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So we woke up to the third round of rush parties and it was Slide Show Day. We were so looking forward to this day because everyone was talking about how it would be the most fun. Last night, Kate, Megan, and I had ransacked our closets looking for things to wear and I think we all ended up in a combination of each others clothes. (We had already decided that for preference we would have to go shopping as none of us had the perfect black dress!)
Time to go meet with the Rho chis. This time the three of us had all signed up for an appointment at the same time so we couldn’t make each other nervous. We could get up to four invitations that day. We were all feeling the pressure because some of the girls in our dorm had come back with only 2 or 3 invites and almost all of the girls we talked to had been dropped by at least one of their favorite houses. When all was said and done we were going back to these houses:
Trojan Woman
Mike Williams
Carson Palmer
Matt Leinart
Frostee Rucker
Megan
Matt Leinart
Mike Williams
Steve Smith
Reggie Bush
Kate
Mike Williams
Matt Leinart
Frostee Rucker
Steve Smith
Needless to say . . . I was ECSTATIC! I had gotten invited back to my top four houses. I knew that I loved Mike Williams and Carson Palmer and that I really liked Matt Leinart. I knew that I probably wouldn’t end up ranking Frostee Rucker in my top two for preference, but I was happy that I got to go back to them again because I had a friend in that house.
Megan and Kate were mildly disappointed that they were both dropped from their third choices, but they were very happy that all three of us were going back to Mike Williams and Matt Leinart, both houses that they liked a lot. Before the day even started, they were trying to convince me that Carson Palmer wasn’t the right house for me. I just smiled and told them that I was going to keep an open mind. In my head though, I was already leaning towards preffing Mike Williams and Carson Palmer. And then the day began . . .
Mike Williams: From the moment I walked in I felt like I was at home. Everyone remembered my name and came up to give me a hug and told me how happy they were that I had come back that day. The slide show was so entertaining and the music was great. You could really see that the girls loved being a part of this house and that they had a lot of fun together. I talked a long time with the President and really felt like I had already made a bunch of friends in the house. As I was walking through the tunnel of girls to go out, my friend from high school reached out and squeezed my hand. I knew that they would be high on my list.
Frostee Rucker: Walking into this house, I knew that they would be last on my list tonight but I also thought that everyone I had met was really amazing and didn’t want to appear disinterested. Things were going well until an active asked me what other houses I was going to today. This has been mentioned in so many other threads and I can’t believe how much it happens. It puts both the active and the rushee in a terrible position. I wasn’t sure how to answer and the question made me uncomfortable, but I told her who was on my list. She got a weird look on her face and said, “Wow, I can’t believe you actually kept us this long if you are going to those houses.” If I hadn’t already known that I would be ranking them last, I would have decided right then and there that I didn’t want to be a part of this house. Even if it was only the thoughts of one member (because I did go on to know some wonderful Frostee Rucker’s who loved their house) I did not want to be in a sorority where the girls thought that other sororities were better than theirs. Also the slide show was not as much fun and the actives didn’t seem as “into” the day as the girls at Mike Williams.
Carson Palmer: I was really looking forward to this party because I had consistently been ranking them second and I had felt so comfortable on the earlier days. Their theme was really cute and the slide show had great music and was very entertaining. However, I met a new active on that day and our conversation didn’t flow as smoothly as it had on previous days. It may have just been that we didn’t have a ton in common but she did keep saying how much good stuff she had heard about me. I left there still really liking them and thinking that I would go through pref and give them one more shot.
Matt Leinart: Oh no . . . I am in such big trouble!!!! I thought I knew going into today what I was going to rank these four houses, but I did not count on falling in love with Matt Leinart today. Okay, I know that I had really liked them in the previous rounds and had good conversations, but today blew me away. They had the BEST theme of all four houses and really took it to the extreme, in a good way. Their slide show was full of energy and the actives had just as much fun watching it as we did. It really felt interactive. I talked with a junior that I hadn’t met before and she was so striking that I almost wasn’t able to speak to her because I was so nervous. She told me that she always got the house’s favorite girls and the ones that they liked the least to talk to because she could convince someone that they were the most wanted or make them walk out hating the house. . I must have gotten a weird look on my face because she gave me a hug and said, “don’t worry, you’re one of our favorites.” In retrospect, this is a very strange conversation to have with someone during rush and I wouldn’t recommend this technique. I walked out of Matt Leinart with a big smile on my face.
Unfortunately for me, as soon as the high of the day wore off, I was facing a BIG dilemma. We had to head directly to meet with our Rho chis so that we could rank our houses. We would only have the opportunity to be invited back to two.
I knew that no matter what, Mike Williams was going to be on my list, but I was torn between Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart. Megan and Kate had enjoyed their parties, but they were confident that their top two would be Mike Williams and Matt Leinart. Megan was going to put Matt Leinart #1 and Mike Williams #2 and Kate was going to put them the other way around. They were encouraging me to also list Matt and Mike as my top two because then we could all go through pref together, assuming that we all got invited back to both houses. But I was unsure. Was I willing to drop Carson Palmer to third after one so-so party after I had been so sure that they were my number 2? Was I ready to push Matt Leinart up because of one amazing party and other very good parties? I was literally in tears as I sat outside waiting for my appointment time with my rho chi. My well-meaning friends were putting a lot of pressure on me and I just didn’t know what I really wanted to do. My time finally came and I told her that I wasn’t ready to make a choice and asked if I could be changed to the last appointment. I then ran to my dorm to call my mom. (Yes, these were the days before cell phones.) My mom did a great job of calming me down and told me to follow my heart. She then helped me to make a pro/con list.
My friends were waiting for me outside as I made my way back to meet my rho chi. They told me that they would love it if I preffed at the same houses as they were but would be totally supportive if I decided to pref at Carson Palmer. I was feeling pretty set until I sat down with my rho chi. I told her about my feelings and how I was questioning whether to rank Carson Palmer or Matt Leinart second. She looked at me as if I was crazy and said, “you are going to drop Carson Palmer? Why don’t you pref Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart?” Well that wasn’t helpful!!!! And actually, that comment is the very reason that I decided to be a rho chi my senior year so that I could be more helpful to girls who were rushing than she was to me!
So I fretted and I fretted and finally ranked them
Trojan Woman
Mike Williams
Matt Leinart
Carson Palmer
Frostee Rucker
My rational was, if Matt Leinart or Mike Williams didn’t choose me, then I would get the chance to go back to Carson Palmer, and I would have been happy to go with any of those three houses.
Megan and Kate ranked
Megan
Matt Leinart
Mike Williams
Steve Smith
Reggie Bush
Kate
Mike Williams
Matt Leinart
Steve Smith
Frostee Rucker
We had one day between slide show day and preference, so Megan, Kate, and I arranged to go shopping with Kate’s mom the next morning after we got our invites from our rho chis. I went to bed that night with a very jittery stomach.
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