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Old 02-10-2012, 05:52 AM
allthatglitters allthatglitters is offline
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Join Date: Feb 2012
Posts: 14
After Bid day notes:

My recruitment year, over 1600 girls went through, and a little over 1000 received bids. This doesn't necessarily mean the ones who didn't get bids were cut, a LOT of girls dropped because they weren't happy with their choices. I can't speak on behalf of the freshman that went through recruitment. But as a sophomore, one thing I learned is that when recruitment is as competitive as it is at my university, you can not afford to be as picky as a freshman. Being a member of any chapter is an accomplishment in itself. I honestly don't think its any coincidence that the sophomore girls in my group that had great attitudes all week or at least kept their mouths shut are ALL in chapters, and the girls that publicly bashed chapters, aren't greek at all...

I came to this site during and before rush to look for stories that would show a positive sophomore experience so I hope mine helps one person at least.

LETTERS OF RECOMMENDATION

My school isn't southern, but our recruitment is competitive, and as a sophomore I was highly advised to get rec letters from as many alums as possible. I didn't know any women who were greek (or so I thought. I later went back to my high school and found out my favorite teacher is a Theta), so instead I researched the local alumni groups of every one of the 14 chapters at my university, and sent a personalized email regarding obtaining references for recruitment.

I had responses from 11 of the 14 houses. I only knew one of those women personally. I don't know for sure, but I am willing to bet that those letters definitely helped during my recruitment. Especially at China. Maybe they invited me back for day two because they liked me, or maybe having a rec letter made them take me back. I guess I'll never know, but deep down I know having a letter, actually 2, to that house definitely did help.

Tip: If you receive a letter from an alum, or even a response. Thank them.
And keep them updated on your recruitment results. They all seemed to love living vicariously through my recruitment experience.

For the women that I had addresses for, I sent personalized thank you cards. For the ones that I did not have addresses for, I sent thank you emails. They had absolutely no obligation to help me or even respond to my email, and yet they did. One lady even gave me the name of a woman from another chapter who would write me a rec. letter for that house.

Contacting them all took a little work, but it really didn't take much time.

Friends and Family

If you're going through as a sophomore. Try not to listen to the gossip from friends about chapters. It was harder to go into recruitment with a COMPLETELY open mind because I had been around for a year and thought I had *some* idea of what certain houses were like. Recruitment is a personal process. Few people knew I was interested in recruitment, and even fewer knew I would actually do it. The only phrase I heard as much if not more than, "SO why did you want to rush as a sophomore???" was "OMG! I DIDN'T KNOW YOU WERE GOING THROUGH RECRUITMENT!!" every time I saw a friend in a house.

...and they didn't know, because I didn't want them to

I am a legacy for a NPHC organization, at my university.
And the daughter of a African American IFC man.
My family had mixed reactions initially to my decision to rush and my NPHC family members took it a little personally. Eventually they realized this was a personal decision and while going the NPHC route was right for them, they understood that it might not be right for me. My mom now proudly tells anyone who will listen that her daughter is a Theta. I'm almost certain my whole neighborhood knows...

Go Greek!

Being greek has brought me and my dad closer than we've ever been before in my entire life. I have always been a daddy's girl and love my parent's more than anything, but having something to talk about with my dad has been awesome. I absolutely love it. He is so excited for Dad's Weekend haha.

I've also met so many people just through greek life networking. Joining organizations helped also, but being greek is just one more way to meet more people.


One last thing:

Before I decided to go through recruitment, I heard from countless individuals, some greek some not, that sophomores who rushed NEVER got "top tier" houses. And "almost all sophomores get cut anyway"

That year my chapter took over 10 sophomores.

And my pi chi group, made up of mostly sophomores was smaller than on day 1, but there were still a good amount of girls present on bid day.

Moral of the story?



Haters gon hate.


Just kidding, the real moral is, don't listen to rumors (I know, easier said than done). And if you have serious doubts talk to the people in your school's greek life office instead of sassy, opinionated 18-19 year olds.


I really hope this helps someone. Thanks for reading!

Last edited by allthatglitters; 02-10-2012 at 03:13 PM.
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