Sugar & Spice's Rush Thread
 

I know some of y'all are addicted, so even though rush doesn't start until next week, I'm going to get this thread started! I've been at school since Thursday and just got my internet hooked up, and I've been incredibly social -- everybody is so nice, and we've been a bunch of fun stuff. I've been walking so much and there's been no time to eat; I wouldn't be surprised if I've lost five pounds since I got here!

I'm rushing at the University of Wisconsin, and we have eleven NPC sororities (let me see if I can name them off the top of my head!): Alpha Phi, Alpha Chi Omega, Alpha Epsilon Phi, Chi Omega, Delta Delta Delta, Delta Gamma, Gamma Phi Beta, Pi Beta Phi, Sigma Delta Tau, Kappa Kappa Gamma, and Kappa Alpha Theta. I think the smallest chapter is around 65 and the largest is about twice that. I have heard great things about the Greek system here, so I'm really anxious to get started with recruitment. I have all my clothes, although some of them are still at home instead of in the dorms. (I live here in Madison, so it's just a 20-minute drive back to my house.) And I think I may have even convinced my roommate to rush with me! She's a freshman and I'm not sure she knows a lot about sororities, so I'm going to try to give her some advice and explain what they're all about before she goes through. She may change her mind, but I think we're both in agreement that since there's no obligation to pledge, it's a good idea to just go through recruitment and find out what it's all about -- if we decide it's not for us, we'll only have wasted some of our time and $30.

We have a sorority orientation meeting on Thursday -- what would you guys recommend that I wear to that?

Also, any last minute advice on ANY rush-related topic would definitely be appreciated! I've learned so much from Greekchat already, in the past month or so that I've been here. All of you give great advice and I don't know where I'd be without you!

Re: Sugar & Spice's Rush Thread
 

Addicted, who us? ;)

Seriously, though, the very best of luck during recruitment.

As for what to wear to the orientation, I'd go with the 4 C's: Cute (as in looks good on you), Comfortable (fits well and you don't have to keep rearranging your outfit), Clean (self-explanatory of course!)and Casual (unless recruitment is very formal at Wisconsin, casual dress should be fine.) I don't know thing one about recruitment there, but I'm guessing if you follow the C's you'd be all right. If you've gotten a PNM Handbook or anything, just wear whatever is suggested for the orientation night if it's in there, if not go by the 1st round dress recommendations.

Other last minute advice, get rest and eat as healthy as you can during recruitment. Make sure your shoes are comfortable, no matter how good they look, achy feet are sad feet.

Good luck! Can't wait to hear about your week!
Christin

My best wishes go out to you, Sugar! I'm rushing in about a month, and I'm so super-excited... I know you are, also!

Have a great time and please keep us updated.

XOXO,
Annie.

It sounds like both you and your roommate have an open mind going in to recruitment! What a wonderful outlook to have! I hope you both have a wonderful time!

Badgers
 

Yea Wisconsin! (Guess where I'm from? lol)

Good luck during rush!

Here's my advice: keep an open mind when dealing with sorority reputations, and then go with your gut! Pick the girls that you feel the most yourself with.

ll,
M

Hey, honey! I'm so glad you're posting. Welcome home to Madtown, the greatest city in Wisconsin. PM/email me if you need anything.

Oh I'm excited to read another Wisconsin thread! I don't go to Madison, it's one of the system schools, but it's such a fun place! we go to Madtown all the time, it's only an hour from my campus...and if you meet a girl named Laura in Pi Phi, that's one of my best friends from high school! :o)

Oh, I can't wait to hear about your rush!!

As for what to wear Thursday, it's probably not something to stress about too much as long as you look nice, which of course you will. I would probably wear capris or a skirt with a cute shirt and sandals or flip flops, unless I knew that I should be more dressy than that.

And BTW, you MUST tell us EVERYTHING!!!!! Feed our addiction! :D

Casual / no jeans should be fine for your orientation. Nice top, slacks/capris/skirt, comfortable shoes (not sneakers). You will probably just be meeting your rho chi (or whatever U Wisconsin is calling them) and your fellow PNM's, so dress won't be so critical, but it never hurts to look your best. :)

Good luck, and keep us posted! :)

Good luck! Update us soon!

CANT WAIT. I'm so excited for you!!

always-
ili

Tonight we had orientation at the Union theater. We divided up into our Rho Chi groups (yes, Wisconsin is still calling them Rho Chis) and had to fill out twelve copies of the same card with all our information on it -- it took forever! Every group has three Rho Chis, and our groups are all super-friendly and nice. The Rho Chis told us that about 400 girls had pre-registered, and usually 300-400 register the night of orientation, so they were pleasantly surprised at the number of people going through recruitment.

Then all the Rho Chis did a skit for us, where they sang, in tune to the Brady Bunch theme song, about a girl who goes off to college and joins a sorority. After that, all the Panhel execs gave little speeches about philanthropy, hazing, etc.. The recruitment chair gave a little speech about how national sororities aren't like Sigma on "Sorority Life," and then we broke up into our Rho Chi groups.

As an icebreaker, our Rho Chis had us introduce ourselves and tell the story behind our favorite scar, which seemed kind of weird at first but actually turned out to be really fun because you weren't all trying to impress each other with how cool and perfect you were; instead we got to hear stories about how so-and-so scraped her knees falling off her bunk bed or from tripping down the stairs.

Thanks for the advice on clothing. I ended up wearing a black top and a knee-length denim skirt, which I think worked well -- a lot of girls were dressed similarly. I thought that rush itself would be dressier than it appears it will be; I planned on skirts for the first round, sundresses for the second and a semi-formal dress for the third, and for each of the clothing suggestions those are the dressiest options, while I assumed they'd be somewhere in the middle. That's not a problem though. It'll make a good impression.

As for the recruitment schedule, we start out with an ice cream social on Sunday. I'm not sure if we'll be meeting the sorority girls or just getting to know the people in our Rho Chi groups, and the other groups, better. Then on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday we have first round parties, and on Thursday we rank the eleven sororities. Then second round parties aren't until Tuesday and Wednesday of the next week (we can go to up to 7 houses) and then for Pref, which is on Friday, we can visit up to 3. Then Bid Day isn't until SUNDAY -- I can't believe we'll have to wait over 24 hours to find out our bids. That gives me TWO nights that I won't be able to sleep! :p Personally, I think the schedule is more spread out than it needs to be. I'm pretty sure it's that way at least in part due to the fact that we've got two home football games, both on Saturdays, and they don't want to interfere with that, but still. I'm going to have to learn how to be patient over the next few weeks!

OMG, I feel like *I'm* not going to be able to wait that long to find out what happens -- I have NO IDEA how you are going to wait! It's going to be so much fun, though, and I can't wait to hear all about it!! (Hey, am I effectively conveying the point that I CAN'T WAIT???)

The favorite scar thing is really cool, for exactly the reason you mentioned -- reminding everyone that the other PNMs aren't all perfect, which is an awesome thing to keep in mind during rush.

Good luck, have fun, and keep us posted!

Wow - what a long time to wait! All of us rush thread addicts will be on pins and needles too - checking every other hour to see if there is an update! Have a great time!

Wow...that is a spread-out schedule! Well, more time to enjoy the rush thread I guess;) Best of luck to you...just be yourself and it will all work out for the best! Can't wait to hear more about your experience...

Yay! Another school with Pi Phi! Have a great time, sweetie.

woo hoo!
 

Yay! more rush stories!!
have a super time at rush and have fun with the girls in your rush group! i met some great girls in mine!!!
Im pulling for alpha chi!!
Have fun!
Love
Ashley

woohoo
 

Yea!! Another rush thread with AXO, good luck and have a blast :)

Just a little update:

We had an ice cream social with all the rushees -- sorry, PNMs -- where we decorated our name tags and got to know everyone better. There are a LOT of East coast girls rushing, which is interesting because the majority of Wisconsin students are from the Midwest. Our Rho Chis are super-nice and fun and all that good stuff; we are going to do at least a couple events as a group outside of recruitment (one of which is going to be a "Sex and the City" mini-marathon!).

Anyway, we visit our first houses tomorrow and I'm getting really really excited/nervous!

great time!
 

You are going to have am amazing time!
Just remember and keep in mind that every girl in the houses that you visit *could* be your sister... that is some thing i tried to remember all through my recruitment!
Have a great time! also, i think the events outside of rush with your group are a great idea!!!!
love
ashley

Glad you had fun at the ice cream social. Best of luck tomorrow for your first parties! :)

Ooh! I love Sex and the City! Anyway, have a fabulous time!

Thanks for all your encouragement, ladies -- it has helped me stay calm throughout all the preparations I've been making for rush! (Hopefully I can get this recap in before the finale of "Sorority Life" starts . . . hehe.)

Tonight we started recruitment! It's been about 90 degrees out all day, super-humid, and NONE of the houses have air conditioning. We were melting on the walks between houses. Now I can tell what it must feel like to go through rush in the South -- as least temperature-wise!

House #1: I don't want to say much about this house except that I wish we had started with a different one. I was soooo nervous and this house didn't do a whole lot to allay that. To begin with, we were double-rushed (this is the only house that happened in, at least to me) and it made it really hard to keep the flow of the conversation going. I felt like I was overshadowed by the other rushee in my group, and I'm not sure how much of an impression I made. I think it was cool that they made an effort to avoid the usual rush questions ("What's your major?" "Where are you from?"), but that made it hard to find common ground and things to talk about. The girls seemed nice but I didn't really feel like I connected with them.

After that we had our only break of the first rounds. Tomorrow night and Thursday we go straight through -- eek! During our break we went to one of the restaurants on State Street and did more icebreaker-type activities with the girls in our Rho Chi groups. I got to know a few of the girls well, and everybody seems really cool.

After that we walked down to the second house, which required walking past multiple fraternity houses. The Sig Eps and the Chi Phis planted guys on their front lawn to hoot and holler at us as we walked past, and a bunch of the other fraternities had guys out playing soccer or frisbee in the front lawn, showing off. (And after the parties were done for the night, Chi Phi turned the sprinklers on right as my section of the group was walking past -- we all got soaked! A couple girls were mad, but most of us thought it was funny. And at least they waited until after the parties were done for the night. I can totally picture them doing it BETWEEN parties!)

House #2: These girls were so great! The had a Candyland theme, and their skit was so enthusiastic and fun, and they made us yummy cookies. I had really great conversations, no pauses -- we talked about why we decided to rush, and how our parents reacted when we told them, and a whole bunch of other things. The time went so fast here and I felt really felt comfortable with the girls.

House #3: I liked these girls so much too! They had a TRL skit which was super cute, and you could tell they had spent a lot of time and energy on it. I had some really good conversations with the girls too, particularly with the first girl I talked to. There were so many adorable and enthusiastic girls in this house.

I'm sorry I've written so much -- you can tell I'm an English major! I'm so excited about visiting the rest of the houses, and I'm glad rush isn't nearly as scary as I thought it would be. It's definitely intimidating, but I'm having a lot of fun too.

no no you haven't written too much it's AWESOME!

I don't think it is possible to write too much on these rush threads. The more detail the more I feel like I am in the house too-like I am rushing again.

Sounds like you're having a great time! Boys will be boys, though, won't they?:p Anyway, keep your eyes open...it sounds like you're already getting a feel for where you feel at home. Best of luck with your marathon day tomorrow...can't wait to hear more!

Sug, the more your write, the better!! I really enjoyed hearing about your first night... and best of luck to you for the rest of rush!

XOXO,
Annie.

good stuff
 

drink lots of water, comfy shoes and a sense of humor...
otherwise, it sounds like you are good to go.
have a ball....
lol
:p

Hehe, I went to high school with some of the Madison SigEps and they are crazy fun guys! I'm glad to hear your recruitment is going well - I kind of wish I got to go through formal, but my school isn't big like yours, so oh well! I'm so glad you are having fun, I am too! Good luck!

This is such great reading...
 

...can't wait to read more! Hope you have fun at Gamma Phi Beta! By the way, I have seen mention of this in other threads and have no idea what it is so I will just ask -- what is TRL ???:confused: :confused:

Sorry -- I know I am OLD so I don't know some lingo -- but Hey! I did learn on another post what a kitten heel is! hehe!;)

TRL is a video countdown show on MTV...it stands for Total Requests Live.

Okay, ladies, here's the wrap-up for tonight:

House #4: We were double-rushed again (some girls were and some girls weren't), but it was much smoother this time than last time. The girls I talked to weren't too chatty, but between the rusher, the other rushee and me we managed to have some good conversations. I liked this house -- it seemed very diverse in terms of different types of people, and very involved in a whole bunch of different activities -- but there are definitely some that come before it. I'd like to go back, though, and get a better feel for it.

House #5: Oh my god, we walked into this house and it was unbelievably noisy! All the girls were screaming so loud. The first girl that rushed me was super-cute and chatty and friendly and sooo enthusiastic, and all the girls after her were similar. There wasn't a single dull moment in the conversation, and all the girls absolutely LOVE Madison, so we bonded over that. I told one of the girls how much I was enjoying rush, and she was so surprised. She said, "Every other girl I've talked to has just been, like, eh." I had a ton of fun with these girls, but so did a bunch of the other girls in my group, and I think they'll definitely be one of the more popular houses. Their theme was Planet ________ (like Planet Hollywood), the room was plastered with movie posters, and the girls sang a bunch of songs from movies with the words altered to fit their sorority.

House #6: These girls were nice, but I just didn't click with them. For some reason their skit didn't do it for me, and I didn't have great conversations with the rushers -- not terrible, awkward conversations, but lots of pauses, stuff like that. We just didn't really connect.

House #7: These girls were so down to earth and energetic and fun -- I talked to four or five different girls and had really solid conversations with all of them. They had a Grammies theme with a lot of singing and dancing and it was cute. I accidentally matched their clothing scheme -- red top and black bottoms -- which they all thought was cute. Definitely one of my top choices overall.

Now we've got a day off and then the last four houses of first rounds are on Thursday -- and then we rank them!

And actually, I think I'm kind of liking the way the schedule is spread out, since I woke up this morning with the beginnings of what will become The Cold of Death (one of my friends has been sick, and I guess I caught it from him). Hopefully this will give me some time to recover between rounds!

Take care, rest up, and continue to have an awesome time!

I can so relate to the cold of death! It sucks! Luckily I'm only rushing one house! ;) Glad to hear you were having fun, good luck with the next day!

Jeepers!
 

I wish I knew which house was which! It is killing me to know if Gamma Phi Beta did a good job or not! I am sure they did though, right? Heh heh ;)

Sounds like things are going pretty decent for you, sugar and spice. I'm glad!

As for the Cold of Death, do whatever you can to pump fluids in your bod, rest whenever you can and eat healthy. Hopefully by tomorrow's parties you'll feel much better. Good luck!!!

Christin

Yeah! I'm glad it's gone well so far :) Your thread was getting to the bottom of the stack... so I thought I'd bump it up. Hope things are still good in your neck of the woods....

Sorry I made you guys wait so long for the update -- my computer was doing some crazy things last night and I couldn't sign on to the internet.

I also forgot to mention that after Monday's 90-degree heat wave, it dropped to about 50 overnight, and Tuesday it was absolutely freezing. Last night, though, we finally hit a happy medium and had absolutely perfect rush weather.

House #8: I'd heard these girls were a little stuck up and very concerned about appearances, so I was kind of apprehensive about this house. However, from what I saw they were very sweet, fun, and even a little bit goofy. I talked to some really nice girls. There was only one girl that I felt uncomfortable with, and that wasn't because our conversation was full of pauses -- it was because we both had so much to say that she occassionally interrupted me. (I'd much rather have that than an awkward, pause-filled conversation, though!) They had a "secret garden" theme with lots of flowers; it was very sweet.

House #9: Somewhat similar to House #1, although I felt more comfortable here. The conversation flowed better and I got along with the girls, but I don't feel like I had that much in common with them. I wouldn't mind going back here and seeing more of what they're about, but right now it's not one of my favorites.

House #10: I'd also heard things about these girls being kind of snobby and unapproachable, so I wasn't too excited about this house, either . . . but I ended up loving it. The first girl I talked to was really pretty and intimidating, but she was really nice, too, and all three of the girls after that were so awesome. Two of the four girls I talked to were English majors, like me, so we talked about classes to take and good professors. One of the girls had an almost identical schedule to me -- she'd either taken or was taking every class I have this semester! Another one of the girls ran track in high school, and so we talked about that -- the different events that we ran, what we liked and didn't like about different races, indoor vs. outdoor meets. The time went so quickly here that my rusher and I were still talking as the other girls were being herded out the door, and we hardly realized that everyone was leaving -- I was the last one out of the house!

They had a "cabana" theme here and served us yummy frosty drinks with little paper umbrellas in them -- very cute!

House #11: These girls had an American Idol theme -- they didn't seem to be too enthusiastic, but I'll cut them a little slack since one of the girls seemed to be losing her voice, and it was the millionth time they'd performed it. My conversations with the girls were mixed -- a couple were pretty generic, but some of the girls seemed really cool, and I really liked one of the girls -- we talked about our siblings: her sister just got her drivers' license, and mine just turned 16 so she'll be getting her license soon. So that led to stories about driving and learning how to drive . . . I just felt really comfortable with her.

I'm not going to tell you guys how I ranked the houses, but I will let you know that I had seven (yes, seven!) houses I really liked, three that I wouldn't mind going back to to get to know the girls better, and only one that I can't see myself in at all, so I'm considering myself pretty lucky. I'm trying not to pick any real favorites until Pref, so that if I get cut I won't be too heartbroken.

Now we've got to wait until Tuesday to find out who invites us back, so I'm just keeping myself super-busy this weekend to distract myself! I've got soccer practice and a game, a party to go to, hanging out with friends, the football game tomorrow, our Rho Chi-sponsored "Sex and the City" party, and lots of homework, so I think Tuesday will come soon enough! And fortunately my cold has been kept under control with lots of rest and juice -- all I've got is a little case of the sniffles and a mildly sore throat, both of which are knocked out with a bit of cold medicine and more juice.

Good luck!:) :D :cool:

Good luck and have fun!:D