TrojanWoman's Retro Recruitment

[TrojanWoman]

Hi everyone . . . I have been lurking on this site for some time now and have really enjoyed reading all of the recruitment stories. In fact, it has reminded me about how much I loved being a part of a sorority in my collegiate days. I think I needed some distance from my undergrad days to really appreciate all of the benefits of being in a sorority. Now that a lot of my sisters are getting married and I am going to wedding after wedding and getting reconnected with old friends, I have started to think about becoming an active alumna.

But first . . . I have noticed a strong Southern presence on the boards (and LOVE reading about the recruitment process and how it differs and is the same) . . . so I was wondering if there would be any interest in hearing a recruitment story from the University of Southern California?

[tinydancer16]

YES PLEASE! And I vote, for suspense's sake, you don't tell us what GLO you're a member of until the end of the thread It'll be the real deal and everybody will get a lovely surprise!

[cuteASAbug]

I say do one only if you make the names of sororities different condom brands.

[alum]

Haha, I thought that's what someone was going to use as the pseudonyms when I saw the title of the thread!

[AlexMack]

Originally Posted by cuteASAbug

I say do one only if you make the names of sororities different condom brands.

I 2nd-10th this notion. You HAVE to do it.

[dgdramadawg]

Originally Posted by cuteASAbug

I say do one only if you make the names of sororities different condom brands.

Yes, please!

Or characters from Trojan Women. But then no one would be able to pronounce them.

[FSUZeta]

hooray-it would be great to see a west coast retro rush thread!

[AnatraAmore]

We love recruitment stories from all over the country! Keep 'em coming!

[TrojanWoman]

I purposely have not disclosed what GLO I am a part of so there will be suspense. First, I want to give you a little background history.

I grew up in the San Fernando Valley (actually a part of Los Angeles) and was the first person in my immediate family to go to college. Needless to say . . . no one in my family had ever been Greek! However, I had been fascinated with Greek life since I was in junior high and always told my mom that I would only go to a school where there were sororities. When I was in high school, I was being recruited to play soccer in college and even went as far as asking all the coaches I interviewed with whether or not they allowed their players to join sororities.

So when it came time to pick a college, I decided on USC for a couple of reasons. I wanted to go somewhere with a lot of tradition, a Division 1 football team, Greek life, and good academics. (Also my boyfriend went there ) I had always wanted to go back east to school but when it came down to it, I was and will always be a So Cal girl.

So at the time (almost ten years ago! ), these were the sororities on campus:

Alpha Chi Omega
Alpha Delta Pi
Alpha Phi
Delta Delta Delta
Delta Gamma
Gamma Phi Beta
Kappa Alpha Theta
Kappa Kappa Gamma
Pi Beta Phi

I know that these names are not what they were originally, but I wanted to be a little more PC. I am a huge football fan and decided to change them to some of my favorite players. So . . . in no particular order

Carson Palmer
John David Booty
Reggie Bush
Mike Williams
Matt Leinart
Troy Polumalu
Frostee Rucker
Steve Smith
Dwayne Jarret

So here I was, a naïve freshman, about to enter rush with no real clue what it was all about. Of course I had received the “what to wear to rush” info, but I soon learned that what they wrote was NOT what the other girls were going to wear. Luckily my mom was nearby so she brought me clothes from home to wear for the first days.

The interesting part about growing up near USC was that a lot of people from my high school also went to USC. 30 people from two years before me, 20 people from the year before me, and 27 of my classmates, all headed to USC. That meant that I actually knew quite a few people already in sororities and quite a few who were rushing with me. On top of it . . . my high school sweetheart was a year older than me and a well known sophomore. So going into rush I did have some idea of where I wanted to end up, and I did have people telling me about “the good houses and the bad houses.” However, I was also determined to be open minded.


Right before rush I made two good friends in my dorm and we decided to try and be in the same house. (how naïve were we?) I will call them Kate and Megan. I will talk about them because we did have effects on each other throughout rush.

Okay enough for now . . . rush starts tomorrow so I have to go get ready!

[susan314]

The names are too funny!

And it will be fun seeing a retro recruitment thread where we don't already know what chapter you're in!

P.S. I don't think its terribly unusual for women to sometimes need a bit of a break shortly after college - especially if you were really involved and started to feel burned out. Whatever sorority you're in, I guarantee you that they will welcome you with open arms if you express interest in becoming an involved alumnae!

[OldAOPi]

I am BURSTING with EXCITEMENT to see which condom fit you best!

[Drolefille]

Originally Posted by OldAOPi

I am BURSTING with EXCITEMENT to see which condom fit you best!

Oh dear.

[TrojanWoman]

A little note about how USC rush was set up. At the time, it was a Fall rush and it happened before classes began. I believe now it is done after classes start.

The first two days were “Conversation Days” where the rushees went to all 9 houses. SC has a “sorority row” so all the houses are on the same street, which made all the walking in the heat not so bad.

At the end of the second day, the rushees would rank all 9 houses in order and the sororities would also rank all the rushees. It was “mutual selection”.

The next morning, the rushees would meet with their rho chis to find out what houses they were going back to. You could be invited back to up to six parties. This day was “House tours/Philanthropy”. Basically a tour of the house and then a small event to get to know about the houses philanthropy.

At the end of this day, we once again met with your rho chis to rank the houses. The next morning we went to pick up our invitations. This time you could go back to 4 houses and the theme was “Slide Show”. This is similar to what others do on “skit day” but the houses show a slide show of all the fun events they do through the year.

Again . . . meet with Rho Chis, rank the houses, and come back in the morning for invitations to Preference. You could pref 2 houses. After the pref parties, we ranked and then the next day we woke up, to receive our bids.

Are you ready for Rush to start yet?

[AOE2AlphaPhi]

I'm so excited to hear your story because USC is one of the few schools where I actually know a lot about the Greek system!

I still have my notebook from recruitment this January. Can I do a thread when you ladies are done?

[blackngoldengrl]

I thought the condom thing was funny, but bring on Reggie Bush! MM MM!