OOS experiences LSU Recruitment

StayGolden · #1 08-19-2023, 09:43 PM

My daughter is currently going through sorority recruitment at Louisiana State at this moment. I think I may be almost as invested in this experience for her and I have been giving updates to my sorority sisters via texts, but I am just so darned excited!
A little background: I went to a smaller division 1 school and was involved in Greek life. To this day, these are still some of my closest friends and so I have always encouraged darling daughter to consider rushing. It probably wasn't until her junior year of high school that she really decided she wanted to rush after seeing so many of her friends and teammates that had gone off to college posting about their sorority experiences.
About my daughter: first off, she is stunning. She is tall, athletic, and smart. She knew she wanted to attend an SEC school as we have about 4 within 3 hours of us. We assumed she would stay in state, as it would be tuition free, but after visiting Auburn, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, and LSU, in state didn't make her top 3. She had been accepted but wanted to visit LSU before making her final decision on school and so LSU was a last minute visit in the spring. Once she set foot on campus, she fell in love. By the end of of the weekend, she was certain LSU was her school.

Fast forward to this past summer as she prepared for rush. In her mind, she just wanted the friendships and all the fun she sees on social media. Having gone through the process, especially from the recruiting side, I knew that LSU was going to be competitive as are all the SEC schools. Of course as wonderful as darling daughter is, she didn't fully comprehend that there are probably at least 1000 girls just like her. Of course, I helped her secure multiple letters of recommendations for every chapter (but Mom, it says they're optional) and nagged her to think about her answers for her prompts for her video etc. The girl waited til nearly the last possible minute to send in her application because of the intimidation of doing that darned video! It was giving me anxiety. But finally she was ready to go. For reference, she knows no one actively attending LSU, has no connections to any actives in any of the sororities and obviously is coming from out of state.

Ever since Covid struck, LSU has started doing the initial ice water round virtually. The pnms had the option to include a video with their rush application (I assured daughter this was not optional if she was looking at more selective houses) and on day one the pnms all gathered in their gamma chi groups and watched the videos the houses had made.

There are 12 houses at LSU so it's only appropriate that I use the months of the year. Here are her first impressions of the videos posted by the chapters:

January--apparently a strong house on campus but the video didn't make a strong impression on her--it blended in with so many others

February--she loved this house and I will admit their video made the girls seem down to Earth and they didn't take themselves too seriously even though they all seemed pretty. She did wish that there was a little more talking done by the sisters as it played as more of a hi-lite reel.

March--her legacy house which is one of the stronger houses on campus, but daughter thought their video was pretty rehearsed (which she admitted she would be a good fit for since she thought her own video came off as rehearsed and she had written a script) but the girls were pretty and so she would keep it in her top 9.

April--she liked this house as well based off their video. They came off as winners, and as daughter is extremely competitive, this was a plus. Added bonus, she loved their house colors and the aesthetic of their instagram.

May--strong house academically which she liked, and the girls were pretty, it had a good reputation on campus but she was not a fan of the colors even though I pointed out that they literally are her high school colors.

June--this chapter's video stuck out to her as she liked that they seemed very involved on campus and they had a lot of pretty girls. She also liked their social media presence.

July--another group that she definitely would rank in her top 9 but nothing dramatically stuck out in their video.

August--their video made them seem the most genuine. The sisters talked a lot but it was not as entertaining as some of the other houses. If she had stayed in state, this was one of the chapters she liked, so there was probably some bias in a positive way for this house.

September--her Aunt was a member of this house. She liked that they had apparently a good sisterhood but their video kinda blended in with the others.

October--their video seemed like a compilation of tik toks. It was super entertaining but she didn't like that the girls didn't really talk to the camera--she had heard it was on the lower side reputation wise and wondered if maybe they were all socially awkward and that's why they didn't talk on the video.

November--She had heard this was a bottom house and pretty sure this tainted her opinion of them. She immediately ranked them in her bottom 3. She admitted the video wasn't bad, but after stalking their instagram page, she said they didn't look like the type of girls she would hang out with.

December--like many of the others, their video kinda blurred in with the rest.

She ranked her top 9 all ones and her bottom three were
December
October
November

Cookiez17 · #2 08-19-2023, 10:23 PM

Good luck cannot wait to read more!!

StayGolden · #3 08-19-2023, 10:37 PM

First round results were supposed to come at 630 am via email. While 9 houses was the max number of parties a girl could attend, I was trying to prepare my daughter for the fact that she might not have a full invite list. I texted her in the morning that if she gets asked back by 5+ she should be happy.
About 7 am I get a frantic phone call: the results were late and she had 9 houses but 3 of her top choices had cut her. And she only had an hour to get ready for her first party. I could hear the negative downward spiral in her voice. Not only had she been cut by April which she had really liked, but also March her legacy house. She didn't really care that January had cut her even though it was apparently a "top" house. But she was not happy about November being on her list.
Honestly I was surprised my house, March, had cut her without ever talking to her. We both knew it was a very competitive house but I reasoned that as a legacy they would at least talk to her in person before cutting her. That one threw us for a loop.
This girl is not used to getting rejected in general so this stung. She took it personal. She wanted to quit.
I gave her the whole speech about a lot of these "top" houses are so selective because they have a lot of in state girls and they have a lot of cuts to make, don't take it personal! I kept telling her it was amazing she got asked back by 9 houses. And to keep an open mind, meet these girls in person and see how she likes them.

Philanthropy Round was spread over 2 days.
Day 1 houses included:
November
June
December
--I thought it was great her first house was the one she cared the least about b/c she could use it as practice conversation. Told her to go in and see if she could meet some girls she could be friends with regardless if she were in their house.
After talking to some of the girls on her floor, she quickly realized how lucky she was to have a full invite list after all. Most of the girls she had met that were also from out of state and none had been asked back by 9 houses. Her attitude quickly improved.

The bulk of her houses were on day 2, so day 1 she had plenty of free time in between parties to call me and keep me updated.

November--they surprised her with how easy the conversation was and the girls she spoke to were actually pretty. She did like that they did a little activity for their philanthropy while they talked. But looking around the room, she said she didn't feel like this was going to be her house. They were still her last choice.

June--"Mom! I love them! They were so easy to talk to and the conversation just flowed, I could totally see myself hanging out with these girls!" Plus they had a little dance party as they were leaving and she loved that. Clearly this house put her mindset back in a positive place.

December--again the conversation flowed easily. Daughter has always been good at keeping the conversation going and is a natural people person. While she felt at ease with the girls she talked to, she said looking around she saw a lot of bigger girls and as superficial as that sounded, it made her concerned about the reputation the house might have on campus.
I tried to tell her about the year we had a pledge class that had a lot of pretty girls and a bunch ended up being total fake b****es so don't just judge on looks.

Day 2 coming....

honeychile · #4 08-19-2023, 11:06 PM

Good Reporting, StayGolden! Best of luck to Daughter, that she gets the best possible bid for her!

sassafrass11 · #5 08-20-2023, 11:07 AM

My niece is a senior and my daughter is a sophomore in different houses.

I might know which house is my daughter's - I can tell you the girls in the houses are just a nervous and exhausted as the PNMs

Also - evidently grade cuts are brutal this year. I already got a tearful call regarding a friend they had to cut for grades.

My daughter and niece are both out-of-state. I didn't know how much this plays into recruitment at LSU until this year.

Good luck!!

FSUZeta · #6 08-20-2023, 03:48 PM

Fingers crossed for your daughter Staygolden.

StayGolden · #7 08-20-2023, 08:09 PM

Day 2 Philanthropy Round
This was a busy day for DD as she had 6 parties to cram into the day and little time for anything else. She was really excited to get the opportunity to meet some more girls in person.
Her party list for the day was in the order
August
February
May
September
July
October

She was really happy that the houses she thought she would really like were in the beginning as she wanted to be on her A game.

August is one that she was a bit biased going in bc she had a few friends in this house back home and it is stronger in our state. Her exact words words: "they are all so nice and I actually really liked them and the girls I talked to were pretty" (clearly looks are important to DD--eyeroll)

February--Mom, this is the one. February is my house. I absolutely love everything about it. Mind you this text came through immediately after she left the party. She loved how supportive they seemed to be of one another and how they didn't seem to take themselves too seriously. She just felt at home.

May--this house apparently favors in state girls. She said it went really well and all the girls were soooo nice and easy going, but everyone she talked to was from Louisiana. This is the house that made her worried about being from out of state. She said while waiting for her party to start, she was the only out of state girl there and most of the girls seemed surprised she had made it past the first cut. (Like they said that to her)

September--not only were the two girls she spoke with from LA they were from the same high school. She said this was the only house were time seemed to drag on. Her text to me read the girls here acted like they had a stick up their butt.

July--the house was older but they made a point to tell her it was getting renovated soon. She said the girls she spoke with were a little awkward but told her she was super easy to talk to. They didn't seem to make much of an impression good or bad.

October--this was originally one of her bottom 3 but philanthropy round changed that. She had great conversations and she actually really liked them.

After all speaking with her 9 houses, February and June were the clear front runners. May was still in her top 3 and October was close behind. She didn't feel strongly about July and August but they rounded out her top 6. She had her top six and her bottom three in order were:
December
September
November

StayGolden · #8 08-20-2023, 09:01 PM

Round 3: Sisterhood
I sent an early morning text because I thought this round might be brutal. I was worried about her getting cut by her favorites, so I tried to hype her up a bit.
This email with her invite list hit a little different. By now, after speaking to various girls, she realized how fortunate she was to have a full invite list back! 6 houses wanted her to return and now she was definitely in a more positive mindset than the last time she had a full party list. Mainly she was just happy to see February and June still on her invite list. She saw that May had cut her but she had prepared herself for that. She was surprised that July hadn't asked her back but she really wasn't bothered as there wasn't anything memorable about them. September also didn't ask her back but the feeling was mutual. She only figured out that the "stick up the butt girls" didn't ask her back because November was still on her party list and she had rated them dead last.

Her Sisterhood round was a FULL day in order:
June
August
February
October
November
December

She was happy to see November and December at the end of the day because she said the day before it was hard to maintain high energy from the first to the last party. (Imagine how the actives feel after having to be on for 12 parties!)

Since the next round was pref and the PNMs go from 6 to 2 houses, I told her it was crucial to let the houses know that she liked them (looking at you February, June, and October) and to start thinking about how she specifically wants to rank the bottom 4 as there was a strong chance that one (or both) might be the ones she has to pref. She said if February wasn't on there she might cry. I also advised her to start paying attention to the girls outside the parties--because some of them could be potentially preffing these houses as well the following day.

June--had a great conversation, quite a few girls "dropped in to say hi or tell her how cute her dress looked" She liked that the girl she was talking to made a point to introduce her to another active that was from her home state and actually lived in a neighboring city from where we used to live (we have been all over the state due to my husband's job). She liked that they seemed to make an effort to make her feel like she would fit in there. They also had another dance party exit and she said the girl she spoke with took a polaroid with her to put on their sister wall.

August--while she originally had some positive bias because of the reputation from home, she definitely realized this was not as strong a house on LSU's campus. While she said the conversation was easy and natural and she wouldn't be upset to be there, it definitely wasn't moving into the top 2.

February--sisterhood only pushed this house further ahead. The conversations were natural, she loved how easy going the girls were. It just felt right. Clearly the frontrunner.

October--every visit with this house made her like them more and more. She said when she walked in, she saw one of the girls she had spoken with during philanthropy and the girl's face lit up. She really liked them. She said they were a strong number 3 and if they ended up in her pref round, she wouldn't be upset and she could see herself being happy in this house. I think she spoke with VP of membership at this house but honestly it could have been a different officer.

November--she felt bad but this was not her house. She met a lot of girls that held offices here and she couldn't remember all of the offices.The girls were nice, but it just wasn't for her. She said if this ended up being her only house she would probably drop and take her chances with COB because she could see herself in just about every other house.

December--this house moved up after sisterhood round and she was feeling better about it. Clearly not a strong enough impression though because she had nothing specific to say other than she spoke with some other VP or President--I can't remember honestly.

Going into her Pref selection, she ranked
February, June as her top choices
then in order
October
December
August
November

She said really December and August both hit about the same but apparently December had a better reputation from what she could tell so she put them higher. (Not sure where she is getting her info other than other PNMs)

This was by far about the most stressful night waiting to see who would invite her back to pref.

Cookiez17 · #9 08-21-2023, 12:44 AM

Cannot wait to see what happens for pref!

chi-o_cat · #10 08-21-2023, 04:08 PM

New recruitment stories have become so few and far between, I'd forgotten how it feels to have to wait for the next installment! I'm rooting for October because I like when a chapter moves up from the back of the pack.

navane · #11 08-22-2023, 07:43 PM

Well...she hasn't come back to update. I hope everything went ok.

TLLK · #12 08-22-2023, 08:08 PM

Didn't she say that bid day was Monday? I'm hoping that her daughter ran home yesterday. Perhaps this is just a delay.

honeychile · #13 08-23-2023, 10:18 AM

Y'all, didn't KillarneyRose's daughter go Greek at LSU?

Cheerio · #14 08-23-2023, 11:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cookiez17

Cannot wait to see what happens for pref!

Quote:

Originally Posted by navane

Well...she hasn't come back to update. I hope everything went ok.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TLLK

Didn't she say that bid day was Monday? I'm hoping that her daughter ran home yesterday. Perhaps this is just a delay.

Perfectly willing to wait for her post...cognizant of a few prior GC stories which remained incomplete.

sassafrass11 · #15 08-23-2023, 02:08 PM

My daughter is a sophomore at LSU. The first day of class was Monday and bid day was Monday night.

1440 young ladies went through recruitment. I believe quota was 105.

KKG welcomed 108 new members
DZ took 106
Phi Mu took 107

Not sure about the other houses. I'm very glad it's over. Geaux Tigers!