It’s here. You’re about to experience a week of hell while dressed in heels. Just remember that it’ll all be worth it in the end. Trust your instincts and trust the process. Brush your teeth, zip up that dress, and remember to smile! These are the perfect GIFs to describe what recruitment at JMU is like.
You were stuffed into a room with multitudes of other Potential New Members and sat in awe as the Panhellenic Council spit facts about the upcoming week. Each day has a different theme, the niceness of your outfits varies from day to day, and the schedules make zero sense. The only guarantee is that you will have no idea what’s going on the entire week.
The anxiety comes crashing in as you try and prepare yourself for the impending madness of speed-dating a group of 200 women. You line up outside your first house and Rho Gammas remind you to smile as Panhel shouts to be quiet. A countdown appears out of no where and active members burst out of the doors, cheering at the top of their lungs. This is it. Time to go friend-flirt.
One of the most stressful aspects of recruitment is running up and down the row looking for your next house. From the outside looking in, it looks a little something like this.
The most important thing to remember when talking to active members involves keeping the conversation flowing. But, that can be hard when you’ve exhausted your top ten talking points within the first 45 seconds. Whoever thought holding a conversation could be so difficult?
The hours are long and the breaks are rare. After endless conversations, any free moment is a luxury. Your Rho Gamma will likely have a few fruit snacks and granola bars, but if you want some real food, optimize your break. Pro tip: Chick-Fil-A is closest to the row.
The hardest part of each day is writing down the order of your favorite sororities. Making that decision is integral to the process of finding the right place for you. There will always be a few sororities that you know aren’t for you, but trying to figure out where to place 12 different sororities in order from most to least favorite seems impossible.
Recruitment is tiresome. You spend hours running from house to house, screaming in a basement stuffed to the max in an attempt to be heard. You’re physically and emotionally drained, you’ve sweat through your makeup, and you’ve caught that cold that’s slowly spreading down the row. Finally, you make it to your last house of the night and it takes everything you have to keep that smile spread across your face.
It’s gross to think about, but the amount of germs passed during recruitment is substantial. The recruitment cold is equivalent to the plague. First your friend gets it, then a few members in your Rho Gamma group get it, and then when you think you’ve survived, you wake up the next morning on your death bed. All I can say is wash your hands — wash them often.
There’s always one active member who makes every other sorority seem like garbage. She’s kind, she’s funny, she’s beautiful, and she’s everything you want in a sister. You meet her and you immediately feel at home. But remember, one amazing woman does not represent an entire sorority.
There are too many wonderful women to choose from! Making a decision can be next to impossible. Sometimes you just want to give up and let another decide for you, but remember to trust your instincts and you’ll end up where you’re supposed to.
In the end, choosing a bid is your decision, but you have to receive a bid before that can happen. You can smile and laugh, but sometimes your interest in a particular sorority can come across as a little obvious. Express enthusiasm, but try and be subtle.
One house is onerous, but 12 is monotonous. When you finally get home after an all-day grind, you won’t be in your bed five minutes before you’re completely comatose.
You set your volume on loud before you fall asleep and don’t even mind when the ringer startles you awake first thing in the morning. You spent the entire night dreaming about which houses you’ll get called back to. All you can do now is wait for the call.
You made it! The week is over and you’ve visited your last house. Your Rho Gamma called informing you that you’ve received a bid. You sit in Wilson Hall and the envelopes are passed out. You’re instructed to sit on the envelop to ensure there’s no cheating. 20 minutes feels like 20 years as you eagerly wait to open your bid. It’s out of your hands now — the anticipation is killing you …
IT’S THE ONE YOU WANTED! Every moment of stress is immediately forgotten as you run into the arms of your new sisters! The week was hell, but the end result makes it all worth it. Congratulations on your new sorority!
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