Rushing this fall... with braces?
 

Hey everyone! This fall I am planning on rushing at a California school...unfortunately today my orthodontist told me I need braces a SECOND TIME because I have problems with my jaw. My question is... going through rush with braces is a really bad idea, right? I really want to join a sorority and I think if I went through recruitment with braces no one would want me! If anyone has any advice, I would really appreciate it! Also if anyone knows people who have even had braces in college.
Thanks in advance.

I can't imagine it would be a problem - I'd bet that at least half of all the sorority members will have had braces, and so should be understanding.

What SWTXBelle said.

This thread reminded me of a girl that rushed when I was a collegian. She had a mouth full of metal (Invisalign was not an option) and I remember she had the brightest and biggest smile in the room. To sum it up, she had the grades and personality, pledged, initiated, and eventually became my sister-daughter.

We had a member who had severe jaw problems to the extent she had to get her jaw broken and reset to fix her teeth alignment problems. She was in a crazy head brace and stuff. She got the surgery over Christmas our sophomore year and so she actually got to get out of recruitment that year because she couldn't talk to PNMs normally (we had January recruitment). :D

She did a lot of background stuff like loading cookies onto trays, setting up glue for philanthropy night projects, etc.

I have heard of people and known people who rushed with braces and it did not hurt them. In reality even though I have never been on the other side of rush I would say being confident in you own skin and forgetting about the braces during rush and not being self conscious would actually help you. Almost everybody has had braces at one time or another. Just focus on your positives not negatives and you will be great.
By the way i have known personally about 3 people who had braces in college

Oh heavens to Betsy.

I think you're watching too much Ugly Betty. :)

Hey there!
Dont worry about braces. Two of my sisters in Fall 07 pledged with braces and they are beautiful, outgoing ladies. Im sure the vast majority of women, even in sororities, had braces sometime in there life. I had Invisalign, but they still hurt like crazy. Not to mention I got them the day before my senior prom! I survived prom, you will survive recruitment week :) LOts of luck!

This reminds me of the sticky in the Delta Forum. :)

There are soooooo many circumstances that people could bring up. Rushing with veneers. Rushing when doublejointed. Rushing if your grandmother didn't get a bid from a sorority.

rant/
This one particular NPC sorority on a campus was considered one of THE BEST and this young lady successfully rushed with one leg. A wonderfully spirited young lady for a wonderful sorority. Makes most of these "I have (insert circumstance)" threads look frivolous and silly.
/rant


:)

I had braces from the end of my sophmore year till the beginning of my senior year. :cool: We also had girls come through that had braces, and I don't think anyone ever mentioned it.

Two of my sisters rushed with braces, and a third was a senior when I was pledging (freshman year), and she had braces. I don't know if she had them when she rushed. Thing is, if you worry that you're this big loser with braces, your insecurity will show, and THAT will be the turnoff, not the braces. Just be confident and smile and no one will care about your braces.

i have braces and will be rushing with them. this past semester i hung out at the sig kap house and there were at least three sisters who had braces. lets just say its a great way to have a back up conversation as many have pointed out most of the women will have had braces themselves or have known someone who has. so you can talk about how much they hurt and are a pain. im excited about recruitment and never once thought about my braces affecting my fate

Ahhh thank you so much everyone! You have really made me calm down alot. I'm going to see if I can still postpone getting them until after rush, but if not, I know I'll be fine now! ahhh sigh of relief.

What some people will do to get out of Recruitment! LOL

Seroiusly, braces are the least of your problems. IMHO, they show that you care about your health and overall appearance.

Good luck!

I think the "braces the second time" story would be a unique way to stand out among the other pnms. It is often hard to come up with interesting conversation topics during rush. This could be a fun conversation that sorority girls could relate to (note the multiple responses posted above). Take your 'braces remix" and run with it! :)

/crash/

who the hell wants to have a conversation about why the hell you need braces again, wtf?

maybe its a girl thing?

/end crash/ back to your regularly scheduled thread.

^^If you don't know or understand sorority recruitment, it's probably better to just sit back and read/learn rather than interject with random comments that are no help to the OP.

cause thats never happened before. Half the girls in here don't understand about other schools rush, so very few posters get actual accurate information.

The best to learn is to ask questions!

On a related note, a fraternity on the W&L campus once had a "Braces Off Party" for one of its members. They got tshirts made of a guy with braces and everything and it was one of the biggest parties that year. Good times.

That may be one of the lamest things I've ever heard, sorry just calling it how I see it. It was a small fraternity (like 25 or fewer guys) I hope, that may make it only slightly more acceptable.

Must throw some lame ass parties.

Mid-tier. Lot of soccer guys, lot of Florida guys. Draw what conclusions you will from that. Pretty popular with the women. I didn't really care about them much one way or the other in terms of their members but they did throw really really good parties so I was over there a lot, like every other sorority girl.

W&L is fratty but it's sort of its own world too. This was actually not that lame there. You probably won't believe me. LOL.

I guess just coming from a very big house I couldn't imagine doing that. It would get us laughed off campus probably, our only parties are band parties, a big themed house party once a semester and socials. I would probably go to the bar and drink with the guy, but I don't remember it being a particularly big deal getting my braces off in middle school, much less party worthy in college.

While most of us don't know how rushing is like at that particular campus, we DO know how sorority rush is like. I would assume that info coming from someone who's been through rush as rushee and as an advisor would be more beneficial to the OP than info coming from someone who's never experienced it because he's in a fraternity.

Perhaps it's time for you to turn your blinker lights off and stay in your lane. Thanks. :)

I've heard this, this might need to be reevaluated.

Well you gotta remember too that most houses at W&L, even the top ones, are fairly small by bigger school's standards. The sororities are large (100-130, maybe even more now), but the fraternities tend to be around 40 members because there are 13-15 of them (depending on risk management and who's been kicked off and such) at any one time and with ~ 220 freshman guys to choose from, all the houses are pretty small, even the top ones. So all the houses are extremely tight.

To clarify it was a huge band party and it was insane. And most of the houses had a theme party or two per semester as well. It was a really good party. They just picked a random name for a band party, basically. At least I thought it was, and I didn't really like this fraternity a lot. W&L is like the big southern schools in that all the decent parties are band parties. And there are like 3 or 4 every weekend night. So there is a lot going on. In recent years various administration risk policies have forced many of the parties out of the fraternity houses and into off campus houses (with the top tier groups moving out of the houses and out of the town center first), but that's a whole other story.

Not sure what you mean. What needs to be reevaluated?

Think he meant that W&L being fratty needed to be reevaluated. I've heard good things about it though.

ahhh.

I assure you that W&L is fratty. Remember that like 80% of people are Greek so there are all types. The group that had this party was less fratty than most other mid-tier groups. They had a, I don't know, soccer/Florida/surfing vibe. I'm sure you get what I mean. But they threw good parties. They mixed with all but the top sorority.

At W&L, everyone just hangs together for the most part. Every fraternity goes to every other fraternity's parties. The open party system and all that. But the top houses at W&L could compete with top houses pretty much anywhere - and frankly they're probably even smarter and more successful guys in the long run.

I'm basically the only regular poster on GC from W&L (there used to be another one but she left and I see people drop in from time to time but none that have stuck around). I know people have all different opinions of it and the Greek scene. W&L is a smart/nerdy school so that has an effect. The sororities, even the top ones, are all more diverse economically/socially/racially than the top SEC sororities from what I know, and the sororities have a lot of power to deem whichever parties cool. So... yeah.

I honestly think the only way you can really evaluate it is to see it for yourself - I mean I probably wouldn't take my word for it either.

Sorry for the major hijack of this thread. I just have fond memories of the Braces Off Party.

No. It's a small talk thing. A fraternity rush with braces may find (perhaps more "masculine") ways to mention being 19 with braces. Or an active may jokingly ask him about them.

Besides, I think these are "women" by the time recruitment comes around. ;)

It shouldn't be a problem :) I have braces. If a sorority does base their entire idea of you on your braces, then it is probably a good thing you don't get into that sorority :)

i'm in the EXACT same situation. It's my second time with braces and I have to have jaw surgery during winter break. I was talking to my 3 older sisters about it (all were in sororities) and 2 of my friends a year older who rushed and they all said that nobody will care, and if anything, it'll be a great conversation starter!