A Stranger Things recruitment
 

My baby cousin received a bid today! In honor of one of our favorite Sci Fi shows, I’m going to theme her recruitment experience after the Netflix show Stranger Things. I will be calling her Eleven.

Eleven (El) is about 18 years younger than me. We have a huge family. First cousins range in age from 40 to 10 (El’s littlest sisters). I lived with her and her parents one summer in college while I was doing an internship, so in my mind, she’s still a 2 year old, lol. She is a sophomore at a less competitive campus. She still had recs to three out of nine chapters. There is a new chapter colonizing this fall, so she met with ten chapters in the first round. The colonizing chapter only participated in first round though. Recruitment was broken up over 2 weekends. Our family has become fairly Panhellenic. Eleven is a legacy to Delta Zeta through her mom. I’m a Theta, my sister is a DG, and we have other cousins who are in Chi O, Alpha Phi, and Theta Phi. Our favorite great aunt was an AXO. I was really excited when she announced she was going through Recruitment, because when I tried to talk to her about it last year, she wasn’t interested. Two of her roommates went through Recruitment as well.

Chapters are:
Mike
Dustin
Max
Will
Steve
Lucas
Nancy
Jonathan
Chief Hopper
Joyce

Round 1

Jonathon was up first. El thought they were just ok. She said they felt superficial. El has a unique major, and the member paired with her said they had no one in that chapter with the same major, so that made El feel like she wouldn’t belong. Jonathon had a really nice big house.

Joyce was second. Joyce is the colonizing chapter. El really loved talking to the ladies representing Joyce. She loves the idea of doing something new and having a unique experience that could give her better leadership experience. She also loves their philanthropy.

Steve. El adored Steve! She said the girls were so down to earth. They seemed to really enjoy meeting the PNMs. Steve had a nice physical house and their members seemed pretty diverse.

Max. Max was a really cool group. Energetic, welcoming. El likes their colors. The gal with her felt a little underprepared though and was repeating herself. Max is a newer house on campus and is still establishing their own identity and traditions, whereas all but one of the other chapters are very old and established.

Will. Will is a very well liked and highly desired chapter. El has a rec for Will. Very chill, very mature and classy. Not loud and felt like a real “home.”

Lucas. Lucas was wow. Another highly desired chapter. Beautiful girls, beautiful house. But Lucas did not feel like home. El cannot imagine herself in this chapter at all. She does not think she would feel welcome.

Chief Hopper. El has a rec to Chief Hopper. She liked them ok. They didn’t stick out very much to her. Friendly but forgettable.

Mike. El really enjoyed herself at Mike. El has a rec for Mike. Mike felt very similar to Will. Classy, not over the top and in your face. She could see herself as a Mike but wants to learn more.

Dustin. Dustin is thick with beautiful girls. But they were loud and felt very fake. Not genuine. And the gal who talked to El talked about a lot of their parties, which El is not a partier.

Nancy. Nancy is “ok.” Nice girls, sorta forgettable. But she liked them way more than some others. She was glad to end the overwhelming first round with a chill group. (I hate the modern use of the word “chill.” Lol.)


When it came to ranking at the end of round 1, she listed Jonathon and Dustin as her #2s. Steve, Mike and Max were her favorites, but she is thinking long and hard about Joyce.

Round 2.

Eleven is discouraged. She took some heavy cuts going into Philanthropy round. She was only invited back to Dustin, Jonathon, Steve, Nancy and Mike. She was really sad to lose Max. But she was really happy to see Mike and Steve.

Jonathon. El was really glad she got them back today. She ended up really getting into their philanthropy and what the Jonathons do to support it. El could really see herself involved with activities like that.

Dustin. While they have a great philanthropy that El likes, she absolutely, 100% cannot see herself as a member. Everything felt contrived and disingenuous. The members she talked to felt very snobby.

Steve. Steve has become a favorite. She loves the vibes the Steves give off. She thinks they’re genuinely happy with their philanthropy and each other.

Nancy. El was really happy to get the chance to learn more about Nancy today. She grew to love them! She loves their national philanthropy and the things they do for their local philanthropy as well.

Mike. Mike has jumped to the top of her favorites. She loves the philanthropy. She loves the class the girls exhibit. She is enthralled. What’s even better is one of our cousins is and active Mike at a different campus. She thinks it would be so cool to share that.

They can go back to 5 in third round, so she listed all 5 that she saw. But she’s hoping she doesn’t go back to Dustin. It’s just not happening. Mike, Nancy and Steve are her faves. She’s also still thinking about Joyce. She briefly thinks about dropping and just holding out for Joyce. If her only option is Dustin, this is what she will do.

I am loving this theme and can't wait to hear where El ends up!

El is discouraged again. She is left with 2 houses. She has lost Mike. She thinks at this rate, she won't have a Preference round. She has a great college GPA, but an unusual major. El is very artsy and not a partier. She's not at all "typical" IMO. I told her it only takes one house, and it's clear that there's two houses the still enjoy her. PLUS, the two houses left are not Dustin. She has Nancy and Steve. She said she was really sad to see Mike go, but it helps make her preference list easier to list, she won't be torn. And she's still heavily considering Joyce. I reminded her that Joyce isn't a sure thing, that they will have their own criteria. See things through with Nancy and Steve.

Nancy. She has seen Nancy through new eyes, new perspective. She LOVES them. They are kind, enthusiastic, genuine and feel comfortable. She and her hostess had zero awkward pauses, nonstop chatting, El's major would really be embraced there. Eleven couldn't stop smiling, both on her face and her heart, and she said they were "just perfect." She said she was introduced to so many new faces, and the old ones she saw went out of their way to wave or say hi. She's found a new favorite!

Steve has been a contender since day 1. She really enjoys herself with them, and her feelings there echo those at Nancy. They're a great group of happy women and she feels comfortable around them. But her feelings toward Steve are no longer as intense as what she now feels for Nancy.

This is the first round she hasn't mentioned the possibility of Joyce.

She is emotional this night. She is very worried that she won't receive an invite back from either group for Pref. She's fallen hard for Nancy (they brought their A game she said, lol), and she would be so sad if they released her. She heads home to talk to her roommates.

It only takes one! Can't wait to hear how it went for El!!

On the bright side, no risk of ending up with Dustin! And I love that El sees Joyce as a great group and a legitimate option for sisterhood, whereas many less mature would see a colonizing chapter as a "last resort" or "backup plan." She seems to have a clear head and an optimistic outlook!

El has 7 sorority alumnae in her family, but only had 3 recs??? Did some not write a rec or is there a university that has 10 sororities and only 3 of 7 legacy chapters? (DZ, DG, Theta, Chi O, APhi, TPA & AXO)

I'm not familiar with the rec policy for the cousin legacy chapters, but maybe the Chi O, APhi, and Theta Phi cousins are still actives and unable to write recs? And judging by the use of past-tense, I interpreted El's great aunt as sadly passed away and therefore unable to write a rec. Just a guess though!

Super easy to figure out the campus :p and it only has 3 of the legacy groups.

Yes, only 3 chapters. And she was only Legacy to an org that isn't represented on her campus.

That's because you are in the know about everything, I'm convinced. LOL ;)

Ok. Pref Day. Eleven was still panicked. She knew if she only received one invite, she'd be on the bid list and be happy. But she was worried she wouldn't have any Pref invites. But the time period came and went and her Rho Gammas didn't call her.

She received invitations to both Steve and Nancy!!!!

She is beyond thrilled. She will happily accept a bid to either chapter.

She has really liked Steve from the very beginning. The pref ceremony was lovely, she cried, they made her feel so special and valuable. She never had any negative feelings toward them the whole recruitment process.

But Nancy. Oh Nancy, you sly one, sneaking in with your loveliness when she least expected it during Round 2. Nancy's pref ceremony elicited more tears from El. This was it. This was where her heart was. She said it was magical.

She was faced with a gut wrenching decision. She was afraid of getting her hopes up for Nancy, but knew she'd fit right in with Steve too. She cried before making her final decision, and during, and after (if I know her at all). So she listed Nancy and then Steve, happy to go to Steve if that's what fate awaited her. But oh Nancy had her heart.

It's the end of my workday, so I won't drag it out.

Sunday morning, I kept checking my phone waiting to get a message from El. She told me at 830 that they receive bids at 11. Ugh. TOO LONG TO WAIT. Luckily I was with girlfriends in a cute coastal Lake Erie town and we were brunching, so I was distracted.

Finally got a message at 11:10.

El found her home.
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WITH NANCY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh yes, I see now.

Eleven is now a proud, excited, enthusiastic member of......


PHI MU!!!!!

We get to add a new Panhellenic flag to our family tree!!! I am so very happy for her!!!! She's a talented, wonderful young lady and will do amazing things in her future. (She makes me feel super old because I used to change her diapers.) And now her own little sisters will be Legacies to DZ and Phi Mu, too!

I had held out early hope that she would join Theta. But she just wouldn't have fit in there at this campus. True to her nature, she blazed her own trail, and I'm proud of her for it.

I won't publically divulge the key. All of the groups at the campus are great. It's not a competitive campus. El had zero preconceived notions about any of the chapters going in s a sophomore. She just didn't think she found her "place" within the campus that gave her a sense of belonging and community. I know Phi Mu will give that to her.