A Mad Men re-rushing story

[SC2013]

This was my fall 2010 rushing story.

There are 9 houses going through formal recruitment.
Days 1&2: Convo Days
Day 3: House Tours
Day 4: Slideshow Day
Day 5: Preference/Bid Night

As a sophomore I do have friends in some of the houses, and my sister is currently an active for a sorority at a different university (making me NOT a legacy).

The houses are:
Peggy Olson
Joan Holloway
Rachel Menken
Bobbie Barrett
Trudy Campbell
Betty Draper
Jane Sterling
Dr. Faye Miller
Midge Daniels

I will preface with my backgrounds with some of the houses:
-My sister is a current Jane Sterling.
-Poor Peggy Olson is the only house that ever has to do COB. But there are very sweet girls here, and one girl from my hometown I saw over the summer.
-While I never knew too many Joan Holloways, I had a good feeling about this house because of its commitment to academics, athletics, and for having a fun but laidback personality. I know I'm not supposed to go into rush with any preconceptions but as a sophomore I know a little more than freshmen anyways. In any case, I wouldn't discount any other houses at all, but this was the one I had a good feeling about.

[angels&angles]

I'm pretty sure having an active sister does make you a legacy. Not that it matters now. And I could be wrong.

[SC2013]

Convo Day 1: We saw 5 houses. 1000 or so girls went through rush this year, meaning pledge classes would be in the 60-70s! This year the RC's said that cuts after each round would be MASSIVE, which was different from what I remembered last year, when RC's said that almost all girls going through rush would get a bid (although it's the same that this year that if you go to pref, you will get a bid).

Peggy Olson: This was my first house and I had a good time here. The girls I talked to were very laid back and genuine. Unfortunately how it works with this house is since there aren't enough girls in the chapter they usually bring in other Peggy Olson's from nearby colleges to help out with rush. Difficulty is, I think most of the girls I talked to and enjoyed talking to were from a different school. I don't remember what we talked about too much but it was very laid back and I made the girls I was talking to laugh a lot.

Joan Holloway: I got along with the girls I talked to very well. There was no "OH MY GOD, me too!" kind of sudden revelation, but the conversations flowed very naturally and comfortably. We also talked about similar sports and everything. I didn't have to try to be much of anything talking to these girls. Leaving the house I didn't have a "wow, they love me and will ask me back" feeling, but I think that's because the girls are very mellow in general (like me) and won't fake overexcitement during rush.

Rachel Menken: I remember really liking this house last year, but I didn't have as much of a good time here this year. I was talking to a girl who just had this permanent expression of dislike on her face. It all depends on the girl you talk to though. Although, the next girl I talked to I remembered casting in a student film the year before and I was glad to see her, so as I went to shake her hand and was like, "Hey! It's soo good--" she said, "Nice to meet you, my name is ______." A little awkward, but I figured maybe during rush, girls are supposed to pretend they don't know you? (Although while walking out another girl I'm friends with tapped me on the shoulder and said hi.) And while walking out to the door it got to the point where we had nothing to say. She said, "so...what classes have you not gone to yet?" Now, I remember her from last year and she's a very, VERY sweet girl. But as a rush experience I can tell this house was not for me.

Bobbie Barrett: I was a little anxious for this house, because a formerly REALLY good friend (to the point where she desperately wanted me to rush, and put my name on a "girls to look out for next year" list last spring) is now my not-so-good friend. Thankfully another PNM is a friend of mine and her roommate last year was in this house, and her excitement turned my anxiety into also excitement to see all these girls I knew last year. The conversation flowed perfectly to another girl who looked familiar, and we had fun trying to figure out where we'd seen each other but we also had lots of things in common. The last girl ALSO looked really familiar, and it turned out we have the same major. I got to talk about how passionate I am about my major and she shared my sensibilities about it, and besides that she was an absolute sweetheart. My conversations felt very natural and flowed like with Joan Holloway BUT I also couldn't help but feel so excited to talk with these girls. I'm not someone who can fake being SO EXCITED, but in this case I floated out of the house.

Trudy Campbell: Last house of the day! My current roommates are all really good friends with a girl in this house who is super active with leadership and everything in this house. I don't know her AS well as my roommates (who also rushed), but she is very sweet and we get along. I didn't see her today though. In any case, it was pretty late by this time, and as one of the first girls to walk through the door, I was led towards the back of the house to a kind of mirrored alcove. Since I was one of the first in, at first it was pretty quiet and I managed to talk to this girl with probably the usual rush topics (I can't remember at this point). However, once more PNMs filed in, the sound of all the chatter literally reverberated off the walls. I hate to say it, but it seriously made the conversation painful. That being said, I was exhausted and I have a fairly quiet voice so straining myself over the din really drained me and left me physically weary after this house, which gave me a bad impression of the house overall.

[SC2013]

Convo Day 2! The nice thing about rushing with all the girls you live with is getting rush outfits ready and appropriately spazzing out at the same times

Betty Draper It's a gorgeous house that feels very Southern to me. The girl I talked to was very sweet with a good sense of humor but also quieter like me. She asked me a lot of questions about my major and interests, and I did feel like for better or for worse I was carrying the conversation, but I think with this house that's what's supposed to happen since it seems like you don't talk to as many girls. Towards the end of the party, another girl joined us. I felt I had more in common with this second girl and wished I talked to her longer, but overall the conversation was...pleasant.

Jane Sterling My sister is a Jane Sterling at another school, but we are very very different in terms of pretty much everything. That being said, these two chapters of Jane Sterling are very different as well (I think my sister's is a colony, while my school has very longstanding, established chapters). So even though I am related to a Jane Sterling, I went in with a really open mind. Turned out I got along with these girls really really well. I don't remember the specifics of what I said with any of the girls but I just remember walking out the door very happy.

Dr. Faye Miller I was looking forward to this house because I have two good friends in this house and I know several girls through them who are very sweet, down to earth girls who still go out and have a good time. I had to drop out of rush last year because my mom wanted me to "get used to college" before joining a sorority and we don't have spring rush, but I remember last year I had THE best time at this house. Anyways, this time around I was super excited to walk in. The first girl I talked to...we didn't click. She was very quiet and the conversation was pretty forced. I was bummed because while I LOVED this house last year, it was so forced this year. Maybe I've just changed since last year.

(Later a Dr. Faye I'm friends with said there are some girls who join their house never show up for anything else except for recruitment, and usually those are the girls who aren't that good at rushing girls, which is a real shame.)

Midge Daniels The girls were very laid back and jokey, but also really cool. The first girl was a theatre major which is right up my alley. The next girl and I ended up talking about this project I worked on over the summer and she knows the guy I worked on the project with. It was overall pretty laidback but I know this is very sought after house that is very heavy on taking freshmen during rush, although I didn't stress over it. I think they enjoyed talking to a sophomore who already knew a lot about the Greek system and just our school in general.


At the end of the day I ranked the houses (the order of the first 6 technically don't matter, it's only the last 3 you wish to drop):
1 Bobbie Barrett
2 Jane Sterling
3 Joan Holloway
4 Midge Daniels
5 Betty Draper
6 Rachel Menken (Since this was my favorite house last year I figured I'd give it a shot)

7 Dr. Faye Miller (I liked this house more than Trudy Campbell last year, and although this year it was vice versa I still knew more girls in this house...I also figured as a soph I'd get dropped from a lot of the above houses so the order of 7-9 wasn't too important)
8 Trudy Campbell
9 Peggy Olson I feel like I hadn't ACTUALLY met the sisters, but just because I ranked them last doesn't mean I hated them. I didn't hate any of the houses really

[33girl]

Originally Posted by SC2013

Peggy Olson: This was my first house and I had a good time here. The girls I talked to were very laid back and genuine. Unfortunately how it works with this house is since there aren't enough girls in the chapter they usually bring in other Peggy Olsons from nearby colleges to help out with rush. Difficulty is, I think most of the girls I talked to and enjoyed talking to were from a different school. I don't remember what we talked about too much but it was very laid back and I made the girls I was talking to laugh a lot.

I wish sororities would get a clue and quit doing this. I don't think anyone who's EVER written a rush story on GC got a positive impression from it. Better to have a giant group conversation with women who are actually IN the chapter, rather than import sisters from other schools just for the sake of bumping and one on one conversation. There are all sorts of different ways to rush and chapters that are smaller need to be given permission to think outside the box.

This is a perfect example. SC liked the girls, but has no idea if they were actually the women who will be her sisters for the rest of her college career...and because of that she ranked them last.

[victoriana]

Yay!! I can't wait to read more

[SC2013]

Originally Posted by 33girl

I wish sororities would get a clue and quit doing this. I don't think anyone who's EVER written a rush story on GC got a positive impression from it. Better to have a giant group conversation with women who are actually IN the chapter, rather than import sisters from other schools just for the sake of bumping and one on one conversation. There are all sorts of different ways to rush and chapters that are smaller need to be given permission to think outside the box.

This is a perfect example. SC liked the girls, but has no idea if they were actually the women who will be her sisters for the rest of her college career...and because of that she ranked them last.

Exactly! I'd rather know sooner or later if a house is right for me--why misrepresent yourself the first round and go "well here's the real us" during the next round?

Although in this case, each girl's nametag had her name AND her chapter letters...but considering I didn't know which chapter our school's is...it frankly was all Greek to me!

[nittanygirl]

If were being rushed somewhere with sisters from other chapters helping out, I'd wish they'd say which chapter they are from (and not just the letter designation because a lot of PNMs are already overwhelmed, why make it more confusing with more Greek letters to remember which is which?)

Anyways, interested to see the result.

[OPhiAGinger]

I've always assumed that the reason struggling chapters bring in their sisters from nearby chapters is to minimize the stigma me being so small -- to "sell" the chapter to PNMs. As you've pointed out, that often backfires.

But now I'm wondering if they're also there to help in the selection process, to help identify girls who will be the biggest assets to the chapter as it's trying to rebuild. Sometimes struggling chapters make decisions (including MS?) that perpetuate a negative stereotype, but an external influence can help reverse that trend....? I'm not saying that the girls from other chapters get to vote in that chapter's MS process, but I hope (for the sake of the PNMs who spend the entire party chatting up a "bonus" sister from Nearby University) that they have some influence in the subsequent decisions!

[OPhiAGinger]

Also... Go Joan Holloway!!

[DeltaBetaBaby]

Originally Posted by 33girl

I wish sororities would get a clue and quit doing this. I don't think anyone who's EVER written a rush story on GC got a positive impression from it. Better to have a giant group conversation with women who are actually IN the chapter, rather than import sisters from other schools just for the sake of bumping and one on one conversation. There are all sorts of different ways to rush and chapters that are smaller need to be given permission to think outside the box.

This is a perfect example. SC liked the girls, but has no idea if they were actually the women who will be her sisters for the rest of her college career...and because of that she ranked them last.

We had some girls from another chapter come one year, but they held trays of drinks and stuff like that. I think it was actually a campus PH rule that they can not actually talk to the PNM's. Basically, it was like "we don't have enough alums to show up and do this stuff, so another chapter is going to help us out".

I think there was a huge amount of tent talk about it, though.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by OPhiAGinger

But now I'm wondering if they're also there to help in the selection process, to help identify girls who will be the biggest assets to the chapter as it's trying to rebuild. Sometimes struggling chapters make decisions (including MS?) that perpetuate a negative stereotype, but an external influence can help reverse that trend....? I'm not saying that the girls from other chapters get to vote in that chapter's MS process, but I hope (for the sake of the PNMs who spend the entire party chatting up a "bonus" sister from Nearby University) that they have some influence in the subsequent decisions!

This is on the same level as the chapter consultant coming in for rush and saying "OMG, look at Suzy's resume. She's gorgeous, great GPA, and what a sparkling personality! You need to give her a bid!!" What she doesn't know is Suzy has been making a tidy profit stripping at the Sugar Shack for the past 6 months and every guy you know is talking about her "special downward duck dance."

As with any sort of outside-the-chapter rush help, I would wager that if women from other chapters are allowed to put in their 2 cents during MS, how it's received depends on the spirit in which it's offered.

Sister from stellar chapter talked to Gina Gorgeous and made sure to try and introduce her to sisters of the struggling chapter because she thought she'd be an asset on many levels - good.

Sister from stellar chapter talked to GG, monopolized her throughout the party for of "exposing" her to struggling chapter sisters, and during MS said "THIS is the kind of sister you need to help this chapter" - bad.

Sister from stellar chapter talked to Pammy Plain, who happens to be funny, kind and intelligent, and during MS said "This girl is nice, but she's not XYZ material" - also bad.

[Benzgirl]

Originally Posted by angels&angles

I'm pretty sure having an active sister does make you a legacy. Not that it matters now. And I could be wrong.

My guess is that the OP is a legacy.

[GeorgiaGreek]

Originally Posted by DeltaBetaBaby

We had some girls from another chapter come one year, but they held trays of drinks and stuff like that. I think it was actually a campus PH rule that they can not actually talk to the PNM's. Basically, it was like "we don't have enough alums to show up and do this stuff, so another chapter is going to help us out".

I think there was a huge amount of tent talk about it, though.

I went last year with some girls from my chapter (one of the stronger chapters, even nationally) to another chapter (which has great girls, but struggles compared to the other houses) to help during their recruitment, and we did pretty much the same stuff. The only time we were allowed to talk to PNMs was if we knew them from before; then we were allowed to briefly say hello. I don't think any of the girls told PNMs that the girls serving snacks, etc. were from another school though, so hopefully it didn't cause any negative tent talk.

This year they asked for girls to come and help again, and possibly actually rush PNMs. Personally this bothered me, because the girls in each chapter are totally different, and I don't like the idea that a PNM might join the chapter because of girls who won't be there after recruitment.

My advice would be, if you go to more rounds at that house, try to find out if the girl you're talking to is a member of your school's chapter. If she isn't, try to use the skit/video/whatever they use as your source of information, and don't let the fact that your "rusher" is from a different school make you feel poorly about that sorority.

You seem to have a great outlook on recruitment, and I wish you the best of luck! I hope you find the best sorority for you!

[SC2013]

I got my schedule for House Tours bright and early the next day. Now the downside to living with girls that are also rushing: comparing schedules. It's the worst...especially when your best friend gets the sought after Midge Daniels but says that she'll be okay with Joan Holloway...but it'll "still be a significant 'drop,' you know?"

But no matter. The 4 of us are very different in terms of personality, so I know (and would prefer if) we won't end up in the same house.

Out of a possible 6 houses, I got a schedule of 4...not bad for a sophomore, my angelic RC tells me (she really is the nicest human being on the planet, cannot stress this enough. We got to chat during one of our breaks and she is just...the best!).

The houses I had were:
Trudy Campbell
Joan Holloway
Peggy Olson
Jane Sterling

I was pretty bummed out about Bobbie Barrett not asking me back. I guess when it came down to it, I didn't so much feel rejected by them or anything, but secretly I'd imagined that for some reason I'd be paired up with my now not-so-good friend for House Tours, at which point I could tell her I missed talking to her and that I had cherished our friendship. We actually had a class together but for starters, we weren't allowed to talk to sorority girls outside of recruitment, plus I didn't want her to think I wanted to patch things up just to get in her sorority! Bobbie Barrett or no Bobbie Barrett, I missed her. So that's the main reason I was bummed, and I was also half surprised, half not that I didn't "at least" get invited to House Tours. (On a side note, I'm still good friends with many other girls in that house and the girl that walked me to the door at the end of Convo Days so it was worth rushing just to meet her!) Besides that, I was excited to see all the beautiful houses!