[twinstars]

Originally posted by juniorgrrl:
I was thinking about my past rush experiences, and I realized I still have some unanswered questions. Feel free to add onto my list

Why is it that panhellenic tells us its the sororities job to get a rec, yet if we don't have them, we get cut?

~~ i'm not sure why they said that. at my school, it's not essential to have recs, but it can help more than panhel lets on. some of the rushees (usually southern girls and girls with moms in sororities) seem to know to get recs, but others have no clue. i didn't have a clue. we too were told that it's the sorority's job to get a rec for you, but from the inside i've seen that that's not how it works at all. as a chapter we definitely don't go tracking down recs on the rushees. we look at what ever is sent in, but that's it.

Why is it that some houses have guestbooks to sign on each day of rush? Aren't they keeping track of us anyway?

~~ my chapter doesn't use a guestbook but i guess it's probably just to have an exact record of every girl that attended the party. otherwise it might be hard to know for sure if someone skipped out or something.

Why aren't people given a reason why they were cut? It would offer a lot of closure rather than imaginations running wild ("am I too fat?" "am I not smart enough" etc)

~~ this would be totally impractical. a lot of times there is no reason. a girl can easily just be overlooked... no one knew anything about her, so come voting time, we chose to keep girls who stood out rather than someone who we couldn't get to know. other times girls are cut for bad reasons, like a slutty rep for instance. i don't really think it would be good for either party for the sorority to formally tell a cut rushee that they think she is a slut. sometimes people are cut because they just don't click with the sisters they've talked to. i don't really think rushees have a "right" to demand to know why they are cut... i mean, if you talk to a girl in class and she doesn't want to hang out with you, she doesn't owe you an explanation. if a group doesn't want you as a member for whatever reason, they don't really owe you an explanation either. i got into a sorority the first time i rushed as a freshman but i WAS cut from a couple of houses... i realize i just didn't fit in there. do i really want to hear them say it was because they didn't like my personality or my looks or something? no, not really.

Why do legacies recieve so much special consideration? We've established that all chapters of a particular sorority are different - just like members of the same family are different. An XYZ mom could be vastly different from her daughter, who doesn't fit in with the chapter, but to avoid upsetting the alumnae, she gets a bid anyway (seen it happen a LOT).

~~ some sororities are pretty much required to give a bid to any legacy who wants to join. i think that most are NOT required to bid a girl just because of her legacy status. in my house, we can cut a legacy if we think she would not be good for the group. no one gets in JUST BECAUSE she is a legacy. she has to be cool, too, or she would be cut. once she makes it as far as pref night, though, if she wants us she will be at the top of our bid list. i guess i would like them to do the same for my own daughter.

Why is it that in big rushes, a 30 minute party will be filled with 20 minutes of singing and clapping to get all the rushees into the house? Its pretty hard to connect with anyone in 10 minutes.

~~ it doesn't really make sense, does it? this is why pre-rush contacts and recs are really important. the more you can make yourself known (in a positive light) to the sorority girls, the better you'll do in rush. the worst thing is to be a complete unknown come rush time. another thing... at my school, at least, we always try to pair the rushee up with a girl that she kind of already knows, either from home, or from class, or someone she's just randomly met at a party or whatever. that girl will take the rushee around and introduce her to other sisters.