A Gold Medal Recruitment!

[hockeyfan]

Hi all!

My name is Kate and I recently completed recruitment at a teeny liberal arts college somewhere in the world. I come from a family of sorority women and several of my high school friends are in sororities at larger universities, but none have chapters on my campus. For the sake of anonymity, I will only be naming my own chapter at the end of this story and using code-names for all of them throughout. Because I am a huge hockey fan - as you might have noticed by my username - I’ve decided to code-name each sorority after the last five cities to host winter olympics: Sochi, Vancouver, Turin, Salt Lake, and Nagano.

I wish that I could say I was going into recruitment without bias, and perhaps if I went to a larger school or my school held fall recruitment, that would be the case. But when you are on the same campus literally 24/7 and go to class, club meetings, and parties alongside sorority women, impressions do emerge. I was most excited for Nagano because they are so involved in other campus activities and least excited about Salt Lake because they are the least diverse sorority on campus by far (they stick out in a bad way because they all look exactly the same.) Still, I was determined to give every sorority a chance and I knew I would be happy wherever I ended up.

When the first day of recruitment arrived, I felt… completely unprepared. I am a quiet, introverted person. I also acknowledge that I have a pretty quirky personality. I wondered if I could really get across who I am in just a few short conversations. I had been thinking about recruitment for so long that it didn’t seem real when it finally came around. But then there I was! I'll save my first round descriptions for the next post. I am so excited to share my story with you all!

[hockeyfan]

FIRST ROUND

The chanting began within Vancouver and recruitment was underway! The moment I walked in, I felt a wave of peace. The girls were all SO genuinely happy to see us! The first girl I spoke with totally put me at ease and we had an awesome conversation. In the second conversation we talked about girl power and feminism, which I loved. The last girl I spoke with was really quirky and funny like me. All the girls looked so happy and their tee-shirts were beautiful (I know this doesn’t really matter but hey, I was impressed!). Several girls I know from class approached me just to say hi and complimented me in front of my rusher. I was overwhelmed with happiness! I loved Vancouver so much!!!

My next party was Nagano. I was feeling good because of how well the last party went, but also nervous because Nagano had been my “favorite” going into things and I wanted them to like me! Unfortunately my first couple rushers didn’t seem to click with me… I felt like I was trying super hard but not in a good way. We didn’t talk about anything with substance. Also, this room felt so much louder than the last. I felt awful because I had to kept asking this one girl to repeat herself. My experience at Nagano improved with my last conversation. The rusher was a transfer from a bigger university and she told me how welcoming all her sisters were and how it made the transition to a new school much easier. We really connected and laughed together. I enjoyed Nagano, just not as much as I thought I would.

It was around this time that my energy began to falter. I felt kinda pathetic! I thought about all my friends at Ole Miss, Alabama, South Carolina, Missouri, etc… Here I was feeling tired after 80 minutes of talking and they have to spend hours and hours doing this! I think part of my exhaustion stemmed from that we were standing up throughout the parties… I am not sure if this is a universal thing or not! But my feet really started hurting after the second party. I also felt pretty dizzy during the walk over to Turin. My Rho Chis told us that people have passed out during recruitment before which I thought was silly at the time but now…. Now I understand.

Turin was okay. They are the newest chapter on campus, this is their second or third year, and it was very obvious because their party was poorly run. My rusher started talking to me while chanting was still happening and I could not hear a word the poor girl said. I was also still feeling poor and I probably asked for water 3 or 4 times which was a little embarrassing, but they had these TINY water cups that were only half-full. I cared more about not passing out than about being inconvenient. All the girls here were sweet but the conversations were not memorable and I couldn’t really see myself being a sister of Turin. I didn’t dislike it, it just didn’t stick out.

The fourth chapter I visited was Salt Lake. It started off very poorly. My first rusher was clearly uninterested in everything I said. She would ask a question, not pretend to care about my answer, and then continue asking another unrelated question like she was reading off a script. I was a little offended but tried to give her the benefit of the doubt and assumed she was really tired… but I still wished she would try a little harder because I was trying so hard too! Salt Lake was basically saved by the last girl I spoke to. She was so amazing! She told me about how she studied for the LSATs with her sisters and we geeked out together. We lingered behind as everyone else was filing out. She told me that she loved talking to me and I wished her luck with her last party.

My last chapter of the night was Sochi. This party felt like it lasted forever because I was so darn exhausted. But I pushed through with the help of my rushers, all of whom were amazing. When I heard that these parties would be 40 minutes, I felt like that was way too long for the first round. But I’m actually very grateful because it meant each conversation was actually meaningful. I could be genuine and imperfect. We moved past chit chat. I really enjoyed my conversations at Sochi because they felt like the sort of conversations I would have with real friends.

After all of that, I had to drag myself to a classroom so we could rank the chapters -- we essentially “dropped” one and ranked the other four as one level. If I’d ordered them by preference, I would have said

Vancouver
Sochi
Nagano
Salt Lake
Turin

Instead I dropped Turin and all the others were on the same preference "level."

Afterwards I was really worried that I should have ranked Turin above Salt Lake. But I really wanted to go back to Salt Lake again another day to get a better grip on their chapter “personality”. Tomorrow I could go back to up to four chapters, but I was prepared to not have a full schedule. I was so nervous about where I would go back!!! To be continued…

[FSUZeta]

On pins and needles!

[stef831]

So excited to hear more!!

[OrangeJacket]

I'll root for Vancouver--the only one of these places I've been!

Excited to hear more!

Alpha Phi

[hockeyfan]

Thanks to everyone that has read my story so far!! I am so excited to me sharing my story with you all even though it is shorter than most stories.

ROUND TWO

On the evening of the second round, my Rho Chi gave me my envelope and I opened it up to see:

Turin
Sochi
Nagano

I swear every time I read a recruitment story the PNM expresses confusion and sadness about being dropped from a chapter they “clicked” with. I knew that happens. But it still stung to see Vancouver didn’t want me back when that was the chapter I felt most “at home” in. I didn’t know what I had done wrong. So many girls had come up to me to say hello and compliment me and said they were happy I was rushing… But I wasn’t invited back. I was heartbroken.

I also hadn’t been invited back by Salt Lake which in retrospect wasn’t a surprise considering how awful my first conversation was. I was slightly disappointed that I didn’t have a full schedule but my Rho Chi told us almost no one did. On the other hand, I was extremely excited to be asked back by Sochi and Nagano! This is what makes recruitment so emotionally tough in my opinion…. I have never felt so happy and so sad at the same time. It is the weirdest thing ever.

Everyone around me was feeling the same mixed bag of emotions! This night’s parties lasted 45 minutes and focused on philanthropy.

My first party of the night was Turin. All of the girls looked super gorgeous tonight and I think this sorority’s colors are actually my favorite! I have a very personal connection to their philanthropy and watching their philanthropy video actually made me cry. They also showed a sisterhood video that I absolutely loved. No perfect-looking girls in bikinis, no fake laughing and blowing glitter. Just a ton of women that genuinely love and support one another through thick and thin Even though my conversations at Turin weren’t as good as I wanted them to be -- I still felt like I’m not clicking with them totally -- I realized I could be so happy here.

My second party was Sochi. I felt like I was trying hard to “impress” these girls and I wasn’t sure if that means I like them the best or I wasn’t not totally comfortable there. All the girls were so nice and I enjoyed talking to them. They do community service work for their philanthropy year round instead of just putting on a fundraising events like a couple other sororities at my school, which I love. Their philanthropy video made me cry (again.) Clearly I am a crier. I was able to talk to a Sochi sister I know from class and I felt like we really hit it off. I didn’t want to leave.

Finally I headed over to Nagano. The first night this chapter was underwhelming but I loved tonight! Being there felt a little more natural, not like Sochi where I desperately wanted them to like me. This chapter really prioritizes their philanthropy and it is something very close to my heart. I loved all my conversations this round and felt like I could really “let go” and be myself. One of the senior members of Nagano approached me during a conversation and complimented me on the color of my dress! I didn’t want to leave this house either!

I found myself in a great position by the end of the night because I knew I couldn’t go wrong. All three of the chapters I had left were wonderful and I could see myself belonging there. I ended up putting down Sochi and Nagano down for preference (order didn’t matter) and dropped Turin. I went to bed feeling really great about recruitment! Even though I was sad about Vancouver, I knew I would be happy somewhere else.

Preference round is next! I am so excited to share the ending of my story with you all!

[OleMissTheta]

This is such a great and wonderful story! I can't wait to hear the rest of it. Thanks so for the update. Would be nice to know what school but understand if you don't wish to share that.

[hockeyfan]

Originally Posted by OleMissTheta

This is such a great and wonderful story! I can't wait to hear the rest of it. Thanks so for the update. Would be nice to know what school but understand if you don't wish to share that.

Thank you so much! Unfortunately due to the small size of my pledge class and the amount of potentially-identifying details in my story, I can't share my school

[AZTheta]

^^^ smart move! I'm not a fan of revealing the school, myself. And I'm horrid at guessing. Just enjoying your story.

[stef831]

Originally Posted by hockeyfan

Thank you so much! Unfortunately due to the small size of my pledge class and the amount of potentially-identifying details in my story, I can't share my school

I understand completely and no worries!! Truly enjoying your story. Can't wait till the ending.

[hockeyfan]

Thank you to everyone that read my story over the past few days! I so appreciate it! I know that small school recruitments are not as hectic/exciting as huge ones, but recruitment was a wonderful although stressful experience for me and I hope that PNMs in similar situations can learn something from mine.

NIGHT THREE

Before I knew it, Preference Night had arrived! Recruitment had begun just 48 hours earlier and yet it felt like years… I was physically and emotionally drained like I never have been before. Again, my respect for the sorority women at big schools has increased dramatically since I began this process -- especially for my fellow introverts! Making small talk is so exhausting. By this night I was super happy to be close to the end.

For this round we could be invited to two chapters. I opened up my Preference schedule to see

Nagano

….

And nothing else.

At first, I was really disappointed. I was sad that I wouldn’t get to go to Sochi’s preference ceremony and then decide whether or not I liked Nagano better. It didn’t help that all my friends left in recruitment had Sochi as their top choices and were invited back. However, I understood that it probably wasn’t an issue of Sochi disliking me…. They were just so popular this year, and I knew I didn’t feel as comfortable there as I had in other parties.

For any other PNMs that might read this, I want you to know that not having a full schedule for Pref is not a bad thing. I actually ended up loving going to the Nagano party knowing that it was (most likely) my future home. I walked into that Preference ceremony knowing that Nagano had asked me back more than any other chapter at my school. They really wanted me. And I really wanted them too!

Nagano’s ceremony touched my heart. I felt like it was God’s plan for me to belong to this sisterhood. I looked around the room and saw the love in the eyes of EVERYONE. During one of my two conversations this round, both me and my rusher started to cry as we reflected on the struggle of adjusting to college and how Nagano helped my rusher feel at home in a new environment. I felt overjoyed by the end of the night, when I proudly put down Nagano as my top choice.



BID DAY

I will admit that bid day was anticlimactic for me. I spend all day long waiting for a call, but they it didn't come, so I knew I had to be a Nagano. But it was still special for me to walk over with all my friends after dinner and open up my bid and see that in writing.

I picked the codenames for the sororities before I even began recruitment, but I think it is really fitting that I ended up in Nagano because, as some hockey fans might already know, the Nagano Olympics were the first and only Olympic games in which the American women’s hockey team won the gold medal. This was a gold medal recruitment in the truest sense I am happy to be a sister of Nagano, better known as….




























KAPPA DELTA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!





I feel blessed and honored to be part of such a wonderful organization. Kappa Delta has met all my expectations and then some. Every day I find myself surrounded by strong, intelligent, brave women with high ambitions and huge hearts. My sisters push me to be more confident in myself and my abilities. They are genuine and amazing people. I look forward to all the things I will accomplish as a Kappa Delta woman!

[Just interested]

Welcome to Kappa Delta! As a fifty year member of this great organization, I can tell you it only gets better!!!

[stef831]

Awesome!! I couldn't be more happy and excited for you. I pray you will have the most happy times ever with your new sisters!!

[FSUZeta]

Congratulations to my Farmville Four sister.

[TLLK]

Congratulations on finding your home with Kappa Delta!