WaterChild's Fall 2007 Recruitment

[ellebud]

I can't imagine the financial liability and moral responsibility if there were an emergency and someone needed a phone to call for medical and/or police help. (The university and the sororities would be put out of business...no matter how much insurance they had.) On a lesser note: There are kids, at 18, who need to vent and seek advice from a friend or parent. Unbelievable.

[WaterChild]

After a long day of work and several hours of baby sitting, I'm finally posting. It's rather long- sorry.



My roommate and I got up extra early to ensure that we were cute enough to make good first impressions. I’m pretty shy, so I was worried. I wore olive green Bermuda shorts (it was August, remember), a white polo shirt, and brown leather sandals.

Half Baked- I was actually expecting the girls to be loud as they greeted us at the door, but they were a fairly calm bunch. Going in, I knew nothing about the women of Half Baked. I chatted fairly easily with the members that I was paired with as they were very friendly but I really didn’t have much in common with them. I was struck by how easy it seemed after I had stressed out for weeks about recruitment, so I came out feeling like they would be a fairly good match for me.

Chunky Monkey- The Chunky Monkeys were much more boisterous than the woman of Half Baked. I liked this a lot. I was in the marching band during first semester, and I knew that a friend of mine from home who attends the same school that I do was friends with a Chunky Monkey who was on the marching band’s drum line, so I went in with a good impression of this group. Also, I had a recommendation from my neighbor. I had a fairly good time at this house until I got into a conversation with someone about musicians and she struck me as extraordinarily uninformed. It sounds snobby, but because of this I left Chunky Monkey feeling unimpressed.

Dublin Mudslide- I really didn’t know anything about this group prior to recruitment. I felt comfortable as I was brought to a couch to talk with a member. However, the Dublin Mudslides had a strange rotation. Instead of talking to two or three girls over twenty minutes, all the PNMs talked with five actives. It was very confusing and the conversations never really went anywhere because we were constantly meeting new women. One of the women that I met and I discovered that we had a strange connection. I had spent the summer before working in the store of a gardening store. The company also owns a giant greenhouse about ninety miles south of the store that I worked at. One of the Dublin Mudslides worked at the greenhouse, so we knew a lot of the same people. I didn’t know what I thought after I left.

Karamel Sutra- I really, really wanted to be a Karamel Sutra before recruitment began. My aforementioned friend from home is a Karamel Sutra. At a University super early orientation/ registration for incoming freshmen during the previous March, I stayed at this house. However, I was exhausted and having a bad day. I accidentally got in an argument with the Karamel Sutra president and also the girl (not my friend) who was hosting me. I was hoping that this would be forgotten, but the girl that met me at the door during recruitment was the same girl that hosted me in March, and she introduced herself as just that. During our conversation, she made it quite clear that she was not interested in the possibility of me becoming a Karamel Sutra at all. I had a great time talking with the other women, but I was afraid that that night during the spring would prevent me from getting a bid to Karamel Sutra.

Cherry Garcia- A woman who I have done some work for and who I have a tremendous amount of respect for wrote me a recommendation. This woman impresses me so much that I really hoped that I would love this organization. However, this group didn’t rotate at all and the girl that I was put with and I completely clashed. Neither of us knew what to say and both of us were miserable. When I left this party, I was afraid that all the women of Cherry Garcia would be just like her. I didn’t ever want to set foot in that door again.

Chubby Hubby- A girl that I have known since I was a small child is a Chubby Hubby. I really liked her when I knew her back at home, so I had a good feeling about this group. I had decent conversations with the actives. Nothing was awkward but nothing stood out to me either. I didn’t really care either way about the Chubby Hubbies after this day.

Phish Food- During my freshman and sophomore years of high school, I completely despised one of the cheerleaders. I found her incredibly obnoxious and not very bright. I knew that she had been a Phish Food at my school. I did find out right before recruitment began that she had transferred to another school. If she had still been there, I probably would have refused to consider Phish Food at all. I was still a little wary because I was afraid that all the members would be obnoxious and dim. I don’t remember very much of this party, but all I wrote in my recruitment journal was, “Better than I expected…”

Everything But The…- I didn’t really know anything about this group besides the fact that they are small in numbers. This showed especially during the party. My roommate and I were paired with one member. I thought the member was very sweet, and I wanted to talk to her, but my roommate kept asking rude questions. I left thinking that I wanted to know a little more but I was a little swayed in the opposite direction by my roommate’s disinterest.

Pumpkin Cheesecake- By the time that I visited this house, I was exhausted. The members were as well. I met several women that I really liked. One of them is a music major like me. After a long day of meeting people with different interests, it was nice to finally meet somebody who understood what I would be doing in college. I thought that this might be an okay fit for me.


After the day was over, we went to do rankings. We could return to a maximum of seven houses the next day. I watched other’s reactions to houses a little too closesly and ranked the sororities as follows:

1. Half Baked
2. Karamel Sutra
3. Pumpkin Cheesecake
4. Chunky Monkey
5. Phish Food
6. Dublin Mudslide
7. Chubby Hubby

8. Everything But The…
9. Cherry Garcia

[SWTXBelle]

VandalSquirrel - please don't take a discussion of the cellphone policy personally. Debating the merits of different policies is part of the game, no matter which campus uses them. I do think Panhellenic should be upfront about the policy, so no one is surprised. If I called my daughter for several days on her personal cell phone and received no answer I would PANIC.
Did the collegians really ask for this, or did it come from the college? And do you think it helps? Do you think there is less "tent talk"? And do the pnms who are now pledges think it was a good idea? If it is a new policy, it is probably under scrutiny. You indicate you think it is "strange and crazy" - so that said, do you think your campus will continue with it?
And for what it is worth, back in the day rushees found phones to use, even when the ones in the dorms were turned off . . .

Can't wait for the next installment . . .

[Buttonz]

Originally Posted by violetpretty

I would think that if a PNM's family needed to get a hold of her in the event of an emergency, they'd have the phone number of a Rho Gamma or RA, knowing that they won't have their cell phones, and vice versa, someone in charge would be able to notify the PNM's family if she had an emergency.

She stated that the PNM weren't aware this would be happening, so unless the parents were made aware of it before and told not to go ahead and tell their kids, I don't see how that would be possible.

[texas*princess]

Originally Posted by SWTXBelle

VandalSquirrel - please don't take a discussion of the cellphone policy personally. Debating the merits of different policies is part of the game, no matter which campus uses them. I do think Panhellenic should be upfront about the policy, so no one is surprised. If I called my daughter for several days on her personal cell phone and received no answer I would PANIC.

I second that. I would feel the same way.

Just last week my mom tried calling my lil brother on several occasions throughout the span of a week and received no answer, nor did he call her back. She FREAKED OUT. She finally found the number to a friend of his to check up on him at his apt to make sure he was OK because she was really worried and he lives far from home.

It turned out he was fine, just lost his cell phone and later found it in his truck.

If Panhellenic is going to do this, they need to inform the pnms AND the parents in advance in case of an emergency.

And maybe this was already mentioned and I missed it, but how do they restrict internet access? Do they take away their laptops or make them move into dorms without ethernet cables or something?

Anyway, good story so far.

[FSUZeta]

agree with the other moms. i would have been in a panic if it had not heard from my child in a week and did not know that their phone had been confisctaed. i would think that taking the phones away might had increased the tent talk, since the pnms only had each other to share observations with.

[WaterChild]

My Rho Chi woke me up somewhere close to three am and handed me my schedule. I was excited to see that my schedule read:

Phish Food
Everything But The…

I hadn’t been cut! Finally, I had a full schedule.

Roommate and I woke up early to get extra pretty for the preference parties. I wore a white strapless dress covered with giant yellow polka dots, vintage from the 80s. It sounds terrible, but it’s actually an amazing dress. During breakfast, a girl in my recruitment group that I had become quite close with and I discovered that we had identical schedules for the day.

Phish Food- The girl from home met me at the door! We had a long chat about the principles of Phish Food. I told her that I was certain that I could live up to them. The ceremony was beautiful, and I was close to tears. After I left, I was pretty sure that Phish Food was the house for me, but I still had one party to go.

Everything But The…- Here, I was put with a girl who I had never met before. This disappointed me. We got along great, though. She reminded me a lot of Mandy Moore. I had a fantastic time at this preference party as well. I also found the ceremony here to be beautiful.

At the end of the day, everyone headed back to rank. I wasn’t sure what to do. There was just one member in particular at Phish Food that I loved, but I got along really well with a lot of the Everything But The…s. Both of the houses were homey to me. I actually liked the idea of the smaller numbers of the Everything But The…s because I felt that the sisterhood might be tighter. I thought about the national sorority and everything that the groups stand for. Eventually, I decided that the ideals of Phish Food were really the ideals that I wanted to live up to as a person. I also considered that I felt more strongly about the organizations that the Phish Foods support through philanthropy.

I told the Rho Chi at the computer:

1. Phish Food
2. Everything But The…

My Rho Chis told us that they would only wake us up in the middle of the night if we did NOT receive a bid.

[violetpretty]

Originally Posted by WaterChild

I wore olive green Bermuda shorts (it was August, remember), a white polo shirt, and brown leather sandals.

Fate?

[33girl]

Originally Posted by WaterChild

I had a fairly good time at this house until I got into a conversation with someone about musicians and she struck me as extraordinarily uninformed. It sounds snobby, but because of this I left Chunky Monkey feeling unimpressed.

OMG, we must be twins. I can't deal w/ people who are musically stupid AT ALL. I think I probably would have just made the Tori Spelling face and stood there in shock.

As far as the cell phone policy, I can see the value, but I definitely think the rushees and not just the parents should have known ahead of time - not been told an hour before.