Penn State Formal Recruitment Tips From My Experience

I went through formal recruitment at Penn State my freshman year. I was the only one out of my friends who decided to do it, and I’m so glad that I did. If you decided to register, here are some tips I have that could help you.

Outfits

One of my favorite things about going through recruitment was planning out my outfits for each round. I’m sure you’ve seen the Bama Rush TikTok’s of girls showing their outfits, but since Penn State is in central Pennsylvania and recruitment takes place in January, we can’t exactly wear the same things.  

Here is a round-by-round breakdown of what I did and saw that was a little more weather-friendly: 

• Philanthropy

For this round, you are given a shirt (I think I got mine when I first met my Pi Chi group). I wore mine with a pair of black jeans, but I also saw a lot of girls in skirts. Wear what you feel comfortable in, but still keep it classy (i.e., avoid sweatpants, ripped jeans or anything super short).

• Sisterhood

This round is a little dressier, but nothing like preference round. For this, I wore a white cashmere sweater, a black skirt and black heels. I saw some girls wearing dresses, but in general, just dress like you’re going to a nice dinner.

• Preference

For preference round, the attire is semi-formal. I wore a short black dress with black heels. For this round, most girls wear short dresses similar to a homecoming dress. 

Your outfits are a chance for you to showcase your style. You should wear something that showcases who you are that someone may not see from just a conversation.

Staying warm

To go along with recruitment outfits, another thing to keep in mind is how to stay warm when you’re going to and from parties.  

Wearing something warm and then changing when you get to each location can be time-consuming, and it’s important to be on time to parties. What I did to avoid this was I would put on sweatpants under my skirt or dress, so that I could just take them off quickly and easily when I got there.  

I would also wear either Uggs or tennis shoes and carry my heels in my bag, because no one wants to walk through Pennsylvania snow and ice in heels. Just make sure you remember to change shoes before you go into the party! 

Conversations

In all honesty, it can be really draining going and having back-to-back conversations for days on end.  

I don’t really have a lot to say for this one other than to try and remember that the girls recruiting you have also been talking to people all day, and they also know what it’s like to be in your shoes as a PNM.  

Even if you’re feeling tired, keep showing them who you are and try to make a connection.  

balancing school

Even though recruitment takes place at the beginning of the semester, you’re still most likely going to have assignments due.  

It can be difficult to try to plan out time to get schoolwork done since you find out your schedule for each round of recruitment around an hour or so before the round actually starts.  

My best advice is to try to get anything you can get done finished as soon as you’re able to. That way, if you have parties all weekend or every night during the weekday rounds, you have one less thing to worry about. And if you don’t, at least you have some extra free time.

be yourself and trust the process

I was told this over and over again, going through recruitment, and now as someone who will be recruiting, I see its importance even more – be yourself. The whole process is so that you can find your sisterhood where you belong.  

Another thing is to trust the process. If you don’t get invited back somewhere it’s not because you’re not good enough or because you did something wrong; you just may not be a good fit. Who would want to be somewhere where they didn’t feel like they had a strong sense of belonging? 

This is your experience, and it probably won’t be the same as somebody else’s. Don’t base your experience on other people’s and try to focus on your own.

As long as you go into it with the mindset of finding where you belong, ignoring where other people are going and focusing on you, you will find where you’re meant to be and who your sisters are.  

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