Key for Rushing Terms:
House: the physical sorority house, also a term for the sorority as a whole
Pi Chi Group: the small group that you travel around with in the beginning of the rushing process
PNM: stands for “potential new member,” refers to everyone rushing
Going to a Party: going to a house for a round of rush
Drop: exclude you from coming back to their sorority
Preference Round: the final round of rush
1. Arrive Early to Every Party
In the rushing process, every PNM must attend EVERY party they are assigned. If they fail to attend a party, they are automatically dropped from the whole process. This means arriving to a house one minute late results in your inability to join a sorority at all. This rule is intense but fair, but getting kicked out of rush for being late is a sad end to your sorority dreams. Arrive to every house early. It is not worth losing everything a sorority can offer because you were late. Run if you have to. I did.
2. Know the Layout of the Houses (Greek Village)
This goes along with the point made above. Being confused about what house is where can lead to unnecessary stress and time pressure. On the first day, we were given a booklet with the layout of the houses. I took a picture of that map and made it my lock screen for that week, so instead of pulling out the booklet and trying to find the map in the pages, I could just look at my phone and find where I needed to go. I strongly recommend this for organizational reasons, and if a map of the houses is not given, find one online.
3. Have Questions Ready
It is not fair to have the conversation 100% driven by the girls in the sorority. Additionally, it is not a one-way interview. It is just as important for you to learn about the girl you are talking to, in order to develop a sense of that sorority’s values. My go-to questions were “What was your favorite sorority event from last year?” and “What do you and your sisters do for fun?” With these questions, I got a sense of the sorority’s social aspect and the community within the group. Being new to the area, I also asked what there was to do in the city, which expanded our conversation as well at gave me some good places to eat!
4. Your Favorites will Change Every Round
It is rare for your Round 1 favorite to be your Preference Round favorite. My Round 1 favorite dropped me immediately, and I did not even notice Kappa Kappa Gamma (my sorority now) until the third round of rush. As the rounds progress, your views will change drastically based on the people you talk to. Don’t get attached to one sorority in the beginning, because you connected to the person you talked to, but the whole sorority might not be the right fit for you.
5. Don’t Worry About Fitting Trends
During the first day of rush, I had a mini panic attack looking at the 2000 girls who were rushing with me. I had never even seen platform sandals before, and everyone was wearing them! And skorts! I went to private school my whole life where our uniforms were skorts, so I never thought they were cute. Obviously I missed the memo that they were in style because there they were, hundreds of skorts on hundreds of girls. As the rushing process continued, I realized that it is not about clothes at all. Sororities are trying to recruit the most genuine girls who share the same values, not the girls who know that Jack Rogers “are so last year.” Relax on fitting exact trends, but look presentable in your own style!
6. Be Prepared for Waiting
This applies more for the later rounds of rush. The schedule of your parties is unchangeable and never ideal. For my Preference Round, I arrived in full hair and makeup at 8 A.M., as we were told to, and I found out that my first party was not until 3 P.M. I could not leave during the meantime, but thank goodness I brought my charger, a sketchbook and pens, touchup makeup, and a change of clothes. This means I did not have to sit around in my dress for seven hours, I was entertained by my phone and doodles, and I could fix my washed-out makeup before my party. The situation was far from ideal, but being prepared made it bearable.
7. Getting Dropped is not Personal
Some girls have trouble coping with the idea of getting dropped. It is not ill-intended, but rather the opposite. The girls in the sororities know their sorority very well. They have been a part of it for at least a year, through the ups and downs, and they understand their values. Getting dropped does not mean they do not like you, but it means you might not fit with the whole group. Even if you get along with the few girls you have talked to, there are hundreds in a sorority. Getting dropped is not a bad thing, but part of the process to finding your forever-home.
8. Never be Rude
One part of going to every house you are invited back to is going to the houses you did not love. Some girls take out their frustration on the person who is rushing them. Please, please, please do not be the girl who is mean. No matter how much you do not want to be there, these girls love their sorority. It is beyond disrespectful to refuse talking to the girls because you do not want to be there. This includes body language: crossing arms, rolling eyes, and fake smiles.
9. There will be Awkward Moments
One of the worst parts of rushing is the awkward pause in conversation where neither person knows what to say next. It is inevitable. The best thing to do in these situation is pull from that list of questions discussed in #3. If those questions have already been asked, tell a story. Sometimes, it is just about passing time and branching out into a long story is the perfect way to help the round move faster while still giving the girl an insight to who you are.
10. Stay Healthy
In a nutshell, rushing is a series of having close conversations with dozens of girls in a room with one hundred other close conversation happening. Germ will spread fast. Take extra vitamins, use lots of hand sanitizer, get a lot of sleep, and drink lots and lots of hot tea (your voice will be raspy in a matter of days).
11. Bring Food
My rushing process began before school started. At the time, I didn’t think about the dining halls being closed so I did not bring any food to school wth me. For a week, I ate the same sandwiches they gave us everyday, and while they were good, it was not what I was expecting. After about day 3, I wanted more of a variety, but I had nothing in my dorm and no car to go out. I ended up hungry for much of the rushing process which affected my mood and conversations. If your rushing process takes place before move-in day, plan your food!
12. How to Pick the Right House
The idea of having one house in the end is almost dreamlike. The hard work will come to an end, and then the real fun starts. If I could leave one sentence with you from everything I’ve said it’d be this: pick the house where you feel you can walk into on a bad day, cry your makeup off, and eat a whole tub of ice cream with your sisters. Ignore other PNMs’ judgements, ignore the rushing conversations, ignore the pressure, and find the place where you walk in and feel at home.
What to Bring:
- Small Fan: between rounds is waiting outside in the summer heat, trust me on this one
- Water: for the heat and your throat after talking for hours
- Sweat Absorbers: for your face, you WILL sweat but at least it won’t look like it
- Deodorant: no one wants to talk to someone who smells bad
- Hair Tie: no matter how much you want to look cute, sometimes the hair just has to go up
- A Smile: yes, it sounds cheesy, but someone who smiles a lot while walking into a house is much better than someone who does not.
