rush booklets
 

When you rushed, if you recieved a booklet with all the guidelines, did you feel that the dress code they explained was adequate? Mine had pictures and let me tell you, if I had worn most of that stuff I would have been cut straight off the bat! I noticed the next day too that rushees that had been under dressed tried to dress up more and that they were also the ones who had gotten cut the hardest. So do you think clothes really matter and if the guidelines that your schools Panhellenic gives to rushees are good enough?

Are you a new rush chair? I'm just curious because you are asking a lot of questions about rush. If you are, what chapter and what campus?;)

By the way, yes we had rush booklets. I'll see if I can dig one out.

Yes, we were given very detailed rush booklets. You would not believe how much those things are scrutinized. Especially by girls who don't know "anything" about sorority life. For them it's not only a vital resource of rush ettiquitte, but also their first glimpse at what these org's look like and are all about.

For the most part, actually most girls basically ignored the suggestions for the first day's dress code, which was nice shorts and a blouse. Most girls went straight for a knee length skirt and blouse or sweater set and progressively got more formal from there.

Since my freshman year (98!), the rush process here has changed quite a bit. Now first day is just house tours. No rushees even talk to sisters on this day, so it really is shorts & a nice top now. Second day is philanthropy now, so the girls all wear the same rush T shirt and shorts. After that, it's more formal and the girls follow what's in the book. (longer/more formal dresses for day 3 &4, and the "little black dress" for day 5)

When I got accepted to A&M I remember them sending me that rush booklet and I remember thinking that they pictures seemed out of date. They showed pics of girls wearing stuff that was supposedly appropriate for each day. I didn't end up going there. Well anyway, I think that asking around is the best way to decide what to wear. I feel bad for the girls who come dressed inappropriately mostly because I bet they feel really self concious.

The guidelines for rush were fairly vague but I had a great Rho Chi who helped clarify and even offered to come to your dorm and help you sort through your clothes for the right outfit. I think the main thing would be dress weather appropriate for your school. At Illinois it's august and usually scorching and not all houses have air conditioning. If a school is in the winter there's no shame in keeping warm.

Our Rho Chis talked with us in some detail about what was appropriate for each round of rush, but the rush booklet itself was not very specific. It said things like, "wear nice pants or a skirt" which means something different to every girl, depending on her background and where she likes to shop. Some girls might interpret that as wear a pair of chinos, while others would be in a skirt way too dressy to wear to class. For that night, I remember I wore a knee length black skirt, hose, heels, and a dressy top, and I think I was dressed appropriately.

Now that I do rush "from the inside," it's always interesting/funny to look at what people are wearing, since I know (from personal experience) how much thought and effort they put into deciding what to wear. Not that I judge people based on clothes alone, but I am always impressed when a rushee's wearing a really cool skirt (or other item) and I can't tell where it came from (i.e., she went beyond Banana Republic, J.Crew, and Ann Taylor)... at least I know she's creative.

We had rush booklets (sorry, RECRUITMENT booklets!), but the pictures in them were a tad, let me say, outdated. :eek: Not so old that it was ridiculous, but some of the pics had to be from the early to mid 90s because nobody wears straw hats with big sunflowers around here anymore. On the first day of rush everybody is supposed to wear the Panhellenic shirts that they give out, but there are always some girls who refuse and those are the ones that usually get into the top houses, believe it or not. Also, most girls tend to wear clothes that are more dressy than what the booklet says to...I followed the book's suggestions, and I looked like I came straight out of the sticks (which I did, but...)!

Texas Girls in Particular
 

Hi, my daughter goes to SWT, and was all set up to go through Rush at Texas Christian, until she changed her mind two years ago. Anyway, both of those schools have a mandatory T-shirt for first round to be worn with either khaki or denim shorts. This eliminated the chaos I remember going through in the stone age at TCU over what to wear to first round. I am surprised A&M does not do this also.
As for the handbook, the one from SWT was very outdated, and had I known nothing about rush my daughter would have looked like a fool. It is 100 degrees in San Marcos in late August and it was telling them to wear long short sets with hose and stacked heels! She went with sundresses and progressively got dressier, through pref. She also got no cuts, lol.
I like the idea of the shirts for first round that some schools have gone to as it puts most everyone on the same page until they get acclimated.
Susan

Actually, A&M does have the PNM's wear the same recruitment T-Shirt for the first day of actual parties (day 2 which is philanthropy). We will be going to a four day rush next year, so things will be changing again....

The Rush guides I've seen at Clemson, Wofford, and USC are helpful, but most girls who rush probably know more about how to dress than the book actually shares. The majority of PNM's study the book for its pictures of the sororities and the information it contains about them (awards, philanthropies, GPA's, etc.) and keep notes throughout rush using it. Here is an example of an SC rush guide - Clemson's isn't online so here is the basic guide at USC's website. Click here to see it. In addition, a rush booklet would contain Rho Chi's pictures, and a description of an appropriate outfit for every party.

I got rush booklets from each of the national sororities on my campus. There were NO guidelines as to what to wear, and my rho chi was exceedingly unhelpful.

My year was the last that individual sororities sent out booklets; after that, Panhel sent out one big booklet. But still, no guidelines as to what to wear. The only thing rushees were told was to wear a nice outfit to pref.

Some rushees had creative ways of "modifying" the rush shirts, but I have never seen a girl be bold enough not to wear it at all.

I remember well...The main problem with the book was that it came out so late. We kept putting off the shopping because we didn't want to buy something on "hearsay". The pictures presented 3 styles that would be acceptable for each party. They also had 3 girls with slightly different body types modeling the clothes.

THE WORST THING THAT HAPPENED-Prior to one of the parties, the Rho Chi told the girls that they would participate in the philanthropy so dress very casual. This came out of the blue and was not in line with the "pictures" portrayed for that day. When my daughter called-as many daughters did- I told her to keep with her plans because she looked good and felt comfortable. SOME ofthe girls took what their Rho Chi said to heart and showed up in denim clam diggers or shorts...things that were way under dressed as compared to the majority of those rushing.
One more point. Girls were told "No denim" As you know, there were TONS of cute denim skirts and many wore them. That book becomes their "bible". Clarity and timeliness are imperative.

Our booklet didn't have pictures but it had a list of "appropriate" clothing. I felt like it was quite dated. They didn't suggest wearing a dress until the third round. I was moving into my permanent dorm room so I had all of my clothes. I was lucky-most girls wore dressed or really nice pants from day one-so I had alternatives. The girls who only had casual clothes for the first rounds were very self-concious.

We now have a required t-shirt for the rushees on the first day so that has taken some of the stress away.

Along the same lines-do you all have booklets of rush guidelines for the active members?

My school passes out recruitment guides which have pictures in them of what is expected to be worn each day of rush. It also has pictures of the Rho Chis, Panhel, and information about each house. The book was helpful so that I can get a general idea about each house, but the pictures look the same for six-party and four-party nights! I was told by one of the girls in one of the houses that the pictures are off and that I should just wear black pants and a sweater the first night, black skirt and a nice top the next night and then the black dress for pref.

Jess

We have rush booklets, but they do not have pictures of outfits. It simply states to wear dressy-casual or business-casual to Pref 1, and dressy clothes to Pref 2. For the get-to-know-you parties at the beginning of the week the girls can wear whatever they want but most wear nice clothes they would normally wear to class. Being a Rho Chi I would tell my girls to wear chinos and a nice sweater or dress shirt to Pref 1 and then dress it up with a skirt or dress and hose for Pref 2. I naturally like to dress up, so when I went through I think I wore skirts and hose to both of the parties. Girls from some of the sororites I didn't join were impressed that I dressed up so much for Pref 1, but I have to say my chapter doesn't really look at what someone is wearing when making a decision to cut. We base our decisions on the important things like like-ability and their personality. However I do remember a girl that went through last year wearing a corset-type thing that looked straight out of Fredericks of Hollywood. She ended up getting cut, but it wasn't for that reason. I just remember everybody talking about it when she left.