Urban Legends About Recruitment

[BraveMaroon]

The room they take me to during the party determines whether they keep me or cut me.

No. Rush is about choreography. I am taking you to the sun porch because that is my designated spot, and it's where I take everyone I rush. Last year, I was staked out in the date room, and next year maybe I'll be in the foyer. It means nothing.

They hide all the fat/ugly sisters in the kitchen at rush.

I came back at the beginning of my sophomore year with a haircut that was at best, unfortunate. I should have been more specific with the stylist. It was really, really bad. Super short with long, sweeping bangs. There was nothing I could do. And I was terrified they were going to ask me not to rush. They didn't - I just did my best, smiled and got through it.

Now, it should also be said, that hair aside, I was a terrible rusher. I just never connected well at parties.

But, if you needed someone to blow up, tie and place three hundred balloons at 6AM, I was your girl. I could write funny songs, design costumes and sweep up glitter like a champ.

Once we had a new member class, I made friends, and I loved my new sisters, but I just didn't get the rush gene.

My senior year, they put me out of my misery and asked if I'd stay behind the scenes and do paperwork between parties. I was glad to do it.

So, yes, there are people working behind the scenes for a variety of reasons. In my case, it was because I was more effective there.

PS - My hair grew out and looked much better...eventually.

[DTD Alum]

Originally Posted by BraveMaroon

The room they take me to during the party determines whether they keep me or cut me.

No. Rush is about choreography. I am taking you to the sun porch because that is my designated spot, and it's where I take everyone I rush. Last year, I was staked out in the date room, and next year maybe I'll be in the foyer. It means nothing.

Complete lane swerve, but I was told anecdotally by close friends that this was the case in at least two sororities at the school I went to, one a "top tier" and one a "middle tier". Comments were more or less to the extent of, "I was really nervous because they are assigning me to rush in the __________ room, and that's where the girls we really want are taken," or "Knowing what I know now, I was surprised I got a bid because in retrospect they put me in the __________ room on the first day." So while I can't tell you for sure, these comments clearly seemed to indicate that some chapters at my school do pre-evaluate you to some extent and PNMs are "filtered" (for lack of a better word) to be in certain areas or meet the "best" rushers. I remember thinking how crazy organized and pre-destined it seemed at the time, and it really stuck with me. These weren't PNMs, these were girls who had gone through rush on their side multiple times so it seemed much more concrete than an urban legend.

[BraveMaroon]

Originally Posted by DTD Alum

Complete lane swerve, but I was told anecdotally by close friends that this was the case in at least two sororities at the school I went to, one a "top tier" and one a "middle tier". Comments were more or less to the extent of, "I was really nervous because they are assigning me to rush in the __________ room, and that's where the girls we really want are taken," or "Knowing what I know now, I was surprised I got a bid because in retrospect they put me in the __________ room on the first day." So while I can't tell you for sure, these comments clearly seemed to indicate that some chapters at my school do pre-evaluate you to some extent and PNMs are "filtered" (for lack of a better word) to be in certain areas or meet the "best" rushers. I remember thinking how crazy organized and pre-destined it seemed at the time, and it really stuck with me. These weren't PNMs, these were girls who had gone through rush on their side multiple times so it seemed much more concrete than an urban legend.

Yeah, to be fair, I can't say across the board that it's an urban legend, but in my experience and specifically with the first parties, there was no method to our madness, except that you had a spot you were assigned to for traffic flow reasons only.

One exception to that might be if we knew a legacy was coming through at a certain party, we may try our best to match her with someone she would mesh well with - but even that was beyond our control sometimes.

The sorority I remember this rumor being applied to - you either rushed in the formal living room which was upstairs, or they took you downstairs to a den area. I went downstairs, which was the alleged code for "cut" - and yes, I was. Those two things may be related, or not.

I think that the legends obviously originate from somewhere, and in most of them there's some fragment of reality that got distorted over years and years.

Or, like mythology, they were created to explain the inexplicable. Like those mysterious computer glitches that drop you from all the best houses right before 3rd round... Hmmm.