I went thru rush at USC as a Junior -- not my choice really -- I did not get overly involved (for a type A person like me that is!
)with extracurricular stuff during my freshman year except what my parents told me was ok-- they did not want me to get overwhelmed and get bad grades...so I was just "allowed" to be on the women's swim team, in Helenes (the university's official hostess group), and in ROTC, which I really enjoyed but found highly embarassing since after all it was Southern California and it was 1972 and Vietnam was dying down, and antiwar sentiment was pretty high....anyways I knew nothing about sororities when I entered USC so I did not really care that I missed rush. When I was a sophomore, I had decided that I really wanted to be in sorority but I had also joined the band (I was a flag girl, now called Silks, I think) anyways, band camp was during the exact same time as rush and in order to go with the band on its historic first-ever trip to Notre Dame, you HAD to go to band camp...so I did, thinking I could go thru spring rush...unfortunately, I did not care for the sororites that had a spring rush so I did not do it. My junior year, band camp only overlapped a day or two with rush so I did both. I knew that rushing as a junior -- not to mention an ROTC cadet & a band geek to boot -- might mean the kiss of death and in fact I know I was dropped for at least one of these three reasons (mostly it was the ROTC that killed me) by nine of the then 13 houses at USC -- but I ended up exactly where I fit the best even though it took awhile to get me there! I am so freakin' loyal to Gamma Phi now because they truly did not care about me being in ROTC or the band or a junior! Since I only had two collegiate years as a Gamma Phi (and because I feel happily beholden & loyal to Gamma Phi), I have become a Type A+ alum!!! And my experiences have been even more rewarding than I had imagined! So I agree with the earlier post about alum initiation as another way to get in a sorority -- though you will miss out on the college fun, I cannot tell you how sappy I get when alums of all ages are together enjoying our bond of Gamma Phi...
I think Blazecheer will recover and try rush again, and by then many sorority women will see how awesome she is as a cheerleader ....and if collegiate sorority membership does not happen, then she should not rule out alum initiate membership...Keep smiling!
