My recruitment story

[Blueink]

Alright, so I've been on here for awhile lurking around. Since now my recruitment is over I've decided to go ahead and post my story! If you feel the need to guess what school I go to keep it to yourself or PM me. I haven't decided if I feel comfortable releasing that information yet.

The code names are going to be bath and body works scents (since I work there) & it's something fairly neutral

Alright so let’s get started!

It's August of 2006, I'm arriving at my school anxious and nervous about the upcoming year! One thing I'm dead set on is going through formal recruitment. I can remember going to the sorority fair, which is where my story will begin. I walk into the sorority fair and each sorority has a table, and girls standing around each table. I had talked a few friends into coming with me and we walked together table to table. Here is what I can (vaguely) remember from the fair:

Warm Vanilla Sugar- This table just has a simple poster with some pictures and only a few girls standing around. They all seemed fairly friendly. Compared to the other tables the turnout of this table and the presentation were lacking.

Mango Mandarin- Lots of girls at this table, not only do they have a poster board, they have trophies, albums, shirts and other stuff decorating the table. The girls seemed really friendly & down to earth! I really liked them!

Moonlit Path- There were a few girls at this table, I don't remember paying too much attention to it, and it wasn't anything spectacular. The girls seemed normal, I did notice that there was a smaller turnout at this table like at warm vanilla sugar.

Coconut Lime Verbena- I really liked this tables decorations, the philanthropy sounded like something I could really get into, I spent a fair amount of time at this table. At one time I was a little put off and left with a semi- bad impression because one of the girls I talked to seemed to be very superficial & came off a little air headed.

Exotic Coconut- This is one of the houses I had done some research on before getting to school. They had a nice display, a good turnout, and pretty nice girls. I feel like I kind of got the brush off at this table. Like I wasn't good enough. I left a little disappointed.

Sensual Amber- The other house I had looked at before coming to school. Another awesome display, great turnouts of girls, the girls were friendly and we talked for quite some time. I left liking them.

So that was the fair. Official recruitment hadn't begun- but I had an idea of what the houses were about & I was really excited for recruitment to begin!!

[AlethiaSi]

coconut lime verbena is my fave
good luck!

[ktbug10474]

aww you don't have my 2 favorite scents on here (warm candy apple or pearberry*which i know is retired*)

anyways, i'm pulling for sensual amber

[AnatraAmore]

Go Moonlit Path!!!

[violetpretty]

I used to work at BBW when I was in college! This was when Express was still part of the Limited Brands (they sold Express like a year ago), so the cross-brand discount was extra sweet. I always liked working there around the holidays and Mothers' Day, when it's really busy. Working there, you develop a lot of favorites. I'm going to cheer for Mango Mandarin!

[Blueink]

So as recruitment begins we have a meeting with the recruitment counselors. Then it's philanthropy round. The way this is done, at least where I go every sorority has a room or area in one of the buildings on campus, and then we went room to room and were required to stop in every room. I can't remember the exact order I went to the rooms in but I can remember fairly well how my time was spent in all the rooms.

Warm Vanilla Sugar- The girls in here seemed nice; I had heard some negative things about this house around campus. I remember the girl who was showing me around really seemed excited, maybe a little too excited; it came off to me like they were trying really hard. I spent a fair amount of time in this room, because the girl who was talking to me wouldn't let me go. Each time I would try and make a statement to indicate I was leaving she would have something else to tell me, or someone new to introduce me to. I didn't want to be rude, but I didn’t completely love my time in this room & it got worse as I was prohibited from leaving. I think I finally said that I really had to go and left.

Moonlit Path- At this house I was seated with a girl whom I liked very much, she was very pretty and we had a lot in common, however looking around I could see that she was the exception. I remember noticing that there were very few girls in this house, one moonlit path girl had two or three PNM's to talk to. I was just talking with the one girl. I remember we were doing a craft and my paint pen thing spit out a lot of ink, and I tried to hide it, luckily moonlit path didn't notice, I was embarrassed by that! I didn't spend much time here, and I wasn't so sure I liked these girls as much as some of the others.

Coconut Lime Verbena- Going into this room I had mixed feelings. The girls were pretty and very nice, but I had been a little turned of by the one girl who I talked to at the fair. I wanted to give them a fair chance though because in a house of say 100 girls, there is always that 1 girl who maybe you don't click with. The girls I talked to (and there were several) seemed to have a lot in common with me. I got the impression that these girls were very athletic. I had a fun time here but didn't spend a long time. Overall I left not completely sold on this house, but not disappointed either.

Mango Mandarin- I spent a lot of time in this room. I loved the girls I was introduced to, I felt really comfortable with each girl, I enjoyed every minute here. It seemed like I fit in, I didn't have to "be someone else". I'll never forget the girl who I spent most of my time talking to reminded me so much of my cousin. Maybe that’s one of the reasons I liked this house so much. I enjoyed talking with them and left really really liking this sorority!

Sensual Amber- I had a nice time here, they were till one of my top choices, but I don't remember anything really standing out. I left liking them just as much as I did when I came in.

Exotic Coconut- This was the final room I visited on this day, I had a good time, and we played this game that was pretty easy. The girl showing me around made me feel comfortable. We had a lot in common, I was enjoying my time here, I remember thinking I wouldn't mind being an Exotic Coconut. Since this was the last house I wanted to have some more time with them, so I came back the second day of philanthropy round to take a little more time to get an idea of the girls. My second visit was not as nice as the first. I remember wishing the girl who had been showing me around the first time was showing me around again. I got the vibe like this second girl didn't think I was exotic coconut material. I left disappointed!

[FSUZeta]

when will you find out about your invitations? no matter when, i hope that you are invited back to your favorite ones.

[Blueink]

Okay, so it's the first day of house tours. I will be visiting two houses Exotic Coconut, Warm Vanilla Sugar & Sensual Amber. We were told house tours would be from 12-3 or whenever the times were, my roommate and I assumed that the house tours were like the philanthropy round where you came and went when you pleased. So we decided to take some extra time getting ready. Needless to say, at 12:05 when we were both still getting ready we got a call from the recruitment counselors & we had to be there 5 minutes ago... What a great way to start the day... not! So needless to say I was flustered & not looking my greatest because I was 1/2 ready.

We get there and we are standing around outside, I guess they were waiting on one more girl. As we boarded the busses I was nervous & excited!

The first house I visited was Exotic Coconut- This house is very pretty from the outside I had high expectations for the inside! It was decorated very nice on the first floor. It was museum-ish; I didn't think I would feel comfortable sitting in the sitting room. I remember the upstairs & bedrooms not being as nice, I remember seeing cracks in the walls that had been covered with paint instead of filled & covered. & I remember seeing paint drips that had dried. I don't know why I noticed these things-- I suppose because my family had just gotten done remodeling our house & I had to help paint. But anyways aside from the physical house the girl that was showing me around was very nice. We sat down to talk and immediately another girl came and they switched. This second girl, honestly I don’t remember much of what she and I talked about, mainly because it was pointless. I remember her asking about my purse, talking about where we were from (towns very near each other), and basically her talking about shopping. (Which I love, but during recruitment when she's supposed to be getting to know me? I don't love it so much then) I remember being mystified by her She had just about the most orange skin I had ever seen, the most platinum blonde hair and the pinkest lipstick I had ever seen. When I looked around, she was the minority; most of the other girls were a more natural skin color, with more natural hair and makeup. I left disappointed, and pretty sure that I wouldn't want to be a member of this sorority. I was okay with it too; I didn't think it was a good match.

Next was Sensual Amber- After my disappointing time at Exotic Coconut I was feeling kind of iffy when I got to Sensual Amber. I fell in love with the house, it was just the right mix of comfortable but cute. The girl showing me around was great, she answered all my questions and we really seemed to hit it off. I was very excited about this house I really liked the girls, we seemed to have a lot in common, the house itself was gorgeous. Sensual Amber I was confident would be high on my list.

The final house I visited for the day was Warm Vanilla Sugar- I was surprised at the house. It looked just like a normal house. Nothing like the previous two I had visited. I wondered how they would have the girl stay in this house. The girl that gave me the tour, I will NEVER forget her. She was super sweet, and very enthusiastic. I liked the house it was pretty nice, the one downside was the majority of bedrooms were in the basement, with no windows. I knew that was something my mom wouldn't like. (For some reason she has this thing about basements as bedrooms) The girl took me to her room to talk; I remember we sat on her bed. Surprisingly we had a nice conversation & quite a bit in common. I could tell that she really liked me. I remember thinking she was nice, and when I left I thought that this was a nice house, but just not for me.

So at the close of house day one, I had learned many things. Most importantly that the house rounds were not come and go as you please I was excited for day two because one of my favorite houses was that day!!

[Blueink]

not sure if anyone is even interested-- I just wanted to say I will post an update tomorrow evening, things have been busy & I haven't had time to type out the second round of house visits yet but I am planning on it!

Sorry for the delay!

[AOE2AlphaPhi]

I'm interested!

[twinkle555]

Me too!! I love your descriptions!

[Blueink]

Round two of house visits!
So today I was on time & ready!! Feeling much much better & excited!

First house of the day was Coconut Lime Verbena the house was surprising to me; the interior was much nicer than I thought looking at the exterior. I enjoyed seeing the house and I had a great time talking with the girls after the tour. We were talking about sports, what I had played in HS and I found out these girls were very athletic, involved in intramurals and stuff! My impression of Coconut Lime Verbena changed completely after the house visit. I went from being "iffy" about this house to liking it! I left liking them, but I kept in mind the prior experiences I had had at this house.

Second house of the day was Mango Mandarin I was very excited to see this house, as I really had enjoyed myself with them during the prior rounds. During the tour I loved the house; I noticed the chairs in the kitchen were the same as the chairs from home! I felt comfortable and at ease with the girls I talked to. When we were chatting I had a moment where I felt like I could be here, I remember thinking "this is it!" But I didn't say anything to the girl who I was talking with. At one point a new girl came in and I was introduced to her, she said to me "oh there is another blueink from the same town as you" I was like are you serious? Then I realized they were talking about another girl we'll call her "greenpen (our names are very different)" from my hometown that I had met, but we didn't go to school together. I kind of just shrugged it off and we continued to talk & I was excited & really liked this house. I left hoping they had liked me as much as I liked them.

Last house of the day & of the round Moonlit Path we all waited outside while the girls called us one by one inside. I was met by a girl who obviously knew me, but I didn't recognize. We got to talking and I realized that she was someone I had facebooked when I knew I was going to be attending University. I had facebooked the room I was going to live in and she happened to be living there that year (the year before I started attending) we had briefly talked on facebook and I remembered then that she had said she was a moonlit path. She showed me around the house which from the exterior was a lot like warm vanilla sugar's it just looked like a normal house. I remember there were two big bedrooms in the basement that were for sleeping 4 or 5 girls and thinking that was weird compared to the other houses that had only 2 or 3 to a room. I had a nice time, but it wasn't my favorite.

[Blueink]

Ranking

Ranking was a tough process for me, I decided I didn't feel at home in Warm Vanilla Sugar or in Moonlit Path so I put them at the end. The order didn't matter I was completely ruling them out. The toughest decision for me was to put Coconut Lime Verbena 3rd, or 4th. I ended up putting them third, I was almost positive I wouldn't be going back to Exotic Coconut so why put them 3rd right? I ended up ranking them like:

How I ranked them:
Mango Mandrin
Sensual Amber
Coconut Lime Verbena
Exotic Coconut
Moonlit Path
Warm Vanilla Sugar

[shadowyi]

Yay Blueink! Hope everything's going well.

[ellebud]

I understand your mother's concern about basement bedrooms. Most of the time they do not pass code because they are usually unsafe. (Do they have windows? Is there easy escape access?). Just a question that you might need to ask.

But, good luck and enjoy the rest of your rush!