1. Wear something that reflects your personality
Remember, you only have a few minutes to talk with these girls and give a first impression so make sure you are representing yourself well in every way possible. This doesn’t mean you have to be dressed to the nines every day, just wear something that feels very *~ you ~*. If you like to be more comfy and casual most of the time, wear something that reflects that. It’s all about putting your most authentic self out there.
2. Be yourself, everyone else is taken
You want the sorority to pick you, not a person you are pretending to be. In the end, you want to be in a chapter that accepts you for who you are and you one that won’t make you feel like you always need to put a front up around them. If you’re on the fence about whether or not you belong in a certain house, look around at the girls in the chapter and think about the type of people you have been friends with in the past, if the girls in the sorority seem like girls you usually vibe with then you would probably love them as your new sisters.
3. NO CHAPTER CHATTING!!
No really, don’t. I know it’s natural to want to talk about a sorority right after a visit or gossip to the girls in your recruitment group about which houses you liked or didn’t like, but chapter chatting really does lead to biases towards houses that you might not have had otherwise. Someone could have really loved a house and felt right at home there, but because she overheard some negative chapter chatting she changed her mind about a sorority that could have been a really great fit. The same thing could happen as a result of talking positively about a chapter, someone who really didn’t feel like she belonged at a sorority could just want to follow the crowd and pick the more popular one, even if that isn’t the best place for her. Just avoid chapter chatting, because what your friend has to say about a house is not important and should not affect you when you are making a decision about what sorority you want to pledge to. You need to pick a house that you feel at home in, not the one that the girls in your recruitment group like.
4. The system is f*cked
We’ve all been there, you leave a sorority after one of the rounds feeling like you had wonderful conversations with all of the girls you talked to, you fell in love with the house and the location, and you couldn’t imagine any better place for you. Then the next day rolls around and you don’t see the name of that sorority on your schedule. Blindsided, you find yourself thinking, “What the heck did I do wrong??” the answer is: nothing. There are sooo many factors that go into the algorithm of who gets invited back and who doesn’t and yet sometimes, it’s just about what number you are on the list. You should never feel like it’s personal because chances are, it’s really not.
5. You end up where you belong
Formal recruitment is a stressful and trying time for everyone that goes through it. Oddly enough, many girls who are happy as can be in their houses used to dread going back to them during recruitment. It may seem like the preferencing process never ends up in your favor, but if you give those houses a chance you may be surprised at how well you start to feel at home there. Trust the process, keep an open mind, and remember that joining a sorority is just a part of your life, it does not define you.