Second semester sophomore at USC... should I rush...

[split]

Hey everyone -

So I'm about to start my second semester of sophomore year at USC (Southern California), and I'm giving some serious thought to rushing and wondering if I should or not.

So for the last three semesters, I've been super cynical about the Greek system at USC. At times, it seems kinda superficial, fake, and too crazy, like something out of a terrible direct-to-video teen movie about college life. And yet some part of me wants in. Why? Well, the standard response to that would be that I need to experience the Greek system for myself to be able to credibly make comments on it, and while that is true to some degree, the honest answer would be to feel "cool", feel a sense of belonging, and gain access to the full social pool at SC.

This "full social pool" thing is actually kinda big for me. I've seen and I hate how the chunk of the social scene dictated by Greeks is basically shut off to non-Greeks, at least in case of guys. It's a pity because I have friends at schools with Greek systems far more "open" than ours, and it seems to me like they get by quite well. Also, by god, it seems like a lot of Greek girls pretty much ignore guys not in a house, which I think is kinda obnoxious.

I'm not a completely socially inept weirdo or anything, I go to parties, meet cool new people (spit decent game? haha), hang out with friends, so on so forth. But it seems to me like I'm missing out on something. I know I might have sounded pretty closed minded and so far, but I'm totally open to a good experience changing my mind. I've gone to rush events before just for the free food, haha, never with the serious thought of rushing, and I've always kinda felt out of place/intimidated, not gonna lie.

So yeah, anyways... any thoughts? What should I do? I'm sure you can tell I'm rather torn apart by this... thanks!