Since the rise of Alabama RushTok, everyone has been wanting to know, what is it with recruitment? Unless you participate or have participated, it’s hard to know what recruitment entails. Recruitment and sororities, in general, seem like this thing that we know so much and yet little about. While there are many things sororities keep secret from the world, there are many things that are just not talked about, especially with recruitment. Recruitment is some people’s best week and some people’s worst. Something everyone who has gone through it can agree with though is it is a very intense and highly emotional week. I’m here as someone who has gone through the recruitment, come out the other side, and will be a recruiter this year to tell you all the ins and outs of recruitment.
First off, I want to say recruitment is different for everyone. This was just my experience. With recruitment, there tends to feel like there is a lot of pressure. Emotions are high, and the schedule is not for the weak. You meet at a designated campus spot every day at 8 a.m., and then spend the rest of your day talking to various people about nearly the same things. It’s tiring looking your absolute best every day, wearing outfits carefully curated to show off the best you, and hoping to fit in with everyone you meet. The days were very long and very complicated. The first two are spent following around your rho gamma, a.k.a. the person who guides you through recruitment, then the last three are spent guiding yourself.
Many rules come along with recruitment; some you wouldn’t even think of. To name a few: no talking to boys or women in a sorority, no jaywalking, make sure you’re always on time, don’t look too scandalous, and no going out to bars or clubs. You get three strikes before you’re excused from recruitment, so it’s best to try to avoid these situations. I also had to constantly be keeping track of time and where all the chapters were to make sure I was always on time. If you’re a minute late, you’re automatically “disqualified” from that chapter. While it may seem intense, during recruitment they’re responsible for you and want you to get into a chapter, and these things could ruin your chances.
One thing many potential new members (PNM) don’t realize is that while they’re nervous to go into the chapters and put on their best face, we’re equally as nervous as recruiters. Recruitment isn’t something that’s put together in a day. It takes months of planning to make sure it’s the way it is. Not only for the person in charge of recruitment, but all the recruiters spend weeks practicing our skills for recruitment. As much as we have prepared, it’s nerve-wracking for us as recruiters because we want PNMs to like us as much as they want us to like them. After spending so much time making sure everything is perfect, none of us want to ruin what we’ve all worked so hard on.
While recruitment may be a difficult time, and sometimes you may want to quit, it truly has a magical outcome. Whether you walk away being a new member of a chapter or simply got the chance to meet some new people and make some new friends, you’ve walked away with something. The feeling after recruitment is a huge sigh of relief and joy, and it’s only a smidge of what is to come in the semester following. Don’t go in expecting an easy or simple journey through recruitment but know that no matter the outcome you’ll end up right where you’re supposed to be.
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