Once high school graduation was over, I couldn’t wait to move to Texas and start Sorority Recruitment. Let me preface the following account by saying that I couldn’t be happier with my end result. I found a house that I love, and I get to spend every day with some of the greatest girls I’ve ever met in my entire life. I’m so lucky and blessed to have ended up where I did. But the process was the hardest thing I have ever done in my entire life.

I personally do not think that that recruitment was very fun. You wake up early every day, put on make up, put on your favorite outfit, and get ready to compete with 1,000 other girls for a spot in a house. You then spend a full day talking to strangers, sitting in a break room for hours at a time, and are forced to socialize with girls that are trying to intimidate you with their “connections” to every sorority on campus. Every day, I went back to my room and cried, because I was just too overwhelmed by everything. Your day is consumed with talking to girls you don’t know, and you must try your hardest to sound cool and make them think you are the greatest person alive. Plus, throughout the entire conversation, you’re hoping that they love you just as much as you love them, and that isn’t always the case.

Day three of recruitment was the first day in which we find out which houses cut us, and nothing can prepare you for that. You will get cut from houses; it’s the way the game works. In the end, you will be cut from every house except one. So, even if you open your schedule and are stoked your top house made it that day, it’s still hard to not be upset about the houses that didn’t want you back. It’s extremely difficult to understand how someone could decide they never wanted to talk to you again after a 20 minute conversation.

That is the number one thing I struggled with during recruitment. I never understood why I got cut from some houses, or even how I got called back to some houses. But after many phone calls back to mom and dad, I realized that there was a much bigger picture to look at than worrying about who cut you.

If you are lucky enough to be called back to houses every day, that is something to celebrate. You celebrate because they wanted you back. They saw something in you, and asked you to come back, because they wanted to get to know you! If you end up with a house, you’ve ended up with girls who have wanted you from the moment they saw you. Some people don’t get called back to any houses. How could you be upset that you got called back to fewer houses than the person sitting next to you when someone would be dying to be in your position?

For any girl considering the recruitment process, please go through it. It is not fun, but it is a process that I would recommend. Because of recruitment, I have a better understanding of what I want out of my college experience. Your social game jumps to a whole new level, and you meet some of your greatest friends. Even if you don’t end up in a sorority, or you think that sorority life isn’t for you, it’s worth going through with it.

I met some of my closest friends during recruitment. Some of the girls are my sisters, some are in a different sorority, and some decided that they didn’t want to go the sorority route. It is important that you don’t lose yourself during this process and that you use it as a time in which you can figure out what qualities you want in a true friendship. My campus is unique, because no matter where you end up, Greek life or not, there is a place for you, and you will still have the chance to meet some of the greatest people. College is a time for learning and growing, and without Sorority Recruitment, I would not have learned so much about myself.