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gosh, i feel like trojanwoman had a lot of pressure on her from her boyfriend and her two girlfriends. i don't know if it would be better for the boyfriend to give me my grade each day after the parties were over of just to blunder along on my own. wait a minute, yes i do....i would rather blunder along on my own! more please, trojanwoman.
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Thanks drolefille. I know how to type properly. I was just being lazy.:o
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Trojanwoman, I'm hooked! Is it time for another update yet? ;)
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The plan for house tours day was that we would go meet with our Rho Chis, pick up our invitations, and then have a few hours to prepare before it was time to go to the parties. We could receive up to six invitations that day and I was SO nervous. We had previously signed up for “appointments” with our rho chis and I was the last of the three girls to go. Megan and Kate had both come back pretty disappointed from their picks. They had both been dropped by Troy Polumalu and Carson Palmer, two of their top picks. So I was a little nervous going in. When I met with my Rho Chi, I found out that I got all of my top picks except for Troy Polumalu (which if you remember, I didn’t really like anyways but had ranked them 4th because the other girls liked them.)
These are the houses we were invited back to. Trojan Woman Mike Williams Carson Palmer Matt Leinart Dwayne Jarret Frostee Rucker Steve Smith Megan Mike Williams Matt Leinart Frostee Rucker Steve Smith Reggie Bush John David Booty Kate Mike Williams Matt Leinart Dwayne Jarret Frostee Rucker Steve Smith Reggie Bush Megan and Kate were not thrilled that I was invited back to Carson Palmer and they weren’t. They immediately became catty and told me they wouldn’t do my make-up that day. I also talked with my boyfriend who only wanted to focus on how I had “messed up” and not gotten invited back to Troy Polumalu. So I headed to my room to get ready and to call my number one supporter . . . my mom. I told her about how my feelings were hurt by my friends and that my boyfriend was starting to really to annoy me with his opinions. Sidenote: My boyfriend and I had been together for 4 years and our relationship was definitely winding down. This was the beginning of the end and we broke up shortly after rush. To this day he remains a good friend and I recently went to his wedding! My mom told me to keep my head up and to go out and have fun. She also said that maybe I shouldn’t be in contact with my boyfriend for the rest of rush since he was making things more difficult. I did end up heading back to Megan’s room across the hall and smoothing things over with the girls, because it is no fun to get ready for rush alone! We all apologized for the fight and they admitted that they were upset about their invitation list and were even considering not going to some of the parties. They did end up going to all that they were invited to for the experience. We also agreed that we would rely on each other less and just concentrate on finding the right house for us. So house tours began. Megan and Kate headed to Steve Smith for their first party and I headed to Mike Williams. Mike Williams: Oh my gosh . . . I love this house! It is gigantic! Their theme was alsor really funny. The girls had fun pictures put up everywhere to show the events they do throughout the year. There were all different sizes of rooms, from doubles, triples, quads, and I even saw one with 6 beds! Everyone I talked to was friendly and seemed genuinely excited to have me there. I saw the girl that I had connected with on the first day and she remembered my name. Their philanthropy project was also really interesting. They will definitely be high on my list. Frostee Rucker: This house was smaller than the first house, but still really pretty. I really liked the song they sang as we came in. The energy was a little lower than it had been at Mike Williams but the girls were still really nice. We spent more time on the philanthropy project than actually seeing the house, and I would have liked to have seen more of the house. While this house isn’t my favorite, I still really liked everyone I met and I am not quite ready to say that I am done visiting them. Dwayne Jarret: This house tour was odd, and not just because the house was being redone. That part was actually pretty cool. The rooms were almost done and it was cool getting to see how big they would be. Sidenote: The remodel of this house was supposed to be done prior to rush starting . . . but you know how construction can be. The weird part was the two actives that took me on the house tour with another rushee. They took us into this one room and had us watch to Beta fish fight with each other. The whole time they talked to each other and the other rushee and I hung out and talked to each other. She and I both left there with not good feelings about the house. Carson Palmer: Okay . . . LOVED this house and all the girls I met. My friend from high school was one of the girls I talked to during the tour and she gave me a big hug and told me how happy she was to see me back today. The house was beautifully decorated and the rooms were set up cool. I could imagine living there. I really liked their philanthropy activity. I spent some time talking with the President and the Rush Chair and felt like I could see myself in this house. Matt Leinart: I was struck again by how beautiful all the girls were that I met at this house. The house layout was different than the others with large rooms for that the newest members often lived in that slept around 10. All of the pictures of the events were great. The girl I spent time with during the philanthropy activity was from the same area as I was and we knew a lot of people in common. I definitely liked this house a lot but thought that Carson Palmer and Mike Williams were still probably my top two choices. Steve Smith: The conversation at this house was once again stilted. It almost seemed like every girl I talked to was surprised that I was at the party. It left me feeling unwelcome. Also, I still thought it was too pastel. Kate, Megan, and I met up after all the parties to talk about our days. We still had some houses in common but not all of them. We were meeting with our rho chis to rank them 1-6 and then we could be invited back to 4 houses the next morning. I was pretty clear on who I wanted to rank 5 and 6 and shared my thoughts with my friends. They had the same thoughts, but had gone to some different houses than I had and wanted to rank them lower. So these were our rankings at the end of House Tours. Trojan Woman Mike Williams Carson Palmer Matt Leinart Frostee Rucker Dwayne Jarret Steve Smith Megan Matt Leinart Mike Williams Frostee Rucker Steve Smith Reggie Bush John David Booty Kate Mike Williams Matt Leinart Dwayne Jarret Frostee Rucker Steve Smith Reggie Bush We were all feeling good at the end of the day. I called my mom and she gave me lots of positive support and I didn’t return or listen to any messages from my boyfriend! Time to go to sleep so we could wake up and get our invitations for slide show day! |
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I'm loving these threads, but this one even more since it's a SoCal school! :)
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I love this because 3 of my closest friends are in sororities at USC and it shows me what they did in recruitment (pretty different from my small school experience.) More please!
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Susan314 - I don't think it was part of the house tours. One of the girls lived in the room with the fish and was really excited to show it to us. unfortunately, it is pretty much all I saw of the house! :confused: Pretty funny that 10 years later it is literally all I remember about that house . . . good thing I have my rush notebook! :o
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So we woke up to the third round of rush parties and it was Slide Show Day. We were so looking forward to this day because everyone was talking about how it would be the most fun. Last night, Kate, Megan, and I had ransacked our closets looking for things to wear and I think we all ended up in a combination of each others clothes. (We had already decided that for preference we would have to go shopping as none of us had the perfect black dress!)
Time to go meet with the Rho chis. This time the three of us had all signed up for an appointment at the same time so we couldn’t make each other nervous. We could get up to four invitations that day. We were all feeling the pressure because some of the girls in our dorm had come back with only 2 or 3 invites and almost all of the girls we talked to had been dropped by at least one of their favorite houses. When all was said and done we were going back to these houses: Trojan Woman Mike Williams Carson Palmer Matt Leinart Frostee Rucker Megan Matt Leinart Mike Williams Steve Smith Reggie Bush Kate Mike Williams Matt Leinart Frostee Rucker Steve Smith Needless to say . . . I was ECSTATIC! I had gotten invited back to my top four houses. I knew that I loved Mike Williams and Carson Palmer and that I really liked Matt Leinart. I knew that I probably wouldn’t end up ranking Frostee Rucker in my top two for preference, but I was happy that I got to go back to them again because I had a friend in that house. Megan and Kate were mildly disappointed that they were both dropped from their third choices, but they were very happy that all three of us were going back to Mike Williams and Matt Leinart, both houses that they liked a lot. Before the day even started, they were trying to convince me that Carson Palmer wasn’t the right house for me. I just smiled and told them that I was going to keep an open mind. In my head though, I was already leaning towards preffing Mike Williams and Carson Palmer. And then the day began . . . Mike Williams: From the moment I walked in I felt like I was at home. Everyone remembered my name and came up to give me a hug and told me how happy they were that I had come back that day. The slide show was so entertaining and the music was great. You could really see that the girls loved being a part of this house and that they had a lot of fun together. I talked a long time with the President and really felt like I had already made a bunch of friends in the house. As I was walking through the tunnel of girls to go out, my friend from high school reached out and squeezed my hand. I knew that they would be high on my list. Frostee Rucker: Walking into this house, I knew that they would be last on my list tonight but I also thought that everyone I had met was really amazing and didn’t want to appear disinterested. Things were going well until an active asked me what other houses I was going to today. This has been mentioned in so many other threads and I can’t believe how much it happens. It puts both the active and the rushee in a terrible position. I wasn’t sure how to answer and the question made me uncomfortable, but I told her who was on my list. She got a weird look on her face and said, “Wow, I can’t believe you actually kept us this long if you are going to those houses.” If I hadn’t already known that I would be ranking them last, I would have decided right then and there that I didn’t want to be a part of this house. Even if it was only the thoughts of one member (because I did go on to know some wonderful Frostee Rucker’s who loved their house) I did not want to be in a sorority where the girls thought that other sororities were better than theirs. Also the slide show was not as much fun and the actives didn’t seem as “into” the day as the girls at Mike Williams. Carson Palmer: I was really looking forward to this party because I had consistently been ranking them second and I had felt so comfortable on the earlier days. Their theme was really cute and the slide show had great music and was very entertaining. However, I met a new active on that day and our conversation didn’t flow as smoothly as it had on previous days. It may have just been that we didn’t have a ton in common but she did keep saying how much good stuff she had heard about me. I left there still really liking them and thinking that I would go through pref and give them one more shot. Matt Leinart: Oh no . . . I am in such big trouble!!!! I thought I knew going into today what I was going to rank these four houses, but I did not count on falling in love with Matt Leinart today. Okay, I know that I had really liked them in the previous rounds and had good conversations, but today blew me away. They had the BEST theme of all four houses and really took it to the extreme, in a good way. Their slide show was full of energy and the actives had just as much fun watching it as we did. It really felt interactive. I talked with a junior that I hadn’t met before and she was so striking that I almost wasn’t able to speak to her because I was so nervous. She told me that she always got the house’s favorite girls and the ones that they liked the least to talk to because she could convince someone that they were the most wanted or make them walk out hating the house. . I must have gotten a weird look on my face because she gave me a hug and said, “don’t worry, you’re one of our favorites.” In retrospect, this is a very strange conversation to have with someone during rush and I wouldn’t recommend this technique. I walked out of Matt Leinart with a big smile on my face. Unfortunately for me, as soon as the high of the day wore off, I was facing a BIG dilemma. We had to head directly to meet with our Rho chis so that we could rank our houses. We would only have the opportunity to be invited back to two. I knew that no matter what, Mike Williams was going to be on my list, but I was torn between Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart. Megan and Kate had enjoyed their parties, but they were confident that their top two would be Mike Williams and Matt Leinart. Megan was going to put Matt Leinart #1 and Mike Williams #2 and Kate was going to put them the other way around. They were encouraging me to also list Matt and Mike as my top two because then we could all go through pref together, assuming that we all got invited back to both houses. But I was unsure. Was I willing to drop Carson Palmer to third after one so-so party after I had been so sure that they were my number 2? Was I ready to push Matt Leinart up because of one amazing party and other very good parties? I was literally in tears as I sat outside waiting for my appointment time with my rho chi. My well-meaning friends were putting a lot of pressure on me and I just didn’t know what I really wanted to do. My time finally came and I told her that I wasn’t ready to make a choice and asked if I could be changed to the last appointment. I then ran to my dorm to call my mom. (Yes, these were the days before cell phones.) My mom did a great job of calming me down and told me to follow my heart. She then helped me to make a pro/con list. My friends were waiting for me outside as I made my way back to meet my rho chi. They told me that they would love it if I preffed at the same houses as they were but would be totally supportive if I decided to pref at Carson Palmer. I was feeling pretty set until I sat down with my rho chi. I told her about my feelings and how I was questioning whether to rank Carson Palmer or Matt Leinart second. She looked at me as if I was crazy and said, “you are going to drop Carson Palmer? Why don’t you pref Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart?” Well that wasn’t helpful!!!! And actually, that comment is the very reason that I decided to be a rho chi my senior year so that I could be more helpful to girls who were rushing than she was to me! So I fretted and I fretted and finally ranked them Trojan Woman Mike Williams Matt Leinart Carson Palmer Frostee Rucker My rational was, if Matt Leinart or Mike Williams didn’t choose me, then I would get the chance to go back to Carson Palmer, and I would have been happy to go with any of those three houses. Megan and Kate ranked Megan Matt Leinart Mike Williams Steve Smith Reggie Bush Kate Mike Williams Matt Leinart Steve Smith Frostee Rucker We had one day between slide show day and preference, so Megan, Kate, and I arranged to go shopping with Kate’s mom the next morning after we got our invites from our rho chis. I went to bed that night with a very jittery stomach. |
What happened to you at Frostee Rucker happened to me at a chapter I went to during round 3. Although I wasn't explicitly asked where else I was going, I could sense the attitude that susan314 articulated "We don't know why you'd pick us, but we hope you do anyway." It's such a turnoff, even if the PNM was interested in the chapter before.
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I have to say, even being a longhorn, it's hard not to fall in love with Matt Leinart. :p
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More! more! more!
I know i am not the only SC alum lurking and loving every second of this thread. Have my guesses on which chapter is which, but cannot wait to hear the outcome and reveal! Also. TrojanWoman, feel free to PM me the codes for houses, I will only share w other lurking SC Alums! :) fight on! A |
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A note on recs . . .
While I may have been a VERY unprepared rushee, I was lucky enough to have women in my community who looked out for me. I had teachers from my high school and parents of friends of mine who sent in recs to Dwayne Jarret, Mike Williams, Carson Palmer, Matt Leinart, Troy Polumalu, and Reggie Bush. I did not find out about these recs until after rush and for even a couple of years after when the women let me know. I now have done the same thing for some of my friends little sisters who were not aware of what they were getting into with rush! Also a side note on the thread . . . I have tried to keep the house descriptions a little vague to make it harder to figure out who is who, and may have changed the order that I visited houses a little as well. :p |
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