College Life: Be yourself at Sorority Rush

Q: I am thinking about rushing a sorority next year but I'm not sure it's the thing for me. Do you have any advice?

A: This time last year I was preparing for my first year at college and all that goes with it including sorority rush. I had no idea what to expect and no older sisters or close older friends who could walk me through the process and pre-rush me for any particular house.

I went in with a clean slate. My goal was to find a group of girls that I liked and liked me and that I could see becoming some of my best friends over the next four years.

So blissfully unaware of the months of research, practice and preselection that each house does as a precursor to the week of recruitment.

I attend a medium size university in the South. About 40 percent of the students go Greek and as a result fraternities and sororities are active and influential on campus. Some schools with a smaller Greek population don't put on recruitment until second semester or have a very informal rush process where potential new members (PNMs) only visit the houses they choose to rush and the process goes on through out the whole first semester.

Most Southern schools go through one week of rush right before school starts. It is a formal process where PNMs visit every sorority house on the first day of rush week. As the week goes on a process of mutual selection between the PNMs and each sorority house narrows down the number of houses you will visit every day.

When I got to school I understood the concept of "parties" and different outfits depending on the formality of the day. I had sent in my resume, photos, and recommendation letters to all of the houses to which I had some connection. Keep in mind this connection could come from a relationship as insignificant as a friend of my cousins or a kindergarden teacher.

The point is I thought I knew, but I had no idea.

When I got to the first house the girls were all singing and jumping around. They all knew my name and as they finished filing all of the PNMs into the living room 75 conversations began at once.

I was shouting at the face of a girl who was only a foot away from me and just nodding my head despite not being able to hear a word of what she was saying to me.

Undoubtedly the room was filled with dozens of conversations just as awkward as mine about summer vacations, future majors, and how I liked the university in the 24 hours that I had been there. Being on the other side now, I know that as active members we are just as uncomfortable trying to make a good impression and keep up an interesting conversation.

PNMs should be prepared to talk about themselves and their high school activities. Also ask specific questions of the sorority you are visiting, this will take some of the pressure off the girl rushing you and she will remember that you showed an interest in the house. It is a good idea to come up with a few interesting topics to bring up as a last resort.

Within 15 minutes it was over, all the PNMs were walked to the door and it was on to the next house where the exact same thing would happen and I would have the exact same awkward conversation.

Although the week was at times uncomfortable and ridiculous I had a lot of fun. I had a great rush experience, made some great friends and really did find a house that was perfect for me. The problem is that as often as I hear the story of a great rush I also hear about the not so great. Many girls drop before the end of rush week, or after they don't get a bid from the house they want. Some girls may go through some or all of pledge training and then never become an initiated sister. I have even heard of girls who got exactly what they wanted in rush, went through initiation and remain active in their sorority but never become good friends with their sorority sisters.

You never know how rush will go for you, you just have to go in with a positive attitude and that is my advice to any potential sorority girls. The most important part of rush is to find a house where you really fit in well with most of the girls.

You are not bound to any house just because your mom or your sister pledged there. Ignore the comments good, bad or otherwise that you will hear from other PNMs, active sorority girls and fraternity guys during recruitment. This isn't high school anymore. No one is cool, or everyone is cool. It doesn't even matter. Find what you want and be yourself. Your sorority sisters will love you for who you are and probably end up being more like you than you ever would have expected.

Katie Vance is a reporter for the McKinney Courier-Gazette and Star Community Newspapers. Have a question for Katie about College Life, e-mail a Letter to the Editor to bbearden@acnpapers.com.

Current Rating: 0 of 0 votes!

Rate File: Select Rating: * ** *** ****

 Plano Apartments
 Plano Attorneys
 Plano Auto Dealers
 Plano Auto Parts
 Plano Auto Repair
 Plano Beauty Salons
 Plano Car Rental
 Plano Dentists
 Plano Doctors
 Plano Flowers
 Plano Hotels
 Plano Insurance
 Plano Loans
 Plano Mortgages
 Plano Movers
 Plano Pizza
 Plano Realtors
 Plano Restaurants
 Plano Storage
 Plano Tax Preparation
 Plano Travel
 Featured
 More...