Really confused about bids/rush!
 

Like my title says, I am really confused about rushing and bids. If you get a bid to a house, are you allowed to rush again? The reason I ask is because last year, I got an informal bid to a sorority at my school. They sort of rushed me without me knowing... basically, I made friends with this one girl, and she introduced to me to some of her other friends. I didn't have any clue about how sororities work, so I just assumed she was being nice when she asked me if I wanted to go hang out with her at their house a few times. I didn't know informal rush existed until they handed me a bid! I was really surprised and didn't know what to do, so I didn't give them an answer right away. Well, they never asked me again if I wanted to join, so I just thought that they assumed I said no.

The experience of going to their house and meeting new people, however, really opened my eyes and made me want to try rushing to see if sororities are right for me at all. It seems so interesting, but I am still mostly clueless about the whole process... I'm slowly learning somethings from this board! My question is whether or not I'm even allowed to rush because I had already gotten a bid this past spring. I don't think I will be joining this specific sorority because first of all, I feel like I want to learn more about other sororities before making a decision. I kinda feel like I was thrown into the process before. Secondly, I like my friend a lot, and I've met some nice people at her house, but I've met quite a few that I didn't really get a good vibe from, and it's difficult for me to see myself as being comfortable there. Does anybody here know, or know where I could find this information?

If you didn't sign your bid (which, judging from your post, you didn't) with the student life/greek life office, then you are still eligible to rush. The only way you are bound to a group (which is generally for 1 Calandar year) is either if you complete the entire Formal Rush process and recieve a bid to a group that you put on your pref card (you'll understand what that means when you go through Rush) OR if you are offered an "informal bid" as you put it, and you actually go and say yes and sign that bid.

Also, according to *SOME* PHC rules, the bid that they gave you is good for 1 year. You could go through rush, and decide that you really did want the group that has already given you a bid, and go back and sign the previous bid they gave you. (I don't think I explained that very well...maybe someone else could explain it better).

Did you sign anything or take the bid with you? If not, you're OK to rush again.

I'm guessing you're OK, because if you had signed the bid, they would have had you begin pledging last semester...

And I think you're right to be wary of this sorority. Informal rush and open bids are supposed to be low key, but not low key to the point of the girl involved not understanding what's going on!

I took the bid with me, but I definitely did not sign anything. They never really said or explained anything! I know somebody else who got an informal bid through the same sorority, and they were told that they could just go to the house on bid night if they wanted to join. I was never told any of that, though, so... I guess I'll be rushing!