help with a rush dilemma

rushee123 · #1 02-03-2005, 03:22 AM

I am a new member to this board and I have been planning on going through spring informal recruitment at my large, non-southern school. During my brief collegiate tenure, I have met many girls from each sorority and I made a list of my top choices and tried to get recommendations for them from alumna members. Even though recruitment has not began yet, I attended an information fair today and met members from each of the recruiting sororities. Unfortunately, I discovered that my top two choices aren't recruiting and I'm quite disheartened. Also, I really didn't feel like I fit in very well with any of the other sororities currently recruiting (there are several). I met a member of the high council of my choice #1 sorority today and I was very impressed with her, although she told me that her sorority was not recruiting at the time. I'm really not sure what to do though; should I still go through rush even though two of the ones I really want are not taking new members? Should I go through and just drop out and wait until next fall if I don't feel like I fit with the other houses? I would appreciate any advice or guidance anyone here can give me.

KSUViolet06 · #2 02-03-2005, 03:41 AM

Hi, welcome to GC! My suggestion to you would be to check out the others! My opinion, you don't know whether you're a good fit for those that are recruiting unless you rush and take the time to get to know them! Who knows? You could find a wonderful sorority home in any of these other groups. I certainly wouldn't want you to miss out on them just because they weren't your "absolute favorites". There are alot of women on this site who ended up finding a home in a group that they almost overlooked b/c it wasn't at the top of their list before recruitment. So YES, please check out the other sororities, you never know what you could be missing. Good luck!

mmcat · #3 02-03-2005, 08:48 AM

rushee123...you never know what's there until you try.
if nothing else, you will get to meet some new girls. but perhaps, you will find a home. if not, you can still rush in the fall.
so there's no loss.

FSUZeta · #4 02-03-2005, 05:12 PM

what jocelyn said. no harm. no foul to check out the others and give them a chance. you don't have to accept a bid if you don't want to.

rushee123 · #5 02-04-2005, 03:50 AM

Thank you for the welcome and your advice. I had an info meeting tonight and I've decided I'm going to participate in rush (starts tomorrow!) I'm not anticipating joining anything this semester, but I think it's probably as good a time as any to scope out the houses. I would hate to wait until next fall and find out that I don't like my first two choices at all and end up pledging a house I could pledge this semester. Soo...I'm going to seven (I think) parties tomorrow.

mu_agd · #6 02-04-2005, 08:04 AM

Just remember to keep an open mind. Going into recruitment I did not know a thing about Alpha Gam and had never talked to any of them. But after going through 1 or 2 rounds, i knew that they were the place for me. So while your top 2 may not be participating now, you may find a hidden gem int hat group of sororoties participating.

i wish you the best of luck during recruitment.

mmcat · #7 02-04-2005, 08:43 AM

ditto ditto...keep your eyes and heart wide open and have some fun.
best of luck!

Buttonz · #8 02-06-2005, 12:07 AM

I think your doing the right thing, I think there are a good number of us on GC who never thought we would end up where we did, myself included. Good luck and keep us updated!

AchtungBaby80 · #9 02-06-2005, 12:18 PM

Good luck--I think you made the best decision, too! Before I went through rush I thought for sure that I would want to join the sorority I was a legacy to, but after I got a chance to check out the other groups I changed my mind. You never know!

cash78mere · #10 02-06-2005, 05:12 PM

good for you for having such a great attitude about recruitment!

you have nothing to lose and everything to gain. good luck!

rushee123 · #11 02-07-2005, 04:07 AM

Well, I went through rush this weekend. Right now I'm still too tired to go into the nitty gritty details, but I decided not to rank after all the parties although I did put my name down on a COB list. On the first day, I felt that I really fit in well with three houses in particular. I was devastated to find out on the second day that the first two cut me! The second day I really felt good about the third house, but I was very upset that one of the ones from the day before had cut me (I felt like I had fit in so well there!) and I was a little bothered by the fact that I wasn't able to explore all of my options during spring recruitment. Ultimately, I feel that I might end up COBing my third choice house from recruitment if they do COB.
I'm very glad I went through with recruitment though.

I definitely got a whole new prospective from all the houses that I couldn't have gotten just from seeing the girls around campus. I met some awesome people and I'll keep you posted as to what goes on.

FSUZeta · #12 02-07-2005, 11:44 AM

i am sorry that you were not invited back to two of your favorites, but am glad that you gave informal recruitment a try and did put your name on the cob list. you might consider this a "training session"-you have one recruitment under your belt, and with your experience, if you go thru fall recruitment, you will have a leg up on the first timers!!

rushee123 · #13 02-07-2005, 11:19 PM

I have a question regarding COB. There are a few chapters on campus that have contacted me and want me to go to their events. Am I obligated to go to their events? If I'm not, what should I say if I don't want to go? I feel it might be rude to tell them that I'm not interested and I don't want them to take it personally since they are all nice girls. I'm still trying to be open-minded about all the chapters, but one of them is a faith-based local I didn't fit in with at all and another one is having some internal problems, so to speak. They have both invited me to COB events and I wasn't sure if I was required to go or if it's optional.
Thank you all so much for everything!

AGDee · #14 02-07-2005, 11:32 PM

COB is optional and you can simply decline politely. A kind "Thank you very much for the invitation but I'm not interested." COB takes a lot of time and effort and I think most chapters would rather have someone who is not at all interested turn them down than to come and "lead them on" so to speak.

Dee

mmcat · #15 02-08-2005, 08:45 AM

continue to keep your eyes and heart open and see what happens.
don't go unless you really want to. but do communicate with the houses.