[SC2013]

Originally Posted by southbymidwest

OK, I quit. I'm flouncing outa here. Tired of reading recruitment stories that drag on and never have an ending. But that's just me. Please finish it SOON for the others who have enjoyed and care about your recruitment.

Forgive me for holding off on the last post for so long, it's just I know this would be my longest post...

My rush group is, of course, unbearably anxious. Rachel Menken texts the hard-rushed legacy girl in my group, SO EXCITED that she's a Rachel Menken now (I guess they didn't know we were still waiting for the RC's?). So that's all well and good for her.

Finally, the RCs come out. We're dyyying!

One by one, we get our bid cards. Girls in front of me are screaming, jumping up and down!

Girls start running to the groups of sorority girls waiting with balloons and signs, welcoming them home.

It's almost my turn. The girl in front of me asks me about my houses and I tell her how nervous I am. She says I'll be fine, gets her bid card and starts screaming, jumping up and down.

It's my turn. There's a look in my two RC's eyes. Is that good?
Angelic RC hands me my bid card.

She squeezes me tight. "Congrats!"

I can't breathe, what did I get?

Peggy Olson.

Well.

All the other Midge Daniels fans, force smiles and walks to join the Joans anxiously awaiting them.

My best friend gets Jane Sterling. My friend in my rush group who helped me get excited for Bobbie Barret gets Jane Sterling. Her roommate, of course, gets Trudy Campbell. My roommate gets Dr. Faye Miller. Maybe it's the social circles I run in, but I have yet to meet anybody who didn't get their first choice, besides the girls who wanted Midge and got Joan.

My apartment finds each other in the midst of the screaming sea of girls. best friend's roommate hugs me. "I'm sorry, I know what it's like, that happened to me last year," she said, who had gone to pref with Trudy Campbell last year and finally was in her house.

They all went off to their house groups. I was left with a choice.

I made the choice that probably isn't popular on Greek Chat, I chose to not be Greek rather than give the house who gave me a bid a chance. Today I'm still a little unsure if I made the right decision, but I didn't go to bid night. I don't necessarily regret not going to Peggy Olson; looking at the pledge class, I don't recognize anyone, while I know tons of girls particularly in Joan Holloway and Jane Sterling--which doesn't necessarily mean much, but still means something.

But they gave me a bid! you say. They wanted me.

Maybe they did....but to be honest, that bid night...I didn't think so. I still don't think they really wanted me, because I was guaranteed a bid.

Apparently Peggy Olson had a much stronger rush this year than they had in previous years. And now I wish them the best. I have and do root for them to do well, especially in light of the ranking-crazy girls who, sometimes like in the case of my best friend (no harm meant), do get their way. But after Pref I didn't feel a thing. I felt like they had given me a bid because computers said that they should.

I wish I hadn't put them as my #2, but Panhellenic was so adamant on listing both houses that invited you to Pref. And I had believed that I would have been given a better chance at getting my first house, like so many other girls did, if I had been "run through the computer more times to get a bid."

I'm not saying I was #1 on Joan's first bid list or anything, but Joan had taken me to Pref. And I had felt a connection, I had met a girl I would have wanted to be my big. They can still cut girls on Pref by putting them on the very very last end of their lists, I understand that.

Funny thing is, apparently Bobbie Barret had to give snap bids. Again, there are many what ifs, but if I hadn't listen a second house on my preference list, I could have been eligible for that. Or for COB in the spring, in which yes, I would have been open to visiting Peggy to see if I could find a connection. But after Pref I had not felt a connection and would have not been comfortable going to bid night.

So there you have it. I am not in a Panhellenic sorority, despite being so close. It's tough because I found a house I was really in love with, they invited me to Pref, and then I got a bid from a house I had listed last each round. Maybe they did drop me after, I don't know why, but maybe they did. And I can't dwell on it.

Do I still want to be in a sorority? Kind of. I understand and love the values that they stand for. But I can't rush for a whole year, and at my school juniors are hardly ever taken during formal recruitment unless they're transfers.

But there are lots of things I learned just from my rush experience, which I would love to put in a separate post for future PNMs, about the rush experience itself and what I learned. I learned so much about myself, about facing rejection, about seeing beyond stereotypes and also how to find other ways to keep the goals that I set for myself. I do feel like I would have learned a great deal from being in a sorority, by going through recruitment on the other side and everything, but that's that.

Did I behave immaturely by not going to bid night, or was I justified in feeling like I had been guaranteed a bid to a house I didn't feel a connection with? Thoughts? Any other GDI's go through the same thing as me?