A lot of girls go into rush with misapprehensions of Greek life. All the rumors you hear and movies you see are entirely inaccurate representations of what being a sorority girl is like. That being said, make sure you throw all of that out the window when it comes to making the decision to join Greek life.
Joining a sorority is a very overwhelming process. Even though it’s really hard to not rave about how much you liked one house, or how much you hated another house, to your friends – DON’T DO IT. Everybody is different and just because you did not like one house does not mean it would not be a great fit for one of your friends; so just keep it to yourself.
The days will be super long and although your school might provide a meal for you, it definitely will not be enough to satisfy your hunger.
There will be a lot of singing at the houses, so be prepared. They will sing when you walk in, and again when you leave…and it will be extremely loud.
There are certain topics you want to avoid during rush week, this includes boys and partying. These types of topics might make a sorority look down on you because they are looking for people who will uphold their name within the community, therefore try to avoid talking about it during your first impressions. If one of the girls happens to bring one of these topics up, try to redirect the conversation or simply just state you are not comfortable discussing that topic.
Rush week will teach you a lot about your character. Your feelings will get hurt when you don’t get the houses you want, but don’t let that get you down. Everyone will tell you to trust the system and just be yourself, which is entirely true! In the end, you will end up in the right place as long as you be true to who you really are.
Be prepared; you will be having a lot of the same conversations throughout the whole week. Most of these will be regarding your major and where you live, so be ready!
Now is the time for you to discredit all the sorority myths you have heard and ask any questions about the sorority or Greek life all together. This also gives the girls at the houses a break from talking, and they will be extremely grateful for that!
For the first two days it is crucial that you take notes on your conversations or you will never remember what you talked about and with whom you talked with at each house. This will also help you during the drop periods. You will definitely want to look back at your notes, especially when you get around to the sisterhood and preference rounds!
Your outfit is the key to success during this week and re-wearing an outfit is totally a thing during recruitment. It’s much better to be over-dressed than under-dressed for each event, try using Pinterest, or check out this article to get some ideas for what is appropriate during each round.
A significant amount of your time during the week will be spent at your holding house, most of which are the fraternity houses (which aren’t always the cleanest). Therefore, it would be smart to bring a blanket/towel to sit on while your there. I would also suggest bringing a change of shoes and sweatpants when you finally get a chance to get out of that skirt or dress (which you’ll be wearing basically all week).
Each round gets progressively more intense as you narrow down the houses you like. It is inevitable that some of the girls will get upset if they don’t get the houses back they want, so don’t be surprised when this happens. However most of the crying won’t happen until bid day.
Suicide bidding (placing only one house on your voting or ranking card the final night of recruitment) might be one of the worst mistakes you can make during recruitment. What most of the girls do not tell you when you are considering doing a suicide bid is that you are actually decreasing your chances of getting a bid back at all. I know, I know; you are sitting there like “well that doesn’t make sense” and you’re right! It doesn’t. But trust me, if you choose to suicide bid a house, you end up at the bottom of the list for receiving a bid. Whatever you do, just don’t do it!
Bid day is the one day everyone has been dreaming about all week. You go through such a long week and today is the day you find your forever home!
Each sorority has a different bid day theme which they keep a secret throughout the whole week. That moment when the theme is finally revealed to the new pledges and the current members is SO exciting!
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