Hi there everyone! This is just a (hopefully) short story about how recruitment went for me. It is meant to encourage other girls who know nothing about Rush.
I go to an average-sized Southern school, and I was the first person in my family to go to college/greek and one of the 10 people from my high school (graduating class of 342) to attending a University out of state. I did not have a single recommendation (partially due to the fact I switched what school I would be attending the last minute) and I didn't know very many people from my community who were Greek. There are 11 chapters in my school they are (I will be using names of flowers):
Begonia
Snapdragon
Orchid
Poppy
Dandelion
Fern
Sunflower
Daisy
Lilly
Rose
Carnation
[B]Day 1[B]
I visited all the houses and I can almost distinctly remember my feelings about them all, and it is one of the most interesting days of my Rush experience.
The night before I was super excited and couldn't wait, so I laid my clothes out. And then in the morning, my alarm never went off. The girl next door woke me up when she knocked on my door to see if I wanted to walk to our Rho Gamma group together. So needless to say, I threw on some clothes, called my Rho Gamma and literally did almost nothing to my hair and wore no make up. However, I'm kind of a tomboy so I wasn't bothered by it so much, but now I wear makeup everyday when I am at school and can't imagine going through rush without looking nice!
I run over to my group and we are getting in line to go into
Begonia. I am super nervous because I literally had no idea of what was going to happen. Then I suddenly heard all this yelling and screaming and I thought the girls were fighting.
Then they sent us in and I was like
wait what. And it was just their door song! Now I laugh about it! I remember this house was loud, but the girl seemed really standoffish. I thought it was nice. They showed a video about all the things the girls did together and I thought that was neat. I really loved their staircase and I think I talked to about 3-5 people here.
The house we visited was
Snapdragon. My orientation counselor was a Snapdragon and she was really fun and down-to-earth, so I was really excited about this house! But... from the minute I walked in, I knew it was not the place for me. I felt like every single member looked down on me and thought they were better than me- all by the way I looked. It was so frustrating, but I saw that my counselor was rushing me so I was very relieved! However, this house hot boxed me hardcore. There were times when I had about 3-6 girls talking to me at one time. And then they all left and the girl who rushed me just looked down at her fingernails and wouldn't talk to me. I hated it and couldn't wait to get out of there! I was sad. I wanted to like that house for my counselor, but I just couldn't.
Then I had to go to
Orchid. A girl I used to work with went Orchid at Vanderbilt and that was about all I knew about it. I needed to go to the restroom very very badly. When I said this, the girl was soooooooo mad. I tried to be fast, but when I came back it was time to bump which was really awkward because she hadn't talked to me yet! That girl I talked to was SUPER nice and i had *their symbol* earrings on that all of the members kept complimenting. There house was one of the prettiest I could remember as well. I talked to about 3-5 girl the whole time and I like this house the best so far.
After that I went to
Poppy. I hadn't heard much about this house at all, and it looked different than the majority of houses, but I liked it. Unlike the other houses, this house was very quiet and they didn't just open the door. One girl came out and did an awkward knock thing. I went in, and I liked this house because we were split up in different areas and I could actually have a conversation without screaming. I still remember the name of the girl I talked to. I asked the most formal questions here out of any of the houses and I didn't really get to know my rusher on a personal level. I can't even remember if we were bumped.
The next house we had to walk quiet a ways to get to. It was
Fern. Now I had read many things about Fern, and lots of girls told me this is where the girls who couldn't get in anywhere else went. I thought their house was pretty, but the parking and location were super awkward. I talked to a girl was boring. When the president talked half of the girls looked like they were about to fall asleep! And it we were one of the first houses!!! I talked to a few girls here, and they were nice but sorta awkward. I knew a Fern alum, so I was very sad that I didn't like Fern more because I didn't want to disappoint her.
My favorites as of now were:
Orchid
Poppy
Begonia
Fern
Snapdragon
Then it was lunch time. I was super hyper after lunch and ready to go visit more houses.
We had
Dandelion first. I was super duper giddy the entire time at Dandelion! My rusher kept playing with my hair and complimenting me. She laughed at all of my witty remarks and I felt like we bonded very well. She introduced me to alot of her sisters who all told me they had heard lots about me. They too laughed at my jokes. Then I she called over the president to meet me and we got along awesomely. I LOVED Dandelion! I almost didn't want to leave. She told me that she couldn't wait to see me tomorrow and she enjoyed her time with me. It was now my favorite.
Across the street was
Sunflower. I wanted this house the most. I loved their philanthropy, I thought their house was amazing (from the online pictures), and I liked their symbols. I honestly don't remember much about this house at first. Someone took me upstairs and I talked to one girl and then another and had the EXACT same conversation with the EXACT same witty remarks. And then they bumped me to 2 other girls. I didn't know at the time, but it was the rich house on campus. I made the mistake of asking how much the dues would be. My rushers looked shocked. They got pale and quiet and then started looking me up and down and said what are those? oh you mean cost?! umuh we don't know. and then in unison "our daddies pay for those." And then it was really awkward. It made me upset and uncomfortable and I just wanted to leave ASAP.
Now
Daisy had a reputation with me. As we approached, I thought about the horribly mean teacher that I had met that was a Daisy Alum. I had never actually met or heard of a nice Daisy, but I felt that I needed to keep an open mind. Then I walked in. This house was about 10x louder than the other houses... COMBINED. It had low ceilings and too many people in one room. My rusher was about a foot taller than me and she had to get in kissing distance (super awkward) to talk to me because she was losing her voice. I couldn't focus on anything because it was so loud. I hated it and never wanted to have to rush in a place like that the next year. Yes, that was my actual thought as PNM. haha.
I went to
Lilly next. Now I am gonna get a lot of flack for what I am gonna say about this house, so I apologize in advance. I remember that they had super cute rush outfits. And I loved the location of their house. But as I was walking the through the tunnel, I saw a person that looked like a transvestite. I honestly couldn't focus on anything the rest of the time. I was like no, it couldn't have been! And then when I was walking out I was staring at him/her, and tripped over a chord. Serves me right, but I couldn't see myself in that house because of that. It was weird.
I went into
Carnation and thought they had a really pretty setup for rushing. But I was highly upset about the last 3 houses I had visited. So I told my rusher that I was not going to talk about my major or any of the typical questions. She looked so scared, like legit frightened. And she says so uh umh uh what would you like to talk about? So we talked about movies and I thought we had gotten along quiet well. And I don't honestly remember if I liked the house or not, but it was very awkward when they were bumping.
My last house was
Rose. I loved the exterior of this house and their door song. I still remember it! The weird thing that I remember about them was that their door stack was almost entirely Asian. And it is just a normal Panhellenic Sorority. So I met my rusher, and out of all the rushers that I have ever had, she was by FAR the best! She had an uncanny way of making me feel like everything was going to be okay and I asked about dues here, like I did Sunflower. Instead of a dirty look, she pulled over another active that was paying all the dues by herself. (I have to do the same thing.) She talked about their philanthropy and I LOVED it! I still liked Dandelion better, but this house was wonderful. At the end, she asked me what she thought they could do to make rush better. And usually that would be odd, but I felt like I had known this girl since forever and that she really valued me and what I had to say.
At the end of the day this is how I ranked the houses:
Dandelion
Orchid
Rose
Poppy
Fern
Begonia
Lilly
Carnation
Snapdragon
Daisy
Sunflower
(I don't remember specifically the order of the bottom houses, but I know I cut Sunflower and Daisy.)
Now we only had to cut 3 at my university, but I KNEW I didn't belong in the bottom five and I didn't want to return to 8 houses. I still ranked them all and prayed that those houses wouldn't want me.
Tune In if you want to hear more!
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