(I know that this contains booze and boys, but it was the mid 80's!)
Here's how our bid day (we called it pledge pickup) went. Thursday was our last pref party and from after the party till the next day at 6 was strict silence. As a rushee, you had from 9-12 (I think) the next day to go to the Panhel office and sign your bid. Bid matching was from 12-3. Between 3 and 6 you had to stay in your room, because you were waiting for a call, or rather for a NOT call. If you didn't get a bid you were called to let you know - if you didn't get a call, you knew you were getting picked up that night. I remember running up and down the hall of our dorm and everyone who had gone through rush not knowing what to wear. (In the meantime, I had to leave my room to console my best friend, who DID get a phone call - it was horrible to be excited for me but to try to downplay it so she didn't get more upset.)
From 6 on the sororities went from dorm to dorm picking up pledges. Several of the sisters decorated your door, then knocked. When you opened the door, you found out which sorority you got. All the sororities went from dorm to dorm and off campus picking up pledges.
When all the pledges were picked up, we went back to the houses and did secret sister things which I am not at liberty to discuss
. Then most sororities had a mixer with a fraternity, but we had a party instead, for anyone close to us that we wanted to invite. I think this was much nicer than mixing - no matter what fraternity your boyfriend was in (if any), you could invite him to share that special night with you.
