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I don't know if it's appropriate to bump such an old thread; but I wanted to offer up my experience as an example. I graduated from a pretty small private school, and was incredibly involved in all aspects of campus life. I did varsity sports, led in the clubs I joined, and maintained competitive grades while earning top leadership positions my senior year. When I moved to (in my opinion) a large college, I was overwhelmed and knew I needed to get involved in organizations to gain a community feel and find my place.
My university had deferred recruitment, so my first semester, I joined a club sport that I'd done all through high school. That was a great way for me to make instant friends, but it still didn't offer the "whole package" that sorority life does (service, sisterhood, social, all of that), so I was eager to join Greek Life. Recruitment... did not go well for me. At all. I can't honestly figure out what it was, other than I didn't communicate the great qualities I had to offer (the process was admittedly pretty intimidating to me) and while I could picture myself as a sorority woman, and my friends could, too... it just didn't work out that year. I had great conversations with certain women, but others lacked that spark.
A year and a half later, a sorority was re-colonizing on my campus, and I decided to give it a shot. I still was not exactly happy with the organizations I was previously a part of and this sorority in particular struck me as an amazing opportunity. I received a bid... and I could not be more grateful that I joined my organization instead of during my freshman year. As a junior, I was able to become a leader in my sorority immediately, which is one of the strongest qualities I have. Even had I joined my freshman year, I might have fallen through the cracks or gotten lost among the sisters. I may never have gotten a leadership position or met the amazing women I now call sisters.
I didn't believe "you'll end up where you're meant to" my freshman year... but now I realize I was meant to take charge with my sorority's re-founding and build a strong foundation. I do believe amazing women with great qualities simply don't have a great recruitment experience... it's almost impossible to figure out why one girl made it through instead of another; however each girl can find a different place on campus where her qualities will shine through, whether that's an academic org, pre-med fraternity, business fraternity, service organization, club sport, or student government.
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