Retro Recruitment as we wait . . .

[SweetTeaParty]

Hello, All!

I've been quite the lurker since my oldest went off to college in 2009. My oldest never considered Greek life, but my second, has been quite the Greek, serving as social chair, treasurer, IFC rep and IFC president. His senior year, he was chosen as outstanding Greek Man (!) and is now in grad school for Higher Education Management specifically, Student Activities! So, now he's learning to be a Greek Advisor!!

He felt that my own recruitment was a story that this forum would enjoy - - it's got everything. The GOOD, the BAD and the UGLY, about recruitment. So, as we wait for those NEW stories . . . here is a retro-recruitment story using the 90s Girl Group, The Spice Girls, to represent the GLOs on campus.

They are:

Posh – Very well dressed and elegant.
Sporty – VERY competitive and have a real “team” approach to sisterhood.
Baby – Very “Girly-Girl” and Cute. Very friendly
Ginger – The “Non-Sorority” Girl's Sorority; independent and bookish.
Scary – Nice sweet ladies, but definitely SCARY

(Of course, these groups had all kinds of wonderful ladies - but, as a PNM, “street rep” is everything)

My school was not very large (about 1200) and the Greek system compromised a little more than 1/3 of the women. Recruitment was held towards the end of October, after Homecoming. This gave the ladies a few weeks to size each other up – and enough time to pigeonhole (from BOTH sides) the ladies on the rankings and desirability.

The GLOs each had chapter houses, but no living-in. (We were told that old urban myth about brothels.) We would get to see the houses during House Tours.

An important thing to know was that my own sister was an officer in one of these groups and she took “the silence rule” VERY seriously. She was not (and still isn't) much of a gossip queen, so she had never made comments about the GLO personalities and she hadn't shared much about her own recruitment or membership with me. We lived on different sides of the campus and really didn't meet up often prior to recruitment, so I felt free of pre-recruitment bias.

I knew I wanted to join a GLO from the moment I had been accepted at the school. I was one of those ladies smitten with the idea of being in a sisterhood. Plus, this school was 3rd (!) choice on my list when I applied to colleges; I had been rejected by my first choice and wait-listed by my second choice. Those schools didn't have GLOs and I was going to dive into the culture of this school. (This should be a hint that I was well acquainted with rejection – In HS I was cut from football cheer squad my Jr year and the basketball dance squad my Sr year; I ran for SGA each year – never won) I did have a 3.98 GPA and was in the orchestra (clarinet) and choir. I also did community service as a “candy stripe girl” at the local hospital and competed in western seat horseback riding and barrel racing. I thought I was well-rounded and desirable.

EVERYONE will LOOOOOOOOOOOVVVVVEEEEEEE me!! (Right?)