NotSoRetro's Deferred Recruitment at a Private School

[NotSoRetro]

OPEN HOUSE

Determined to do our absolute best at Open House, my roommate and I decide to wake up super early so that we can get ready slowly, beat everyone else out on the hall for a hot shower, etc. I remember painstakingly blowing my hair out and putting on make up. I wanted to look the part of the perfect sorority woman! Open House was supposed to be casual, but our school was relatively dressy anyway, so most PNMs worse khakis or skirts. I wore a cute pair of fine wale cordouroys with a grey cashmere turtleneck and Tiffany earrings. Those earrings were a Christmas gift, and they were my pride and joy! It's so sad, but I felt such affirmation when I put them on.

We met our Rho Chi's to get our schedules and actually toured the houses with our Rho Chi groups. I had met my Rho Chi previously in the fall semester and thought for sure she was a Boston. She was from California, adorable and really fun, but down to earth. She was exactly the kind of sister I hoped to have 100+ of in a few days!

First up...

Houston - I was not excited to go to Houston based on fall semester, but we lined up outside and waited. They cheered really loudly and their song was definitely cute. We began to walk in and the sister who grabbed me was adorable. I was shocked -- people generally only said bad things about Houston, but this girl was great. We talked for a few minutes, and then I was bumped and another sister took me on a tour of the house. The house was okay -- it was a little dated, but it was still really nice. They showed us the bedrooms as well, and while it seemed like they had a close bond, I couldn't help but think of my neighbor who I didn't even know was a sister. I wondered how close their sisterhood really was and I was disappointed I had only met two members.

Los Angeles - I was so excited to get to meet some more girls here because I heard about this house so much my first semester. Their chant was intense! I loved it though -- it seemed like they really loved being Los Angeles and that they were ecstatic to recruit new members. I was picked up at the front door by someone I didn't know, but then bumped midway through the tunnel by my friend from high school. It was so awesome to see her especially since she was older and someone I had looked up to. Our conversation was a bit awkward, but she introduced me to so many sisters that I felt like it didn't matter. I definitely wanted to go back here.

Chicago - I had figured that there was no way I would be a Chicago, so I was really relaxed about going into this house. I really thought I'd be cut for being a brunette! They chanted us in and I was picked up by a girl who surprisingly looked exactly look me. She took me upstairs and showed me the house girls' rooms and also talked to me a lot about why she chose her house. The conversation was so much deeper than any other house and I did not want to leave... I had so much fun and found them to be totally relatable.

Boston - I had high hopes for this house, and I don't know if it was because it was right before lunch, but the energy here was so much lower than other houses. I was picked up by an upperclassmen who took me to talk to 4 or 5 of her sisters. There were so many of them that I felt like I wasn't being memorable enough. Just when I started to feel a little doubtful, one complimented me on my earrings (jackpot!) and we started a very surface level conversation about shopping. It didn't develop much further, but I did feel a lot more comfortable and left thinking I had made a positive impression.


Over lunch, we of course talked about our days. People were so shocked I had liked Chicago so much because it just didn't seem like me to them. We were all in agreement that Houston was just not a fit for any of us. After resting up for a little bit, we went back to the convocation and onto our afternoon parties.


New York - The New Yorks had an amazing chant and it was so exciting to go into their house. I was picked up by the girl I knew there from high school. She was so amazingly sweet and introduced me to tons of her sisters. We had a great conversation and laughed a lot! I definitely wanted to come back!

Atlanta - I was ecstatic at finally going into the Atlanta house. My alumna supporters had called to wish me good luck over lunch and I was really hoping this would be where I'd end up. Their chant was very intense, and I got to get a good luck at the entire chapter together for the first time. There were a lot of athletes, and while that's not really my personality, I had always had a lot of friends who were athletic. The other girls tended to be really involved, healthy, normal type girls, which was exciting to me. Their campus reputation was pretty average, but the alums I knew convinced me that it was pretty much the best. A senior I didn't know picked me up and I was bumped by so many other sisters that the party was really just a fun blur. I still wanted to know more and felt like I could really see myself here.

Miami - The Miami house really disappointed me. I didn't like their chant at all. They had split the party up into different rooms so we were able to sit down, which was nice but not very energetic. Their house was gorgeous, but I only met one girl. I asked about meeting my friend Lauren from across the hall, and was told we had to stay where we were. It was just awkward. The girl who rushed me had just gotten back from being abroad and seemed pretty clueless. I felt like I was rushing her.

Las Vegas - Yea! Last Party! I think at this point I was so physically drained, that I was hard to talk to. I don't have much of a memory of this party, other than I still didn't think this would be my home.

Now, this was pre-RFM, so we didn't rank chapters after the end of the day. Instead, we went back to the dorms for a couple of hours and then had to go to Accept/Regret later that night. Your Rho Chi would read you the names of the chapters you were invited back to and should you receive more invitations than you could attend for the next day, you had the opportunity to decline them or decline with interest. If you declined with interest, you could potentially continue to be invited back by the sororities you had declined, depending on their interest level in you and their own rush results.

I walked to our meeting spot and was SOO nervous I could barely breathe. My Rho Chi decided to call our group in an order that put me dead last, and so the nervous anticipation just built and built and built. Finally, she called my name and then read my list to me privately.

Chicago
New York
Boston
Las Vegas
Los Angeles
Houston
Miami
Atlanta

I couldn't believe that I had received all 8 invites back! We could go to a maximum of 6 houses the next day, and without a whole lot of hesitation, because I felt so on top of the world, I decided to regret with interest the following:

Houston
Las Vegas

We went back to the dorms and I saw that many of my friends did not have the same experience. In a bratty way that made me even happier that I had been chosen, but in another way it sort of gave me a bad taste. Some legacies were released early, and that made me irritated at those chapters. Also, a lot of my friends that were able to regret chapters actually decided to regret Boston and Chicago, which shocked me.

After much chatter and strategizing, I went to sleep and had recruitment dreams of my Rho Chi calling to tell me there was a mistake in my list and that I wouldn't be going back anywhere, etc. Happily that didn't really happen, and I woke up the next day and headed off to Philanthropy Day.