That 70s Rush!

[CherriBomb012]

Your rush story makes me smile. Keep it comin`!

[twinkle555]

lovin it!!

[gee_ess]

Another vote of approval from a...cough...mature GCer!

[That_70s_Rush!]

Ha ha, Gee Ess, maybe I should call us seasoned greekchatters. Onward to Day Two!


Set One Day Two - Open House

Jackie – This is another large sorority and they have a big sunny and comfortable newer house. A girl from my church youth group, who was a senior when I was a freshman, is a member of this group. Let’s call her Liz. She was the most stylish girl I knew as well as being extremely nice and smart. I totally idolized her and am thrilled when she recognizes me and picks me up. She remembers me! She does a great job of summarizing who I am and how she knows me when she bumps me to the next sister. There are a lot of girls from my high school here as well as from the two public high schools nearby. I am a little intimidated though. Everyone seems to be a beautiful blonde and I am not. I do also have another small concern. Many of the girls I know there had a bit of a party girl rep in high school and although I like to have fun, I am not exactly a party animal. They also have one of the lowest GPAs on campus. I know my folks would be less than thrilled with that!

Eric – This is another large house with the highest GPA on campus. There are lots of girls from Central Suburbia High here and several from my high school. The older sister of one of my church group friends is a member and she recognizes me and picks me up. They have a stately big red brick house with pillars; it’s very traditional looking and what I imagine a sorority house should look like. They seem very down to earth and nice, but from the girls I already know and the conversations I had, I get the sense they may be a little too uptight for me.

Laurie – This is a smaller house with maybe 60 members. I don’t recognize anyone and can’t seem to get a handle on who they are at all. No one and nothing stands out and they seem just kind of blah. Although they are nice enough, I can’t see a single thing that would make me remember this group, much less want to join it.

Midge – I don’t recognize anyone at this house either. They are another one of the huge groups on campus and have a beautiful old house that looks like a Spanish villa. The girls are beautiful, but in that 1970s natural no makeup needed kind of way. I have some good conversations here and feel pretty comfortable even though I don’t know anyone.

Red – This is another larger chapter. A couple of older girls from my high school that I don’t really know are members. I am having a great time until I see a girl I will call Vicki across the room. She went to Central Suburbia but I know her from junior high and Girl Scouts. I can’t stand her. If anyone has ever seen the movie Election, she is exactly like the Reese Witherspoon character. Insanely high strung hyper opinionated over achiever at all costs. She plans on being the first female president of the US. She waves frantically at me, but I am thankful the room is so crowded and she is not able to make it over my way. My feelings about her really cloud the way I feel about this house even though the girls I talk to seem nice and normal enough. I don’t know what to make of this situation.

Leo – I don’t recognize anyone here and they seem to be primarily local girls. Although it was built specifically for them about 15 years ago, the house looks like a dorm to me and is really really ugly! This is a smaller group with maybe 40 members. They are pretty socially awkward, and seem much more interested in talking between themselves and giggling over private jokes. The other thing that’s kind of odd here to me is that a lot of them are biologically related to each other. There are at least four sets of sisters, and several make a point of letting us know they are cousins. I feel like I am having to pull conversation out of each sister I talk to and am super uncomfortable here as well.

I have to admit that not knowing anything about Greeks made me much more vulnerable to the opinions of my suite mates and others I met during rush. I am NOT proud of that, but it’s a fact of life and I made notes that included these opinions, although some of the things that I was told I had already figured out for myself. (I mean, it’s not too hard to figure out a chapter is struggling if it has 25 members and most others are well over 100.) Some of these comments are going to be pretty blunt, but I think it’s important to see the kind of pressure others can put on a girl who’s completely naïve to the system and why that’s not a good thing!

I don’t specifically remember which houses the other girls went to on each day since they weren’t in my group, so the comments of others are pretty random and simply what I can remember when looking back 30 years and deciphering from my notes.

Lisa mentions she is a legacy to both Randy and Kitty, but didn’t bother to list them on her rush application or have “paperwork” sent to the chapters. (Whatever that meant! Again, I had no clue about recommendations and legacy forms and she had to explain this all to me.) She does not want to be invited back. Tina is far meaner. She calls them “dog houses.”

When I mention how uncomfortable I was at Bob, Tina tells me it’s because I am not Jewish. I was pretty sheltered and wasn’t sure what this meant. Of course looking back, I realize that even in the 70s, Greek life at JSU was still very segregated.

When I mention how thrilled I was to see Liz, Lisa has a lot of good things to say about the Jackies, telling me they are great girls and very popular with the fraternities. Tina says it’s because they are drunken sluts. This totally confuses me! I know Liz and the other girls I know in Jackie are beautiful and lots of fun, but from my experience, none of them was ever out of control that way. They just like to go out and party but were not remotely what you’d consider loose. I hope no one would think I’m like that since I really like the Jackies a lot!

And of course everyone raves about how wonderful Fez is. Everyone loves the Fezs!

The thing that I remember the most is a comment Lisa makes: “You’re a Prissy Prep girl. You will end up at Donna or Kelso where all the Prissy Prep good girls are.” This comment leaves me confused, like my fate has been pre-ordained simply by virtue of where I went to high school. Didn’t Lisa think I would be a good sister to her and Tina in Fez? I really really really want to be a Fez too!

Later that night we go to a huge rush party at the Milwaukee house, which is supposed to be the “best” fraternity on campus. I find out that I know about half the guys there because they are also Prissy Prep grads. The girls I’m with from my floor are agog, which I find totally hilarious since these are just a bunch of goony boys that I have mostly known since elementary school. I remember them with zits and braces and it cracks me up that the girls think they’re so cool. But I am also starting to understand exactly how ingrained this sorority/fraternity thing had been in the people who I grew up with AND how oblivious I had been about it. A couple of my guy friends urge me to “Go Jackie because they’re fun and foxy.” My guy friends also warn us not to drink the punch. This is where I learn about this devil’s brew called Everclear. Tina doesn’t listen and proceeds to get completely pasted and pretty much makes a fool of herself by hanging all over any guy that looks at her. I appreciate the irony of the fact that she’d referred to the Jackies as “drunken sluts” just hours earlier.

So that’s where the first two days end. My head is spinning. My feet ache in spite of the fact that I wore my most comfy pair of platform sandals. I am dead tired but can’t sleep. At this point, rush is still an experiment in curiosity for me and a social outlet until classes start. But eventually that will change.

[kappa_dancer]

I am so hooked!! I can't wait for more!

[OHNOITSJESS]

this is such an interesting 'rush' story!

[true_blue]

Wow! This is great!! Can't wait to hear more!!

[TriDPrincess]

I love the "seasoned" rush stories! They have so much character and I enjoy seeing the differences between today's recruitment and yesterday's rush.

[That_70s_Rush!]

Set Two: House Tours
Another day, another sundress! At this point, we don’t rank our chapters. We simply receive a list of all the chapters that have invited us back and pick up to eight out of that list. I am invited back to all of the houses except Bob. Remember, these are the days without lots of early release restrictions, so it’s not too unusual to have an overabundance of invites in the second round. Although some cuts are definitely made after the first round, many girls are in the position where they are the ones regretting parties. I remember being a little horrified that Randy and Kitty invited me back. Did they think I am a dog too? Lisa later explains that they invite everyone back since almost everyone will decline unless they “belong” there or didn’t get enough other invites.

Since we can only return to eight houses, I cross the following four off my invite list:

Kitty
Randy
Leo
Hyde

The first two I cross off the list because I am a shallow teenager and would be mortified to be associated with a “dog house,” in spite of the fact that I liked the Kitty ladies. The last two I crossed off my list only because their names were similar and I couldn’t figure out for sure which was which! One of them I didn’t like at all and the other I felt pretty neutral about, so I figured I would eliminate both of them to avoid going back to the one I didn’t like at all. Sheesh. So that left me with:

Red
Eric
Laurie
Jackie
Kelso
Midge
Fez
Donna

And here we go . . .

Fez---- A nice Junior who I hadn’t met before took me on the house tour. From the street, this house looks rather small, but it spreads out onto a very deep lot. The dining room was large and elegant and she explained the way the meals worked. Prior to this, I had no idea that it was normal for someone who didn’t live in a sorority house to actually eat there. The food sounded much better than the cafeteria food and that made me extra happy. They had several bedroom styles that slept between two and four. They were all decorated really cute and seemed much larger than my dorm room. More bonus points! We went out a side door and crossed through a large private courtyard. This was the place the sisters used for tanning. I thought that was a great idea! Of course these were the days when we basted ourselves in baby oil boosted with iodine and covered double record albums with foil to catch the maximum rays. Eeeeek! There was another small wing on the other side of the courtyard and each room had its own door. These were the “senior apartments” where seniors could live. Each had a private bathroom, living room, separate bedroom and a small kitchenette. I loved this! I had a great time talking to my tour guide and the girl she bumped me to afterwards. They had such great senses of humor and it was obvious how much they loved living in this house. I left feeling even more positive about this group. I’m definitely wanting Fez the most.

Kelso – This house is just gorgeous, a stately old mansion and the exterior is painted my favorite color. That definitely appeals to me. Yes, I am shallow! An older girl from my high school gives me the tour. I’m pretty excited when she tells me she was so happy I was rushing. I didn’t know her well at all, so it made me feel pretty special. We talked a lot about old times as we walked through the house. When we get to the first bedroom, I’m a bit confused. There are no beds in these small double rooms, just closets, chairs and desks. Duh dah dun! This house must have one of the dreaded sleeping porches! And indeed it did. At least I knew what a sleeping porch was this time, but was still completely unimpressed by the whole system, even after seeing it and hearing what it was like to sleep there. Since I am a super light sleeper, all I could think about was girls who snore and talk in their sleep and how that would ruin my life! And of course I was much too overwhelmed and intimidated to ask questions about it. I was far too concerned about this girl from my high school maintaining a positive opinion of me. (What can I say, I was a pleaser. Age and experience have really helped with that!)

Jackie – This house is a little newer than most and has very modern architecture, so it’s not traditional looking. But it’s got lots of windows, making it feel sunny and light. There has been an addition to it recently because of the chapter’s continued growth. And it doesn’t have sleeping porches. Yay! The chapter president gives me my house tour and tells me what great things she has heard about me from Liz. She is also a Central Suburbia grad and has been Liz’s best friend since they were in third grade. I think being in a sorority with your childhood friend is the coolest thing ever. The President is as cool as Liz is, and I do feel a little intimidated that I might not be cool enough to fit in here. It does however make me really happy to hear she already knows who I am, but I fail to grasp if there’s any significance to being toured by the president.

Eric – This is the house that I think looks like I imagine a sorority house should look like. I am in love with the staircase in this house! It feels like I am Scarlett O’Hara. There are lots of fun framed photos of the girls posing together on the stairs. Unfortunately, I am not as enthusiastic about the girls as I am the house. My conversations seem stilted, and although they are nice enough, I am realizing this is the slightly nerdy smart girl house and I’m not really going to fit in.

Red – Vicki picks me up right away. Oh God. She will not stop talking! I can’t get a word in at all as she gives me the house tour. AND SHE DOESN”T BUMP ME! I am stuck with her the entire time. Did I mention she won’t stop talking? I don’t care how nice the house is or how wonderful the sisters are (not that she will ever let me meet any more of them to even find out!) I can’t stand being in the same room with her much less living with her. I vow to never come back to this house ever again!

Midge – The house was beautiful and the girls who rushed me were pretty and nice. That’s about all I remember about this one. I left with a favorable impression, but I’m still not quite feeling it here. A lot of the other girls really love this chapter though!

Laurie – I honestly don’t remember much of anything about this group or their house. They were that bland for me. The only things I do remember is that the house was pretty dated and run down, and the girl that gave me the house tour told me a few pledges with high GPAs could move in right away. After my experience in the first set with Randy, as promising as it sounds on the surface, I am sure that is NOT a good sign.

Donna – The house is another traditionally styled mansion, although I think the exterior color is sort of icky. (There I go again!) A girl I have never met before gives me my tour and I learn she is an East Suburbia grad. In addition to discovering we have a lot of people in common, I also learn that she went to the same summer camp I did, only different sessions each year so we never met. We even lived in the same cabin and belonged to the same “tribe,” which I thought was a pretty funny coincidence. In spite of the icky color, the interior of the house was beautiful and elegant. It was clear that someone had put a lot of time and effort into decorating and maintaining the place. I particularly loved the TV room and the way she described how they loved to pile in to watch Charlie’s Angels each week. That show was one of my guilty pleasures and I was excited to find that other girls shared my secret. There were a variety of room configurations here: doubles, triples and quads. But most importantly, no sleeping porches!

After the parties, we are to list our top five houses and then rank the bottom three. My list looked like this:

Midge
Jackie
Kelso
Fez
Donna

1. Eric
2. Laurie
3. Red

After we turn in our lists, I go out to grab some pizza with some of the girls in my group. We have a great time talking about our different impressions of the houses and our likes and dislikes.

When I get back to the dorm, all hell is breaking out in my room. Lisa is lying on her bed, sobbing hysterically. Tina is on the phone yelling at someone. She’s so mad that there’s a vein popping out on her forehead and her face is bright red. Our third suite mate (who arrived the previous day, is not rushing and is very anti-sorority) is sitting cross legged on her bed and smirking. “I suppose those Fez bitches didn’t invite you back too?”

Lisa’s mother had already called most of the alumnae association and the house itself to complain. Lisa’s mom was a very well connected and active Fez, and Lisa was a triple legacy. She was told there was nothing that could be done as there were far more legacies than the house could take; in fact there were more legacies from just our hometown than slots available in the pledge class. Although Lisa’s Fez dreams are now over, after talking to her mom, she decides to continue rush and consider the remaining houses she has. She had a full schedule that day, so otherwise rush had been going well for her.

Tina immediately starts talking down Fez, insisting she hadn’t been that impressed with them at all, and talking up some of the groups that had been on her “not good enough” list yesterday. What a difference a day makes.

All of this stuff about legacies and cuts is really boggling to me. I do have to suck it up and admit that I had been invited back to Fez and had had a good time. But I also began to doubt that they could know what they are doing if they cut such great girls right away and whether I would belong in a house that would cut my friends. I am also feeling very guilty. I can’t help but think that if I hadn’t rushed, maybe my friends would still be in the running there. Since the parties don’t start until the early evening tomorrow, we have a longer time to marinate and worry than before. It feels like Set Three will never come!

[When Doves Cry]

I keep trying to picture all this happening in the 70s but I totally can't. Probably because I wasn't alive then.

[true_blue]

I was alive in the 70's, although I was a little girl, and remember looking-up to all the cool teenagers and their hair and clothes. So I can totally see this story happening in my mind! Groovy!

Can't wait for more!

[AnchorAlumna]

Hey, "That_70s," I am loving your thread! Very funny! Actually, things are not so different now, are they?

I am a little older than you, but won't be posting my story because I was so clueless I didn't sign up for formal rush.

I'd love to hear from some of our even "more seasoned" members on rush in the 1960s - talk about FULL FRILLS! Matching outfits every day (that the sorority ordered en masse, and paid for), elaborate sets and costumes, fantastic flowers, professionally choreographed dance routines and professionally coached singers, lavish "favors" - not to mention the lavish over-the-summer teas and spend-the-nights!

Back then, you didn't even start with open houses and visits to every sorority. Say there were 10 sororities - you picked 5 to start with - and hoped you picked the 5 that would give you a chance!

Carry on!

[anygreekmom]

I am loving reading this story! Count me in as another "vintage veteran"...who rushed in the 70's. I only wish I had great notes like yours - but I was waaaayyyy more clueless and uninformed and notes? why would I need notes? didn't I get to just pick which group I wanted to join? I already knew which one was the one for me so why bother with any others? So, so wrong...

I really enjoy hearing the honest thoughts about the sororities. And from the wise perch of our current age, it's fine (and true) to admit that we were shallow teenagers once upon a time!

[IlovemyAKA]

This is awesome!

[lovespink88]

Pleeease continue!!!!