Lilly, Marshall, Barney, Robin, and Ted never went through formal recruitment, but we did. Women who go through formal recruitment know exactly what it's like, and somehow the five best friends on "How I Met Your Mother" know too.
After leaving the first house you visit.
You read numerous articles on sorority recruitment before you decided to embark on this adventure. Not one of these articles mentioned how immaculately decorated these rooms/houses would be.
Trying to figure out which one you're going to eliminate after the first day.
During formal recruitment, it is very common for you to have to eliminate a sorority after the first day of recruitment. This is (for lack of better terms) the worst. You most likely loved every girl that you met, so this decision is the absolute hardest decision you've ever made (right next to deciding what to wear that day).
Making small talk with the active members, but trying to make it interesting.
You get sick and tired of telling people over and over again what your major is, where you're from, and what your hobbies are. You try to come up with interesting things to say, but most of the time it just ends up like this...
The agonizing wait between rooms/houses.
Recruitment follows a very specific schedule. Some girls get lucky enough to have a schedule where their visits are back to back. That's not the case for everyone, though. Most of the time you end up waiting an hour (or three) between visits.
Finally meeting an active member that you genuinely like
Making genuine connections with someone you just met can be ridiculously hard. When you find an active member that you actually click with the feeling is magical.
Overhearing someone talking smack on the sorority that you want to be in.
There is nothing worse than hearing other people talk badly about the sorority that you are in love with. They tell you not to talk about which sorority you prefer over another, but it's hard not to when you're absolutely in love.
Walking in on preference night.
Preference night is the night where you go all out. You probably spent hours shopping for the perfect preference night dress and heel combination. You walk into your first room/house feeling (and looking) absolutely fierce.
Receiving your bid and getting exactly what you wanted.
There are butterflies in your stomach as you hold the envelope containing your bid. You open the envelope with 100 different emotions going through your head. The pure joy that you feel when you get the organization that you wanted is incomparable. Maybe you'll feel the same joy when you have kids or something.
Or
Most girls (me) stress themselves out so much the night before bid day that they just lose it when they read their bid. On bid day, you're either a Barney and Robin, or you're a Ted.
Finding out that your friend got a bid to the same sorority.
You made so many friends during recruitment, and it's the best feeling to find out that they're going to be your sister for the next four years. During the chaos of bid day, though, you probably won't know they're your sister until the bid day festivities begin.
Finding out your new member schedule.
Many sororities have a new member education program full of retreats, meetings, chapter meetings, big/little reveal. You found out very quickly just how committed you had to be. You still didn't regret your decision.
Finishing all of your bid day activities with your amazing new family.
Bid day was "legen-wait for it-dary."
