An MIT Recruitment Story...no, Virginia, this isn't the SEC!

[Sciencewoman]

I had mentioned in another thread this spring that a close colleague's daughter would be attending MIT this fall and was very interested in sorority recruitment. Her mom knows that I volunteer for my sorority and we had a couple of big discussions about recruitment, recs, etc. Mom came to the US for graduate school, but grew up and attended college overseas, so she was eager to learn about sororities. As the summer went on, Future Engineer became increasingly nervous about the workload at MIT, and thought that joining a sorority might take away from her academics. After arriving on campus, however, she changed her mind again. Her roommates were going through recruitment, and Future Engineer decided she would join the fun.

PNMs can sign up for recruitment right up until the day before it starts. There are 3 rounds, and 5 of the 6 sororities participate in formal recruitment. The parties go from all 5 on Philanthropy Day, to max of 4 for Sisterhood Day, to max of 2 for Preference Day. All of the rounds are held at the central commons building.

Mom was a bit nervous that they hadn't secured any of the recs I had told her about. She was also worried about Future Engineer not having planned her recruitment wardrobe. Future Engineer headed off to Philanthropy Day, happily dressed in shorts and a T-shirt.

The code will be:

Engineering
Technology
Gigabyte
Math
Science

Future Engineer enjoyed meeting women from all of the sororities. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner were served at various parties, depending on the time of day (dining etiquette might be more important than recs during MIT recruitment). She enjoyed learning about the philanthropies each group supports. By the end of the day, Future Engineer had two early favorites and ranked the groups:

1. Math
2. Technology
3. Science
4. Gigabyte
5. Engineering

Future Engineer’s mom was amazed at how invested she was in the philanthropies, as they all seemed to be endeavors she hadn’t paid any attention to previously! Future Engineer was very impressed with the volunteer work done by the chapters, and she explained to Mom that this work affected her rankings. Mom was a bit skeptical.