to know which school this is.

[AnatraAmore]

Yes, yes... the school I attended first semester of my freshman year was not Bridgewater. (which has only ever had 3 NPCs) Onward towards the end...

Night II: What?!?!?!

I didn’t have early class the next morning, so even though Roomie and I were up late chatting, we weren’t as tired going to our parties the next night. Through our conversation, I learned lots about the supposed reputations of the sororities. I also realized that like everyone else, our top 6 were basically the same except for Share and Harmony being switched around on her list. We were both sure that we wanted to be Love-a-Lots although Bedtime and Funshine seemed really cool too. That night we arrived to get our invitations and noticed that there seemed to be less girls there. Weird. Both of us parted, really confident and excited for another, shorter night.

When I met up with my Rho Chi group, one of the girls in my group was crying. Another was loudly talking about how she had only gotten 4 invites. What?!?!?! How was that possible? We had 6 parties that night, didn't we? No one ever mentioned that you might not get invited to 6 chapters. Everyone talked about you ranking them, but it was never mentioned that the sororities did the same. Oh dear. Now I was nervous. Did I even want to look at my list? It read:

Funshine
Harmony
Cheer
Champ
Bedtime
Share

Wait. Where was Love-a-Lot??!?!?! After standing there puzzled, I located my
Rho Chi who seemed to have her hands full and said I wanted to talk to her. When she got a minute, she came over and I told her there had been a mistake. My first choice wasn’t on my list. She explained gently that sometimes that happened, but I was lucky to get 6 invites and I had an awesome schedule. She asked if I was going to be all right. Oh. Okay. Sure.

Parties started only a few minutes later. This is something that I always have hated – you get invitations and only 10 or 15 minutes later, you have to act happy and cheery. I was determined to go and have fun though, and so off I went.

First up was Funshine. Yay!!! I was paired with my RA. We watched a really cute mini skit and looked at pictures from their installation and talked their new member program. The girl I met yesterday came back and said hi. Their philanthropy project was cute as well. I decided that if I couldn’t be a Love-a-Lot, Funshine was still a definite option.

Next, I went to Harmony. I was still a little bitter about the incident last night and felt awkward here. We talked about their philanthropy and worked on a project for children’s hospital. The girl I talked to afterwards seemed uninterested in me and in being there in general. This cemented my feeling that Harmony just wasn’t the place for me.

The third party of the night was Cheer Bear. I honestly don’t remember this party at all. The girls must have been nice, but I just don’t recall any details. It was at this party that I started to cough… and cough… and cough. I don’t know if I was allergic to something in the room or just catching a cold. But I started to feel horrible.

By the next party at Share Bear, I feeling even worse. My coughing was starting to get uncontrollable and no matter how much water I drank, it didn’t help. My Rho Chi gave me a cough drop in the hall, but I swear that made it worse. At this party, I was super excited to be going back. We were seated around a table making boo-boo bunnies for homeless families (washcloths in the shape of bunnies to put ice cubes in – really cute) and between my coughing and the fact that my bunny didn’t look like a bunny, I was miserable. Everyone at my table was laughing and joking around, except me. One of the girls that was at my table finally asked if I was okay and I started coughing and couldn’t stop. I think that everyone in the room was looking at me and the looks on the faces of the sisters at the table were so disgusted that I wanted to crawl under the table. Oh dear. I couldn’t wait to leave!

In the hallway, my Rho Chi greeted me with a hot cup of tea and I was so excited. As we entered Bedtime Bear, I was hoping that I wouldn’t start coughing again. Of course I did. This time though, my rusher could relate and told me how she almost puked during one of her parties. This made me laugh and I felt so much better. She got me a cup of water to keep with me as we made our project and listened to an explanation of their philanthropies. The girls I had met the previous night stopped by and joked around that maybe I was allergic to them. We had a good laugh and before I knew it, the party was over.

Our final party of the night was Champ Bear. The girls here were all talking about how they had gone on a trip to another school and loved their houses. It was here I made a fatal (at least at the time) mistake. I asked if they had a house. Ut oh. Sore subject, apparently. Their President, who had been talking to us, looked at me and said, “We're too independent for that” and then turned and walked away. Oh dear. At that point, I turned bright red, and although the conversation continued around me, I was too embarrassed to say much else.

After we left that night, my rankings were easy to decide:

Funshine
Bedtime
Share
Harmony
Champ
Cheer

I didn’t know what to do though… so of those chapters I would be mortified to have to return to. But, I knew that I really liked Funshine and Bedtime, so I hoped I would be invited back to them the next time. After talking to Roomie, I realized that my rankings were vastly different. Although she really like Funshine and Bedtime, she had been invited back to Love-a-Lot and also really liked Cheer Bear too. We were excited that we had two groups in common that we really liked and were psyched that we could possibly be sisters... or so we thought...

[luv n tpa]

Originally Posted by LegallyBrunette

This totally makes my day--I'd been hoping for another Theta Phi thread!

Hooray for Theta Phi's!!

[howtheSunrose]

Can't wait to hear more. I'm interested in your experience with going to a less competitive, smaller rush. You're keeping us on pins and needles!

[Ocalagirl]

I can't wait to read more when I get back on Sunday!

[AnatraAmore]

Okay... sorry for the delay inbetween postings. I don't have the kind of job where I have internet access, so I'm restricted. Continuing on...

Also, to answer ADGLynn's question, only one of the chapters was present at both schools...

Night II: Wow!

My night started out at True Heart this time. I got a much different vibe from them the second visit. (which is why I love that you visit all 3 groups for two nights at my school - I know it's not practical at schools with many groups, but you can totally see different sides of a group on two different nights, but I digress.) Today's theme was philanthropy and Trueheart had their room set up like a baseball field, with tables at the various bases. On home plate and the pitcher's mound, we got to make Valentine's cards for Veterans and on the other bases was more information about their national philathropies and such. The feeling of the room was really laid back and I really liked it.

The second group I visited was Tender Heart. Tonight this group also made Valentine's cards, but for the elderly. Afterwards, we played a game with cups and talked. It was super relaxed and both sisters and PNM's floated between the groups of sisters. I loved that there wasn't a formal system rotating and because recruitment was so small, (30 PNM's max) everyone seemed to know your name and remember you. (A definite plus!)

Wish Bear was up last. Again tonight I noticed the diversity of the chapter, but I also noticed the organization and planning. Whereas the other groups seemed really laid back with who was talking to who and such, this group did seem to have a rotation system, although I think that the only reason I noticed was that I had been through the bigger recruitment where is was far more obvious. Their philanthropy was really cute (we made pillowcases) and overall I felt really at home here.

After parties, we were told to go home and think about which chapters we felt the most at home at. The next day was Pref and we could accept invitations from up to 2 chapters. Chapters would create the lists of women they were willing to invite back, then when we arrived the next night, we'd find out who had invited us back and, if necessary, cut the group we didn't want to attend. (Which, as a sister I always hated - you get the lists for Pref about 10 minutes before the first party starts!) At this point though, I was really scared. I mean, what happens if I get cut again? I liked all three groups, but wasn't really sure about Tender Heart. I didn't think I could take the rejection that comes with being cut all around again. Nervous, I called Carrie and we talked for a long time about it all. Throughout the last few days, she had left me IM's and voicemails wishing me luck. She told me that I'd never know unless I tried. Plus, this round of recruitment was so different. I really felt that sororities were getting to see the real me because it was relaxed and there were far less PNM's for them to meet and remember. Even keeping that in mind, I was still nervous for the next night...

[gogreekmom]

I am enjoying your story and really looking forward to your next post.

[AnatraAmore]

So Pref night rolls around... I'm a nervous wreck alllll day. I finally arrive (a little early) to get my invites. And to my surprise, I received invitations to all three groups!!!! Yay!!!! It took me a few minutes to think about it, but I knew deep down that I did not fit in well with Tender Heart. But, having been through recruitment, I thought about something that most PNM's may only think of briefly: which group do I realistically see myself getting a bid from? Am I hoping for something that I know deep down isn't going to happen? After talking to Carrie for like 15 minutes about it, I decided not to worry about it and just go with my heart. So, I circled Wish Bear and True Heart and hoped that I was making the right decision.


My first Pref party of the night was Wish Bear. Their Preference ceremony was AMAZING! Even though it was my first Pref, I knew it was something special. My rusher was a sister I'd met all three nights and was from my hometown. The President came by and talked to me for a few minutes and I realized how nice it was to be remembered and not just my name, but actual things they had picked up about me and remembered (ex: I talked about how I had a psych test on the morning of Pref and we chatted about how I did on it - it was nice to have people who remembered the little things like that) When we were done chatting, they had their ceremony and it was beautiful, down to the fountain, pearl, and making a wish. (Which of course at that moment was that I was going to be a Wish Bear...) After leaving that Pref, I thought that there was absolutely no way that anyone could top that.

As a result, my second Pref was something of a let down. True Heart showed a sisterhood slide show which many of the sisters "awww'ed" and "oooo'ed" but I didn't get it. My Pref'er kind of ignored me and we didn't really talk. After the ceremony, they ushered us to the door and that was it. There was no real conclusion after the ceremony and it ended really abruptly in all of our minds. It was also only about 20 minutes into the party, so then we sat around for 25 minutes waiting for the other parties to finish so we could sign our Preference cards.

When I signed my Preference Card, it was really easy in my mind:

1. Wish Bear
2. True Heart

However, as I went home I began to rethink my ranking. I liked Wish Bear's Pref, but I had really liked something about True Heart before that. Did I rank them right? Wish Bear's ceremony was awesome, but I wondered if I'd been too hasty in my decision. It was too late by then though. I had to go with what I'd signed. I just hoped it was going to work out... (and that I'd actually get a bid!)