My experience through Formal Recruitment
Friday:
It was Friday afternoon, I was done with classes for the day and the excitement of Formal Recruitment was in full affect. I had obviously picked out my outfits over Christmas break for the upcoming three days, but when Friday came, I tried on my outfit that I thought was “sorority material” but it wasn’t. And it wasn’t anything of my style either, so I stuck with what I knew, oversized sweaters and leggings. If they didn’t like me in that, then hell they don’t need to like me at all! The walk from my dorm to the Fisher Student Center felt like a marathon. I had never been so nervous about anything in my life. “Would these girls like me?” “Am I girlie enough for this?” “Seriously wtf am I doing?!” Were all the thoughts that ran round and round in my head. Seriously the worst part for me when I got there though was at check-in. All we had to do was give our GPA which had to be a minimum of a 2.5 and I have well over a 2.5 but for some reason I thought that the computer was going to mess with me and show a 2.4 under my name, but it didn’t, thank god. (The hard part was over.) A lot of sitting around occurred in the beginning. 90 girls were piled into a room to start off an exhilarating weekend. Long story short, I met all of the sorority’s and overwhelmed was an understatement. I can talk, trust me, if no one is around, the wall is my bff, but these girls could TALK. It was like they were trained to talk for 25 minutes without even taking a breath. Also I had never smiled so long in my entire life. My cheeks felt as if my crazy great aunt had pinched them for 2 hours straight. I literally said my name and my major so many times, by the second hour it sounded like I was almost saying it wrong. “Hi I’m Tayla.” “Hi I’m Tayla” “Hi I’m Tlaya?”. Aside from all of that though, it was amazing to see how many incredible women were gathered together willing to accept and take-in 30+ new sisters to their sorority, their family.
Saturday:
Rise and Shine, time to get pretty and do exactly what I just did on Friday. But Saturday was different. I knew what to expect whereas before I didn’t. Today though we were learning about all of the sorority’s philanthropy’s. For those of you reading that don’t know what that means, it means their main charity, pretty much that they donate and give a lot of time to. (I didn’t know what it meant either.) All of the sorority’s had incredible charity’s to support and they all seemed beyond passionate about what they were doing – which made my decision 100x harder. Three great sorority’s with three great philanthropies, what’s a girl to do now!? I personally clicked with someone in every single sorority. However as a whole, I was finally seeing clearer which sorority I could see myself in. I left Saturday afternoon in fear that I was going to get a call Sunday morning saying I didn’t get a pref. But I also left Saturday afternoon very satisfied, with the mind set of, wherever I end up, I know that I will be extremely happy.
Sunday:
A phone call was the last thing we wanted to receive that morning, a phone call meant I didn’t make it. I woke up at 7am that day, and my phone never left my hand. I even showered with my phone in my hand. A couple hours later and I was in the clear. I went to the Student Center to receive my Preference sheet, which was basically a call-back sheet. Still my decisions were unclear and foggy. Until I went to my first preference ceremony. I attended all three pref’s that I was invited to, but to me, none of them even met the expectations of the first. I knew that was where I belonged. A whole lot of sitting around until Sunday night. I received a phone call around 6:15 telling me that I got a bid!!!! (A sigh of relief that someone wanted me !!!) I was in a classroom with a few girls that I did not know, waiting and waiting to see where my new home was. Who would become my new sisters, and who I would create memories with and share a lifetime of excitement with. Envelopes were handed out, I slid my finger left to right on the envelop slip to open it…. Delta Zeta. I was cordially invited to join the sisters of Delta Zeta. My first choice, they wanted me back. I sprinted down to the Roto to meet my new sisters and tears filled the sister’s eyes as well as mine, with excitement. I was finally home.
Joining a sorority isn’t about following the crowd, it’s about finding your own home, and where you feel the most comfortable. I struggled with this in the beginning because all of my friends I went through formal recruitment with, ALL joined a different sorority than me. At first I felt alone and upset that I didn’t just stick with my friends, but then came to my senses. I didn’t belong there, I belonged in DZ. I just made 60+ new best friends, sisters.
And I couldn’t be any happier. I am home.
-Tayla Giuffrida
