Another OR recruitment story

[westcoast91]

So I’ve been creeping around this board for a while reading the other stories on here while never getting around to posting mine. And now that I’m in the midst of midterm season, I thought, what better way to NOT study than to post my story on GC? I’m a pretty big procrastinator, you see.

Here it goes:
I’m a sophomore. I was the first one in my family to go to college so I didn’t know anything about Greek life. The deadline to sign up came and went without me even knowing. However, several friends in my dorm rushed and they ended up loving being in Greek life. Sometimes they would invite my friends and me to different events, and I got a taste of what being in a sorority was like.

Cue this year:
This year I moved out of the dorms and into a quad in West University (right next to all of the sororities) with all guys (they be called my boys from now on). Living with guys is fun, but does nothing for the inner girl in me. Then, a week or so before school started, I woke up to strange shouts and yells. I looked outside and saw tons of girls outside at different houses lining up and practicing chants and doing all sorts of things to prepare for rush. I thought it was lovely, but a tad annoying for 5 in the morning. However, after that morning a strange feeling came over me. A tiny bit of me wanted to rush. I asked my boys what they thought about it. “Yeah, hot chicks!” They said in caveman. No help there. After arguing with myself about it the whole week, I finally signed up for rush. The day before the deadline. No recs or letters. No regrets.

The day of orientation, I got a free pep talk from my boys, which included gems such as, “Don’t be afraid! Go out there balls to the wall! Do us proud!”

And with that I was prepared for rush. I was going to see where I fit and I was going to go confidently, and well, balls to the wall. I didn’t know what that meant, but it became my mantra over rush.

The Houses:
There are 9 at Oregon, plus one local sorority that was going to present to us. I couldn’t think of any fun code for them, so I am going to assign them totally random animals.

Ducks
Nutria
Alaskan Malamutes
Panthers
Tasmanian Devils
Cats
Black Bears
Cardinals
Pandas
Horses

(See?! TOTALLY RANDOM!)
Round one next.

[33girl]

I can hardly see the T-Devils and Pandas. You might want to pick darker colors.

GO NUTRIA!! WHOO HOO!! lol.

ETA: Is the local sorority looking to affiliate with a national group or do they just want to stay local?

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by 33girl

I can hardly see the T-Devils and Pandas. You might want to pick darker colors.

GO NUTRIA!! WHOO HOO!! lol.

Ha! I'm just thinking about the show Up All Night with Dave Atell when he visited New Orleans. They took him along with the pest abatement crew that drives along the ditches in the New Orlean's suburb of Metaire to shoot Nutria rats. They are not the prettiest of animals. Big orange teeth. Some people in Louisiana actually try to eat them.

[ErinBee]

I hit a Nutria on the way to work and it was completely disgusting.

Go Pandas!! It's our chapter mascot and I'm completely obsessed with them!

[twinkle555]

Obviously..go Pandas

[westcoast91]

Day 1 of Round 1-
Pandas- This was the first house I went to. The chants didn’t really phase me (I was used to hearing them practice every day so it didn’t have the same effect on me that it would a freshman) but standing in line was nerve-wracking. When it was my turn to be called in I stood with a nervous smile pasted onto my face while an enormous amount of girls stared at me from the inside. I wondered if I looked ridiculous in my rush shirt, which was so long it almost reached my knees. Oh well. I was escorted in by a gorgeous girl to a sitting room that was buzzing with conversation. I was excited to actually see inside and look at some of the girls in this house, because this was one of the few sororities in which I had no acquaintances, and because during my entire freshman year, I had seen maybe 10 or less girls wearing their letters. I never saw them around on campus and therefore had no opinion of them, which in my mind made Pandas a good house to start with. The conversation was so faced paced I felt like my mind was racing to come up with responses. I felt like any break in the dialogue would mean sudden death. When I left Pandas I thought I did a good job. After, however, I realized I was so intent on the verbal gymnastics I was doing that I didn’t notice the actual quality of the conversation. The girls seemed disinterested, one started past me instead of at me, one couldn’t think of anything to say (“You won a laptop from a poetry competition? That is so cool! That is sooooooo cool. Wow. That’s………like……so……cool!”) and in the end I was as unsure as ever of my opinion of Pandas and decided that I’d probably have to go back to even begin to form an idea of whether or not I liked them.

Nutria- I was very excited to meet the girls in Nutria. I had a Nutria for my lab partner in science class last year and met several others in some of my classes. I also had a friend who DA-d because of “drama”. Overall, based on what I’d seen around campus, I had a pretty good opinion of them. This time I got called in with my line buddy to the front of me. We talked a bit while walking and I discovered quickly that she was a genuinely sweet girl. Once we sat down however, she completely froze. Completely. The rusher started talking to me and I tried to swing the conversation around so my line buddy could answer questions, but she only gave one word answers. After a while some of the Nutria even ignored her, which I thought was rude. One girl didn’t ask us any questions at all, and simply talked about how great HER experience was in Nutria. All I could think was, that’s fantastic, but don’t want to know my name or major? I left with a bad taste in my mouth.

Panthers- By this time my voice hurt from the amount of talking. I never noticed before, but girls talk a mile a minute! I got called in solo. The conversation was…meh. It was refreshing in that the pace between my rusher and me slowed down and we had a deeper conversation than the basic “why are you rushing as a sophomore?” spiel, but we just didn’t click. Meh.

Ducks- This is one of the 2 chapters that my boys wanted me to get into, presumably because of the hotness of the ladies. I was interested for a different reason- I had 2 good friends who were Ducks, but one DA-ed after one term. I got called in solo again. This was the first house I went to where I actually got excited about the conversation. We talked endlessly about football and the upcoming game and how buttered toast was exceptionally good. I was so sad when she had to switch and I got another girl. But then I got into another excellent conversation with her! I was so sad to leave, which was the first time I felt that feeling thus far. That was definitely my new favorite.

Tasmanian Devils- By this time I was dead tired and hungry and didn’t put as much effort as I should have into the conversations there. I got called in with my line buddy to the back, who was a rush maniac. The weird thing was, when we walked from place to place, she spoke normally and was pretty cool. Once we got inside, however, I swear she adopted a valley girl accent, opened her eyes creepily wide, and pasted on a smile that looked painful to hold. I was weirded out. I intended to go through rush as myself and no one else and see where I would fit best. My line buddy’s 180 was off putting and it showed during my time here. Naturally, she dominated the conversation and even cut during questions directed to me. I gave up and admired the general splendor of the décor. I left knowing I probably wouldn’t get invited back.

Day 2 in a bit.

[WCsweet<3]

Originally Posted by 33girl

I can hardly see the T-Devils and Pandas. You might want to pick darker colors.

GO NUTRIA!! WHOO HOO!! lol.

ETA: Is the local sorority looking to affiliate with a national group or do they just want to stay local?

We have a local group that is staying local. They gave a presentation for day 1 and next year may move up to the full recruitment parties like the rest of the sororities.

[DubaiSis]

Originally Posted by westcoast91

I got called in with my line buddy to the back, who was a rush maniac.

So you also rushed with Chuck Norris? HA!

[westcoast91]

Sorry, y’all. Things have been hectic. Day 2:
Cats- First house of day 2. I came much more prepared. I packed granola bars and snacks, a full bottle of water, and a sweater. Rush felt a lot more like wilderness survival than a formal, orderly process. My throat was shot, but that didn’t stop from being excited about this house. In my opinion, they have one of the most beautiful houses on campus. I was eager to take a peek inside. Line up time came and I ended up getting picked up with my line buddy to the front. Whew. She was much more relaxed today than yesterday. The first girl we talked to was a bit awkward. Nice, but awkward. Same thing with girl number 2. I had a nice chat with both, but you could tell the girls were a bit shy. I left feeling very neutral about them.

Black Bears- I didn’t know how to feel going into this one. I have 3 very close friends who all pledged here and lived in my dorm last year. I had already seen inside and had attended one of their events. I tried to be very neutral going in and not let the fact that I had friends here sway me. While waiting in line my line buddy to the back kept grilling me about reputations. Because I was a sophomore I was like a God of Sacred Knowledge and Things. It was getting annoying. I had fair/good opinions on almost all sororities on campus, which apparently wasn’t good enough for Tweedle Dee’s Chuck Norris’s twin. I was thus suspected of hiding information. Urgh. I was picked up again with my front line buddy. By now we knew all about each other pretty well, and started introducing the other to our rushers and talking for the other when we knew the questions. It was pretty funny as well as relaxing for both of us, especially as we started getting tired. The conversation was good, but not special. I left thinking about how this was my friends’ sorority, without really being able to picture me there as well.

Cardinals- The Cardinals were a local sorority on campus and didn’t have a house. I’m pretty sure they had Jewish values, too. I went to a classroom for their presentation and enjoyed simply sitting and listening instead of destroying my voice further. Their presentation was cute and the girls were nice, but I wasn’t feelin’ it. I wanted to be a part of something bigger, and the Cardinals were just starting out. In order to pledge them you had to drop out of recruitment, which I didn’t want to do. So, when I left the meeting, I knew already that the Cardinals were out.

Horses- Horses also had one of the prettiest houses on campus. Side note: I love houses. And looking inside on them. Does that make me weird? I got called in solo, which was a nice change. I totally wasn’t expecting a spark from this house, but boy, was I wrong! I talked on and on with my rusher about the joys and troubles of apartment life, and with 3 boys no less. She also lived off campus and shared stories of her own. I felt such a good connection with her and felt like I had a genuine conversation. I was so reluctant to leave, and I felt that she felt the same way. Horses quickly jumped to the top of my favorite list.

Alaskan Malamutes- By the last house I desperately needed to pee and felt extremely tired. I wasn’t so excited to go here anyway. I would give it a shot, but this was the only house in which I had already formed a negative opinion of. I knew they were in quite a bit of trouble last year for things that definitely don’t agree with my values. Of course, most girls were dying to get in. Hype for this house reached a head when a story circulated that a girl in the walking group ahead of us demanded a make-up break before going here because “Malamutes are like, the pretty house.” I couldn’t believe the ridiculousness. Either way when I walked in I was practically doing the pee-pee dance and had to ask to use the restroom. My rusher was very nice about it and laughed it off after. She switched soon after that and I got switched to another girl. We ended up talking about Teen Mom the entire time- I filled her in because she was too busy to watch. No questions about me. Just what happened on Teen Mom. I was fine with that. At least there was something to talk about. I knew I wouldn’t get invited back before I even stepped inside. It just wasn’t a sisterhood I wanted to be in.

When it came time to rank the decision was pretty clear. Cardinals could not be ranked and you ranked seven 1s and one 2 and one 3.

My top and bottom were pretty clear:
1 Horses
1 Ducks
1 Black Bears
Then came a jumbled middle of the pack with everyone else tied
Then 2 Nutria
And 3 Malamutes
I left that night exhausted yet pumped for philanthropy day and the game.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by westcoast91

I’m pretty sure they had Jewish values, too.

Not that there's anything wrong with that. LOL

[Low C Sharp]

The nutria episode with Dave Attell was the BEST!! Shooting anything out of the back of a moving pickup truck makes for pretty good TV, but giant rodents with orange buck teeth? A classic.

/hijack
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[westcoast91]

Originally Posted by 33girl

Not that there's anything wrong with that. LOL

Oh totally, sorry if that came off wrong, it's just that I'm completely non religious. sorry about that!

[BraveMaroon]

Originally Posted by westcoast91

Oh totally, sorry if that came off wrong, it's just that I'm completely non religious. sorry about that!

I'm pretty sure she was invoking Seinfeld....

I didn't find it offensive, though.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by BraveMaroon

I'm pretty sure she was invoking Seinfeld....

I didn't find it offensive, though.

She got the reference. She's not stupid. I just thought it was worded awkwardly and thought I would make a funny joke about it before someone else took it the wrong way and decided to be a dick.

[BraveMaroon]

Originally Posted by 33girl

She got the reference. She's not stupid. I just thought it was worded awkwardly and thought I would make a funny joke about it before someone else took it the wrong way and decided to be a dick.

Fair enough - as someone who has been misunderstood, I was attempting to put her at ease.