Virtual California Recruitment
 

I recently finished going through virtual recruitment at a school in California. For some background, greek life is pretty small at the school I attend and there are only 3 sororities. I am a 23 year old transfer student and super excited to experience sisterhood!

The sororities are
1.) Gamma Phi Beta
2.) Kappa Alpha Theta
3.) Kappa Kappa Gamma

Since my school is in California, I decided to name the sororities after football team in California. In no particular order:

1.) 49'ers
2.) Rams
3.) Chargers

The only sorority I was not able to get a rec for were the Rams

There were 3 days in the recruitment process.
Day 1: Go Greek (visit all 3 houses)
Day 2: Philanthropy (can visit up to 3 houses again)
Day 3: Preference (can visit up to 2 houses)/Bid Night!!

DAY 1: GO GREEK

On day 1, we had about 35 minutes with each sorority. My schedule looked like this:
1.) 49'ers
2.) Rams
3.) Chargers

49'ers- Going into the 49'ers party, I was a bit nervous. It was my first party and I had no idea how the virtual process was going to work. The sisters started by having us all in one big Zoom room and introducing the president. They showed us a video they had made for recruitment that showed the sisters having fun and spending time together. After the video, they broke us up into smaller breakout rooms. There were about 3 pnm's and 3 sisters in the breakout room. This made it a little difficult to have a good conversation. All of us kept accidentally cutting off others in the group, since it was difficult to tell through a computer screen when someone was getting ready to talk. After this breakout room, we were brought back to the main room, where the president talked a little more about the sorority, before we broke out into another breakout room with a few more pnm's and sisters to talk some more. Although I found all the girls in this house to be sweet and welcoming, it was hard to make a deeper connection or have a conversation beyond surface level with the limited time and larger groups.

Rams- LOVED the Rams!! Funny enough, I do not remember much about the party itself, but just remember loving each girl I met. For this sorority, I was paired up with 1 other pnm. We would speak to 1 sister at a time, before another sister would pop into the breakout room and very smoothly transition the conversation. I was really impressed with how smooth their transitions were and it was apparent they had practiced a lot for virtual rush. The girls were all very nice and at one point, my fellow pnm and I got into a great conversation with the sister we were speaking to about Miyazaki films.

Chargers- The final house on my schedule for the day were the Chargers. This sorority had us paired up 1-on-1 with a sister. The first sister I spoke to, I had an amazing conversation with. We are both involved in cheer and really bonded over that. We had so much in common and just clicked. The second sister I spoke to shared the same major as me and was really excited to hear about the classes I was taking. I loved ending my day here!

When it was time for selections, we did not rank since we could potentially go back to all 3 houses for day 2. My mental rankings after day 1 however were:
1.) Rams
2.) Chargers
3.) 49'ers

I had loved both Rams and Chargers! Although, I liked the 49'ers too, I just didn't quite feel the same connection with them as I did with the other 2. I was still hoping to meet with them on day 2 though and talk to some more girls!

DAY 2: PHILANTHROPY

I had a dream the night before that I wasn't invited back to any houses and woke up in a sweat. I was antsy all morning waiting for the email with my schedule for the day. Finally, it arrived! My schedule looked like this:

1.) Chargers
2.) Break
3.) 49'ers

At first, I was a bit bummed about not being invited back to the Rams, however after talking to my dad on the phone, he told me some great advice. "Instead of focusing on why you weren't invited back to 1 house, focus on why you were invited back to the other 2. They clearly see something in you." As usual, taking my dad's advice served me well.

After meeting with our rho gamma groups, I went to the link for my first party of the day.

Chargers- I was very happy to be back at Chargers. The girls and I had really clicked yesterday. We started by watching their philanthropy video as one big group. This philanthropy really resonated with me. I don't want to say too much because it will give the sorority away, but the career I am aiming for is directly connected with this philanthropy. After watching the video, we were taken into breakout rooms. We got to be 1-on-1 with a sister here again today. The first sister I spoke to, I had a decent conversation with, but then I got to the second sister. And WOW I just loved her!! She was the chief executive officer of the sorority and we really dove deep into the philanthropy. She explained to me how someone in her family was tied to the philanthropy and I explained to her that I was hoping to be heavily involved with it as part of my career someday. The third sister I spoke to was also very kind, authentic, and passionate about the sorority. We also had a great conversation and I was so excited about this sorority!

49'ers- I liked this house much better today. We watched their philanthropy video first as a large group and it made me emotional. The sisters all seemed to be getting emotional too which made me feel like they really cared. After watching the video, we broke off into our smaller groups. Today, it was me with 1 other pnm and 2 sisters. We had a good conversation and 1 of the sisters shared the same major as me. We were then switched to another small group, however I don't quite remember the conversations in this group. Overall, I liked this house much better today, but still did not feel the same connection I felt with the Chargers. I definitely wanted to come back for day 3, because I felt that after receiving some 1-on-1 time with a sister, my mind might change.

Since I only went to 2 houses today and our schedule could have a max of 2 for day 3, I did not rank the houses. However my mental rankings would have been:
1.) Chargers
2.) 49'ers

It's definitely interesting to hear from a PNM who went through virtual recruitment! I'm looking forward to the rest of the story.

DAY 3: PREFERENCE

I was so nervous this morning. I wanted an opportunity to go back to both house I had visited with yesterday and get to know the sisters better. When the email finally arrived, my schedule looked like this:

1.) 49'ers
2.) Chargers

I was so excited to have a full schedule and to be able to visit both houses!

49'ers- We started this party by listening to different sisters read letters and give speeches about what their sorority and sisterhood means to them. Although, I saw many of the sisters getting emotional and I could tell some pnm's were really touched, I found myself not getting emotional with them. Although I liked these girls and could definitely see myself being friends with them, I was starting to realize they probably wouldn't be the best match as sisters. After some sisters shared their speeches, we were taken into our breakout rooms. I was paired up with a sister who I had met the first day. Although I remembered her, we had been in a group of about 6 girls that day (Pnm's and sisters combined), and I hadn't really had a chance to go beyond surface level with her. Although, we got a bit more in depth and had a good conversation during pref, I felt like both of us were nervous, and at times, struggling to make conversation.

Chargers- The instant I logged onto this house, I knew it was different. I was so excited and happy to be here. They started the same way as the 49'ers, with speeches and letters from sisters. This time, I felt myself really resonating with the speeches and could feel myself smiling, laughing, and getting emotional with the sisters. When we broke out into our breakout rooms, I was paired up with the sister from the first day that was also a cheerleader and that I had shared many things in common with. We talked about so many different things and just had so much in common. I found myself thinking that I would love to have her as my sister. We went back to the larger group, and the sisters performed a ceremony that I found very touching and special. I understood what everyone else meant in their stories, when they said they felt a connection during pref.

When it came time to rank, I put:
1.) Chargers
2.) 49'ers

BID NIGHT!!!

Thankfully, we didn't have to wait long to get our bids. On the same night that we had preference, we logged onto another zoom meeting for rho gamma reveals. I had 3 rho gammas (all of them were amazing) and it turns out each one was in 1 of the 3 different sororities. Then, we were all emailed our bids while we were live on the zoom and there was a countdown. We opened our bids all together. I am so very excited to be a new member of

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CHARGERS

Otherwise known as...
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KAPPA ALPHA THETA!!!!

Welcome to the kite fliers club! Twin stars and black and gold pansies for you!

I know your school (I'm a UCSB grad). Stay healthy and out of harm's way.

Congrats on your new home!

This is so cool; thanks for sharing. I’m glad you still got to have some of the excitement and emotion that goes with the process. The bid opening sounds like a great idea!

Congratulations! So happy that you found your home through virtual recruitment.

WOOHOO!!! Congratulations! So exciting to see a Theta ending. I was hoping it was CASA that you were so interested in! TLAM....

Congratulations on your bid to Theta! It's great to hear that virtual recruitment is a success!

Congratulations on your successful recruitment and giving us a virtual recruitment story!

Congrats to you and Theta. Great to hear an experience of a virtual recruitment since the chapter I works with will probably be virtual in January.

Congratulations! May twin stars twinkle over you always!