My Labor Day weekend was anything but relaxing in the sun with a beer in one hand and a hot dog in the other. During this holiday weekend, I decided to make the brave decision to participate in sorority recruitment. The weekend consisted of four solid days of talking to different women from all the sororities around campus and then continued for two days the following weekend. But, being a senior in a sea of freshmen made the process a little different for me.
We began our journeys with 623 women by our sides ranging from freshmen through seniors. On Friday, September 2nd, we spent two hours in an orientation session with the heads of Greek life and later met with our recruitment counselor and groups to make discuss the process more in depth and make cute name tags. After a good night’s sleep, we all gathered at 10:00 am the next day to endure one of the longest days of our young lives.
This day consisted of meeting every single sorority on campus. EVERY SINGLE SORORITY! We currently have nine panhellenic sororities around campus which include: Alpha Phi, Alpha Delta Pi, Alpha Sigma Alpha, Alpha Sigma Tau, Alpha Xi Delta, Delta Phi Epsilon, Delta Zeta, Phi Sigma Sigma, and Zeta Tau Alpha. This year, West Chester’s campus is also adding a new sorority, Kappa Delta, so we had the opportunity to meet with them as well.
Each sorority was set in a different room spaced out between two buildings.The wait was the worst of it. We stood outside the rooms for what felt like an eternity. All of a sudden, our recruitment counselors would bang on the doors which opened seconds after. Every woman was wearing matching shirts while chanting and clapping. It was overwhelming! When you walk into the room, they link arms with you and parade you around the room. When they are finished chanting, you immediately jump into a conversation.
I was basically asked the same questions all day, every day because I was meeting so many different women. By the end of the process, I definitely perfected all my answers. There were mostly freshmen in the recruitment, so the women usually I assumed I was a freshman or a sophomore. One girl had the funniest response when I told her I was a senior:
“Hi! I’m (insert generic white girl name here)! What’s your name?”
“Hi! I’m Bridget.”
“Are you a freshman? Sophomore?”
“No, I’m actually a senior.”
“But, you’re so little!!!”
Yes, this actually happened. I’m 5’2” and petite, so I definitely did blend in well with the freshmen in my groups. Whenever I told the sister I was a senior, they became wide-eyed and immediately asked the question, “Why made you decide to go out for recruitment as a senior?” As I said earlier, I perfected these answers by the end.
“Well, I transferred to West Chester last fall and my old college didn’t have any sororities or Greek life. I didn’t go through recruitment because I wanted to get settled into my new school. I’ve always wanted to join a sorority because I love the sisterhood bonds and participating in service, so I figured, better late than never.”
I kept repeating that quote to myself as I went through recruitment. “Better late than never.” It is absolutely true in my case. I have always wanted to join a sorority and I’m so happy I decided to do it when I was given the opportunity. I devoted a ton of time to this process during these two weeks, (it was a dry two weeks by the way) but the outcome was 100% worth it.
I went into this process with a few sororities in mind that I wanted to be a part of, however, while going through the process, I found homes in completely different places. On Bid Day, I was given a bid from Alpha Delta Pi. This sorority was my top choice from the first day when I walked into their room at Sykes. Before recruitment, they were not one I particularly had in mind, but I knew from that moment that this was where I belonged. It felt like home right away and I felt so comfortable talking to these women. Bid Day was one of the best days. We met in the quad and ran to meet our new sisters in the middle. We spent the whole day together, bonding and getting to know each other.
Through all of recruitment, you keep hearing one phrase over and over again. “Trust the process.” What does this mean exactly? Don’t think that you only want to join a specific sorority. Don’t drop out of recruitment if you don’t get invited back to that sorority. Keep an open mind and open opinions about each group despite rumors you may have heard about any. If you didn’t click with them one day, don’t rule them out because maybe you’ll like them the next. Be yourself because you will find your home. And most importantly, try to remember that everything happens for a reason.
I am so grateful that I went through this process. Even though I will only be in my sorority for one year, it will probably be my favorite year of college. I can’t wait to get to know all of my sisters and to see what this year has in store for me.
If you take anything away from this article at all, please remember that it is never too late to take a chance. I did that and gained over 100 new sisters that will always be there for me.
We Live For Each Other And Alpha Delta Pi!
