ARE SOME THINGS REALLY WORTH THE RUSH?

When a girl signs up for Rush, she goes in with the hopes of being accepted into a house and making friends for a lifetime. However, before she becomes a sister, she has to start off as a total stranger. The process of Rush is a judgmental one, to the point where it may try to discourage girl from joining at all. Rush is based around words like materialism, connections, and appearance oriented. I’ve heard of Rush weekends at different schools where girls have had their parents donate $15000 to the sorority they wanted to join prior to Rushing. I Rushed a few weekends ago, and I can personally say that there were points where I was asking myself if this entire process was really worth it. Knowing that I was being judged and not knowing on what made me feel very insecure and wonder if a sorority was the right place for me. I stuck it out, and now I’m happy being part of a sorority. However, there is a large variety of people with very differing opinions on the act of Rushing, some being girls who decided not to Rush at all, the new babies of the sororities, and girls that were not accepted into any sororities at all.

Although it appeared as though every freshman girl at SCU was Rushing there were quite a few that did not. I asked around, and one response that I got was that Rush was very time consuming, and she did not hang out with that many girls anyway. This is an understandable reason--Rush was a 4 day event, and with midterms right around the corner, many girls found this to be overwhelming and decided to wait until next year, or not Rush at all. Girls were also discouraged from Rushing because once in a sorority, they would have to go to meetings and other social events  Thankfully, at SCU not going greek doesn’t exclude you from a large amount of of the activities. At other schools, like USC, not joining a sorority or a fraternity would hold you at a serious disadvantage for doing things on a social level. Luckily, this isn’t the case at SCU.

At Santa Clara, Rush is divided up into three days-- Sisterhood day, Philanthropy day, and Preference night. After the first day, Sisterhood day, you have to pick your top 3 choices. The next morning you get a call back to at least one of those houses, and after Philanthropy day you have to pick your top two. After Preference night, you have to pick your top two sororities, and from there you get bids and you get to decide which sorority you want to be in. It doesn’t sound too bad, and at first glance it really isn’t--you make sure you dress to impress, and then you go to the houses and talk to the girls there. However, it’s really so much more than that. Although I don’t know for sure, I’m not sure if I’d even ask, but it appears as though you’re being judged on everything you do. 

This is the first day of the Rush process. Girls are encouraged to dress nicely, but to remember that we are impressing girls, not boys so we have to dress appropriately. This  is probably the longest day of Rush. You walk to all four houses and talk for at least half an hour with as many girls as you can. These conversations with girls has been coined as “girl flirting”, and it makes sense. While trying to play it cool and as nonchalant as possible, you’re still trying to impress these girls because you want to be accepted into as many sororities as you can; it’s better to have too many options than none at all. Sisterhood day gives you a glimpse into each sorority, let’s you see all of the different fun activities you could do if you were accepted into each one. And as tough as it may be at the end of the day to make a decision, each girl has got to eliminate one of the four sororities at the end of the day.

After the girls turn in their cards with their top three choices, their recruitment counsellors call them back and tell them whether or not they have been called back to any houses. In almost all of the cases, girls get called back to at least one house. For Philanthropy day, the girls have to dress as though they are going to an interview. Slacks, pencil skirts, blouses, some girls went even as far as dawning a pair of heels--all to make as good of a first impression as they can. This shows how materialistic the Rush process can be. The need to dress up and look nice is so vital that girls were told that they would be sent back to change if not dressed appropriately The activities for today include an activity that is related to each house’s philanthropy, may it be Theta’s CASA, or Kappa’s Reading is Fundamental. Just like the day before, at the end of the night each girl has to write down their houses of choice, but this time you eliminate one once again.

At last, the last day of Rush has finally come. However, it is not a for sure guarantee that all girls who made it the day before will make it now. Some girls who only got called back to one house the day before may not have been called back at all. The dress code for Preference Night is to dress as though you’re going to a wedding or a formal event.This only goes to reinforce the materialistic aspect of Rush. This night is more of a social night, where you really get to talk to the girls on a more personal level; more actual conversation and less small talk. The end of this night is the most important because by now you should have your top two decisions made up, if you hadn’t already before. When you fill out this card, you sign an agreement that states that if you get a bid from your top choice you must take it. If you receive a bid the next day, you show up for Bid Day and you go do a fun activity with the rest of your pledge class as well as the rest of the girls in your sorority.

So we finally made it into houses. Some girls’ opinions about Rush might change. Some may see it as worth it, but others may still see it as a little too judgmental.Some girls believe that without the process of Rush they would have missed out on a crucial part of going greek. Others are glad the whole process is over and found it rather stressful. A new baby from USC, where the Greek system dominates said that the entire Rush process for her was terrible, but luckily it was only four days so it was worth it. However negative these girls’ feelings towards Rush may be, most of them have realized that the houses that they are in now are so much better than anything they expected that Rush clearly must have been worth it.  

Rush varies from school to school, chapter to chapter. Some allow hazing, others do not, every experience is unique. The alumni of the sororities, after going through years of being together with their sisters and growing closer and bonding, probably look back on the Rush experience and laugh at their concerns of the whole Rush process. Hopefully someday the rest of the girls with feelings of dislike towards the Rush process will someday think the same as the alumni.

Although my experience with Rush wasn’t a particularly terrible one, I still am not that big of a fan of Rush. Maybe it’s because I’m insecure and the idea of having a large group of girls judge me on what I wear and judge my personality off of a 30 minute conversation with one girl just rubs me the wrong way, I really can’t tell. There’s just something about the Rush process overall that I just don’t seem to enjoy. It’s high-stress, and you don’t even know what these girls are looking for. At least if the girls Rushing had some sort of an idea for what these girls wanted it would take some of the pressure off, but all of the advice that we were given was to “be [our]selves”. Some girls did that and didn’t get in anywhere. What’s that supposed say to the girls that didn’t get in anywhere? That being themselves wasn’t good enough? However large my dislike for Rush, I cannot complain about my sorority overall. I absolutely adore the house that I am in, and I know that I’m going to create some friendships that will last me a lifetime. 

Although I’m sure that the account I described of Rush doesn’t sound all that bad it’s because I don’t want to be the one to give Rush weekend or sororities in general a bad rep. Being in a sorority is great, so maybe that’s why the path to get into one is so difficult. However, I’m sure there’s less... intense ways of going about getting into a sorority. But then again, Santa Clara has one of the more relaxed Greek systems, it’s almost unfathomable to think how intense Rush must be at other schools. From my personal account and from what I’ve heard from other girls, both who did and did not rush, I came to the conclusion that Rush is stressful, judgmental, it makes you second guess yourself, but absolutely worth it. All of the girls that rushed and made it could not be happier in the houses they’re in. And that seems completely worth the rush.