[KSUViolet06]

Originally posted by James
Actually the whole deb thing sounds pretty cool. A rite of passage.

Its always nice to have an excuse to dress up.

So basically people within a certain social group are likely to be picked? Like daughters of junior leaguers? So its less about money than who you know right? That sounds cool.

What happens during deb season? Are there like rounds of parties?

Do men factor into it at all?

What age are Debutantes normally? Is it just a high school thing? Does it help at all with Rush?

Yeah it has alot to do with who you know within the group that is sponsoring the ball. For example, my mother's sorority sponsored the one I was in.

This is how my process went:

The process starts with interest meetings where applications are handed out. These are invite only. The apps ask you for things like your school/community activities, GPA, etc. After submitting your application, the debutante committee selects 30 or so of the over 200 apps to continue on to the next step.

Those selected have a week of invite only mixer type things, where the debutante committee evaluates you and your interaction with the other girls, your style of dress, poise, etc. After mixers, there are interviews where they ask you alot of questions about school, your future plans, etc.

From those 30, the final selection is made. There were 10 of us who made the final cut.

After the selection process is over, there is a month of activities for the debs to get to know each other. We had mother/daughter teas, waltz lessons, poise workshops, etc. These activities are MANDATORY. Missing ANY of these was cause for removal from the ball.

Debutante balls also cost money. You are responsible for buying your gown (which is reminscent of a wedding dress), shoes, tiara, and gloves. There were also matching outfits that the director asked us to buy for some of the events (like matching black cocktail dresses for the evening boat cruise). Any events that required tickets/money (i.e. the evening cruise, mother/daughter luncheons at nice restaurants, casino nights at Twin Lakes Country Club) to participate were also your responsibility. If you couldn't pay, tough luck because you weren't going to be deb.

Men are a bit of a factor. You do have to choose an escort, who is required to attend alot of the events with you AND escort you during the actual ball.

The ball I was in was for HS juniors and seniors. It depends on the organization that is sponsoring it. Some organizations' deb balls are college students only.