Hi everyone! Today’s post is going to be a little different as a friend from university wrote a blog post that I wanted to share with you all! I don’t have much of a greek life background and she is a super sweet person who wanted to share her experience with you all. Her name is Sarah Frederickson and she writes for Her Campus here at our university! So, with that said, let’s get this show in the road!

One of the questions that I got asked most often after I graduated from high school was whether or not I would be rushing, or as I later found was called “going through recruitment.” In high school, I was not the typical makeup-wearing, pink-loving, enthusiastic girl and thus, I determined that I was not fit for a sorority. The only experiences that I had with sororities were from movies which portrayed sororities in a negative light as preppy, dumb girls that didn’t care about anything except for parties, boys, and getting the best girls to join their chapter. My mom was in a sorority in college, and she still keeps up with her sorority sister today. She made my older sister rush at the University of Kentucky, but she dropped out mid-week. But despite my sister’s lack of success with recruitment, I eventually decided to sign up to appease my mother, to move in early, and because my twin sister was going through recruitment too.

The process was so odd at first. At my school, each sorority was set up in our basketball stadium in a “tent” which was basically just four curtain walls that are decorated on the inside. You line up with your Gamma Chi group and go in and talk to different people. Basically, the first night is just small talk about where you’re from, your major, and what you did in high school. This first night you don’t have to drop any sororities. The next days following, the time you spend with each sorority increases so that you get to know them better and they can get to know you. Since I didn’t care much if I joined one or not, I was not nervous at all. I remember girls around me freaking out, but I was calm as can be.

My sister and I did some pre-recruitment creeping and looked at all of the sorority’s social medias and asked around about their reputations. However, the second night, I got dropped by the one that I thought I wanted. I was a little upset, but I decided to keep going. There was one sorority that was more of my present high school self: very edgy, hipster, and I really liked them. Let’s call them Sorority A. There was also one that seemed a little preppy, let’s call it Sorority B, but I knew someone from high school that had joined that sorority at a different college. She and I were not similar in the slightest, so I knew that sorority wasn’t for me. And among others, there was one that was my mom’s sorority’s enemy back in college: Sorority C. I was conflicted to say the least.

Each night of recruitment, I contemplated following in my sister’s footsteps and dropping out. After all, I could not ruin my hipster image by joining a Lilly Pulitzer sorority that chanted and cheered all day. But I persisted and kept going day after day. I eventually got dropped by the edgy Sorority A that I thought I would fit into, and despite trying to drop Sorority B, I kept being invited back.

The night of preference came, and I was down to my top two sororities: Sorority B and Sorority C. I still did not know if I wanted to join one, but I figured there was still opportunity to drop out if I wanted. The next morning I went to preference, and first I went to Sorority B. I talked to two amazing women, one who I had talked with earlier in the week. I became very emotional at the heartfelt stories they were telling. They played the piano and sang a song, and I truly felt God say to me, “There’s work to be done here.” This may seem odd, but I knew at that moment that He was calling me to this sorority to be a witness to these women and to grow in my faith. I was pretty dang sure I was rushing Sorority B. I wiped away my tears, tried to pull myself together, and headed to the preference ceremony of Sorority C. I had an awkward conversation with someone, and then during their song and ceremony, I was not emotional at all. I remember the girl next to me tearing up, but I was not moved. I say uncomfortably waiting for it to end. I exited and knew that Sorority B was the one for me. I headed to the computer lab to cast my bid and determine part of my journey for the next four years. I did what is a major mistake and risk in the world of sorority recruitment. This is accurately called “suiciding.” This means that instead of ranking your top two sororities and getting your second choice, should you not get a bid from your first choice, you only put one sorority. So if they did not pick you back, then you just aren’t in a sorority at all. I had full confidence in this decision even though the leaders advised us to not do this. I barely wanted to be in a sorority in the first place, so it was all in God’s hands now. If He knew this would be the best for me, then He would allow it to happen.

On bid day morning, I was a little nervous. I went behind the curtain of the stage to receive my bid card. A man sitting behind a desk said, “You have received a bid from Alpha Delta Pi. Would you like to accept it?” Of course, I said yes, and I walked over to my twin sister. On the count of three, we decided to show each other or bid cards. We had not talked at all about recruitment throughout the week because we didn’t want to influence each other. We flashed our cards when we hit three and saw a matching image in front of us. We were both in Alpha Delta Pi! We ran out of Lovett Auditorium with our new sisters and cheered and chanted like I said I’d never do. I was so excited to take on this new adventure, and I felt peace knowing God had blessed it. Once I sucked up my pride and realized that all of the women were so genuine and kind not preppy and fake, it was easy to realize that this was something that I was dying to be a part of. This sorority has changed me in more ways than I can count, but this is just the story of how it all came to be.

Alright, guys! That is it for today! If you enjoyed please like this post and leave a comment down below!

~Madison Eran~

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