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Okay, so after receiving my bid from Hermione Granger, I headed back to my dorm to try to find Megan, Melissa & Caroline and see what their situations were and where they would be going.
Well, as I’ve said, recruitment at Merrimack, especially informal, is not very competitive.
Caroline received a bid from Hermione Granger. She was disappointed about Ron Weasley, but apparently had never made plans to see them later in the week so had been banking entirely on her high school acquaintance. Even at Merrimack, this is a bad idea. We had until the next day to decide which bid to accept. She was pretty sure she would accept Hermione Granger, rather than wait and try again for Ron Weasley in the spring, but she wasn’t positive yet.
Megan & Melissa both received bids from ALL THREE chapters. They both immediately decided to forgo Harry Potter. Megan was 99% sure she was going with Hermione Granger. Melissa was leaning more towards Ron Weasley, but she was still deciding.
I was completely torn. On the one hand, I had been totally ready to accept Ron Weasley when that was my only bid and was super excited about it. But, I had felt a bit more comfortable with Hermione Granger. But as I’ve said before, I thought that could be attributed to the fact it was my first party and I felt underdressed at Ron Weasley. I could really see myself in either group. Since I had about 24 hours before I had to contact either group, I decided to go to my boyfriends for the night (since I knew he wouldn’t want to talk about it) and sleep on it. I think I was hoping for divine intervention or something, I don’t know.
The next morning I still was undecided. Divine intervention had not worked. I spent some time on each groups national website. I could tell Ron Weasley was a bit more polished, slightly more together. Hermione Granger on the other hand seemed a little more accessible and down to earth. In retrospect, it's funny to me that the national sites seemed to mirror how I had percieved the chapters on my campus too. Both aspects appealed to me, and if I could have taken all good the characteristics of both groups and merged them, I would have. Essentially I ended up asking myself…which group do I think would be a better fit for me not just on my good days, but my bad days? I reflected back to why I had become interested in Greek Life to begin with, lifelong friendships, and thought about all the women I had met over the past week. Who would I ultimately feel more at home with?
Finally, after hours of deliberation that afternoon at work. I made two phone calls. One leaving a message politely declining my bid, explaining I was honored, but I had found a home elsewhere and one to speak to a sister and tell her I was ready to accept my bid to…………
HERMIONE GRANGER, or THETA PHI ALPHA.
Ron Weasley was Zeta Tau Alpha.
Harry Potter was Alpha Sigma Tau.
In an unexpected twist, all four of us ended up as pledge sisters in Theta Phi together. Caroline decided not to wait for second semester for ZTA and accepted her bid. She ended up depledging a few weeks later though when she decided to transfer (again!). I have since lost touch with her. Megan followed her heart to where she had felt at home from the very beginning. She is currently a very involved alumna. Melissa agonized over the decision as well and, completely independently, decided that although she was impressed by ZTA and all they had to offer, she did really feel more at home with Theta Phi too. She was elected Recruitment chair the very next semester & convinced the chapter to scrap the questionnaire. I found mine in a file right before graduation and had a really good laugh over it.
In case you couldn't tell, I definitely belong to the school of thought that you CAN find your home in more than one chapter and I still hold ZTA in very high regard because of my positive experience with them during recruitment.
Finally, the end. Thanks for reading.
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QFA
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) Anyway, lurking PNM's (and we know you're out there, many of us used to be you) take note of this!
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