Coming into college, I knew that I wanted to go through formal recruitment. It was something that I dreamed of doing before I even applied to any schools. I pictured recruitment as something so easy. I would walk into a house, love it, and be handed a bid three days later.
Oh was I so very wrong.
I’m not going to lie; recruitment was awful for me. I went into recruitment thinking that finding where I belonged was going to be a breeze. After day one, I was extremely overwhelmed. I visited eight houses in one night and I had absolutely no idea what to think about any of them. There were some houses I absolutely loved and some I didn’t really feel. I was very confused. I ended up going with my gut and chose the houses that I liked, and just hoped for the best. On day two, I was feeling better. I was invited back to my favorite houses and I gained some of my confidence back. I went to the houses and felt really good about all of them. I picked my top two houses and prayed that things would end up in my favor. But once again…I was so very wrong. On preference day I was invited back to one house. I was absolutely devastated. When I opened that email I balled my eyes out. I couldn’t stop thinking about what I did to have other houses not like me. I thought there was something wrong with me. Before visiting the house, part of me seriously considered dropping out of recruitment. The more I thought to myself the more I started to think that this wasn’t worth the emotional trauma it was causing me. After much consideration and pep talks from my pi chi (panhellenic counselor), I decided to finish recruitment. I figured that I had nothing to lose at this point and I should just give it another chance. On bid day, I opened my card and I felt absolutely nothing. Everyone else around me was crying and screaming with excitement. I wasn’t excited about anything. Nevertheless, I put a smile on my face and ran home.
Have Your Voice Heard: Become an Odyssey Creator
From that point on I was still unsure. I just didn’t really know what to think about it. I debated for about two weeks about dropping and going through recruitment next year. But what if I ended up where I already was again? Then it was a waste of time. But I just kept telling myself to give it a chance. I slowly but surely started to meet new people and make friends, but it was a rough start. I’m naturally a very shy and introverted person so being in a giant house with a bunch of girls wasn’t really my thing. As time went on I started to fall in love with where I was. I finally realized how lucky I was to belong to an organization filled with some of the most amazing girls I have ever met in my entire life. I’ve met some of my best friends through my sorority. I always have someone to go get coffee with or to just hang out and watch movies. You always have a shoulder to cry on. It's become a huge part of my support system.
If you’re debating on whether or not you should rush, I say do it. You never know what could happen. Recruitment is different for everyone. You have nothing to lose by at least giving it a shot. If you go and decide it’s not for you, you always have the option of dropping. Joining a sorority was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made and I’m proud to be a part of Gamma Phi Beta. There’s no place I would rather be.
