In the 80s, there was a book about rushing and pledging - it was sort of the GC, full of information and misinformation!
Anyhow, at competive SEC schools, women who did not get bid often went home and dropped out of school and this was before the first days of class! (they also drank Tab which, is making a comeback as an energy drink!)
Today, that does not happen nearly as much (even at UGA according to some inner circle people) - schools are way too competitive to get into in the first place and after applying to colleges and finally getting accepted, starting over at the application procees is a much more difficult endeavor not to mention the humilation of coming home after you've gone off to college and have nothint to do for at least a semester.
It was more common then for women to pledge at a less competive campuds and transfer later to a more competitive campus but today's women are much more career focused and even though they may have been "bred" for sorority life, they may have been coached to cast a wider net (instead of mom's legacy house and aunties's legacy house, they try for 5 of the campus' 15 groups.)
Whole thing still makes my head spin twenty years later!