Your Guide to Sorority Recruitment

In case you're new to my blog or somehow missed my posts from the past three years, I was (still kinda am...since I haven't graduated quite yet) a proud member of Greek Life at my school. Four years ago I definitely could not imagine that I'd be saying that, but here I am a sorority woman. 

Greek Life definitely isn't for everybody, but I don't think you can be judgmental of it until you have given it a chance. 

Sorority recruitment can definitely be an overwhelming thing.  No matter how many blog posts you read, pinterest pins you have, or how great your outfits are I don't think you can ever be fully prepared for recruitment.  It's important to remember as you read all of these things that recruitment is a little or a lot different from school to school. My recruitment experiences in eastern Pennsylvania definitely differed from my friends who go to larger schools down south. With that being said, my tips for recruitment are based on my personal experiences, so don't let them intimidate you or get frustrated if they differ from something else you've read or experienced. 

Before I share my tips, I thought I'd share a brief synopsis of my recruitment story.  In August of 2013, I transferred from my dream school to a state school that I wasn't in love with. I was struggling to become involved on campus, and quite frankly I wasn't really motivated to join any organizations. My mom being a sorority woman, encouraged me give Greek Life a chance. I was incredibly apprehensive, but agreed to give the recruitment process a chance. When I went through recruitment, there were eight sororities on campus. The format of recruitment was two days of open house rounds, philanthropy night, and preference. I missed the second night of open house rounds due to the stomach bug, so I missed the opportunity to meet half of the sororities on campus (this definitely limited me). I went through philanthropy round and was definitely feeling hesitant. During the first night of open house round I attended a session about a sorority that would be colonizing on campus immediately after formal recruitment ended. I decided to drop out of recruitment to go through this new chapter's recruitment process. Long story short, I ended up joining Alpha Delta Pi as a founding sister and absolutely loved (almost) every moment of it. If you want to read more about my experiences, check out my links at the bottom of this post. 

Be Yourself

This is one of the most important things. It's easy to become something you're not during the recruitment process. You may want to join a specific chapter, so you try to act or dress a certain way to impress them. Definitely do not do that. Answer all questions truthfully and don't try to be someone that you are not. The whole process will work out much better if you allow the Panhellenic women to get to know the real version of who you are. 

Take notes

The weeks leading up to recruitment, I'm sure you will be keeping an eye on what the Panhellenic women on campus act like.  Sure these things are important, but it's more important to form your opinions during actually meeting these women in the recruitment process. Meeting all the different sororities can be a bit confusing, so try to take as many notes as possible. The more notes you take the easier it will be to select the chapter you want to run home to on bid day. When taking notes, it might be helpful to jot down the names of the women you meet, several positives you liked, and several negatives that you didn't enjoy. 

Form Your Own Opinions

It can be easy to get caught up in all of the rankings, what other potential new members are saying, and what you hear on campus. Try to make your own judgements on what each sorority is like and if they would be the best fit for you. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter what anybody else says about the chapter because you have to be the one to want to spend time with them. 

Always Be Positive

When mass amounts of women get together, it can be easy to go down the negative road. However, it is important to avoid this route during recruitment. The days are going to be long, there might be things that you don't like, and it's easy to get frustrated when the process doesn't work out as you had imagined it would. Having a positive attitude will make the whole process much more pleasant for both you and the people you're close to.

Trust the Process
The recruitment process is incredibly unique. It's really unlike any other life experiences I've ever had. At most schools, almost every woman is matched with a chapter. Each school's recruitment process looks a little different, but there are so many similarities at the heart of it. You might get frustrated or discouraged at times because things aren't going as you wished, but you just have to trust the process. Things happen for a reason- you just don't always know the exact reason at that given time.

Be Inquisitive
Each chapter you visit will want to know about you. It can be easy for the sorority women to dominate the conversation, in order for them to get to know you and decide if you would be a good fit for their chapter. However, you should be in control of the process since you get to make the decision too.  Don't be afraid to ask questions about aspects of their chapter you are curious about. It's important that you feel comfortable and are knowledgable too.

Take Care of Yourself
The whole process definitely has the potential to be a long roller coaster filled with emotions. Depending on how your school has set up recruitment it could be spread across two weeks, take up a long weekend, or be during the week at night.  Regardless of the format, your health is important. Be sure to eat well, drink enough water, and get enough rest to fuel your days.

Choose Your Outfits in Advance
As far as what is and isn't appropriate to wear you'll have to talk to your recruitment counselor. This definitely changes from campus to campus.  Picking out your outfits in advance will give you one less thing to stress about when recruitment finally rolls around. The last thing you would want is to be late to an event because of a wardrobe malfunction. When picking out your outfits, remember that you will want to be cute, comfortable, slightly modest, and confident.  This means if those wedges you have give you blisters, then you might want to reconsider your shoe choice.  Also when you're picking out your outfits, don't be afraid to be yourself.  Wear clothes that resemble your style rather than clothes that you think a given sorority would wear.

Best of luck!
XOXO