The psychology of sorority recruitment

[TriDeltaSallie]

Reading the rush threads makes me want to go back to school and do research on the psychology of sorority recruitment. The possibilities are endless.

800 or 1000 or 1200 women who are all bright, attractive and well-rounded collide for a week. Many of them have never faced significant failure before. Many of them have rarely failed to achieve goals they want. Many of them have not experienced finding out they aren't more special or desirable than the other women around them. How does the entire process impact them, especially those who desire certain chapters and find out those chapters don't think they are a good match?

Related to this is the idea that has come up on GC that PNMs will desire certain chapters because they want to be like the women in that chapter rather than the fact that they would really fit in. The ability to honestly evaluate who you are and where you would fit in well is really a challenge for a lot of young women. Getting your invites back and realizing you aren't really a ABC or DEF can be a major blow to some women's egos. How do women respond? Does she see the truth in it or simply blame the women in the chapter for rejecting her?

Trust the process is something that PNMs hear all the time on GC. The PNMs echo with "every sorority at ABC University has so much to offer"... Until they are dropped from the groups they really want and realize that the sororities that are left that "have so much to offer because every group at ABC University is outstanding" aren't what they envisioned for themselves all summer and all week. It's easy to repeat the mantra when you are "sure" you will end up in one of the most desirable groups. It is completely different when you are faced with your only options being the groups you ranked last all week. Why do some women continue to trust the process and others reject the entire system?

It would be interesting to follow up with the women who drop out and see how much they blame the sorority members and/or the process and how many of them are able to honestly evaluate themselves and recognize that they didn't belong in particular groups they really wanted for whatever reason.

And on the opposite end of the spectrum... How many women receive a boost of confidence because of their recruitment experience and the fact that they make it through the entire process? It would be interesting to know the positive psychological impact of completing recruitment successfully and how that plays out in the rest of the life in college and beyond.