Since it's a little slow... my recruitment story!

[spirited*pnm]

Originally Posted by ta kala

I visited this school for recruitment in January...I think I can figure out some of the houses already, haha.

Cool! Maybe we met! Things have changed slightly from when I went through a few years ago...so don't be misled!

Originally Posted by WinniBug

3. I read the recruitment story you linked to...do you not have "hotboxing" rules? She said she was sitting around talking to 5 sisters....
4. Our now-president had a few "mudding" conversations at recruitment last year :-)

We most certainly DO have hotboxing rules! I was a recruitment officer for my chapter for two years, and I believe that a max. of 2 sisters per PNM, with a 3rd sister allowed to stop by/say hello, but the one of the 3 must be on her way quickly. The vague language of this rule is actually quite amusing. Friend Bear was actually well-known for hotboxing; I should mention that this was perhaps why I liked them so much first round, they really made PNMs feel special! I am not sure how strictly this rule was enforced when I was a freshman, however. Not that it is STRICTLY enforced now, but chapters are aware of it and hopefully train their members not to do it.

And that's great about the mudding convos! A conversation like that would certainly put any PNM at ease who was worried about sororities being too prim and proper!

[MaggieXi]

Thank god for a recruitment story fix!


AHHHH I feel so much better now.

[Benzgirl]

I love the Tent Talk about Share Bear

[gee_ess]

Quick, quick, come back! I need a fix!

[spirited*pnm]

So now for round 2, HOUSE TOURS! This round we could visit a maximum of 9 chapters split between 2 days.

My outfit for this day: chocolate brown tailored slacks (front crease haha), a slate/faded blue-grey ribbed turtleneck, and brown suede and brown-darkgrey-with-flecks-of-rusty-brown-orange tweed mary jane heels with a wing tip style boundary between the suede and the tweed-like material! LOVE THEM!
We had to carry our shoes and other things with us so that we could change out of our boots. This was tough on me b/c changing outside is a challenge when balancing on one high-heeled foot on an icy path, and once you get all changed you have to freeze outside while waiting to be let inside!

On with the story!
I woke up bright and early and walked with Kristen down to our respective PX meeting places. IT WAS FREEZING. My goodness, the frigid air shocked me so. I was wearing a kind of light down mini jacket underneath my bigger coat, and I was still chilled to the bone! I was thrilled when Katie handed me my schedule for the next two days and…I had a full schedule! That warmed me up a bit ☺ Although, I was curious to see which chapters I wouldn’t be going back to…I scanned the list and noticed that Tenderheart and Birthday were not on my list…OK, so who was the third? GRUMPY BEAR. Hmm. I was slightly miffed because I felt like they were the ones who dropped the ball (which was esp. disappointing because this shouldn’t happen at a strong chapter IMO!!). I got over it quickly though because I still had chapters that I had so enjoyed the day before!

Friend Bear
My first party of the day, yay! I loved the 2 tour guides I had at this house; one of them was one of the storytellers from round 1! These 2 girls seemed to have good chemistry with each other and really seemed into their sorority/recruitment/living-in/Greek life. I loved the first floor of their house, but only remember one of the bedrooms I saw. It was cute (and immaculate. Like model home un-lived in. Everything seemed to have a perfect place, like OCD much?). My conversations here were decent, but not as exciting and free-flowing as the previous day. At some points during the party there were AT LEAST five girls sitting around me talking. I remember thinking it was a little weird when a new girl would bump in and ask the same questions the other 5-6 girls sitting there had already heard the answer to…I didn’t want to sound too rehearsed but it was hard to avoid! The (gorgeous) president or recruitment chair came over to say hello too. I was the last one out of this house because I had issues getting my boots on (geez, I’m usually very put-together and suave!)…and then I slipped on the icy front door threshold/step. But I caught myself, phew. I left enjoying the tour/house, a little ambivalent about my convos, and unsure/worried if I had made an impressive enough impression on them. I hope they would invite me back!

LAUGH-a-Lot Bear
I spoke with the most bubbly, firecracker, mile-a-minute-mouth sister (or person) ever! I like to think that I’ve got the gift of gab, but this girl was a bit intense for me! While it was a 2-on-1 with another PNM (who was a sweetheart), there was better chemistry with the three of us than there was at Grumpy Bear the day before. Also, instead of feeling competitive or like I needed to “turn it up” in the 2-on-1, I felt more relaxed and less pressure. We talked about hometowns and traveling. I also met the younger biological sister of one if the girls I had spoken with the day before. This house was decorated very traditionally, with many large area rugs. The upstairs rooms and hallways were seriously brand-spanking new. While that is always nice, it didn’t have as cozy a feel as the downstairs did. I like a house with a little history/character! Overall, I had a positive impression.

LOVE-a-Lot Bear
Just when I thought I had met the spunkiest most energetic person on earth, the sister I remember speaking with at this chapter didn’t even pause between sentences for air! It was tough to keep up with her (and kind if tiring!), but I did enjoy my time with her better than the girls I had met previously. I couldn’t tell if she was really SUPER DUPER INTERESTED in what I had to say, or turned up the charm this much for everyone. I don’t remember much from the house tour, but Little Miss Chatterbox made this house VERY memorable. This house bounced back from my mediocre impression during round 1, but these two extreme ends of the personality spectrum made me a little ambivalent about this chapter.

Good Luck Bear
Oh. Man. THIS was interesting… The girls in this chapter are generally sophisticated/fashionable; they are also known to come from relatively well-off backgrounds. I don’t want to sound too critical, but they flaunted it, and it completely turned me off. The sister I remember speaking with was at one time known as the hottest girl on campus—she had very distinctive features, had attended a prestigious preparatory school (not that that’s wrong, but the fact that she made sure everyone knew was a little off-putting). During our conversation, she name dropped, and “vacation area” dropped, restaurant dropped, hotel dropped (who knew), and any other kind of tacky “dropping” you can do without “accidentally” dropping your wallet and having wads of cash and credit cards burst forth from its seams. This girl’s attitude completely overshadowed the house tour, my other conversations, and any positive aspects I could have taken away from this party. A lady does not discuss her financial situation-- I don’t think she knew the definition of DISCRETION.

I must stop now to pack for a short trip I am taking tomorrow-Monday. I’m hoping I can finish the rest of Round 2 parties later tonight (or early this morning haha) so there isn’t a coup of rush thread addicts! You have my promise (and I don’t break promises!) that I will not abandon this thread!

[AlwaysSAI]

Love-a-lot!!!! <333

[AlphaXi_Husky]

Wow, those are some pretty differing experiences!

And yes, please don't leave us craving a fix all weekend!

[tld221]

BOOOO you leaving us to dry!

Im excited, and still rooting for Funshine bear.

[Leslie Anne]

Originally Posted by spirited*pnm

My outfit for this day: chocolate brown tailored slacks (front crease haha), a slate/faded blue-grey ribbed turtleneck, and brown suede and brown-darkgrey-with-flecks-of-rusty-brown-orange tweed mary jane heels with a wing tip style boundary between the suede and the tweed-like material! LOVE THEM!

Great outfit!!

I'm loving this recruitment story. I can't wait to hear how Bedtime Bear was the second time around.

[spirited*pnm]

I would NEVER leave you dry! This is a BIG juicy update to keep everyone sated for the weekend (I may have time to update, but I might be way busy/not sure about computer access). I bet no one's even awake, but then it will be like Christmas morning tomorrow!

Round 2, Part 2

The rest of the chapters!

Share Bear
Amy and I ended up at the same party! Not only that, we were seated together! This made things a lot more relaxed. It was the two of us, along with 2 sisters at a time. I liked this set up! The conversations don’t particularly stand out, but I remember mostly enjoying myself! UNTIL…this one sister came over. Who had absolutely no facial expressions. Did not communicate emotion whatsoever. I wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt, maybe she had just gotten botox?!?!?! It wasn’t only me, because I asked Amy later and she thought the same thing! So weird! Not that she was mean (maybe she was nervous), but it was so strange! This was the sister that dropped us off on the house tour (Amy and I got to go together!), and picked us up from it at the end. I didn’t want to let this one sister influence my impression of the house as a whole, but I wished we had ended on a better note! The actual house’s interior structure was pretty cool though.

Secret Bear
Ok I had an INCREDIBLE time here! One of the girls and I hit it off, I felt like we had known each other for years! I wanted her to be my big if I joined this house(a "lil" early to think that, but it was my rush wish!!)! Just an awesome, cool girl. Really with it, on the same wavelength, totally had a great back-and-forth animated, convo… you know the kind where you’re like, “omg! I totally know what you mean! EXACTLY! Blah blah blah,” but it doesn’t come off as ditzy because you two are so in-synch?! Seriously she was like my sorority soulmate. The time FLEW, and I didn’t want to leave (we kind of lingered towards the back of the group being funneled to the door)…however this may have backfired on me…

Bedtime Bear
This house and Secret Bear are the greatest distance apart of any two houses on my campus. Like WAY far. Through much sludge, snow, and ice. We have 15 minutes between parties, and there was this shuttle bus system (ha, this might give away the school, but please don’t say) which was absolutely ineffective. The bus didn’t stop in front of the houses and maintain a continuous loop, but had 4 stops and would do them only in a certain order, once at each stop (so like, what if you got on the bus at one stop and needed to go to a house that the bus just came from? Out of luck. Stupid system.) So I get out of Secret Bear and need to get to the bus stop that’s listed for that house (which is conveniently over 100 yards down the street). I get there. I RUN there. A PX posted there informs me and the other PNMs with me that we missed it by ~30 seconds. ARGH. So this other girl and I set off on the perilous journey ahead of us. Seriously, it was a treacherous trail. And I didn’t want to be cut from rush for being absent/late to a party. Oh dear god. And I really liked the Bedtime Bears too!! This lovely PNM and I call our PXs and tell them to make sure Bedtime Bears know we are on our way. We got there maybe 20+ minutes into the round. I felt awful. Embarassed, apologetic, frustrated, and worried, with my fingers and nose about to fall off, and the rest of myself sweating because we RAN/slid down the slushy hills to get there! I honestly don’t remember much from this house because I was so flustered. This was an unusual feeling for me because it usually takes A LOT to get me upset. I didn’t know how this would affect my chances here, because every sister I talked to was REALLY cool. Cool in conversation, but cool enough to forgive some tardy PNMs? I guess I would find out the next day…
(This part of the story actually really made me sad to write. I know we always say “You’ll end up where you’re meant to!” and I LOVE the girls who ended up being my sisters—def the place for me!--, but I can’t help but think that things that were out of my control made me slip through the cracks or seem like an undesirable PNM at this chapter.)

Funshine Bear
Ok, after the fiasco with the commute from Secret to Bedtime, Funshine Bear totally cheered me up (how apropos)! LOVED every sister I met, my 2 tour guides were so memorable and totally “me.” I vividly remember standing in one of the rooms thinking how I wished I WERE these 2 sisters, who already knew of their secure place in this wonderful house (does anyone sympathize with this feeling)! One of the tour guides was so put-together and polished, she had khaki slacks on with a chartreuse/lime green silk ribbon used as a belt—I thought that was so cool! The other tour guide was so animated and slightly sarcastic and seemed really fun. I remember in this room she said she was the social chair and talked about events, and I just WISHED I could go to these events! I remember tons of shirts with letters laid across the beds and hoping that in a few days I could wear those shirts! I could see myself flinging down my books after class and shooting the breeze with my sisters in one of these cozy and inviting rooms! I think I had a permasmile during the entire tour! I felt so comfortable here, but still felt that I needed to make sure they remembered me. I loved them, but I worried if the feelings were reciprocal (after all, I had tried to primp and recover a bit from the last party, but I still felt like an exhausted mess). Would it be unrequited sorority love?

Wish Bear
Ok, the sister I talked to at this house was like my twin! We seriously looked so much alike! This was an interesting rotation: twin girl stayed with me the throughout the entire round, minus the house tour, and it was the 2nd sister who came over that would rotate. Every time a new sister came over she would comment on how alike we looked! Awesome! I hoped this meant that they could see me meshing well in the chapter!! Again, I remember thinking these girls were big partiers (from a slideshow they showed that had many of their chapter’s flower/mascot covering many hands, hmm.), yet their recruitment chair was so poised, proper, and eloquent! I could definitely see myself hitting it off with her/hanging out. I remember leaving this house with a good feeling, thinking that I could see myself being friends with a good number of sisters in the house!

At the end of this round, I ranked 6 chapters as #1, with
#2 Share
#3 Love-a-Lot
#4 Good Luck (I felt a little bad about trying to cut Kristen's legacy chapter, but we had already decided we didn't care about ending up at the same place or not.)

[baci]

waiting on you now^^

[gee_ess]

What?! She's going out of town? In the middle of a rush story?! I don't think Chuck Norris would do this to us...

[APhi4Ever]

That makes me sad to hear about Bedtime Bear and what happened.

[srmom]

Thank you for this great story!! Have a good trip, but update when you can!!

[tld221]

man, how could you just leave us like this???

but yes, still rooting for Funshine. i hope nothing awful happens around bid time...