My Competitive Recruitment

[eaglesbaby]

Hey everyone! I've been lurking for a long time, and I've been dying to post my recruitment story! It's a good one, so hold on tight...

I go to a huge university, and we have one of the most competitive Greek systems around. I'll give the fourteen sororities code names by fruit:

Honeydew
Cantaloupe
Watermelon
Strawberry
Blueberry
Pineapple
Banana
Mango
Peach
Grape
Starfruit
Kiwi
Cherry
Plum

I had never really thought about going through recruitment while I was in high school. I went to an all girls school and it was a horrible experience. I never wanted to be surrounded by that much estrogen again.

But the first month of summer vacation before my freshman year at UCF (University of Colorful Fruit), my best friend told me she planned on going through at her school, so I began to give it some thought.

I came to the realization that there was a lack of female friendships in my life, and joining a sorority would help me fill that void as well as build strong relationships with women.

Unfortunately, I knew nothing about the Greek system. But lucky for me, my best friend was able to fill me in on the basics. She told me all about rec letters, the attire, and gave a me a general overview of the recruitment process. Then I started to really get into the idea of going Greek and joining a sorority. I started working on my wardrobe, working out and securing rec letters.

After researching the sororities online, I was able to come the conclusion that the top sororities were:

Cherry
Cantaloupe
Pineapple
Starfruit
Blueberry

More to come tomorrow! Stay tuned!

Note: the rank of the sorority was not really important to me. I am merely including this information for your benefit.

[sceniczip]

Go Watermelon and Pineapple!

[beccaminister]

Watermelon watermelon!

[lovespink88]

Go Peach!

[Ivy313]

To quote Ralph Wiggum..."Go Banana!"

[baci]

love the colors!

[mittens]

I like Mango and Pineapple, but I think I'll root for Mango! Go Mango!

[Tropical_Dancer]

I love strawberry banana smoothies so Im rooting for both

[eaglesbaby]

Like some schools, formal recruitment started the week before classes. I moved into my room, and it turns out my roommate Jena was going through recruitment, too! Basically our entire floor was going to go through recruitment. That first night we all ate dinner together and stressed about what to wear the next day to Day 1. Two girls in my hall, Marie and Rachel, were best friends all through high school and they were convinced they both belonged in Starfruit, one of the top houses at UCF. This made me really nervous because I had no idea which house I belonged in, despite all the research I did in the summer.

Day 1

Jena and I woke up at 6AM to get ready for our first day of recruitment. I was so nervous that I wouldn't be well received at any of the houses. At that point in time, I was a natural light blonde, very short and the tiniest bit chubby. I never considered myself to be the "stereotype" sorority girl, but I never considered myself fat or ugly either. Since I didn't really know much about Greek life, I assumed that all sororities were full of tall, blonde, slender, beautiful people.

I spent 45 minutes planning my outfit. In the end, I decided to wear a blue and green sundress with blue Eitienne Aigner slingbacks. I also chose a subtle Kate Spade clutch. I blew my hair out so it made a casual little flip at the ends. I must admit I looked very chic and cute. Jena also looked beautiful. She was the tall and slender type, and she pulled off ehr outfit well. She wore a pair of khaki cuffed shorts, a pink oxford and a pair of ballet flats. Very classic. To quote Elle from Legally Blonde, we "totally looked the part."

When we got to the auditorium at 8AM where we were meeting our Rho Chis, I was overwhelmed by a sea of women, perfume and blowdried hair. It was the most exciting and intimidaing sight I've ever seen.

Anyway, I met up with my Rho Chi, and Marie, the girl from my hall was in my group! I was a little disappointed that Jena wasn't with me, but I soon realized it was for the better so we wouldn't influence eachother's parties.

I received my schedule, and it looked like this:

9AM to Noon
Plum
Mango
Peach
Honeydew
Kiwi
Banana

Break from Noon to 1 for lunch

1-5
Strawberry
Cherry
Grape
Pineapple
Blueberry
Cantaloupe
Watermelon
Starfruit

Stay tuned for my next post! It will be up sometime before the end of the day!

[WVU alpha phi]

Can't wait to hear your story!

[lavendarlace]

Go Honeydew!

[LucyKKG]

I'll root for pineapple, because I have some in my fridge, and I was thinking about eating it!

[eaglesbaby]

My Rho Chi group was so chatty and excited to get going. As a reminder, the order we were going visiting the houses from 9AM to Noon was:

Plum
Mango
Peach
Honeydew
Kiwi
Banana



Plum: I was really nervous for my first party. I was afraid I was going to say something really silly, or worse, not know what to say at all! When we walked up to the house, I was so intimidated by the amount of shouting and chanting coming from the house. When the door opened, the chanting and shouting intensified and I couldn't believe these girls could sing so loudly and be so synchronized in their stomping and clapping. My rusher, Elise, was from the same hometown as me, so we had a ton to talk about. The conversation went really well and I felt really comfortable with her. 10 minutes later she bumped me to another girl. She was really sweet but she was SO quiet. She asked all the basic questions, and I didn't really feel a strong connection with her. Time for....

Mango: Mango was a smaller house. I stepped in the door, and right I away I could sense the strong bond that these girls shared. I don't know how, but I could just sense it. I was double rushed here, but she tried really hard to engage us both. My rusher was a little awkward, but that didn't really affect my opinion of the house. I left this house really feeling like I could belong here because of the strong sense of sisterhood.

As we were walking to the next house, I overheard Marie talking about Mango and how she would absolutely die if she got a bid from them.

"If Mango gives me a bid, I will 100% drop out," she said.

I was a little taken aback about her negative feelings about Mango so early into recruitment, but I tried not to let it affect my feelings about the house. I had a good time there, and I was determined to give them a fair shot.


Peach: Peach was physically a really beautiful house. It was just how I thought a sorority house should look: white, broad and mansion-like. It seemed to stretch across the perfectly manicured lawn for acres and acres. I was mesmerized. And then the beautiful singing started. It was angelic and the harmony was in three parts. I felt like I was in the presence of angels. I met my Rusher, Bri, and I absolutely loved her. She was so energetic and she gushed about Peach. It was easy to tell she was in love with her letters. Our conversation went so easily. She introduced me to two other actives, and they were just as bubbly and bright. I thought it was so awesome that we could have such a great conversation without feeling like anything was forced. We talked mostly about the band Kings of Leon. They are my absolute FAVORITE and Bri loved them too. They're not a really a well known band, so I was really impressed that she knew about them and appreciated their style. TI felt so comfortable here and I knew it was the place for me. I did not want to leave when it was time to go to Honeydew.

Honeydew: I don't really remember anything about Honeydew on the first day. I remember their house was really lovely inside, and that all the sisters kind of looked the same. I felt like it might have been a cookie cutter type of sorority, and I wasn't sure I could fit in here.

Kiwi: These girls seemed like they might be top heavy on the partying. My first rusher was very nice, be she seemed so lethargic and dreary. I couldn't help thinking that she might have been hungover. Bbut then she bumped me to another girl, and she was SO energetic, I found it kind of draining. I still had a good time though, and the conversations seemed to flow really well. We talked a little bit about our majors (we were both in Communications), and then once that topic started to fade, I tried to shift it towards Kiwi. It was weird, though, because she kept changing the subject to small but relevant topics, like parking on campus, and the awful class selection process. I felt like I really didn't get to know her because the small talk was VERY small. Lol.

Banana: I had heard this house was a wild house, and right from the start I believed the rumors. The chanting was so loud, and the dancing was so all over the place. Their energy kind of revived me, though, from Kiwi, at first. But then my rusher seemed to be Iittle disinterested in me. She didn't really answer any questions I had. She gave very short answers, and she quickly bumped me to someone else. This girl was very cheerful, but I felt like I was under the firing squad! She kept throwing questions at me left and right. At one point she mentioned that they had a really high standard for GPAs and that it was a very competetive house grade-wise. I wasn't sure what to think of this. A) She came off as very snobbish and B) They were known as the wild, party house, and I felt like partying and GPAs did not go hand in hand. I wasn't sure I could see myself in this energetic of a sorority, and I left with a bad taste in my mouth. After Banana it was time for lunch.


Here is my ranking of the first 6 houses (though there was no official ranking yet. This is just for your own organizational purposes.)

Peach
Mango
Plum
Kiwi
Honeydew
Banana


More later tonight! I promise!

[eaglesbaby]

By the time lunch came, I was so excited to talk to Jena about her parties. She said her favorite by far was Cherry, and that she could really envision herself there because she felt like she fit right in right away. She also said that she wasn't really a fan of Peach because her rusher has snubbed her and ignored her for another PNM. I couldn't believe my beloved Peach, the group by which I was so mesmerized could have anything bad associated with it. This kind of let me down a little bit, but I was convinced that it was just one member that was snobbish.

We ate lunch that day with Rachel and Marie, and I was really finding that I so disliked them. They had something negative to say about each sorority they visited in the morning session. They said that Peach were "a bunch of pretentious rich snobs" and that they had no academic merit. They said that theMango girls were a "bunch of fat lesbians", and I wanted to smack them. I could not believe how cruel these girls were being. The Mango sisters seemed so nice, warm and genuine, and I did not see one active at the party who looked anything remotely resembling an overweight girl. I was so turned off by Rachel and Marie, and I didn't want anything to do with them after lunch.

...On to the PM parties!

[AlphaXi_Husky]

I'm so glad you didn't listen to all the smack-talking! Can't wait to hear the next installment.