As a Potential New Member (PNM) at the University of Alabama, I thought sorority recruitment was hard. You're new to the school, you're going into 17 different houses and talking to hundreds of new people throughout the week, actives, PNMs, Rho Chis, J-Boards. It's insane.
However, my experience as a PNM was over a year ago, and, as an active member of Kappa Alpha Theta, I've gained a new respect for all the girls who have rushed me and every other PNM that's gone through the doors of each house over the years. Here are a few of the differences that I've noticed now that I've seen both sides.
One of the major ones is the point of formal recruitment. As a PNM, your goal is to find a house that you and only you will fit in. You are your priority for the week. While you're looking to make new friends and join a new club, it ultimately comes down to where can you find your home. As an active, however, we're looking for a member class to continue the legacy of the sorority. As we talk to each an every girl, we have to figure out things from looking to see if someone carries our values to finding a little. It's stressful to think that a group of girls that are going to carry our house for the next four years is found in a single week.
Another difference is talking to girls. PNMs have a week to sell themselves to a house, and we have a week to sell our house to them. The roles are reversed, and we have 20, 30, 40, 50 minutes to make or break our house, our values, our philanthropy, etc. to a girl who has just run across the row from the house before. Some girls love to hear about one house and aren't as interested in another (which is okay! That's why there are 19 different houses in the Alabama Panhellenic Association), so we have a variety of different interest levels to cater to.
The parties from each side are very different as well. As a PNM, I had a lot of time between rounds to reset myself, which was nice because I was so mentally exhausted after each conversation. As an active, my one and only break of each day was lunch. You may not realize, but the actives in each house talk to girls each and every round. I talked to 64 different girls in the first 6 days of recruitment, and my voice was gone by the last day. Both sides are socially challenging, but I didn't realize the amount of talking I was about to do as an active.
At the end of the day, as insane as the recruitment process is, I had an amazing time in both roles, and probably even more fun as an active! I got to meet amazing girls in both roles, made some incredible friends on both sides, and both put together were probably two of the best, craziest, draining, rewarding experiences of my life. I'm glad I went through recruitment and joined Theta, and I'm glad I got to see the other side and take part in choosing our newest, amazing member class!
