When I registered for sorority recruitment months ago, there were still many unknowns as to what the state of our country would be, come August. As August drew closer it was evident that the recruitment process would not be able to function as it normally would. This raised many questions for me and I'm sure many other potential new members. Would we still be able to get to know the girls? Will I still receive the experience I want? Will I know which chapter is the one for me only from Zoom conversations? Now having completed this virtual recruitment experience, I know that the answer to all of those questions is yes, and here is how that process went.
The overall layout of Florida State's recruitment was very similar to what it would have been in previous years. There are four rounds, with each round you see fewer chapters, and each round grows increasingly more personal. In the first round though, rather than speaking to all seventeen chapters, we watched videos and read about them. This leads me to one of the most noticeable differences between the two forms of recruitment. From an online standpoint, I was able to gain more factual information about each chapter. All videos we watched were constantly available to us. I could take notes and even pause and rewind the videos to make sure I learned all that I wanted to. By doing this, when making decisions I felt more knowledgeable about how each individual chapter is run and what they stand for.
Following the first round of watching videos, for the next two rounds, I talked to two girls from each chapter for each "visit." The getting two know each other facet of our conversations was no different than it would've been if we were in person. We started off by talking about ourselves, we talked about the chapter, we would tell personal stories, and then it was time for the next person or chapter. Although we were through a screen, even in conversations as short as fifteen minutes, I was able to make connections with the girls that I now call my sisters. We may not have been able to hug each other(which would have been very nice at times,) but our bonds were still able to be formed.
Then came Bid Day. From my understanding, the biggest difference between my recruitment experience and that of in-person recruitment is Bid Day. After being told our bids over a zoom call, we proceeded to our house. Rather than coming up to a big party, we proceeded into our sorority house, wearing masks, and were able to meet around ten other girls in our pledge class. Bid Day was still an amazing day. I got to meet so many new people and learn so much about the chapter that I now can call my home.
Overall, I had an amazing rush experience. I made so many bonds with people I wouldn't have otherwise met. All of my worries and concerns about how online recruitment would go were completely brushed to the side by the conversations I was having with chapter women. Even though I did not visit my house until Bid Day, from day one I knew that my chapter was the place for me. This recruitment may not have been what I expected my experience to be, but I still found the most amazing home, which is what matters in the end.
