|
Rush experience
I rushed because my entire family was Greek, and they pushed me a lot.
My campus has the following NPC groups
AChiO
ADPi
AEPhi
AGD
AOPi
APhi
ChiO
DDD
DG
DZ
GPhiB
KAT
KD
KKG
Phi Mu
Phi SS
PBPhi
SK
SDT
Round 1 started at Pi Phi's. Honestly, these girls scared me a lot. I was really unsure what to expect, and I hate to say it, but all the girls looked the same to me. I was really worried that every sorority would be cookie-cutter.
(as a side note, it is really funny that this was my first impression, because I would now consider Pi Beta Phi one of the strongest chapters on this campus)
After round one, I had the following opinions:
Really liked KD, GPhi B, AChiO, Alpha Phi, and Phi Mu
Really disliked DZ, AGD, KKG, SDT and AOPi
I should mention that I am a legacy to SDT. Not only was my mom an SDT on this campus, she was Pin and Paddle Queen the year she pledged, and her picture is still in the chapter room there.
I also knew a ton of AEPhi's, because my brother is an AEPi, and the two are very close on this campus.
I was invited back to
ADPi
AEPhi
AOPi
APhi
DZ
GPhiB
KD
Phi Mu
Phi SS
PBPhi
SK
SDT
I was pretty happy with this. I could choose 10, so I dropped DZ and SDT (which probably broke my mother's heart more than she would admit). Of course, when I compared with my friends, I found out all three of them had been invited back to all 19 chapters. That was a bit of a blow, but I got over it.
So after round 2, I had the following opinions:
Really liked Phi Mu, Alpha Phi, Pi Beta Phi, KD, and GPhiB
Really disliked AOPi and Phi Sigma Sigma
I got invited back to every house but KD, so I was really excited! I had to go to five, so I chose to go back to Phi Mu, Alpha Phi, Pi Beta Phi, GPhiB, and AEPhi.
We preffed Wednesday morning, then had until Friday off. The story got good, however, when my Rho Chi called me Wednesday afternoon, to tell me there was a computer error. Apparently, some of the houses had not yet released women. My new list had the following:
AEPhi
ADPi
Phi Mu
Phi Sigma Sigma
Sigma Kappa
I was crushed. They didn't even give me a new scantron; I actually had to erase the houses I thought I had originally chosen. This is where I almost dropped out of rush.
Fortunately, I had an amazing Rho Chi. She told me to pretend that these were the only five chapters on campus, and choose one that I like. She also reminded me that she knew my favorite was still on the list (I had loved Phi Mu from the beginning), and if I loved them that much, they probably loved me too.
Obviously, I stuck it out. The philanthropy stage wasn't that interesting. I got invited back to three prefs and I didn't even care which ones as long as one was Phi Mu.
Phi Mu pref party was first, and I was introduced to Jorie, a girl I hadn't met before, but she was totally awesome. I thouhgt it was great that these girls knew me well enough to set me up with someone that fit me so well. I walked out crying.
I attended my other two parties out of respect for the other chapters but my decision was already made. Actually, I was so nervous at Phi Mu that I did not want to eat anything, so I chowed down at the other two houses. One of my brother's best friends was a senior in AEPhi. Seniors do not participate in rush, but they asked her to pref me to put on pressure. She refused, and I have tremendous respect for her for that.
I then suicided Phi Mu and signed my name with no doubt in my mind that I would be wearing their letters the next day.
That night, I saw Jorie at the bar, and walked right up to her to ask if she was my sister. We laugh about it to this day.
|