or just be yourself and there will be a group that wants you. if you want purple hair then get purple hair. what difference does it make if you dye your own hair. as long as you do not look like a slob who doesn't care about herself, you should be okay. besides, going through formal with pink hair is a way to stand out and have the groups remember you. some may not like it. others will see past hair color and want you for you.

The hard truth; Yeah they matter, but the extent varies from school to school and even among chapters. Unfortunately what one lacks in looks, they have to make up for in personality. Say there are only 2 spots left on your invite list, 2 girls have similar qualities (gpa, extracurrics, personality) but one is out of shape. Its no guess who'll get cut. If you are out of shape, the most important thing is to really let your personality shine. Really take care to wear clothing that is flattering to your specific figure.

There was a girl that went to high school with me that had BRIGHT HOT PINK hair going through rush (same rush as I did)

She got into her first choice house, which is one of the more "prestigious" houses.

Later I was talking to one of her new sisters, and they said that was how they remembered her. Her pink hair made her stick out. She was a 4.0 involved student, just like 78% of the girls rushing that year (of which there were almost 1,000) so I would say that the hair worked in her favor.

Too many times there are girls that slip through the cracks, and anything that makes you memorable can be good.

I said memorable, not stuck out like a sore thumb.

That said, the girls in my chapter range from overweight to beauty queens, however the common thread is they are all well dressed and polished in their appearance.

Last year we had a girl come through recruitment who wore bright orange leg warmers on our Philanthropy Day (generally girls are wearing skirts or nice pants/nice capris on this day). It was the only day she wore something that was a little 'out there', but everyone in our chapter remembered her for it. She's now our current chapter president.

That's really cool she made herself memorable.. and made herself President after only a year!

as someone else said, a lot depends on the campus where you are going thru recruitment. so pnms, please, please be aware of the temperment of your campus. if the climate of your campus is conservative, pink hair or orange leg warmers may not go over as big as it might on a more liberal thinking campus.

That's a pretty sentiment, but the fact of the matter is, some chapters and campuses are very very conservative. If you have a bad dye job or a hair color that doesn't grow out of the human head naturally, it will be a strike against you. Same with piercings, tattoos etc. It all depends on the school.

Exactly.

This is true. I don't know how well her outfit went with the other sororities, but if her intention was to be memorable then it worked with us! Plus, the girl has an amazing personality, great leadership skills (obviously, as we elected her president this year), and (on the topic that looks are not completely overlooked) she is pretty. She'd make a great addition to any chapter.
But I agree with FSUZeta, her outfit was definitely a rarity on our campus, and I don't know many girls that could pull it off.

Looks matter in rush. Looks matter in LIFE, kids! When I was sixteen and listening to punk rock, I wasn't accepted by the kids in the local punk scene because I rocked American Eagle tank tops with Express jeans. There are always going to be places that I'm not accepted because I'm not willing to change the way I look to fit in. The way you look does reflect something about you, even if you don't want to own up to that, or even if you feel like it doesn't.

If your personality is good enough, your looks will matter less. Even on the most competitive campuses at the most competitive houses, there are few instances where the girls are going to say, "We love her to death, she's hilarious, the sweetest girl in the universe, really smart, fun to be around, could easily be president of the chapter by next year -- but, you know, she's carrying an extra 15 pounds on her so we'll never bid her."

The problem is that you're only not going up against girls who are beautiful but have rotten personalities. You're going up against a lot of girls who are beautiful and have pretty good personalities, comparable to or better than yours. And let's face it -- no matter how good you think your personality is, if one were to rank the personalities of girls going through rush in an objective fashion (haha), you probably aren't going to be that top one percent. You probably won't be in the top TEN percent. You'd be lucky if you made top fifty. (LOL -- this is not directed at the original poster, whose personality I know nothing about. It's a general "you.")

That said, the original poster asked if looks mattered to your personal chapter, so to avoid side-stepping the question, I'll answer honestly. Yes, they did. They were never discussed in membership selection meetings, we certainly bid girls who were not drop-dead gorgeous, and if we thought a girl would make a good sister that was the number-one criteria -- but I know that girls took looks into account. I can also say with 98 percent assurance that this was true of every house at my school.

Being yourself is a strong statement, but if you attend a school with a very competitive rush, especially the SEC and other southern schools, having your hair color that is not brown, black, blonde, or red and applies to your skin color can be a red flag to a sororities. If you want to dye your hair from red to blonde, that's fine. But from red to blue, no.

I agree wholeheartedly with this and also want to add that it goes both ways. If you are at that rare liberal school with a Greek System, you can show up with your french (or maybe american) manicure, red toe nails, the latest Jimmy Choos, perfect make-up with perfect long straight highlighted hair and you may also be rejected. Looks matter, but they also need to mesh with the environment of the school. Sugar you know my alma mater, an SEC top 10 choice would have been looked at like she had three heads. Now women who rush and do not look gender specific, we were more comfortable with them. I'm not saying it was an 'ugly freaks' chapter (cause I know that is what some of you are thinking right now), we had our prom queens too and we tried hard to focus on personalities.

I'm just trying to get across to the pnms who are reading this that all chapters are not scary stepford wives in training, but we all have some basis on which we judge looks. Some will reject the too perfect, some will reject the less 'put together', some will reject the overweight, the quiet, the list goes on, but you need to be aware of your appearance and aim to have it mesh with the climate of your campus and the houses you are rushing. There are a HUGE variety of chapters out there PNMs HAVE to be aware of their campus and its culture.

Now that I look back on it, I probably should have put more effort into my appearance. I wore men's cargo pants, and old t-shirts for all the days except for preference, but I still got into my first choice house; mainly because I just fit there. However, I feel like my enthusiasm for recruitment helped me stick out. I was the only girl going through rush that had been a Girl Scout for 15 years haha. I go to a pretty small school though where it's a little different I guess.

Oh, this is good. I think we ought to sticky this quote at the top of the rush forum!

stretched lobe piercings, bright red short shaggy hair, Chuck taylors held together with duct tape, and an extra 20 lbs about the middle and still got a pledge pin.

...if i can do it, anyone can.