What NOT to do--my Fall 07 story

[sarahsmilehawk]

Ahh sorry, sorry. Summer school's been trying to kill me!

So anyway, pref night.

I read my schedule one more time before handing it to my rho chi to confirm. It looked like this.

1. Chunky Monkey
2. No event
3. No event

Not gonna lie, it kinda hurt that Neapolitan Dynamite cut me. I felt like I was the only girl NOT rolling my eyes there, and they cut me? Maybe they could tell I wasn't really into them.

At my school, if you maximize your options and make it to pref, you're guaranteed a bid from one of the houses you rank. If you only have one to rank, then you're guaranteed a bid to that house. All week I had been holding my breath, and now I was guaranteed a bid to Chunky Monkey... if I wanted it.

So I went to pref night. One girl picked me up and we talked for a while before they led us into the kitchen for the ritual. I actually think ritual is pretty cool, and was excited that they shared something so special with the PNMs. Each girl also told about what Chunky Monkey meant to her. I got goosebumps.

Next, the first girl's roommate picked me up. I'm pretty sure I had met both of them earlier in the week, but I have a hard time remembering faces. I'm usually good at names, but it gets tricky when you meet so many girls in a week; seems like everyone's named Lauren.

Finally, the houses were allowed to serve food! We had cheesecake and Shirley Temples.

The girl who was preffing me told me about a horrible week she'd had last year. First, she totaled her car. She was taking this awful geography mapping class and she was the only girl in it. A few days after she totaled the car, the class took a field trip and my girl ended up being partnered up with two guys she had been kinda dating at the same time, which totally blew up in her face. Then she fell climbing a fence and ripped her leg open on some barbed wire. She still had a huge scar from it.

So the girl calls her roommates crying. They plug her location into the GPS and pick her up out in the middle of nowhere, and take her to the health center to fix up her leg. They decided she needed to go home to her family for a weekend so they packed her up and put her on a plane the next day.

These are the kinds of roommates I wanted to have. I was completely sold on Chunky Monkey. I couldn't believe they wanted ME. I went to the student union to fill out my bid card. As you can probably guess, it looked like this:

1. Chunky Monkey
2.
3.

The Greek Life guy running the pref card stand had me double check my card and then asked "Are you sure this is what you want to do?"

I told him I was sure and headed home to get a good night's sleep before bid day.

[FSUZeta]

wow. her story would have had me signing on the dotted line too!!

is it a done deal, or is there a twist?

[Pike/PhiDeltmom]

I love this thread!!

[sarahsmilehawk]

Ok, the not-so-dramatic conclusion to my tale...


The next day was bid day. It was a little disappointing because I already knew what my bid card said, while everyone around me was anxiously awaiting their fate.


The card said ALPHA DELTA PI!!



I got on the bus to the Pi Hut and the rest is history!

I should add that ADPi took a pretty serious risk extending me a bid. My gpa, as I posted earlier, was not wonderful and I came without anyone's recommendation. I don't want people to think we don't have a strong house--I was absolutely at the bottom of my Alpha class, which was full of awesome girls with impressive resumes.

Anyway, I got my grades up and became very active, and now here I am. So maybe they just saw potential.

[Senusret I]

yayyyyyyy!

[gee_ess]

Thanks for your story! We really enjoyed it.

Will you tell us the code?

ETA: Looking back, would you have had a more successful rush ( I am referring to a full party schedule ) if you had been a freshman and had recs?

[sarahsmilehawk]

Recruitment season is coming up. I probably shouldn't reveal my code since my comments about some of the houses are not very, how do you say, "Panhellenic." The last thing I want is an uncomfortable chat with an adviser on move-in day.

[FlaGirl07]

would you be willing to PM the code? i loved reading this!

[nittanyalum]

Out of curiosity, why did you title the thread "What NOT to do..."?

[wildcatfan]

Originally Posted by sarahsmilehawk

Recruitment season is coming up. I probably shouldn't reveal my code since my comments about some of the houses are not very, how do you say, "Panhellenic." The last thing I want is an uncomfortable chat with an adviser on move-in day.

You are wise beyond your years. . . but could we please just know who Creme Brulee was?

[sarahsmilehawk]

I titled the story "What NOT to do" because I was so naive to go through rush with such a low gpa and no recs--I just didn't know it mattered. And I did stupid things like talking about other chapters, doh. But I guess in the end there's a nice lesson about sticking with things. It hurt that 12 houses cut me, but I only need one to like me.

Creme Brulee=Kappa Alpha Theta. A lot of PNMs I talked to were over the moon for Theta, which I think really speaks to their recruitment skills.

[honeychile]

I for one, am THRILLED that you got a bid from Chunky Monkey!

[ASUADPi]

Originally Posted by honeychile

I for one, am THRILLED that you got a bid from Chunky Monkey!

double ditto!!!!!!

[violetpretty]

Congratulations to you and ~*~Alpha Delta Pi~*~!

It seems weird to me that you were listed as a freshman with your high school GPA, despite having some college classes. I'd think you'd be listed as a freshman, but with your transfer college GPA; it would make sense to have the cutoff be 12 or 15 to list a college GPA, seeing how 12 is the minimum for a full-time student and 15 is what a prototypical student takes per semester. Maybe that's just because recruitment at my alma mater is deferred. Was your college GPA better at the time? Did you tell actives that you had a college GPA? Do you think your grades hurt you more, or your lack of recs?

There was a girl in my Rho Gamma group (when I was a Rho Gamma) who only got one pref invite because she had missed skit round. Fortunately, it was her favorite chapter anyway. I told her that even if she had been invited elsewhere for pref, she'd still be in the same chapter, like all roads lead to the same place. I think that same may be true for you. Congratulations on finding a great fit for you!

[Leslie Anne]

Congratulations to you and Alpha Delta Pi!!!!

Originally Posted by sarahsmilehawk

It hurt that 12 houses cut me, but I only need one to like me.

This is so important for new PNMs to read! We all had to hurt before we found our home.