The Long Sorority Recruitment Road

[Cookiez17]

I’ve been wanting to submit my recruitment story for a long while. So here I am, finally submitting it.

So I went through recruitment 3 times at my previous university. The first time, I did not think it was necessary to dress up and went in what I wore to class that day. Yeah I know. My brothers were in fraternities but their recruitment and sorority recruitment are 2 different ball games. That and I had no idea how anything (“cutting” chapters, quotas, etc.) All I knew is that I was bummed to not make it. The second time was the fall of my sophomore year. My roommate, who was in a sorority, encouraged my roommates and I to go through recruitment. I was getting over a cold that week and ended up having a coughing fit during a video talking about the philanthropy of one of the sororities. That and following where my roommates went ended in disaster. Then a new, multicultural sorority came to campus and I was an interest and going to be part of the revival pledge class. I didn’t make the cut, but I felt lucky since I heard they hazed the girls badly, even if they did eventually become sisters. So that was the fall of my junior year. That spring, I decided to give rush 1 more shot.

I also have to bring up that this school consists mainly of local organizations with 1 national sorority on campus, and recruitment here worked very different from other schools (more details on that later). But I will still treat this like any other recruitment story.

So we have 5 sororities, so let’s get this show on the road! I love Chinese food so we’ll make this chinese themed.

Our 5 sororities are:

Hot Pot
Dan Dan Noodles
Pork Buns
Peking Duck
Shrimp Dumplings

So the first night of recruitment was just you talking to the e boards of each sorority so we’ll skip that. We’ll go right to night 2.


My schedule looked like

Dan Dan Noodles
Hot Pot
Peking Duck
Shrimp Dumplings
Pork Buns


Dan Dan Noodles

We enter the room and the sisters had set the desks up in clusters as they greet us. Originally, they had done an ice breaker game where they said “if you’ve never been to X find a sister who had” but we ended up sitting with just one group of them. They asked general question about majors, etc. but I felt like they were talking amongst themselves rather than the PNMs. It gave off an awkward vibe

Hot Pot

The room was movie themes and the sisters were dressed in matching shirts and black skirts. Similar to the last room, we went to different clusters to talk to sisters, but these ones seemed more engaged. However, I felt like any answer I had to an ice breaker question fell flat. Like they asked who inspired me in my life and I was honest; my two best friends. Everyone else said their mom and some had a “you what?” expression when I said this. I didn’t let this differ me as I kept my smile on and the convos moving

Peking Duck

This was the sorority my old roommate was in. I really felt a good vibe in this room. When I did talk to the girls, they were super nice and I even spoke about how I could beat my brother and video games and would give pointers! There were also a lot of baked goods in the room, which helped me get my energy back.

Shrimp Dumplings

Around the tent talk this sorority seemed to have a bad rep. Rather than sitting in tables, the sisters made a circle in the center, but I felt like this was a neat way of being able to meet all of the sisters. I asked questions such as living in the house with sisters and spoke a bit how I had lost my dog the previous summer and was hopefully planning to get a new one.


Pork Buns

Pork Buns was the big house on campus, as they were the only NPC sorority on campus. They also had the most sisters, which could intimidate some. They basically gave us 5 minutes within a cluster of sisters, and the convo topics were pretty fun rather than the generic “name, year, major” questions. This made it more interesting, and I did recommend a sister my favorite album.

So after that long night, it was time for cuts. Yeah there was no ranking in this school, just cuts, meaning you wouldn’t visit that sorority again. So I decided cut Hot Pot based on the conversations I had.

[Cookiez17]

Night 3

I was lucky I didn’t have much work due this week, as recruitment and school can get hectic. So I put on a cute Gap sweater (it was Feburary), nice jeans, boots, and went on my merry way. The Rho Gamma gave me my schedule:

Dan Dan Noodles
Shrimp Dumplings
Pork Buns
Peking Duck


I was excited and hoped to make a good impression.

Dan Dan Noodles

So today we were making a craft. I forgot exactly what it was, but it involved coloring as I recalled. Once again, while the girls were nice they seemed to be more concerned with talking amongst themselves rather than to the PNMs. It came off rather awkward, though I did find out one of the girls liked Kpop, which I asked about since I wasn’t familiar with it. It was cool hearing about it


Shrimp Dumplings

The room was disco themes and we played a game of “human bingo.” Basically, you had a bingo card and you had to fill out spaces for something like “has broken their arm before” or “is a biology major.” I found this really fun and the sisters engaging. I got into a conversation with one about how I had never managed to break a bone in my body, despite doing cheerleading prior to college. I did tell her about how I had sprained my ankle slipping on the wet floor in the cafeteria, which she laughed. Overall, I felt good about the conversations in this room.

Pork Buns

So we were doing a craft in Pork Buns, and I felt a lot more comfortable than in the round robin they had done the day before. I saw a girl who I had attended high school and cheered with and she helped introduce me to some of her sisters. She had told me she had transferred from another school and was happy to find her home. We spoke about their philanthropy (can’t reveal it here since everyone would know who it is!) and it stuck out to me, which was nice.

Peking Duck

This round certain sisters were showing crafts or presents their bigs or littles had given them, ranging from paddles to letter shirts. They then sat to mingle. I was given a lot of sweets, and it was hard to talk with your mouth being full! I did ask what big-little reveals were and a lot of the girls were excited to talk about it and say “oh my big is over there, she’s awesome!” or comments to that effect.



So with that in tow, I decided to eliminate Dan Dan Noodles from my card. I wanted to give them another chance for pref but not really talking to them didn’t allow me to get to know the sisters too well.

[chi-o_cat]

Okay, I admit I checked out some of your other posts, so I think I know how your story turns out, but I hope you'll come back and finish telling it.

[Cookiez17]

Originally Posted by chi-o_cat

Okay, I admit I checked out some of your other posts, so I think I know how your story turns out, but I hope you'll come back and finish telling it.

Yeah totally. I’ll be back later to continue

[thetalady]

I am so totally confused trying to follow the stories that you have posted. Trying to keep up!! Did you not join Lambda Theta Alpha after all?

[Cookiez17]

Originally Posted by thetalady

I am so totally confused trying to follow the stories that you have posted. Trying to keep up!! Did you not join Lambda Theta Alpha after all?

Yeah. For one as I got to know the organization I didn’t see myself as a imitated sister. Plus around that time my mom was dealing with health issues and I was going back and forth from college to home (I was close enough that I could go home.)

I’m super excited to continue my story I have it sitting on my laptop but i’m out right now!

[Cookiez17]

Night 4

So we come to pref night. My card looked like.

Peking Duck
Shrimp Dumplings
Pork Buns

Peking Duck

We come to the room and they’re all singing a pop song as we file in. The president of the sorority, who was extremely nice throughout the week, gave a talk about her time as the president and how the sorority had helped her get out of her shell. They then turned the cannon on us (in a good why) and ask why you had put them down for pref. I felt like my answer was too wordy, but I essentially said I felt comfortable with all the sisters I spoke to. We did mingle a bit, but it was more about speeches tonight


Shrimp Dumplings

The room was dimly lit and sisters came in with speeches about what their time in the sorority meant to them. It got emotional at times, but I managed not to cry as they read their speeches. I did see the bond the sisters had with one another, which was great as I had a pretty bad impression of them before coming into recruitment. There was not much interacting tonight either, but I did see a sister and said I liked her speech.


Pork Buns

The sisters were all holding light up candles and handed us an object as we came in. Sisters (mainly seniors) spoke about their time in the sorority as a sister presented them. They then sang a song, and we briefly got to mingle before recruitment being officially over.


When we got back to the main room where they had us, they told us that we would get an email in the morning saying whether or not you got a bid and some information about the new member process. With that I went to bed.

[sigmagirl2000]

Looking forward to the ending.

[Cookiez17]

Sadly, with how well I thought recruitment went, I did not receive a bid. I was upset and not thinking logically, but after lurking Greek Chat I learned:
1. Juniors being recruited is rare, especially since I was coming in with freshmen who would have 3 years of membership as an undergrad
2. If a sorority cuts you once or twice, they usually won't bid on you.

There were also a few things I noticed. For one, my school’s quota was extremely small, and with there being no cuts after any rounds, all the girls naturally gravitated towards the more popular houses, not only leaving the bigger houses with an overabundance of girls, which meant harsher cuts for bid day. The less popular houses would also stay rather small, as I remember one house only getting 2 new members.

But my adventure isn’t over yet…..

[thetalady]

Originally Posted by Cookiez17

There were also a few things I noticed. For one, my school’s quota was extremely small, and with there being no cuts after any rounds, all the girls naturally gravitated towards the more popular houses, not only leaving the bigger houses with an overabundance of girls, which meant harsher cuts for bid day. The less popular houses would also stay rather small, as I remember one house only getting 2 new members.

But my adventure isn’t over yet…..

THIS!!! This is exactly why RFM was put in place for NPC rush. I know that your university is almost entirely locals, so NPC rules and processes do not apply. This does not sound like a healthy sorority environment. Chapters will close and lovely girls will go without a Greek life experience. Very sad.

[Cookiez17]

Originally Posted by thetalady

THIS!!! This is exactly why RFM was put in place for NPC rush. I know that your university is almost entirely locals, so NPC rules and processes do not apply. This does not sound like a healthy sorority environment. Chapters will close and lovely girls will go without a Greek life experience. Very sad.

Yeah, there was a new greek advisor, so who knows if there will be an expansion or mergers in the next few years. I shall continue my story.





So in recruitment going wrong for me, I realized something deeper. I didn’t like my current school. While I’m not going to go through the reasons here, the failed recruitment was the straw that broke the camel’s back. I ended up transferring. The rest of the semester, I focused on my school work and applications. I ended up finding a school I loved (great program in my major, close to a major city, and close enough to home that I could go during a long weekend.) When I go there, I felt comfortable on campus. The first thing I did was go to the involvement fair. I was not thinking about sororities at the time due to my experience with recruitment and such. I did pass the sorority tables and one mentioned they were doing informal recruitment this semester.

I often remember people saying “oh you’ll know where you belong.” and my god I felt that even just meeting them at this super causal event. The girls were extremely friendly and their philanthropy was something I had experience with. So we’re gonna introduce a new Chinese Dish to our feast and talk about informal recruitment


Mapo Tofu

[Sen's Revenge]

[Cookiez17]

Event 1

The first Mapo Tofu recruitment event was cupcake decorating. When I walked in a bit late after not finding the building (showing how new I was), one of the sisters greeted me and lead me to where the cupcakes were. Each table had its own decorations (Sprinkles, chocolate chips ,etc.)I grabbed a cupcake and met some Mapo Tofu sisters. They seemed so engaged and I found a lot in common with them. I mentioned how I had transferred and we discussed all sorts of stuff, from how plain black coffee is underrated to ranking Disney animated films. It was also nice to meet other upperclassmen who had either been there or former transfers who had a great experience in greek life. When the event ended, I said good bye to the Mapo Tofus and left feeling really good.

[sigmagirl2000]

Yay for a positive event! So now this is second semester junior year?

[Cookiez17]

I also forgot to mention that on my new campus all the organizations are national so RFM and such are all in place.

Event 2

The second event was Mapo Tofu's philanthropy. Not gonna reveal the charity, but it was a craft. I spoke to one sister extensively about how the philanthropy connected with me and some of the volunteering I had done the year prior, and she mentioned how she had done similar. I wandered to another table and met a girl who was also in the same major as me. We hit it off with our majors and she told me how good the department was. Sadly, I had an orchestra rehearsal that night and was not able to stay the whole time. I said good bye and went on my way.