An Allstar Cheer-ful recruitment

[mizdove]

Hi! I'm going to tell my recruitment story from this past fall. I did allstar cheer my whole life, so that's going to be my theme here, using a big-name level 5 team for each house. The houses are:
Lady Jags ** (aunt in this house)
WCSS **
Lady Bullets **
SSX **
GT Blink **
TGLC **
Smoed *
Peach **
Wildcats ***
Senior Elite *
Coed Elite ***
Orange **
F5 ** (cousin in this house)
Panthers *
Steel *
Asterisks = number of recommendations I had for each house
Sorry if some colors are hard to see, with 15 chapters there just aren't enough!

My older sister is in WCSS at this school. I know aunts and cousins don't typically count as legacies (and don't for the houses I had aunts and cousins in) but just thought I'd note it.
I know my username kind of gives away the school I go to and house I end up in but you know, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Background: I thought I was very prepared for recruitment going in, I was pretty open minded to all houses and determined to give each house a chance and not just focus on my sister's house. I told myself I would NOT drop out no matter what houses I got back, and knew I would get dropped from some houses I liked. I was going through with my best friend (don't worry I won't tell you all the details of her recruitment) and she had certain chapters she preferred going in, but I tried to avoid the topic with her because she got tired of me telling her to be open minded and I didn't want her to sway my opinion.
I was a little worried that disclosing my sister's house would affect my chances at other houses, but included it in my information to rec writers and my online registration anyway. I was really excited for recruitment and spent a lot of time finding the perfect shorts to go with recruitment shirts and the perfect outfits for the other days.
In high school I had a near perfect GPA (above a 3.9 but don't want to give everything away) and a 35 on the ACT, so I knew grades wouldn't be an issue. I was involved in high school and had lots of leadership experience so I felt pretty good about how I looked on paper, but was super nervous for the actual parties because I'm a worrier.

[Beanie]

Ahh!! I usually just lurk around here, but as a cheerleader myself I had to comment on this one. I can't wait to read! I'm rooting for F5!

[carnation]

Looking forward to this one since most of my daughters cheered competition! (But what was the bit about requiring really curly hair? Have you ever tried to curl Asian hair?)

Anyway, cheer on!

[mizdove]

I'm glad some people know about allstar cheer to have some context! I was worried nobody would get it!
Here goes day 1 - open house round
Open house is over two days so we went to half the chapters on the first day.
Lady Jags – I was super nervous going in since this was my first house! But I was really surprised that it wasn’t nearly as scary as I thought it would be. I had good conversations at this house, but it was really loud. I spoke with three girls in this house and liked them, but wasn’t overly excited about it, because we just kind of talked about the typical stuff, nothing too exciting. This chapter had really cute shorts to match their tshirts.
WCSS - I was excited to go into this house as I had been in it before to move my sister in (the year prior), so it would be familiar to me. It was nice that nobody brought up my sister at all even though they all knew her, so I felt like my own person. I really loved the first two girls I spoke to here! The third I still liked I just didn’t get to talk to her as long. The president came over to introduce herself to me, which even though I knew was because I was a legacy, I was still flattered.
Lady Bullets - Everyone in this house was beautiful. I liked all the girls I talked to, and bonded with one of them over our shared hatred of pickles. One of the girls I was talking to introduced me to the next girl by the wrong name, so that was awkward, but otherwise a good experience.
SSX - I knew a lot of girls in this chapter from my church, but went in open minded. Two girls I know stopped by to say hi to me, which was a sweet gesture. I had good conversations here but pretty basic. I liked it though and felt like maybe I just needed to talk to a different girl, because the other people I knew in this house I really loved, so I figured I just didn’t click with the girls I spoke to.
GT Blink - One of the women who wrote my recs to this house actually told me she called the house and told them to make me feel at home! They definitely did, the president came to talk to me which was very flattering once again, and I really liked the girls. Before we went in to this house, it began pouring rain on us out of nowhere (it wasn’t in the forecast), so all the actives had to go to the basement and we came in to take shelter (b/c there was lightning). I was one of a few who brought umbrellas, but I of course shared with other girls which ended up being like none of us even had one because so many people were “under” such a small umbrella! Needless to say, we all looked a tragic mess but the girls were all super sweet and told us our hair looked good! I really enjoyed my time at this house and even emailed my rec writer that night to tell her.
TGLC - When I went into this house, I was paired up with a girl who went to my high school! However, we didn’t know each other in high school at all, so it wasn’t like I was paired with someone I already knew. Still, it helped us have a better conversation bc we had similar reasons for choosing this school (typical day 1 question.) The other girl I was paired with I really clicked with as well. I left this house really liking it and hoping to be invited back.
Smoed - In this house, I had okay conversations, but felt like I didn’t say much at all. I didn’t have awkward silences or anything, I just felt that I didn’t have much of a chance to tell the girl about myself and make a good impression. The girl I talked to was really outgoing and sweet though, and we talked about the honors college which was something that I hadn’t talked about in other houses at all so it was nice.
Peach - I knew some girls in this house from high school and from church, and one of my best friend’s sisters is in this house and told me she would “put in a good word for me.” I wasn’t paired with her, but she came over and chatted with me for a minute about how recruitment was going, which was really nice. However, the other girls I spoke to this day I just didn’t click with. We didn’t really have anything to talk about and there were awkward silences. I was really torn leaving this house, because I knew girls who I loved in this house and wanted to give it a second chance, but I also had so many other houses that I had better conversations at.

At the end of this day, I would’ve been happy to return to all of the houses. However, my favorites were WCSS, TGLC, and GT Blink. I knew that I would have tough choices to make when preffing tomorrow because while I had some I really preferred, most of them I was just like “oh this is fine, I enjoyed myself” and didn’t have strong feelings about most of them.

[sigmagirl2000]

great story, can't wait for more!

[ladybug12]

Totally agree!!!

[cebrain]

We are huge all star cheer fans here. Wildcats and Smoed are our favorites! Can't wait to see how it goes

[mizdove]

Day 2
Wildcats - I LOVED this house. I knew one girl in it. The first girl I was paired with was on exec, and we literally were so similar, even our names were almost identical! She seemed so down to earth and she made me feel comfortable and not like I had to impress her. Then the one girl I knew walked through the room and came and talked to me! I was so excited to see her because I love her. After that I felt super comfortable there. I talked with the one girl I knew for a minute and then she went back to her rotation and left me with the original girl. I think we might have screwed up the rotation a little because when she was finally bumped, I only talked to my next girl for maybe 30 seconds before I had to go.
Senior Elite - This house was LOUD. It was a little bit hard to focus because it was so loud, way louder than any other house (because all are loud but this was deafening.) I talked to the president here as well. My conversations with the girls were just okay, nothing too special. When they were bumping one girl said something to me and I actually had to have her repeat it because I couldn’t hear it at all – I didn’t even have an idea of what she said :/ I think my conversations were decent but I wasn’t that focused in here.
Coed Elite - I had okay conversations here. They weren’t fabulous but they were okay. One girl I talked to was in yearbook in HS, so we bonded over that and she was super excited to talk to another “yerd.” This was another house that I left without strong feelings about.
Orange - In this house I was paired with a girl that I sort of knew (barely acquaintances) from church. That gave us something to talk about besides the usual stuff, which was really nice. I liked this house and wanted to return to it.
F5 - I liked this house because we actually ventured away from “why did you come here” and “why are you rushing” type questions. The last two girls I talked to I clicked with more than the first girl. The house is beautiful so that helped as well!
Panthers - By this point I was exhausted and didn’t take good notes (oops.) I remember the girl I was talking to told me I was on the best couch in the house (which was nice later!) I don’t remember what we talked about but this was another house that I had a pretty good experience but no strong feelings about. We had weather issues again in this house! When the round was over the actives had to go to the basement or upstairs and we just had to sit in the house for a few minutes until the thunderstorm warning was over.
Steel - I didn’t even write notes about this house because I was preffing immediately after so I knew it would be fresh in my mind. I liked this house but it was just middle of the pack for me, no strong feelings once again.

Preffing was definitely difficult! After a lot of thought, I put down
1. Peach
2. Lady Jags
3. Senior Elite
4. Smoed
However, it really was hard for me to put down houses I didn’t want to return to! I was super torn and knew I would be happy to receive an invitation to any of the houses regardless of where I ranked them. However, the houses I wanted most on my list were Wildcats, WCSS, and TGLC.

This thread reappeared (I swear it was gone for a minute!!) so I'll finish the story here. Is there a mod I can tag to delete the "round 2" thread?

[IndianaSigKap]

Originally Posted by mizdove

Coed Elite - I had okay conversations here. They weren’t fabulous but they were okay. One girl I talked to was in yearbook in HS, so we bonded over that and she was super excited to talk to another “yerd.” This was another house that I left without strong feelings about.

I love that you used "yerd" made my day.

[mizdove]

I got my schedule for the next two days, philanthropy round, and it read
Orange
Lady Jags
Steel
WCSS
F5
TGLC
Peach
GT Blink
Senior Elite
Wildcats

So the houses I had not been invited back to were Coed Elite , Lady Bullets , Panthers, SSX, and Smoed. I didn’t have the full 11 houses possible, but overall I was happy with my schedule. My top choices from the first round had kept me, and I got to give Peach a second chance, which made me glad because it was hard for me to put them in my bottom 4 knowing the girls I did! I tried to just forget about the houses that dropped me because I wasn’t invested in them yet anyway.
During philanthropy round we get a house tour and a presentation about their philanthropy. Most houses have themes for their house tours, and the tour guides dress up and act silly to fit with it (i.e. lifeguard tour guides, “coaches”, etc).
Orange – I had liked this house day 1, but didn’t have that strong of feelings about it. However, on philanthropy day I talked to a girl who was just like me. Some things, obviously, they can pair up from seeing my resume. But there were some similarities they had no way of knowing, so I really felt like I connected with her. They had a fun house tour and their philanthropy presentation was really well done, so I enjoyed myself and felt myself starting to really like this house. We had a little craft but it was kind of open ended and felt a little awkward? But (as you’ll see) I don’t love the little activities and most felt awkward to me.
Lady Jags – This house had been in my bottom four, but I was excited to give it another go. My friend from HS had been in this chapter and then transferred, so she of course talked it up to me. I talked to one of the same girls I talked to on the first day and she remembered me. We did a craft in this house, but I didn’t really get the purpose of it (I think because she didn’t want to spend a long time talking about the craft and wanted to talk about more important stuff). Their philanthropy presentation was good and emotional, I almost teared up, but my conversations weren’t stellar here.
Steel – This was my last house of the first round so I was quite tired the first time around. The second round I talked to a girl who was a total sweetheart. We bonded over our lack of crafting skills, and their philanthropy video made me tear up a bit! Some girls were full on crying (the ones with personal connections). There was no activity in this house which was a relief. Their house is kind of small but it’s cute, and I wish I could explain to you the details that stood out to me about this house tour but it would totally give it away so I won’t. Let’s just say that it seemed like they had a strong sisterhood. I really liked this house.
WCSS – Philanthropy day in this house was strange for me to say the least! I really loved the first girl I talked to before/after the presentation. But after I went into another room I was getting bumped SO fast. I could tell that something had to be off with their groups because I was talking to girls for like a minute and then switching. Their philanthropy presentation was great and they had their house decorated beautifully for it. The philanthropy hits home with me as it is something that’s affected a family member. Plus this chapter is super involved with their philanthropy and have raised tons of money for it, so you could really see their passion. The house tour was fun, but nothing too shocking since I was familiar with it.
F5 – The first girl I talked to in this house was great! I honestly don’t remember who else I talked to that day besides her. We talked and laughed a lot. Our Pi Chi’s told us “drink the water, drink the water, drink the water!!!” because people have passed out in the past. Well, in most houses I drank it pretty quick (I drink a lot of water) and ended up awkwardly holding on to the cup for a while. Well, when I was talking to this girl I totally forgot there was still water in my cup and moved my arm while I was laughing and dumped it all over myself! We just laughed about it! We did a cute activity (not so awkward, but still a little bit) while learning about their philanthropy, which was another great presentation. Their theme for the day was adorable, and the house tour was amazing – like some of the features shocked me and I didn’t even think of existing in a sorority house before then.
TGLC - I was really looking forward to this house as I had enjoyed it so much the day before. Their house tour was super fun. I didn’t connect with the girls I talked to as much as I had during open house round. I still had enjoyable conversations, just not as great. I really like their philanthropy as well and was excited to see their presentation, which I’m sure was great, but I couldn’t really see because I was in the back.

[mizdove]

Peach - My experience here was much better than open house round! I really identified with their philanthropy and it’s something that’s important to me. The activity that we did for their philanthropy was cute. I had much better conversations here. It still wasn’t a favorite but it definitely was better.
GT Blink – I liked this house a lot during the first round. In the second round, I didn’t love it as much. Their philanthropy is a popular one and I’m sure their presentation was good but I don’t really remember it and didn’t write anything down about it. So I guess it didn’t stand out to me. The conversation didn’t flow as well as it did on the first day and it was a little awkward at times (partly because of me – I had some questions that I didn’t really know how to answer and I definitely contributed to the awkwardness.)
Senior Elite– I don’t remember much about my experience at this house and I guess I didn’t take notes on it? Their house is new and unique so the house tour was very interesting. I don’t recall their philanthropy presentation, but their philanthropy is something that I found interesting and didn’t know much about so I talked about that with the girl rushing me. Otherwise I don’t remember much about this house.
Wildcats - Finally we got to my favorite from day 1! I was tired but excited to go in to this house – plus their house is beautiful from the outside so I was interested to see more of the inside. Unfortunately, I didn’t click with the girl I talked to. It was a fine conversation but it was pretty basic. I liked their philanthropy presentation, the activity that went along with it was cute in theory but kind of awkward in practice. Maybe it’s just me that makes all these activities awkward? I left this house kind of underwhelmed because it wasn’t as great here as it was the first day, but I still hoped to go back because I had enjoyed myself so much during Open House.
At the end of these two days I ranked:
1. GT Blink
2. Lady Jags
3. Senior Elite
The houses I fell for this round were F5 and Orange. I still really hoped to return to WCSS and Steel . I felt like overall this round went really well and I felt like I had much better conversations.
I realized I forgot to mention - we rank our bottom four (or whatever we have that's beyond the cutoff) and the rest are the ones we want to return to most, all "even". So the houses I ranked are the ones I would like to return to less. I know that's pretty standard but since I never mentioned it I wanted to explain!

[sigmagirl2000]

Thanks for continuing your story in a reasonable amount of time! Glad you had such a positive attitude and experience!

[mizdove]

Originally Posted by sigmagirl2000

Thanks for continuing your story in a reasonable amount of time! Glad you had such a positive attitude and experience!

Don't worry, that changes...

[mizdove]

Day 5 – Sisterhood Round – AKA the game changer, where things get messy, the day of all the tears.
This day the maximum number of houses possible is 7. Each house performs a short skit and the rest of the time you are just talking with someone.
I got my schedule and saw
Lady Jags
Senior Elite
WCSS

Let me preface this with I am NOT a crier, but I also don’t function well when I’m sleep deprived – and our meetings each day were at 7:15 am 15 minutes from our dorm. Not that anyone sleeps well in their first few days in a new place… add in stress about recruitment… then 7 am meetings… I was far from well rested.

It was a shock, to say the least. I went from 10 houses to 3, after I felt like I actually had real connections with the girls I had talked to. And I only had one house that I had put in my top 7. I held it together when I first got my schedule, but then I called my mom and cried. My sister had a great recruitment till pref day, so she had already dealt with a hurt child once – needless to say as a non-greek, she doesn’t like recruitment! Luckily she only has boys left so she’s done now. I tried to hold myself together on the phone with her because I know she's not a fan of recruitment anyway. Then I called my best friend. Naturally, recruitment was going perfectly for her and she had gotten her top 11 for philanthropy and now her top 7 for sisterhood round. That obviously didn't help and made me feel even worse. There were more tears. Then my Pi Chi came and sat down with me after several others walked past me looking very concerned for my well being. It was my Pi Chi who I really became a mess with. It was kind of a meltdown. It wasn't that I was unhappy to return to any of the chapters on my schedule, it was that I was afraid that the only chapter I had back that I was wanting to return to was only inviting me because of my sister. Also I felt like houses I had real connections with didn’t want me, but mostly it was fear of only being invited back because of my sister. Somewhere in the logical area of my mind I knew they wouldn’t invite me back if they didn’t want me back, but when you feel like nobody else wanted you logic kind of goes out the window and emotions take over. Let me tell you: MY PI CHI IS AN ABSOLUTE ANGEL. I ADORE HER. She comforted me and assured me that they were inviting me for ME. She honestly got me through that day. I went back to my dorm (luckily I had a break for the first party) and fixed my face and put on a smile, a brave face, and attempted a positive attitude for my first party.
Lady Jags – Their skit was cute. I don’t remember the first girl I talked to, but the second girl I really clicked with. She was good friends with a friend of mine who had been a part of this chapter and then transferred. We talked about her a little. She asked me some really good questions. I know church is a no-no topic, but it somehow came up and it was really refreshing to talk about faith in college a little bit because it’s something that’s really important to me. I really loved talking to her and could see us being friends if I ended up here. I could begin to see myself in this house, and honestly enjoyed my time here!
Senior Elite – I was double rushed (me and another PNM talking to one active) in this house, which was the first time it had happened the whole week. I liked the girl I was talking to but the double rushing was a little awkward, because I wanted to get my word in but didn’t want to seem like I was taking over the conversation, which was a balancing act. I liked the other PNM I was with and the active I talked to, but I think the active had more in common with the other girl than with me.

I had a long break here so I napped and ate.

WCSS – THE GAME CHANGER. When I went into this house, the same girl who picked me up during open house round picked me up at the door. When she asked me how I was doing, I felt like she honestly cared about my answer and I didn’t have to lie and say that it’s “great”. Her bump group was the same, so I saw all familiar faces this day – which was really nice on a day I was so shaken up. The only way to describe the feeling I had here was “I felt so loved.” Their skit was HILARIOUS. Like people were leaving the house from the party before us and telling us how funny it was, and it totally lived up to it. By far the funniest skit I saw – it was seriously amazing. (I’m sad that skits won’t be part of sisterhood day in the future, because it gives you a good glimpse of the sense of humor a house has). I knew that this was where I needed to be. I’ll never know (nor do I want to) if my sister mentioned to one of her friends that I was having a rough day and that affected who I was paired with, but I know that this was the day that I realized they cared about me and I belonged and was sure that it wasn’t just because of my sister. After a tough day and feeling very fragile, the love I felt in WCSS really turned it around and made me feel confident again.

My angel Pi Chi texted me throughout the day to check in on me, and offered to meet up and talk to me before I preffed if I needed to (I didn't). I only had three houses, so I didn’t have to rank any this day. Preffing really didn’t matter but I had to do it anyways. I of course put all three in my top.

[KSUViolet06]

I'm never excited about codenames, but these code names are everything. That's all.

My mom has coached HS in the past (I never cheered), my goddaughters cheer, and I am quite the cheer fan (have been since before all star had levels. lol.)