Hey again!
I thought I'd share some of the things I learned through my Rush experience.
1.Tent Talk- Ok, it's inevitable, EVERYONE wants to talk about their impressions of each house and spill what they already heard about it.
IF you must talk about it, please be polite! You really never know who could be listening. And imagine if someone else started bashing YOUR favorite house!
On the gossip...here's the thing. NO, not everything you hear is going to be accurate, so take it with a grain of salt. I heard a lot of bashing alllll Rush week, but truly did not CARE what other people thought about my favorites. Why? Because I was ranking for MYSELF, not for the girls I was rushing with. They liked some houses that I didn't want. That's fine. You're trying to go where you feel comfortable, and everyone has different likes and dislikes.
BUT BUT BUT...IF it is important to you how people perceive you then at least try to hear a few DIFFERENT opinions. The reputations of the houses can kind of be gathered from that. For myself personally, I don't care what other people think as long as I'm happy, but I knew where both houses I preffed were tiered on my campus. It just didn't effect me. But if you KNOW that it's important to you what other people think, then I'd say you should find out BEFORE you sign that bid contract.
2.Have questions ready! I had one party where, unexpectedly, my rusher stopped for questions and I just drew a blank because I was so surprised! Be prepared to ask questions!
3.Be ready for the stress. It's a crazy time! You're up early, walking and standing, your head is spinning from trying to process meeting hundreds of new people, and at the end of the day you just want to sleep. Be good to yourself and be prepared! Get on a good sleep schedule BEFORE rush, eat healthy during the week, sleep as much as you can, STAY HYDRATED, and try to keep yourself as cheerful and pepped up as possible! And ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS WEAR COMFY SHOES!
4.Talk to your Gamma Chi, or whatever you call them at your school! They are there to help with almost anything during recruitment, and they can help you so much! They're the best resource you have if you just need a backboard to talk out your rankings- they try not to impact your judgement but are usually so so helpful by asking you questions or just listening until you reach a conclusion. Also, I wrote my GC a thank-you card- this week is just as stressful for them, and showing that they've helped you in some way helps a lot.
5.Enjoy it! Hopefully you'll never go through this again, so have fun meeting tons of new girls, seeing the houses, learning about philanthropic opportunities, eating their food (haha just kidding. But seriously, EAT THE FOOD. They don't care

), and getting the chance to see their sisterhood! Yes, you'll have the same conversation about a million times, but give the last house just as much enthusiasm for your major, hometown, and summer vacation stories as you gave the first house!
If you go in with the intention of enjoying every crazy, stressful minute of it, you will have so much more confidence and so much more fun!
And once you pledge...enjoy every last minute of it! You've gained a whole group of people who are SUPER excited to get to know you, show you around, help you, and befriend you! Take every opportunity and you will LOVE your new sorority!