How to Join a Sorority: Part Two

Step Four:  Get prepared.

Figure out what to wear for every round.  Start here.

Get tips and tricks from women who’ve been in your shoes, like from here and here.

Step Five: Recognize the importance of being Panhellenic.

You may not know what “being Panhellenic” means now, but I assure you, it is a huge part of being in a sorority – and it starts even before recruitment.  Before recruitment, it means taking every stereotype with a grain of salt.  During recruitment, it means not judging other PNM’s opinions of sororities and not letting “tent talk” bother you.  After recruitment, it means making friends in other sororities and keeping the ones you made during recruitment.  It means being involved in your school’s Panhellenic council – whether that means serving as an officer or simply attending events.  Being Panhellenic will provide you with many lifelong friendships with women outside of your own sorority.

Step Six:  Know that your recruitment experience won’t be perfect.

Sometimes you’ll sweat and sometimes you’ll be cold.  Maybe one day your hair won’t look perfect.  You might not get invited back to a chapter you fell in love with.

You’re not alone and none of the sisters you meet will have had a perfect recruitment either.  It doesn’t exist.  Try to make the most of your recruitment experience and have fun with it.  It’s all worth it, I promise.

Step Seven: Register.

Depending on your school size, this may mean sending an e-mail to the Panhellenic Vice President of Recruitment or registering via a website and paying a fee.  You can find out how or who to contact on your school’s Greek Life website or College Lifestyles’ upcoming Recruitment PDF Guide – look for it soon!

Have a great recruitment everyone!

Brynne is a senior at the University of Connecticut, a College Lifestyles™ intern, and a Kappa Alpha Theta.  Her interests include reading, identifying nail polish color by name, and trying every Larabar that exists.

Being Panhellenic During Recruitment

In my past three years of sorority life the one thing I have found the most difficult  to maintain in my chapter is a  sense of Panhellenic pride and strong inter-greek relations. Too often a competitive spirit takes over in many chapters and ruins relations between sororities across campuses. As recruitment approaches take it upon yourself to make your chapter and hopefully campus more Panhellenic. Here are a few tips to show some team spirit during one of the most competitive weeks of the year.

1. Send flowers to each chapter on your campus during formal recruitment. Every sorority has a flower and most chapters like to fill their house with them during preference night. Ask your gracious living or inter-greek relations chairperson to do some research and send the flowers to the various chapters wishing them luck.

2. Use car chalk to decorate cars with “Go Greek” instead of specific chapter names. My campus just implemented a new rule that all cars must have “Go Greek” written larger than any sorority symbol or letters. This encourages the idea of rushing the greek system as a whole not a specific chapter.

3. Never talk negatively about another chapter. Sororities want potential new members to join because they love that chapter not because they dislike the rest. Additionally, you don’t know where a potential new member might end up or which chapter they are leaning towards. Always focus on selling your chapter and if all else fails focus on selling the greek system as a whole.

4. Encourage members of your chapter to serve on recruitment staff or as recruitment consolers. These are important roles that need to be filled on every campus. If no one from your chapter steps up you will lose your voice in the system when it comes to setting rules and making decisions. Additionally, having leaders on campus from your chapter is always a positive thing and will get you noticed by upperclassmen who rush.

These simple tips can make the Greek system on your campus stronger. Please share any additional ideas that you have.

SaraP is an intern at CollegeLifestyles (TM).

Top 5 Super Secret Tips for Sorority Recruitment

1. Don’t let it rain on your parade. Bring an umbrella in case of unexpected rain showers.

2. Poof begone! Straighten your hair pin-straight to avoid any issue with the pesky humidity. Adding Lauren Conrad’s signature side braid is another fabulous tip to help you stand out in recruitment.

3. Leave your sailor mouth at home. Like Shelly, our College Lifestyles’ director says, “Where have all the classy ladies gone?“

4. Smile like a rockstar. Using Crest White Strips at least a week before recruitment guarantees a gorgeous smile.

5. Thank your amazing family. In most cases, your parents act as your financial support throughout college. Show them how much you appreciate their encouragement by treating them to a fabulous and tasty lunch.

Good luck with recruitment ladies!

Shannon May is an intern with College Lifestyles (TM).  She is a Marketing Major at the University of Florida and a member of Alpha Kappa Psi, the Co-Ed Professional Business Fraternity. She enjoys food blogging and tries to have at least one adventure per day.

Beat the Rush: Your Candid Guide to Mastering the Art of Sorority Recruitment

[Art]: “the process or product of deliberately arranging elements in a way that appeals to the senses or emotion”

With its meticulously designed interactions and its use of striking t-shirt colors and room décor intended to tap into our subconscious, sorority recruitment has practically become an art form – make that college’s foremost display of ‘Surrealism’. Rarely in life will you encounter something as surreal and fantastic as rush where concepts and practices of business networking, speed dating and high school politics collide and splash onto a single canvas. Toss in the intense high produced by numerous ‘sugary drink comas’ and mix with the trippy-ness of encountering 50 Cheshire cat perma-grins in every house, and you’ve got yourself one heck of an ‘artistic’ experience.  

All forms of art rarely present a sense of simplicity and straightforwardness in their meaning and intention, and sorority recruitment is no different. Undoubtedly, the process of rush shocks and challenges all our conventional notions of reality by presenting a bizarre and at times, illogical world where small talk and first impressions can trump personality and intellect in determining your next group of best friends. As with art, rush can be a thrilling experience but also incredibly bewildering and daunting if you don’t know which elements to focus on, and how to relate your own interpretations to what’s really happening in front of you. Ultimately, the best way to effectively understand and navigate sorority recruitment requires the same type of approach used in art analysis: looking beyond the surface ‘art’ in order to grasp the more important and perhaps taboo elements – in this case, building on the ‘pretty’ recruitment tips and practices presented to you by your Greek Life Office or Ro Chi so that you can emerge as a shrewd and successful rushee:  

Their Pretty Tip: “Be Confident!”

Our Taboo Reality: As in any social situation, radiating confidence is a must if you hope to leave a positive and lasting impression. But rushee, beware: in sorority recruitment the line between confidence and arrogance can be deceivingly blurred. In the nervousness and competition of recruitment it’s easy for a Potential New Member (PNM) to forget the difference between running towards the finish line, and simply running their mouth off:

-          Share, don’t suffocate: as much as the whole process may feel like a warped job interview, remember that you are here to meet the friends of your dreams – not interview for your dream job. Instead of rushing through your top 100 extracurricular activities, take the time to detail one or two of your most creative and memorable achievements. The fact that you spearheaded a campaign to help the homeless will sound more impressive than simply listing off your cookie-cutter involvement on student council, the graduation committee, etc.

-          Refrain from broadcasting your bids-ness: you may think that the Alpha chapter has pinpointed you to become their future president, but never publicize the fact that you are expecting a bid from a chapter. Not only are there no such things as guarantees in recruitment, but your bragging could be detrimental to your rush success: fellow PNMs may view your behaviour as insensitive and avoid your friendship, and a disaffiliated Alpha member may judge you as conceited and report back negatively to her sorority. You could also jeopardize your chances with other houses who will not appreciate your one-dimensional thinking … and then there go your ‘safeties’. Bottom line: keep your thoughts to yourself and save your enthusiasm for when that bid card is secure in your hand.

Their Pretty Tip: “Ask Questions!”

Our Taboo Reality: Asking questions is important but asking the right questions is even more crucial. Although you may be tempted to ask the unrelenting “so, like, what sorority are you guys? The athletes, the party girls …?” avoid these types of superficial questions. With such questions you will rarely get an honest answer (all sororities are programmed to say pretty much the same thing when it comes to identity issues), and you will come across as shallow, not curious. Before recruitment starts, think of 3 thoughtful questions to ask each house so that you’re not forced to think of weak ones on the spot.

Their Pretty Tip: “Come to Events with your own Thoughts and Opinions!”

Our Taboo Reality: One of the tricky things about the recruitment process is that while sorority women may seem perpetually encouraging and receptive in a conversation they could secretly be deducting 10 points for every point you make on your political and religious beliefs; all the while, you have no idea you’re drifting into out-of-bounds territory. As a rule of thumb, when it comes to rush, stay away from discussing the 3 B’s:

-          Don’t talk about boys: the more you bring up boys, the more it’ll seem like you want to join a sorority just for the boys. As much as you may be curious about that cute frat boy you met during frosh week, at least wait until your first bonding moment as sisters before you ask this Alpha member about his status. During rush, keep it PG: only bring up boys if you share a common link through a friend or a brother. 

-          Don’t discuss highly controversial beliefs: recruitment is not the place to debate belief systems; this isn’t being stupid, it’s being sensitive. Although politics may be a regular discussion topic at your dinner table, bringing it up during recruitment could make someone feel highly uncomfortable and awkward, and could consequently jeopardize your chances at membership. Just keep this in mind: your values and beliefs will be obvious in way you carry and present yourself.

-          Don’t bash the other houses: the Alpha girl you’re talking to may have a friend in another sorority, and your negative attitude could be detrimental to your future sorority status. When sorority women hear a PNM bashing another chapter they don’t think “wow, this girl is loyal to us!” The more realistic interpretation is “wow, this girl is catty. Drama is the last thing our chapter needs.”

-          Finally, maintain a positive attitude against all odds: even if you despise your dreadlocked roommate and difficult classes, don’t take it all out on the poor girl you just met! Just remember this fact: once you join a sorority your social life and scholastic resources will inevitably improve.  

Their Pretty Tip: “Dress Comfortably!”

Our Taboo Reality: During recruitment, NEVER sacrifice beauty for comfort! Here, appearances count for a lot and the way you dress will say a lot about who you are as a person. When you only have 10 – 30 minutes to make a great impression, high heels, clean lines, a nice color palette, and tidy make-up and hair will win you much more than your stellar GPA. Croc high heels may sound like the perfect compromise (sadly, yes, they do exist) but please, stay away from anything that screams ‘dorm room doldrums’, ‘I-heart-my-treadmill’, or ‘penthouse after dark’. Instead:  

-          Dress like you’re going on a first date: aim for classy with a touch of glamour.  

-          Stand out in the right way: wear a memorable and trendy accent like a piece of chunky jewellery or a Blair Waldorf-style hair band.

-          Pile on the deodorant and pick a shirt that won’t show sweat stains. Skip the perfume.

-          Plan your outfits in advance (ideally with a friend’s approval) so that you’re not frantically rummaging through that dirty pile of clothes on your dorm room floor the morning of Tours.  

-          Don’t work a sorority’s symbol into your outfit: flaunting a massive anchor or fleur-de-lis around your neck in the hopes of gaining membership is tacky and pretentious. These symbols mean a lot to sororities and you using them as a ‘subliminal’ marketing tool may come across as desperate and lazy. Show that special chapter you want membership through more sincere means like enthusiastic questions and conversation.     

Your feet may be cursing you as you flaunt those heels through 8 houses but being offered membership into your favorite sorority will make up for any physical pain you may have endured. And with whatever outfit you decide to put together, just remember this simple rule of thumb: Rock it, don’t Croc it!

Their Pretty Tip: “Don’t Listen to Stereotypes!”

Our Taboo Reality: As much as we may hate to admit it, there is often some truth in stereotypes; they don’t just form out of thin air. During recruitment, it is important to form your own opinions and not subscribe exclusively to stereotypes, but at the same time, do listen carefully if you are hearing the same thing over and over again about a chapter from informed and objective sources. If partying is really not your scene and 3 separate people have mentioned that the Beta chapter is infamous for taking over the campus pub on a tri-weekly basis, you may want to keep this is mind when making your rush decisions.

Their Pretty Tip: “The Girls are just as Nervous to meet you!”

Our Taboo Reality: recruitment is an exhilarating experience for girls on both sides of the process; however, the reality remains that while PNMs receive little to no coaching on rush techniques, sorority women go through months of preparation and practice for the big occasion. They have experience in dealing with every lull in conversation, every sensitive topic, and know even the most fluid ways to transition in and out of conversation. This is all done to ensure that your recruitment experience as comfortable and enjoyable as possible, but regardless, these girls will be a lot less anxious than you when the big week rolls around – so follow suit and take a little time to prepare some material of your own. Practice your answers for possible questions and figure out how you’re going to put your best foot forward when addressed about your own interests and involvements.

The ultimate idea is not to disregard the positive and ‘pretty’ tips offered to you by your college or Greek Council, but to understand how you can best utilize them in order to master the fine art of recruitment and end up exactly where you want to be: at ease, excited, and living the sorority high life in the chapter of your choice.

Marisa Woodham is an intern at College Lifestyles ™ and an English major at the University of British Columbia. She is a senior member of Alpha Phi and also a former Panhellenic President.

Just Keep Smiling…Leadership ‘Recruitiquette’

“Setting an example is not the main means of influencing another, it is the only means.” –Albert Einstein

If you ask any experienced recruiter, she can tell you that sorority recruitment is full of smiling, small talk and sorority pride. However, she can also tell you that there is much more involved than meets the eye. For those of you on the inside of recruitment—the recruiters—there are hours of set-up, song practice and party run-throughs. It can be tough not to get worn down and grumpy!

It is important, especially during the often stressful recruitment season, to be classy at all times. This is incredibly important for the sorority leaders to remember. As a leader, you are leading all the time, even when you’re tired or irritated!

In order to help you out a bit, I have compiled a quick list of etiquette (Recruitiquette) tips for leaders to keep in mind during recruitment.

• Just keep smiling. As a leader, it is your job to keep the chapter excited about recruitment. So that means being positive and upbeat—even at 1 am after a long day of events!

• Leave your phone behind. There is no need to be checking texts, Facebook or Twitter during the rounds.  When you are in the room, be in the room!  If you are worried about time, grab a watch.

• Be respectful. This may sound like common sense, but you would be surprised.  Not every girl that comes into your room will be right for your chapter, but DO NOT bad mouth her after she leaves.  Not only is it disrespectful to the PNM, but others will follow your lead.  (The same goes for other sororities.  NEVER trash talk a different sisterhood!)

• The recruitment chair is in charge. This one goes out to chapter presidnets:  This is the recruitment chair’s big event, so let her handle it!  You are leading at all times, but you do not always have to be in charge.  Your sisters elected the RC to do this job, so let her shine!  You can sit back and enjoy the break.

Above all, remember that YOU ARE THE EXAMPLE!

As a leader, others will do as you do.  This means you must dress, speak and act appropriately at all times.  It also means hypocrisy is not an option.

Emily Trimble is a 2009 graduate of Valparaiso University.  She is an alumna of the Alpha Lambda chapter of Chi Omega where she served as Panhellenic Delegate and Chapter President. “Chi Omega, Die Omega!”

Greek Vocab Lesson

When thinking about the beginning of Fall semester I am always reminded of going through recruitment. I remember it being extremely hot, I remember constantly reminding myself to “sit like the queen” with my ankles crossed, and I remember not having a clue what to talk about because I seemed to miss the lesson on Greek vocab. Now after being on the other side of recruitment I see how easy it is to speak this secret language during recruitment chat without realizing that the girl you are talking to has no clue what you are saying.

 

So, for all you girls going through recruitment here are some words you will hear a thousand times and for you sorority women talking to the girls try to insert a definition or two to prevent total confusion.

 

Please add more to this. I know terms can vary from place to place so the more we provide the better recruitment will be.

 

 

Philanthropy is a general term for community service project or a non-profit organization that chapters help out. Every chapter has a cause or organization they focus on. Usually chapters hold annual events to raise funds for these groups. For instance my chapter holds a five on five basketball tournament every March to benefit Prevent Child Abuse America and the Bowling Green Family Enrichment Center. Prevent Child Abuse America is what we consider one of our philanthropies. Philanthropies are a great conversation topic during recruitment.

 

Chapter  is the term for the specific section of a national sorority. Each campus has individual chapters representing various national sororities. I have also heard the term “houses” used to describe this. Chapter can also be used as a term for weekly meetings that are held by the groups.

 

Panhellenic is the organization made of members of all organizations that sponsors formal recruitment and events such as Greek Week and Homecoming activities. Each organization provides a delegate to the group to report on the happenings of her prospective chapter. Panhellenic is a great group to get involved with if you are looking to meet people from all chapters on campus.

 

Council or Executive Council is the group of officers that run an individual chapter. Tip for recruitment: ask about leadership opportunities within chapters.

 

SaraP is an intern for CollegeLifestyles (TM)

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