my very long rush experience

[alexandrapaige]

no longer feel comfortable

[SigKapSweetie]

You've got me hooked! And the best part is that I already know there's going to be a happy ending - it doesn't get better than that!

Don't keep us in suspense too long!

[CuriousWildcat]

I can't wait to hear more!

[Denise_DPhiE]

Tell me more!

[FSUZeta]

you should think about being a writer. this is very interesting!

[Lily1909]

It's great to hear your honest impressions of the chapters. Looking forward to your next installment!

[alexandrapaige]

Originally Posted by FSUZeta

you should think about being a writer. this is very interesting!

thank you! that's so nice of you to say

i'm so happy everyone is finding my story so interesting... it was very interesting to live, so i'm happy it's translating well on paper... screen...whatever.

i'm going to try to post the next part tonight if i get a chance to finish typing it up

[alexandrapaige]

Originally Posted by ariesrising

Were all the sororities on your campus recruiting?

all the npc ones were. apparently we had some other sororities, but like i said, i knew nothing about greek life until i walked into that first room, so i'm not sure if our others are locals, nphc, or something else entirely. the school's website also doesn't mention others.

[PrettyBoy]

Originally Posted by alexandrapaige

Hi!

I was inducted as a new member into my sorority almost a month ago, but my whole rush experience (two semesters worth!) was so important to me that I would love to share it with all of you. I wish that I had found GreekChat early enough to give a blow-by-blow, but unfortunately I didn’t so I hope that it’s okay to give it all at once. It’s long, so grab some popcorn J

The first time I went through rush was when I was a second semester freshman. My previous university had a very strong performance arts program, but the rest of the college left much to be desired. I entered the school with the intention of majoring in musical theater, however I soon realized that I hated being in a conservatory and transferred into the main school as a business major. I know… who does that.

Anyway, after leaving the conservatory, I knew the school was not the right place for me. I tried pretending to be happy by going out nearly every night. I figured that if I had a strong social life and many friends to leave me facebook messages, I would end up loving the school. The fact that I was able to maintain a 3.75 GPA with all the partying I was doing cemented the fact that this school was an awful match for me.

February rolls around and formal recruitment begins. At this point I knew that I was going to transfer and had already started receiving acceptances to other schools, but all of my friends were rushing and I didn’t want to be left out. Former College was a very small school in New England and Greek Life seemed to dominate with the 6000 student population. I didn’t know much of anything about Greek Life at all… my father had been in a fraternity, but he never talked about it very much. Despite this, I was very excited to rush even though I had no idea what to expect.

My university had seven sororities, which I’m going to code, even though I don’t go there anymore because I would like to be completely honest about my experience. Because I’m completely obsessed with the show Entourage, I’m going to use the names of characters:

Eric
Lloyd
Johnny Drama
Turtle
Mandy Moore
Vince
Saigon


Keep in mind, this was over half a year ago, so my memory of details are a little vague.

The first round was split between two nights. We went to four parties the first night and then three the second. None of the sororities had houses so we did all of rush in our student union.

My very first taste of Greek Life was with Johnny Drama. In I walked, an extremely overwhelmed freshman who had absolutely no idea what was going on. As it turned out, I couldn’t have gone to a better party first. The girl who was rushing me was so incredibly knowledgeable about everything Greek and I left that party feeling comfortable and excited. That party was when I really started to care about going Greek and fell in love with the system. I also was able to talk to Johnny Drama’s president who had remembered me from Meet the Greeks, which made me feel very special since I had met her for a total of two minutes. This group of girls were very chill and they also had the highest GPA on campus. I left the party feeling pumped and ready for the rest of the night.

I went to Mandy Moore next, if I remember correctly, and met a group of girls who I had a very deep conversation about make-up with. I really don’t remember much else about this group, but they had some very good make-up tips which I still use to this day. Productive, even if it wasn’t the place for me.

Lloyd had the worst reputation on campus, and I’m a little ashamed to admit I played right into that. I met some nice people, but I didn’t give them a chance because of all the things I’d heard about them. All I could think about at that party was how embarrassed I’d be if people associated me with their impression of Lloyd. I may have missed out on a fabulous group of girls this way L

Eric has my faaaavorite colors ever. I remember telling them that and even showing them my wallet which boasted their colors. I had some outside friends in Eric; one in one of my classes and one taught a gym class I was in. I had a fantastic time at that party! I even met a girl who had gone to my high school, which was pretty cool. She had been a senior when I was a freshman and was very interested in all the drama I updated her on.

The evening ended on a high note and I didn’t fall asleep all night I was so excited!

The next night, my first visit was to Vince. These girls were so incredibly close, it was really touching to watch. One girl told a story about how she had been planning on transferring after her freshman year and had even applied to schools (just like I had) but her sorority completely changed her mind. She graduated from my former college last spring. I don’t remember much else about that party, just that they all seemed to really love each other.

Then came Turtle. I felt awkward. I felt boring. I planned on chopping them as soon as I could.

For some reason, Saigon runs together with Vince in my mind. They had a reputation for being the druggie sorority on campus :-\. I remember talking to a few girls about fake IDs. It felt comfortable at the time, but I can’t imagine talking to a PNM about that.

We were able to go to a maximum of five the next day. Everyone except Mandy Moore had invited me back. Rumors had been circulating that Mandy had cut everyone who wasn’t a blond which had seemed ridiculous until I saw the sea of blond heads heading towards Mandy’s party that night. Strange, but… okay. Whatever. I had been planning on dropping Turtle, but I dropped Lloyd instead for all the wrong reasons.

Turtle happened to be first for me that night. I wasn’t expecting anything going in, but I ended up absolutely loving it there. I was laughing and joking around with the girls and had a fantastic time. The time went so quickly I could barely believe it when they flicked the lights saying it was time to go.

None of the others that night measured up to Turtle. I liked Johnny Drama a lot and Eric was okay. Saigon and Vince were polite and nice on a very superficial level… All in all, it was a fun night and I now had a frontrunner.

I was so excited to find out that Turtle invited me back that night! In fact, I didn’t even care that Saigon and Vince had dropped me, I was going to Turtle!!! Oh yeah, and Johnny Drama and Eric.

I forgot to put my nametag on for my first party, which was Johnny Drama, yet the girls all still remembered my name without me telling them! Likewise, I now knew a good chunk of them and felt like I was with friends.

I also loved Turtle, although looking back, I may have appeared to be trying too hard since I wanted to get in there so badly.

Eric on the other hand… it was probably the worst night in that room for me. I was bored and wasn’t really into any of the girls and I felt like this showed, as much as I tried not to be a brat.

Now, here’s where it gets glitchy. The power had gone out all over campus the night before and messed something up in the computers. The next day, they were screwing up all over the place. For instance, one computer was showing that every single that went on it did not get any invites. After around 20 girls, they realized this was probably not right and had us call our scorned friends to tell them to come back. My friend was one of these girls. She was crying hysterically when she left and seemed so relieved when I called her to let her know of the glitch. As it turned out, she really did not have any invites and left devastated for the second time that day

It seemed everyone I talked to was surprised about their invites. One friend only was invited back to Lloyd even though she had dropped them the first day. I was only invited back to Eric, which really surprised me since I had felt the least comfortable there the night before. I accepted to go to their pref, but I was still extremely upset about not getting asked back to two chapters that I adored.

Eric’s pref was nice. The ceremony was sweet and I realized that my impression of them the night before had been fluky. They were a wonderful sisterhood that I would have been proud to be a part of. All around me, people were emotional- PNMs and sisters alike were sobbing, but I felt nothing of the sort. At the end we made a wish and the girl who preffed me whispered in my ear “I hope your wish was the same as mine.” I heard later that every girl, no matter what pref she went to, heard the same line.

The call was supposed to come between 2:30 and 3:30. We were meeting for bid day at 4:00. After two obnoxious phone calls from my friend who thought he was being funny by giving me a heart attack, 3:30 rolls around. At 3:31, my phone rings. I did not receive a bid.

To this day, I feel like something got messed up. One of the Eric girls I knew told me she was so upset when I didn’t show up for bid day, as though she were expecting me.

Several other PNMs were not placed and none of the sororities had reached quota. Because of this, they “formalized” the COB process. I don’t know anything after this as I chose not to COB. I had been accepted to several wonderful schools and if I had pledged Eric, I wouldn’t have been with the same girls at my next school.

As it worked out, computer glitch or not, not being placed was the absolute best thing to ever happen to me. And you’ll see why in part II !

Wait! Don't start yet, my popcorn refill is still in the mic.

[twinkle555]

congrats on TRISIGMA!!!!!!!!

[ShyViolet]

YAY!!! Congrats on joining our wonderful Sisterhood! I'm really pleased you felt such a bond and am sure you'll have a fantastic experience.

Cheers,
ShyViolet

ps - Come over to the TriSigma board if you haven't already. The more the merrier!

[LouisaMay]

Congratulations!!!! Your story was really fun to share

[knitsnpurls]

CONGRATULATIONS! I just joined Sigma this fall and I hope you end up loving it as much as I have so far. It's so hard to belive that just 2 months ago I was where you are writing my rush thread, and next week, I'm being initiated.

[KSUViolet06]

Yay! alexadria, what chapter are you from?

[BadSquirrelBeta]

Originally Posted by knitsnpurls

CONGRATULATIONS! I just joined Sigma this fall and I hope you end up loving it as much as I have so far. It's so hard to belive that just 2 months ago I was where you are writing my rush thread, and next week, I'm being initiated.

Wow! You too...all the PNMs that came to us soon will be fully Initiated members!! Congrats all!!