I had no idea what to expect or what I was going to be doing when I first signed up for the University of Alabama at Birmingham sorority recruitment week. The first day was horrible. UAB only has five sororities (in comparison to Alabama at Tuscaloosa or Auburn who have 18-20). The first day comprises of each of the about 200 girls who signed up being assigned a group, and each group has a different schedule. Since there are no sorority houses the sororities, Alpha Xi Delta, Alpha Omricon Pi, Alpha Gamma Delta, Delta Gamma, and Sigma Kappa, were set up in the hill student center and with cute decorated doors. I was given my schedule with my name tag and we waited in our seats in the hill student center amphitheater until it was our time to go. If you have never seen a sorority chant (except in the scary video going around on Facebook) like me, then I am sure it would have been as shocking for you as much as it was for me. The girls are in rows, the bottom row sitting on their knees, then the second and third row crouching, and the other row standing and are all wearing matching outfits. They have songs and they clap and do the chants. Once you enter the room in single file alphabetical order a sister from the sorority walks you in and you proceed to sit down at a table. This was all new to me and I had no idea that the recruitment consists of having small talk with about 3-7 girls in the sorority at round tables for about an hour. The whole day I was so shocked and so nervous I had heart burn. As the day went on I relaxed and felt much more comfortable making conversation and really taking with the girls.
Now, day two was a significant improvement from day one. This night is called philanthropy night and it is where you do the same exact style of sitting at the table and conversing but this day the topic of conversation should try to focus on the philanthropy of the said sorority. I had a sorority that their philanthropy really spoke to me, and I was really excited to get to know more about it.
The final night is called preference night. The attire and feel of the night is more formal. This is where you go back to a maximum of two house, through mutual selection, and talk to one of the girls that you have already spoken to within the week. This is the night where I made my selection. I was very confident in my first and second choices and would have been happy with either one, but I definitely felt more of a connection with my first pick.
Then, there is bid day. This the end of recruitment week and you are given on a piece of paper the sorority that chose you. Once we were all given our bids we ran across the UAB green to the group of girls that had our new Greek letters. All in all, I am thankful that I went through this experience because I truly did make more new friends in the last week that would not have been possible without going through this week.
