Houses???

[PallyGirl81]

Sorry for the lengthy response. And for the use of the word "rush"; recruitment takes too long to type.

I am not sure how large a part the physical houses played in a girl's selection but their general presence was intriguing and influential. Also, for some PNMs, live-in requirements played a role.

The school I went to had a beautiful sorority quad. The houses looked somewhat similar (but definitely distinguishable) from the outside. There were dorms mixed into the quads. I lived in one of these dorms has a freshman and remember passing by the houses and thinking about how gorgeous each one was. . .

I was not intending on rushing at the time (the school has a deferred rush) but remember talking about the houses to my friends who were planning on rushing. I would say things like "You should join that one. They have nice furniture. Or that one, it's in a good location."

As freshman, we would also take note of the banners that hung on the patios. The banners ranged from everything to general welcomes and welcome backs to promotions for upcoming philanthropic events. As a freshman, I thought the banners were cute and saw the "welcomes" as a personal greeting.

The insides of the homes varied in size and in decor. Some were more updated than others, some had more amenities in the kitchen area (like a cappuccino machine in addition to a juice machine, frozen yogurt machines, etc.).

When I was rushing I remember thinking about how beautiful they all were in the beginning. As the process went on, me (and some of the other PNMs) started to notice slight differences in decor and if the kitchen was on the main floor or in the basement. The downstairs kitchen was perceived as more ideal (implied a bigger house with more lounging space on the main floors) but I never really cared either way. During rush, some PNMs griped about having to sit on the floor in smaller houses.

During our informals round (the third set), the house I joined liked to show off the (then) new bathrooms. Other houses would point out their fro yo machines and/or new big screen tvs. Some PNMs made a point of asking about the smallest rooms in the house and rules surrounding how rooms were selected.

Looking back it was pretty insignificant and I can say that these were more nuances. The girls tended to focus on who they met and how comfortable they felt in the houses.


What was a factor with the more savvy PNMs was the live-in requirement and how it was handled. Most girls were required to live in for at least one full year usually during their junior year. Some houses would allow you to live in for one year, any of your years on campus. Others expected you to live in during your junior year.

And because of a preexisting leasing system with the university, the houses acted somewhat like university housing (meal plans were required and the school determined how many beds each house had). Each house was required to pay for each available bed in their house.

Some houses had trouble filling all of their beds because of overall lower membership numbers, a small pledge class and/or because of junior year being a bit of transient year. Study abroad was very popular and internships, co-ops or practicums were required for several majors. In a lot of cases, students decided to do their internships outside of our metro area and therefore could not live in for a quarter or two.

Solving the issues around having vacancies could get tricky and at times emotional. But the issues were resolved one way or another.