my 30 rock re-rushing recruitment story

[lemony]

Hi everyone!

So I've been lurking around on Greekchat for a while now, and I finally decided I'm going to post my recruitment story (stories, actually). As indicated by my title, I rushed in the fall of 2009, but it turned out unsuccessfully (to be elaborated on), and so I rushed again this year (fall 2010). I don't want to elaborate TOO much about my school/affiliation, but I'll just say for now that I'm a junior at a university whose state is in the Pacific Time Zone.

Stay tuned for my updates!

[lovespink88]

I want to go to there!

(Great theme!)

[lemony]

Warning: OBSCENELY long post...sorry about that!

Alright, so here goes. I rushed fall 2009 as a sophomore for the first time. The sororities at my school are as follows:

Kenneth
Jack
Tracy
Cerie
Jenna
Pete
Toofer
Frank

Day 1: Spoke to all 8 sororities, and was NOT prepared. I didn’t think that we would actually be talking to the girls on this day (stupid, STUPID me). I didn’t know that this was the most difficult day with the heaviest cuts (IMHO). Anyways, I took the advice of my freshman year RA (a Tracy) to to chill out and not take it very seriously. She told me just to dress as I normally do, and not worry about anything. Having heard that (and with my roommate as a fellow PNM who hates dressing up for anything but has a personality sparkling enough to make any sorority pref her even if she wore a potato sack), I wore ripped denim shorts and a striped top. I wore a cute necklace as a small piece of ‘flair’, but little did I know that our nametags would cover up any necklace. Also, I feel like this top was stained....oops. hahahaha. I thought that dressing uber-uber-uber casual wouldn’t really be a huge deal, since I saw the girls that my Tracy friend had referred to—the ones with tons of makeup, totally done hair, and looking like they were trying way too hard. I thought that it would turn out as was necessary and that the girls in the sororities would see me for ME, and would want me for just as I am.


This turned out differently. I can’t say that I don’t know what I did wrong, since I can definitely name a few things that I could've done better to let sororities know that I was actually interested in them. When asked on why I was rushing, I told them that my friend convinced me to and that I was initially hesitant, but that I had eventually realized it was a great decision (bad idea). They probably only listened to the first half of that sentence. Other than that, the conversations went like this.
I felt that I clicked the best with the girls at Jenna and Cerie. I even had a Cerie friend who lived in my dorm floor who came over and hugged me and asked how I was doing, and the girl I was talking to seemed impressed that I knew her. The conversations I had at other houses were okay—nothing too special. I know I definitely felt exhausted at the end of the day from talking too much.
I don’t remember my rankings specifically, but I remember that I definitely ranked Jenna first, Cerie second, and other houses afterwards.



Day 2: Open House Day. Much to my dismay, I only got invited back to three of the eight houses—Toofer, Frank, and Tracy. I was pretty shocked, since I felt my conversation definitely fell flat and was extremely boring at those houses. However, my Pi Chi reassured me that these houses were perfectly good houses, and so I decided to try to go in with an open mind and see what was in store.

I went to Tracy first, and had nice conversations with the girls. One of my best friends (as well as my former RA) is a Tracy, so it was pleasant to see them and say hello. I had a long conversation with this one girl about Thai food or sushi or something food-related? Haha. Then there was a lunch break followed by Toofer. The girls there were nice as well, but I didn’t feel anything specifically pulling me towards them.
I had a break, and then I went to Frank. I didn't click very well with this house. The girls seemed a little desperate. One girl flat-out told me that they had a lot of graduating seniors this year, so they really needed new members. It didn't really appeal to me since I felt like they were trying to take anyone and everyone just to make quota and not being selective at all.


Later, I told my Rho Chi how I was definitely feeling really unmotivated and didn’t feel a particular connection for any of the houses. She encouraged me to stick it out and to wait and see how the week goes, and I followed her advice. My rankings were: Toofer, Tracy, and Frank
.
At the end of the day, I was even more tired. I was even feeling a little sick. Later that day I got a mild fever, so I came home and passed out on my bed to catch up on sleep.


Day 3: Philanthropy. I definitely did NOT feel good this day—sore throat, runny nose, the whole shebang. I brought a small pack of Kleenex tissues with me, since I assumed that the girls I’d be meeting would prefer that I have tissues in my hand as opposed to coughing and sneezing all over them. I wore a white sundress that was kind of unflattering and tried to overcome my miserable condition (and I had allergies on top of that! Not fun at all).



We received our schedules, and I was invited back to Tracy, Toofer, and Frank again. I was relieved to have Tracy and Toofer as options, and felt indifferent about having Frank.



Went to Frank, and didn’t really mesh any better with the girls. They had us with two PNMs per active, so the girl next to me seemed really talkative and didn’t let me speak up too much—not that I really minded since all the talking made me really exhausted
.
Went to Tracy, and I guess my allergies started acting up again since we were sitting under pollenating trees. Yes, this was in addition to my cold. Haha. Most of the girls I spoke to were nice, except the last girl. I’d never met this girl before, but I had heard of her because I remember she was running for student office. I kind of expected her to be really outgoing and interested in politics (like me), but she seemed really unenthusiastic, dry, and just unhappy to be there. She was the last girl I talked to, and left me with a pretty bad taste in my mouth about Tracy.


I went to Toofer last. For this one, they had us speak to one or two girls the whole time. The second girl I spoke to definitely impacted my decision strongly at the end of the day. We totally clicked and the story how is pretty amusing—we were talking about internships and she was telling me about a politician she interned for. I mentioned a guy I knew who interned for that same politician, and she said yes, but kind of winced—and told me that he was her ex and that he was abusive. I immediately felt like an IDIOT. I apologized over and over and she seemed pretty ok about it—strangely enough, it was almost like we forgot we were in recruitment and were just talking like two girls getting to know each other. She then asked about my love life (I know, a HUGE no-no, but the boys rule had already been broken? haha) and I told her about my boyfriend, with whom I’m in a long distance relationship, and she found it totally cute. She then talked about her little sis and how close they are, which definitely changed my opinion of the sorority. It was probably at that moment I could see myself being sisters with these girls and loving it. She and I then discovered that we even have the same birthday (!) and that we had the same initials, and the list just went on. When I left Toofer that day, I was in LOVE with the sorority.


Later that day when I was ranking the houses, I was definitely grateful for my Rho Chi for encouraging me to stick it out. I ranked the houses accordingly: Toofer, Tracy, Frank
.
That night, my sickness got a hold of me—I had a 105+ degree fever, and I was definitely delirious (I distinctly remember the songs and names of sororities floating around in my feverish mind). My roommates kept offering to take me to the emergency room, especially with mild fears of swine flu still circling the student population (I think that the school had sent us a public health warning via emails at the time), but I didn’t want to have to deal with waiting rooms and other sick people. My fever eventually went down and I just stayed in bed and hydrated. I didn’t know what to do, since the next day was the first day of classes.



I discussed it with my parents, and decided that I wouldn’t go to class the next day but that I’d definitely go to the doctor at the student health center. As for rush, I still wasn’t sure.


Day 4 (no rush events): I went to the doctor the next day. I still had a fever, but it was definitely better than the night before. She couldn’t diagnose me for swine flu or not since budget cuts forced them to stop administering the test that determines it, but she gave me a little kit with Purell, Kleenex, and disposable thermometers. She also gave me lots of surgical masks because apparently people with supposed swine flu were supposed to wear them in public? Haha. She informed me that I was supposed to stay in ‘quarantine’ until my fever has been gone for 24 hours. Anyways, she gave me a doctor’s note, which I then sent to all my professors—they were fine with me staying home from class since the major public health warning said for professors to allow infected students to stay home. I called my Rho Chi, and explained the situation to her. She called the Director of Panhellenic, and then called me back explaining that it was up to me. She definitely emphasized that my health was the most important thing, and that my absence from Pref Night would definitely be excused if I wasn’t feeling well enough to go. I told her that for now I wasn’t sure, but that I would definitely keep her posted on how I was feeling, since Pref would be later on Friday evening.




Day 4 (Pref Night): So I didn’t go to class on Friday either. I just stayed home from Thursday noon to Friday noon, and made sure to rest up, hydrate, and eat well. I definitely felt a LOT better by Friday afternoon—my fever was barely there and OTC meds were doing well and keeping my symptoms at bay. I called my Rho Chi to let her know that I would still be attending Pref, and she was happy for me. Kind of got ready in a hurry since I was in a quandary about going until at least 4pm (Pref was at like 6 I think), and got my schedule—I was called back to Toofer and Frank. I wasn’t too happy about getting invited back to Frank, but I was pretty happy about getting called back to Toofer.




I had an okay time at Frank's pref. One of the girls who spoke to me before was trying really hard to recruit me, and was definitely pressing me hard on whether or not I wanted to be in Frank which made me a little uncomfortable since I was trying hard to be a gracious and polite guest. Their candle ceremony was pretty intimate, and I felt bad because I just wasn't feeling the connection with these girls.


At Toofer's pref, I got paired with a girl I'd never spoken to before. The night seemed to go well--I didn't feel TOO sick and Toofer's preference night had a beautiful ceremony which also involved candles. I didn't feel as swayed towards Toofer by the girl who I spoke to at pref as I did by the girl on Day 3, but I still knew that I wanted Toofer a lot more than Frank.


When I ranked them on my pref card, I decided to ISP for Toofer. Unfortunately, I received a phone call the next morning (Bid Day) that I didn't receive a bid to Toofer. I was definitely disappointed and frustrated. A lot of my friends had rushed with me and 3-4 of them received bids to Toofer. I felt sad looking at their pictures, and felt that I could have almost been a Toofer. But I also knew in a little part of me that a large part of why I liked Toofer so much was because of the one girl I spoke to who I had a lot in common with, and looking back, I'm almost glad I didn't receive a bid to Toofer. I know a lot of girls in Toofer and other sororities, and I love them to death (some are my best friends), but I can look back now and realize that I wouldn't have been happy there.



Stay tuned for a post on my fall 2010 recruitment story, which went a LOT differently!

[FSUZeta]

can't wait.

[Tulip86]

great story so far, can't wait!

[lemony]

FALL 2010

So here's some context on my sentiments before rush this year. I definitely felt reeeeeally nervous. I wasn't sure how my chances would stack up, but I was also pretty confident that I had grown a lot in the past year (taken on leadership positions on campus and even studied abroad over the summer!), which I felt would help me during rush. I was rushing with my friend P (a junior), who also rushed unsuccessfully last year.

I also had friends in houses, which played a different role in how I felt about them prior to rush this year:

Kenneth: Knew 1 girl at this house, and didn't really know a lot about them other than they seemed like super fun girls that I was interested in getting to know.

Jack: Knew ZERO of these girls. They had a really bad incident a few years ago that involved drugs that kind of hurt their reputation a lot, but other than that I didn't think that I'd be interested in this house prior to rush.

Tracy: One of my best friends is in this house. I've attended a couple of their philanthropy events and I knew that they were pretty sweet girls, but I didn't really feel like they were for me (based on my so-so experiences with them last year).

Cerie: Knew a couple girls from this house, but they were both abroad and wouldn't be there during rush. This house also seems like a bunch of fun girls from what I know about them. I've heard that they're kind of party animals, but then again which average college student doesn't?

Jenna: One girl from this house was in a few of my classes this year, and isn't the nicest ever...a little standoffish. But I think she was also abroad this year and I didn't know anything about them, so I didn't let my opinions of her affect my opinions of them.

Pete: My best friend and roommate got into this house last year (let's call her W), and she's very happy in this house. She's abroad this fall though, so she wasn't there to see me rush. She'd definitely mentioned a couple of times that she would be super-ecstatic if I ended up in Pete, but she was also supportive and understood that it was my choice.

Toofer: Some pretty good friends in this house, since I've been to their philanthropy events and I've met a lot of them through my close friend R. I felt a little jaded about this house from last year though, and whenever I pondered the possibility of getting into Toofer, I felt kind of frustrated because I remembered going through (almost swine) flu and whatnot during rush week and not getting a bid at the end. I didn't really want a repeat of last year.

Frank: Know a girl in this house as well, and was also feeling a little jaded about this house.


Review of my friends:

P: friend rushing with me, a junior also rerushing
W: best friend/roommate abroad in Pete
K: best friend in Toofer
C: My ex-pi rho chi from last year, who became Recruitment director this year. She's the sweetest! when I submitted my rush application she emailed me back and was totally thrilled that I decided to rush again.



DAY ONE: So nervous! Haha. I decided that the best way to approach this day would be to try to stand out as much as possible. I wore this one shoulder romper that I totally fell in love with over the summer, and met my Pi Rho Chi this year (I already kind of knew she was a Frank...whoops. oh well.).

Our schedule went a little like this: Frank, Pete, Jack, Tracy, Kenneth, Jenna, Toofer, Cerie.

Frank: The girls I talked to from this house were pretty nice—nothing past the standard recruitment conversation, though.

Pete: A couple girls who I knew from this house waved to me and looked really excited that I was rushing. All I remember thinking was that the girls from this house were pretty nice. I think that they seemed to know that W was my roommate, and when the topic of study abroad came up they definitely hinted at her. Not sure if it was a good or bad idea to mention her, so I just kept it to myself.

Jack: The girls here were really nice as well. I remember feeling almost a little intimidated because a lot of them were GORGEOUS. But they were really sweet and I had fun talking to them.

Tracy: Talking to the girls here was alright. The first girl I talked to got really interested in me because I had studied abroad in a country where she’s from (a country where not a lot of people go), so we talked about that for a while before another girl came and I met her.

Kenneth: The girls here were so cute! When the background music in the giant auditorium-style room we were in began playing, they all just began singing along in a really spirited way. Really peppy and cheerleader-like, haha. I remember a girl complimented me on my romper, and she said that her formal dress looked like it. Interestingly enough, a picture of her at formal with other Kenneths was on the display table near us, and I saw that her formal dress was indeed like mine! We talked more about recruitment and the things I do on campus, which was pretty cool.

Jenna: I liked talking to the girls here as well. One of the first couple girls I talked to at Jenna immediately told me that she loved my romper and was looking at it from across the room, which made me laugh because borderline creeping is something that my friends and I laugh about all the time. And it was flattering! After her I met probably three other girls in a row who were in my major, so we definitely had a lot to talk about. Plus another girl I met at Jenna had a name that sounded just like mine, so when we finished talking, she cheerily said my name would be easy to remember. I had a really good feeling about this house!

Toofer: The girl I talked to here was nice. I waved to my best friend and another girl who I was friends with stopped by and hugged me and chatted with me for a while. Ultimately I felt that the conversation with the girl who I didn’t know was a little strained, and was kind of the run-of-the-mill recruitment conversation.

Cerie: The girls here were pretty cool also. I actually spoke to one of the girls who was in my Pi Chi group last year, and she said that I looked familiar but I didn’t really want to mention that I rushed unsuccessfully last year since I didn’t want it to taint my conversation with her. We suddenly got into the topic of weddings and gushed about that for quite a while. The other two girls I met were pretty nice as well, and I was pretty impressed with this house.

At the end of the day, my rankings went as follows:

Jenna
Kenneth
Cerie
Jack
Pete
Toofer
Tracy
Frank

Update on Day 2 coming soon! Sorry for the obnoxiously long posts!

[ErinBee]

Not obnoxious! I love this story!!

[ree-Xi]

Originally Posted by lemony

FALL 2010

So here's some context on my sentiments before rush this year. I definitely felt reeeeeally nervous. I wasn't sure how my chances would stack up, but I was also pretty confident that I had grown a lot in the past year (taken on leadership positions on campus and even studied abroad over the summer!), which I felt would help me during rush. I was rushing with my friend P (a junior), who also rushed unsuccessfully last year.

I also had friends in houses, which played a different role in how I felt about them prior to rush this year:

Kenneth: Knew 1 girl at this house, and didn't really know a lot about them other than they seemed like super fun girls that I was interested in getting to know.

Jack: Knew ZERO of these girls. They had a really bad incident a few years ago that involved drugs that kind of hurt their reputation a lot, but other than that I didn't think that I'd be interested in this house prior to rush.

Tracy: One of my best friends is in this house. I've attended a couple of their philanthropy events and I knew that they were pretty sweet girls, but I didn't really feel like they were for me (based on my so-so experiences with them last year).

Cerie: Knew a couple girls from this house, but they were both abroad and wouldn't be there during rush. This house also seems like a bunch of fun girls from what I know about them. I've heard that they're kind of party animals, but then again which average college student doesn't?

Jenna: One girl from this house was in a few of my classes this year, and isn't the nicest ever...a little standoffish. But I think she was also abroad this year and I didn't know anything about them, so I didn't let my opinions of her affect my opinions of them.

Pete: My best friend and roommate got into this house last year (let's call her W), and she's very happy in this house. She's abroad this fall though, so she wasn't there to see me rush. She'd definitely mentioned a couple of times that she would be super-ecstatic if I ended up in Pete, but she was also supportive and understood that it was my choice.

Toofer: Some pretty good friends in this house, since I've been to their philanthropy events and I've met a lot of them through my close friend R. I felt a little jaded about this house from last year though, and whenever I pondered the possibility of getting into Toofer, I felt kind of frustrated because I remembered going through (almost swine) flu and whatnot during rush week and not getting a bid at the end. I didn't really want a repeat of last year.

Frank: Know a girl in this house as well, and was also feeling a little jaded about this house.


Review of my friends:

P: friend rushing with me, a junior also rerushing
W: best friend/roommate abroad in Pete
K: best friend in Toofer
C: My ex-pi rho chi from last year, who became Recruitment director this year. She's the sweetest! when I submitted my rush application she emailed me back and was totally thrilled that I decided to rush again.



DAY ONE: So nervous! Haha. I decided that the best way to approach this day would be to try to stand out as much as possible. I wore this one shoulder romper that I totally fell in love with over the summer, and met my Pi Rho Chi this year (I already kind of knew she was a Frank...whoops. oh well.).

Our schedule went a little like this: Frank, Pete, Jack, Tracy, Kenneth, Jenna, Toofer, Cerie.

Frank: The girls I talked to from this house were pretty nice—nothing past the standard recruitment conversation, though.

Pete: A couple girls who I knew from this house waved to me and looked really excited that I was rushing. All I remember thinking was that the girls from this house were pretty nice. I think that they seemed to know that W was my roommate, and when the topic of study abroad came up they definitely hinted at her. Not sure if it was a good or bad idea to mention her, so I just kept it to myself.

Jack: The girls here were really nice as well. I remember feeling almost a little intimidated because a lot of them were GORGEOUS. But they were really sweet and I had fun talking to them.

Tracy: Talking to the girls here was alright. The first girl I talked to got really interested in me because I had studied abroad in a country where she’s from (a country where not a lot of people go), so we talked about that for a while before another girl came and I met her.

Kenneth: The girls here were so cute! When the background music in the giant auditorium-style room we were in began playing, they all just began singing along in a really spirited way. Really peppy and cheerleader-like, haha. I remember a girl complimented me on my romper, and she said that her formal dress looked like it. Interestingly enough, a picture of her at formal with other Kenneths was on the display table near us, and I saw that her formal dress was indeed like mine! We talked more about recruitment and the things I do on campus, which was pretty cool.

Jenna: I liked talking to the girls here as well. One of the first couple girls I talked to at Jenna immediately told me that she loved my romper and was looking at it from across the room, which made me laugh because borderline creeping is something that my friends and I laugh about all the time. And it was flattering! After her I met probably three other girls in a row who were in my major, so we definitely had a lot to talk about. Plus another girl I met at Jenna had a name that sounded just like mine, so when we finished talking, she cheerily said my name would be easy to remember. I had a really good feeling about this house!

Toofer: The girl I talked to here was nice. I waved to my best friend and another girl who I was friends with stopped by and hugged me and chatted with me for a while. Ultimately I felt that the conversation with the girl who I didn’t know was a little strained, and was kind of the run-of-the-mill recruitment conversation.

Cerie: The girls here were pretty cool also. I actually spoke to one of the girls who was in my Pi Chi group last year, and she said that I looked familiar but I didn’t really want to mention that I rushed unsuccessfully last year since I didn’t want it to taint my conversation with her. We suddenly got into the topic of weddings and gushed about that for quite a while. The other two girls I met were pretty nice as well, and I was pretty impressed with this house.

At the end of the day, my rankings went as follows:

Jenna
Kenneth
Cerie
Jack
Pete
Toofer
Tracy
Frank

Update on Day 2 coming soon! Sorry for the obnoxiously long posts!

Good luck!

[louisianagurl]

can't wait to hear the rest. I love these stories!!!

[jennyj87]

yesss i love 30 rock. goodl uck!

[Tulip86]

finish the story please!

[lemony]

Hi everyone! SO SORRY I haven't been updating this fast enough--I've been crazy busy with school and work and etc. BUT here's Day 2 (House tours)!

DAY 2: House tours
I was suuuuper nervous for this day! I didn’t really know what to expect, so I just figured that at least one sorority invited me to house tours. When I received my schedule for the day, I got a full schedule with all my top picks! I visited:

Pete
Jack
Kenneth
Cerie
Jenna
Toofer

It was a pretty busy day, what with running around from house to house…but here are my impressions!

Pete: Liked the girls here. Ended up talking to one of my friends who I had hung out with a few times because of W, so it was pretty chill. Saw lots of pictures of W on the photo slideshow, and missed her a LOT! Other than that, didn’t feel too strongly swayed by this house but I did like them.

Jack: Okay, I definitely did not expect to like this house as much as I did. Had a really great bunch of girls who I talked to—one girl and I suddenly began gushing about pets or Teen Mom or something for a WHILE, and I got lots of compliments on a skirt that I was wearing. I even met the VP Recruitment for the house, and she was really sweet as well! I had an amazing time at the house, and their photo slideshow really made me want to be in their chapter.

Kenneth: This house was okay. I first spoke to the girl whom I already was friends with in this house, so it wasn’t too bad. After that though, I kind of started getting a headache so I was trying really hard to stay interested (usually my pre-lunch hunger pains I think). I think I had expected a lot of this house based on the girls from the day before, but I spoke to a sister from a nearby school’s Kenneth chapter (or she might have been a Kenneth transfer, can’t remember) next, so she was nice, but she didn’t really give me definitive answers on the Kenneth chapter at my school.

Cerie: So this house has a reputation for partying, which I didn’t really mind. But I have to admit, within the first 30 seconds of conversation with the girl I spoke to, she immediately began asking if I liked to party (like…verbatim). I responded honestly and said that I did, but I was pretty sure that they weren’t allowed to ask questions like that. The girls I met here seemed really fun though (for the most part). A girl who was in one of my classes over the summer led our house tour and although she was a pretty nice girl from what I remember, she seemed really indifferent and droned on and on about the house’s activities in a really unenthusiastic voice. Other than her, I liked the girls at this house.

Jenna: The girls here were nice as well—really excited, actually. They were really hyper during their song..haha. The house tour wasn’t as exciting as some of the other houses I’d been to, to be honest, but talking to girls was fun nonetheless. One of the girls ended up gushing about her future wedding plans which made me laugh because one of my own friends already has her ring picked out and stuff (total girl talk lol).

Toofer: I don’t remember a lot about this house, but I do remember that I just wasn’t feeling it (combination of being jaded from last year and just ready to be done with the day). I remembered waving to my friends at the house, but I also felt that I didn’t think I’d be happy here.

At the end of the day, my rankings went like this:

• Cerie

• Jack.

• Jenna

• Pete
• Kenneth
• Toofer

Stay tuned! Sorry for the delayed responses but I promise I’ll get faster at this!(don't know why the rankings are spaced, but ignore the spacing--it doesnt mean anything)!

[squirrel_love]

can't wait to read the rest!!!

[AOII Angel]

Can someone please start a thread that updates us to let us know when these recruitment threads are finished so I can stop looking until the end? These stories that stretch out for months drive me nuts.

[Mevara]

You can subscribe to the thread so you get emails when someone has posted. After you login at the top of the thread there is a button "Thread Tools". Click on it and select "Subscribe to this Thread".