By: Rylee Cassidy
Never in my life did I see myself going through the recruitment process and ending up in a
sorority, but here we are, and I am happy about it. The only things I had heard about sorority life was through the media, and it was a mostly negative take, at least from what I was seeing. Truth be told this scared me. I had watched horror stories of girls putting themselves through recruitment down south and just assumed that those instances happened everywhere. I hate to say it, but I honestly had an unfair stereotype associated with sorority girls and because of this, I did not want to be seen as one of them. I developed a judgment for sorority life, just as many do online, although all of my sources were from one side of the spectrum.
The Big Decision
Stuck in the homely and rural town of Storrs, CT I often found myself getting homesick and
restless in my college town, eventually, I decided something had to be done. I took matters into my own hands taking advice from the MUUZ article: How to be Your Own MUUZ in 2025. I was extremely hesitant to join the Continuous Open Bidding (COB) process for the spring, but I knew that was my only chance since I had missed formal recruitment in the fall. I continuously stalked every sorority at my school until one day I swallowed my pride and faced my fears. I had registered for sorority recruitment.
Next Steps
A period of unknown, constant small talk, and multiple events every week made up my informal rush experience at UConn. This was not your typical cult-like chants sung by sorority girls or twelve-hour days spent in the hot sun; this was the COB process. I will preface this by saying that recruitment is different for every school and some, as we all know, are more intense than others. My rushing process was extremely laid back and barely time-consuming. I had registered online for all of the sororities at UConn that were offering COB and soon the emails came flooding through my inbox. Even every sorority did the COB process differently, with some having multiple events and some having none. All of the events I participated in contained, sometimes painful, small talk, and I was relieved that most of them featured food of some sort. I participated in sister dates, which is exactly what it sounds like, for five chapters, and only two chapters had other events. These other events are a trivia night with the sisters or a PJ party house tour (look here to find the perfect pajamas for events like these). One obvious thing was in common with all of these activities though: they all involved excessive amounts of talking. Not that this was an introvert's worst nightmare, but I could attest to the fact that by the end of my COB process, I was a little sick of hearing the same questions over and over again. Overall my process lasted about three weeks and to reward my efforts, I received a bid from Alpha Omicron Pi.
(Photo Courtesy of Abby Adams)
Bid Day
A couple of days after accepting my bid I attended a much-awaited, but intimidating bid day
celebration at the sorority house on campus. As someone new to this whole trend, the
various terms and customs confused me at first, but I eventually got the hang of it by using my online resources to help. This started with the new member class and I all learning more about each other before embarking on our journey towards the house, swarming with dozens of girls. I was paired with a bid-day-buddy who showed me around the house and introduced me to practically every girl we ran into along the way. The celebration consisted of tons of pictures, poses, and freebies, which I was the most excited about. The best part about the whole day however was the genuine kindness and excitement shown by all members, new and old.
My Reflection
My dad was in a fraternity when he went to college and he maintains that it was the best part of his college experience. Knowing this my entire life I had always assumed I would be content without joining Greek life and even swore not to. My perspective changed, however, when my dad made me realize that some things available to students in college are only available for a certain amount of time, being a part of Greek life is one of those things. I feel like I belong in my sorority because the girls in it make me feel that way, they exemplify the true meaning of sisterhood. I am happy with my final decision to join Greek life because it allowed me to meet an array of people all with the same values as me and opened up so many new opportunities in my college and professional career.
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