It is now every sorority girls favorite time of the year: recruitment season! Every fall Panhellenic has formal recruitment for girls to find their new homes. As a potential new member (PNM), the process can be both fun and totally nerve wracking, but that doesn't mean that we, as sorority women, do not feel the same way. Sometimes I came across a PNM who was totally freaking out and nervous and it would definitely make them feel better when they realized that we were just as nervous!
I am a sophomore who has just finished their first year in a sorority, it was now my time to be on the opposite end of things. As a PNM, recruitment was one of the most stressful things I have ever done in my life, so I was a bit uneasy about doing it on this end. I had always looked up to sorority women and wondered how I would ever be able to do that. Luckily, with LOTS of workshops all through spirit week and the encouragement of my sisters (especially my Big), I felt more confident in my recruiting abilities by the time it came down to the first day of recruitment. Of course, I had no idea how well I would actually do until I had experienced my first conversation with a PNM, but I knew that as long as I kept the theme in mind with the questions I asked, the conversation should flow quite smoothly.
Recruitment Day 1: Sisterhood
The first day of recruitment was both crucial, yet more relaxed. During Sisterhood rounds, we just spend our time trying to get to know each girl and about her values. We do this to see how well they would fit in with our chapter.
After my first day of recruitment, I was hooked. I had enjoyed my time so much talking to so many awesome girls that the day flew by. During practice rounds we would practice with our sisters on what kind of stuff to talk about and what kinds of questions to ask. I always felt awkward and would sometimes forget things during practice. Once it was the real deal though, I had it all down. I even had some good back up questions in case a conversation topic came to an end before our time was up. I did not need to use them very often. I talked to a ton of VERY excited girls who had tons of questions for me! Sometimes I had a hard time getting in my questions for them!
Recruitment Day 2: Philanthropy
Philanthropy round was exciting because we got to see which girls came back. Many of the girls who were not invited back had low GPA's, and, sadly, one of my first rush crushes was one of them. It was okay though, because I met tons of other cute girls and even talked to a few from the first day again! This day was just as fun and exciting for me as the first day! We crushed day one, we just had to keep our energy up to keep the momentum going and keep girls interested in us so we could get the best 2016 pledge class that we could!
During philanthropy round, our questions became more aimed at the PNM's involvement in their communities back home, or at the university for the older girls, and if they would be willing to still be involved through our sorority to support our philanthropy. We got to tell them all about the cool events we have had to support our philanthropy: Children's Miracle Network Hospitals. CNMH is such a great philanthropy to support and we always have tons of fun raising money for them. It was so great to see the excitement on the PNM's faces when they heard girls talk about it and it was even better when the girls expressed interest in getting involved!
Recruitment Day 3: Preference
Preference was the final night for us to really recruit hardcore. It was our last chance to talk to the girls before they make their decision on what sorority they fell in love with the most. Preference was definitely the day that was most nerve-wracking and intense for me. We talked to the PNMs about what made us join Phi Mu and why we stayed in Phi Mu. I didn't feel like I had a huge story to tell to the two girls I prefed, but I did my best to honestly tell them why I chose Phi Mu as a PNM and why I chose to stay in Phi Mu.
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Overall, recruitment turned out to be so much more enjoyable than I thought it would be. I was honestly pretty scared that I would be totally miserable the whole time, but I wasn't. It really is crazy how much our sisterhood grew in such a short period of time. I was able to grow closer to different sisters and expand my relationships with sisters had I previously been close with. This makes me so excited to for this school year, especially because we got an entire new pledge class... and one of them will hopefully be my future little!
xoxo, tay
