Sorority Rush is the Most Important Unimportant Thing Ever
 

Love this. It pretty much sums up what we always try to get across to PNMs here on Greekchat.. and how PNMs should try to find their "sistas-4-life".

http://jezebel.com/5926403/sorority-...ant-thing-ever

This, this, this!!!

Rolling on the floor at the quote about verbal diarrhea!

I don't know. I think where you are during that four years can be very important and sometimes people here forget what it's like to be a kid and going through and living it. It's really different once you are older and have a different perspective I think.

What GC'er just posted over there about lycra catsuits?

Haha.. I saw that earlier and thought the same thing!

I don't know, this just sent off alarm bells:

What? No! Nononono!

Well, it's someone with convention this year in a GLO that performs initiation at convention. :D That rules out an AOII.

Oh yeah! And Atlanta has some too!

I think the alarm bells were more for them saying "make good use of the Lily sorority line." Can you imagine some poor girl walking in to a rush party wearing the Lily prints?

I really hate Jezebel. It's the sort of "feminism" that makes me not ever want to call myself a feminist. That is....women are great, as long as they are great in the way we want them to be. Anything positive that article might have had to say is overshadowed by references to "that damn pin" and the like.

I assure you that many PNMs show up in Lily prints.....

The sorority specific ones? That's what's getting the side-eye.

Darn it. No one's supposed to give away KD's secret.

Kidding! It has to be a group that had its convention last year, because the thread is from 2012.

The article quotes a "Julie Baselice, whose daughter Christina is now a Chi Omega at the University of Texas."

Doesn't Chi O use Greek titles for chapter officers? "Baselice" seems pretty similar to "basileus."

Julie and Christina Baselice are real people and Christina is a Chi O at UT. Can't say I would be happy that my mother spewed her anxious behavior on the pages of Jezebel Magazine. To each their own.

"In Birmingham, Alabama, a mere $100 buys a prospective rushee and her mother the wisdom of Rushbiddies, a rushee consulting firm that offers two-day workshops designed to prep these young ladies get into the best sisterhood friendship club"

Something about this bothers me. If you have to go to these great lengths to have your daughter go through Rush, I see a problem. If you've taught your daughter manners and basic social etiquette, why would you need this?

And unless she's a legacy, why would you care what group she ended up in (and even if she is a legacy, it shouldn't matter)?

Granted, I'm in Texas and not the SEC so maybe I don't understand how Recruitment works there?

No, a PNM at Bama doesn't need to engage the Rushbiddies.

This article was written/posted 7/17/12 (last year).

Chi Omega performs initiation at convention, which is on even years, but don't think the person who posted about the catsuit is a sister of mine. 1) Our convention was the week before this was posted AND 2) I have NO IDEA about the catsuit thing. It's not a requirement for Chi O.

Now, last year, it was mentioned on GMA that recruitment coaching company was supposed to have a reality series (not mentioning the name so this won't end up on a google search). I wouldn't want to watch it, but the train-wreck aspect would be compelling.

Hmmmm... methinks the lady doth protest too much. ;)

I, too, would have ABSOLUTELY NO CLUE about cat suits as pertaining to Pi Phi initiation. There would DEFINITELY NOT be a silver catsuit with a halo attachment hanging in my closet right now. That would be UNPOSSIBLE.

But obviously some do!

And ADPiEE, A & M is now in the SEC. And Texas recruitment is about as bad as Alabama, Ole Miss, etc!

This is true but I didn't go to UT or A&M so I feel out of the loop with really competitive recruitments ;)

I agree that if you were raised with proper social etiquette and generally good manners that you will do fine in any recruitment process without the aid of a rushbiddy or counselor. I think the issue here is that many, many girls that go through recruitment today are remarkably unrefined and maybe it is that group of women that need these "experts" the most. I think the people that hire them that are striving to only increase their odds of a "top" house are wasting their money. Top house selection does not come in the form of a stamp of approval from a rushbiddy. It typically comes from deep and well established family connections, camp connections and the list goes on. It is not something that can be bought.

If you click on the poster's display name, you find out her handle is "lovessquirrels." Based on that, I'm guessing an AGD. :D

I agree! I think that the PNMs who resort to these kinds of things because they or their mommas think it will get them into a certain chapter almost always end up seeming unauthentic and stiff. Even if they are a perfect rushbiddy student and do everything they say perfectly, it won't ever get them the kinds of connections that will get them in. I think it's much smarter to be the most polished version of your true self that you can be and end up where you will be comfortable and happy for the next four years.

For the same reason that parents send their daughters to expensive private schools/dancing lessons/deb balls/summer camp etc etc etc. Yes, many of the daughters would probably be fine on their own but some parents feel like they have to give every advantage....although I don't think the biddies are. They seem more like something a "nouveau Southerner" (as in nouveau riche) would use.

And again...this article is in Jezebel, people. I put it on the same level as Alexandra Robbins and Pledged, quite frankly.

I didn't read all of the comments, but for those wondering about the catsuit reference, it's from an old thread started by none other than KillarneyRose. Enjoy!

If I had a high school daughter, especially if she was going to one of these crazy rush schools, I would want her to attend a workshop just so she understood what was going to be happening. A real, and dare I say accurate explanation of RFM, what's happening behind the closed doors between parties, what is expected of her as a rushee and what a probable outcome will look like would be great. And having someone tell that 17 or 18 year old what types of questions will likely be asked and how she should answer those questions can alleviate a lot of stress. Just like interview prep. Or just like what we say over and over again here on GC. But spending a weekend in real life with real girls I think is healthy IF it's done with a sense of bonding and support and not nuclear level competition and stress.

If the point of the rushbiddies type consultants is to teach the social graces, the summer before rush is WAY too late. You either don't need it because your parents did their job or you do need it and a couple sessions before rush isn't gonna cover it.

Exactly. I don't know what rushbiddies advertise but IF they advertise that they can increase someone's chances of getting into a particular house, I feel like that would be taking advantage of people who don't know how the process works.

I looked at the Rushbiddies site, and you are right. The viewable guestbook is apparently used for workshop sign-up, and I recognized several names there of girls whose moms are chapter alums from Bama. These are also girls who attended high schools that would be considered rush-savvy.

I figured these workshops would be more appealing to girls and moms who are not familiar with recruitment at Bama, but I guess these may have a wider appeal. I couldn't determine the cost of the general workshops. I didn't see any advertisement pertaining to increasing one's chances in any category or "tier" of chapters (thankfully).

I don't think signing up on the viewable guestbook with your name, location, and email is an especially good idea.

That's exactly what a lot of alumnae panhellenics do, and many of us have done informally, for FREE, and for YEARs.
These people who are paid usually wind up spending most of the time on wardrobe analysis and "helping" you pick out the right outfits. Which any teen-ager worth her salt would rather die than have somebody her mother's age picking out her clothes.

Yep. Kinda like using your credit card at the head shop.

On a tangent:

Are we talking public or private schools? Or do you just mean the neighborhoods? I'm not trying to snark at all, just curious. The more I hear about HS systems in other states the more different ours seems to be.

This^^^

They do where I am too. Maybe the Alumnae Panhellenics don't do this in Alabama? I want to give Rushbiddies the benefit of the doubt but something just doesn't sit right with me.

Two of the girls I recognized attended public high school (the ones whose moms were Bama alums). Another attended a large private school -- her mom was not Greek. I saw both public and private schools mentioned in the guest book.

Here, in some places, the neighborhood may be much the same as the high school, since the community is its own city entity and operates its own school district. There is only one high school in some of these communities, though it may be large.

Ok...big town...slow night. Finals week at UT, but seriously...has anyone taken 5 minutes to read that guest book? What is the world is this about?

<an entry from the Rushbiddies Guest Book>

I know Rushbiddies might not advertise that they are prepping girls for top houses, but who goes to these workshops hoping for a bottom tier house? IMO they are simply trying to sell something that can't be bought. And who signs anything Toodles? Can you imagine getting a letter of introductions from someone signed "toddles"? It would end up on the back of the bathroom stall doors.

No, we all do, but Birmingham's Alum Panhellenic is brand new - this is their first year and they hosted their first sessions just a few weeks ago.
So there is unfulfilled demand out there that the "biddies" feed. Or did.
I don't think the two ladies have given up any day jobs, though.

And of course, there are going to be those people who feel they are *special snowflakes* and are willing to pay for extra attention.
Hey, it's their money to spend as they see fit.

But it just seems to me that the "biddies" are implying they can deliver more than they can. Hope they have ironclad agreements with their PNMs' parents.

According to this interview, Sigma Kappa

Dying of laughter over here, but that's so true about the bathroom stalls!

I'm trying to imagine a contract that promises a bid from a top-tier sorority, haha.

I guess I can see how Rushbiddies would help, say, for Northern girls going to competitive Southern schools who have no idea what to expect and no other resources such as an alumnae panhellenic or GC to help them, but that's clearly not the group Rushbiddies is catering to. I knew nothing about Greek Life coming in to Clemson as a freshman, and had I decided to rush then it probably would not have gone very well for me. My APH is brand-new and has not responded to my attempts to contact them, but I'm going to venture that those in Alabama are a little more prepared for the recruitment wringer that is Bama recruitment.

I can't even imagine how they could guarantee every single PNM a successful recruitment, especially since the concept of a successful recruitment is super subjective. Girls who only want to pledge a "top chapter" and will drop out of recruitment entirely if that one chapter drops them would demand their money back and call their recruitment a failure, while other girls would be thrilled to get a bid from any chapter at all. I imagine the Rushbiddies guarantees would be more vague, along the lines of "you will be better prepared with us than you would be otherwise", but some people will hear only what they want to.

And that website is killing me with its terribleness. It's not eye-searing, but it is brain-breaking.

That entry really is cringe-worthy!

To be fair, I guess we shouldn't be surprised that a recruitment coaching business has found a market. Considering the hype surrounding large recruitments like those in the SEC, for instance, some people may feel that they need consultation. Imagine being an OOS PNM or mom from an area where large competitive recruitments seem alien.

I figure a lot of what may seem business-as-usual to those of us posting about SEC recruitments probably seems cringe-worthy and waaay over the top to most people anyway. Including other Greeks!

Who feels, as I do, that that PNM will be referred to as "Toodles" during recruitment?