The final weeks of summer are coming to a close, and soon, campus will be filled with the fresh faces and tanned skin of students returning from their summer adventures. If you’re a woman attending TCU, classes may not start until August 24, but your work begins much earlier. Yup, I’m talking about recruitment!
I have come to understand that a lot of men and women (especially men) who have not gone through the recruitment process at TCU truly underestimate how intense it is. Imagine all the stress of leaving home and moving to a new place, and then multiply that by a million when you have to rush to make it to recruitment orientation that same night. Follow it up with six days of high heels, sweat, and your best manners and you’re about ready to binge-watch Netflix and sleep for 48 hours straight. I’m sure the majority of upperclassmen at TCU have heard this all before, but I’m going to break it down for you. Here is a rough outline of the schedule of a Potential New Member going through the recruitment process at TCU for Fall 2015.
August 15th: Potential New Members (PNMs) move into their campus housing starting at 9 a.m. then attend the mandatory PNM Recruitment Orientation at 9 p.m. where they learn all the essentials and get their fresh new t-shirt to be worn on day one.
August 16th: Round One: the scholarship round. PNMs start off the day around 11 a.m. and end around 8 p.m. During this time, every PNM visits every sorority house. This means all twelve houses and loads of information; so much that round one now rolls over to day two.
August 17th: Round One: Part two of scholarship round. PNMs kick off their day around 9:15 a.m., visit the rest of the houses on their lists, and end around 9:30 p.m.
August 18th: Round Two: Service round. PNMs start at 7:45 a.m., revisit the slightly smaller list of houses on their sheet, and end the day at around 10 p.m.
August 19th: Round Three: Leadership round. Same thing goes here, it's a long day from 7:45 a.m. through 8 p.m. visiting the remaining houses on their lists and learning about leadership within the organization and outside in their communities.
August 20th: Round Four: Sisterhood/Preference round. The most stressful day/night for a PNM. Starting at 8:45 a.m. and ending at 8 p.m., this is the last day that the PNMs will get to visit the houses and make an impression. Then they head off to make their final selections.
August 21st: Bid Day! This is the day all PNMs and houses have been waiting for. Finally, the two groups get to merge together, celebrate their new members, and meet the chapter! It's still a long day though, starting at 2:30 p.m. and letting out at 11 p.m.
If that doesn’t sound exhausting, then you’re lying to yourself. This is a just a timeline, but you must not forget to factor in that the majority of the time these girls are in high heels, dresses, and extreme heat. Lets not forget about how much energy it takes to facilitate good conversation and try to put your best self out there all day. Oh, and the pressure of being around the rest of your competition the whole time you’re there which is easily over 1000.
Recruitment is no joke, but in the end, it’s usually worth it; if you’re honest about who you are and what you’re looking to get out of your college experience. I hope this article in no way discourages any PNM from going through the recruitment process as this should show you how serious Greek life is at TCU. This schedule is put together in hopes of providing the best experience for both the PNMs and active members of these chapters. I mean, would you want to pick an organization to spend the next four years of your life with without experiencing all of your options? I think not.
This article is meant to be a shout out to all the past and present PNMs. These women are animals; they take a schedule like this one and make it fun, all the while looking stunning, playing nice, and being respectful. That’s a huge accomplishment, and everyone should be proud of it. So no more comments such as “you girls dress up, talk, and sing to each other all day” should be made, as anyone who has gone through it knows that recruitment is much more than that. If you’re still not a believer, then try asking an active member about her work week schedule on top of her formal recruitment schedule. Now those active members are super-women.
