Auburn Recruitment Story

AuburnTiger · #1 08-19-2012, 12:10 AM

I have been lurking here for a few months and thought I'd join to post my daughter's recruitment story. It will be a Reader's Digest Condensed Version as she is not incredibly forthcoming with minor details and I was horrible about writing down all she did tell me. However, there are valuable lessons in this story that might be of help to others down the road.

First a little background: No one in our family has ever "gone Greek". Very few have ever even gone to college. She is out of state and only knows one student at Auburn. That young lady is in a sorority at Auburn but was three years ahead of her in school so they don't really know each other. She has close to a 4.0 unweighted GPA, was very active in school, community and church organizations, holding several leadership positions. She has never aspired to be a cheerleader, homecoming queen or pageant participant (not that there's anything wrong with that). It never even occurred to her to participate in recruitment until she went to Camp War Eagle early in the summer. Even then, she was more interested in going to meet people than anything else.

Due to very little time and no experience, I spent the summer on Greek Chat. There I learned that we were woefully unprepared as neither of us had even heard of Lilly Pulitzer.

Still, we ventured on. She was able to secure at least one rec to every sorority through friends, friends of friends and even friends of friends of friends. For a few, we relied on friends of acquaintances. I was not above asking total strangers for advice and suggestions for getting recs. At Walmart, I once saw a license plate of a particular sorority we needed and seriously considered having the owner of the car paged. We shopped for clothes that would work for recruitment and be of use later.

We made the long drive to Auburn and got her moved in and ready. I was a nervous wreck about her recruitment. She was as cool as a cucumber. Her philosophy in recruitment and in pretty much all things is that it works out the way it is supposed to work out and there is no point in worrying. I can assure you this is not a trait she got from me.

AnchorAlumna · #2 08-19-2012, 01:01 AM

What a treat to find an Auburn story!
Carry on!

AUAZD2001 · #3 08-19-2012, 01:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AnchorAlumna

What a treat to find an Auburn story!
Carry on!

Yes. I will be following this post and checking back as much as I can. I can't wait to hear how it went. War Eagle!

AuburnTiger · #4 08-19-2012, 02:22 AM

I tried going to sleep but no luck so I will continue. My daughter went to convocation and heard some amazing advice that stuck with her throughout. A speaker said everything about keeping an open mind, etc. They ended with "Every sorority at Auburn is wonderful. There are 120 young ladies in every sorority. If you honestly think that you cannot make a connection with and become friends with any of the members, the problem is not with the 120 women already in the sorority." I loved that and so did she.

Since this is a condensed story, I will not be describing all 17 chapters. Instead I will focus on the four that became the major players towards the end. On the first day, she attended 12 parties. Although she enjoyed all parties, there were three that stood out at the end of the day, for both great and not so great reasons.

War: This was her favorite of the day. Everyone was super nice and she had great conversations. Life was perfect. I am pretty sure unicorns were pooping rainbows at this party.

Eagle: This one was what she described as the most awkward. It was party number 11 of the day and she felt like she was at an interview instead of participating in a conversation. She would answer the question and then ask the active a question. The active would ignore what she said and move on to the next questions. Still she chalked it up to the active being nervous and possibly new at recruitment. A new active came and it got better. She described them as nice enough.

Aubie: She said these girls were very nice. She met lots of people. Everyone kept mispronouncing her name, even after she corrected them so she started to get annoyed. Still, they were nice enough and seemed interested in her.

On her second day, she visited the remaining sororities.

Tiger: This was her favorite of the day. Again, she met several people. An officer came to meet her. She loved them. The rainbow pooping unicorns were also at this party.

At the end of Day 2, she had to list five alternates. Because there was something she liked about each of the sororities, she struggled with ranking alternates. After a while, she listed the five alternates, including Eagle and Aubie. It seems like silly reasons to list them but she said she was not too worried about it. She said she would not mind going back to any of the 17 and, if she went back to her alternates, it was because she was meant to. That is her calm personality. I, on the other hand, was starting to binge on Diet Cokes and Oreos.

WCsweet<3 · #5 08-19-2012, 02:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AuburnTiger

... I am pretty sure unicorns were pooping rainbows at this party...

The rainbow pooping unicorns were also at this party...

Man I guess the unicorns have been eating a lot of fiber!

DDDMomma · #6 08-19-2012, 09:19 AM

You have to love a rainbow-pooping unicorn!

UGAalum94 · #7 08-19-2012, 10:50 AM

I like this one already.

AuburnTiger · #8 08-19-2012, 11:03 AM

On the first day of Philanthropy parties, I was up before 6 am. That is very strange because I am so not a morning person. At the appointed time, I am holding my breath and hoping her manages to keep War and Tiger. My text alert goes off and I run frantically to my phone to see a text that there is a computer malfunction. Schedules are delayed at least an hour.

During the wait, I remind her that very few people have full schedules and she will probably be cut from some of her favorite groups. I am praying she has at least a few parties to attend and am hoping that, since her favorites are not typical favorites, she will have an easier time of it. She said that she is fine with that and does not want to be in a group that does not want her.

Finally, an hour after she was supposed to get her schedule, she sends me another text. She has 11 parties, including War, Eagle, Aubie and Tiger. I ask her if she is upset that she does not have 12. She quickly texts that only one person in her PiChi group has 12, many have much less and that she is just fine.

War- She still loved this group but it was not quite as fabulously wonderful as she expected them to be.

Tiger - The unicorns made another appearance today. She was just gushing about this group. My daughter told the active about a mission she helped start at church and at least nine people came over to hear about it. She loved them, they seemed to love her. It could not get better.

Day 2 of Philanthropy

Eagle - This party went much better than the expected. The text I got was "I actually enjoyed Eagle this time."

Aubie - Today, everyone suddenly knew how to say her name. They seemed passionate about their philanthropy. She described them as a hodgepodge of different kinds of people that seemed to get a long well. This group was growing on her.

After the last party, she had to list four alternates. War and Tiger were her absolute faves and she really wanted to go back to Aubie and learn more about them. She listed Eagle as her second alternate. Again, there were none that she disliked and made it clear she would be honored if any of them wanted her to attend their skit day parties.

AuburnTiger · #9 08-19-2012, 02:38 PM

The next morning, she says she has her Skit Day schedule and has a break first but has five parties afterwards. She still has War and Tiger as well as Aubie and Eagle. I was so thrilled she was going back to War and Tiger. I had already been on websites looking at War and Tiger items to send her on bid day. We talked about how she would possibly choose between War and Tiger if she were invited to both for Prefs. She gave me the pros and cons of each sorority and we go through every party. It was a virtual tie. What came out of my mouth next was one of my worst moments and one of my daughter's finest. After she said she had no idea how to decide, I said, "Which one is more popular?" Like I said, one of my worst moments.

She came back with, "I am NOT going to choose a sorority based on how popular they are. Do you really think I would care about the opinion of anyone who likes me or dislikes me just because of the letters I wear?"

Anyway, here is how the parties went...

War: The text I received said: I LOVE WAR. Even their ice is perfect. I can definitely see myself as a part of that group.

Tiger: I loved this party. They are so nice. The girl I has from Philanthropy came over and hugged me. I can see myself here. I still have no idea how to choose.

Aubie: I actually really enjoyed today. The girls are so relaxed. There are all kinds of girls here but they seem to have a strong sisterhood. (She also said more stuff but I was not paying any attention because the battle over War and Tiger had my attention)

Unnamed sorority - I am trying really hard to like them but they are not making it easy. Others seem to like them but I just don't. I am not sure I would accept a bid from them and do not want to take a spot from someone who really loves them. (This was where I started to panic.)

Eagle: The girls are super nice. They showed me the bid day bag we get. It has some high end items. I am not sure we can afford to keep up in this one. (We are not old money. We are not even new money. We are barely have enough money)

She listed Eagle as her first alternate and the unnamed one as her second. I wanted to spend an hour on the phone dissecting every conversation she had but she told me I "need to take a chill pill. It will work out the way it is supposed to work out."

TriDeltaSallie · #10 08-19-2012, 02:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AuburnTiger

At Walmart, I once saw a license plate of a particular sorority we needed and seriously considered having the owner of the car paged.

Literally laughed out loud at this.

I'm enjoying your story. My initial guess was that she ends up at Eagle.

honorgal · #11 08-19-2012, 03:09 PM

"even their ice is perfect". LOL!

pinapple · #12 08-19-2012, 03:18 PM

Love this story too...

AuburnTiger · #13 08-19-2012, 03:33 PM

The next morning she texts me a picture of her schedule. She has War, Aubie and Eagle. She was cut by Tiger. I am torn between upset for her and angry. How could Tiger have cut my daughter. Don't they know what they are missing out on? I want to drive down there just to give her a hug. Instead I send a text saying "It's okay. You like all three of those. It will be fine." I think I was trying to convince myself more than her. I asked her if it was okay. In her usual laid back fashion, she replied, "I'm a little relieved. I was worried about choosing between War and Tiger. Now I don't have to."

She has been a rock throughout all of this and never let any cut get to her. I don't know why I thought she would get upset now. She already decided how to rank them. It would be War, then Aubie, then Eagle. She said she would love to be a member of any of the three so I went ahead and placed my bid day order. It did not matter which sorority I ordered from because they said they would fill from the bid list. I ordered War stuff. I was so excited. A girl she had become good friends with was only Preffing War so I just knew they would soon be sisters. It was turning out perfectly...until she went to the parties.

AUBoosMom · #14 08-19-2012, 03:35 PM

Enjoying this story very much. Your daughter sounds great.

And just want to echo what many others have said -- all the sororities at Auburn are fantastic.

I live a long way from Alabama so was only able to visit my daughter twice last year, but both times was just amazed at how sweet, pretty, and kind girls from all the sororities were.

One of my visits was for Greek Sing (my daughter was on her sorority's team) so I got to see all of the groups in action. They are all amazing.

TNAuburnMom · #15 08-19-2012, 03:48 PM

Yay! An Auburn story!