rush

Pref: I didn't cry at every house but I did cry at my sorority because I just loved it so much already and I really wanted to be a member. However, even if you don't feel a connection to the house, you should still be nice and respectful. At the end of the day you will rank your houses. For me, I easily knew who I wanted, but I know for other girls it can be a tough decision. Just chose the place that you feel comfortable in--not the place you feel popular in--because your sorority is your home away from home and if you don't feel comfortable enough to go in there without make up on after you've pulled an all-nighter, then you shouldn't pick that house. It's a decision that will affect the next four years of your life and so on so pick wisely. You will rank your houses in order of the one you like most to least. Now this is where it gets confusing. I will go through a couple of different scenarios to explain the bid process. If you get invited back to 3 houses for pref and put down all 3 houses, you are GUARANTEED a bid. This also goes for if you get invited back to 2 houses and put down 2 or 1 house and put down 1. This is called maximizing your options and I highly suggest doing this. Every house that you attend for pref, you are on their bid list somewhere, but that doesn't mean that you are guaranteed a bid at that house.

Ice Water Tea contd: Make sure you keep the name tag that you are given visible because you are more than likely matched with a certain active (who is either from your hometown or that you have something in common with) that will be trying to find you as you walk in the door. We do this so that we can learn more about you in the short period of time and make you feel more comfortable. This round is really nothing to stress about. The conversations are really short and they will typically be about the same stuff (i.e., what's your major?, where are you from?, what'd you do in high school?) which makes it really easy to run together so I definitely suggest writing down something that stood out to you about every single house in your Greek Chic asap. That makes it easier when it comes to ranking the houses after voting. In the house, you will be given a glass of ice water. Drink the water!! A lot of girls think that if they drink the water they will get dropped but it's just a silly superstition. Whatever you are given in any house, always nibble at/drink it. It's rude if you don't and it's really hot outside so you need to stay hydrated. I know that these days are really long and at the end of both days you will be super tired, but just make sure to smile in every single house and try to carry on a decent conversation with everyone even if you don't want to. After the last day of Ice Water Teas, you will rank your top 12 houses in any random order and

Ice Water Contd: and then your bottom four in the order of who you'd like to go back to most to least. I know this is kind of confusing, but say you get invited back to 9 of your top 12 houses then if the bottom 4 invited you back, the top 3 from your bottom would move up and you would go to 12 houses and the last house you ranked in the bottom would be dropped. But remember that you don't really drop houses, they drop you and you just have a full schedule and can't go back to them. The first round of cuts is after these days and I was the most nervous about these because this is the cut for grades. If you have below a 3.0 in high school, you will more than likely be completely dropped from recruitment after this round. If you are worried about your grades, this is the round to be the most worried about. I'm not saying no one will cut you after this, but first round is grades and recs. If you don't have the grades, don't have a rec, and don't really have anything else to make you stand out, you will not be invited back. It's harsh, but it is the only way to whittle down the huge amount of girls during recruitment.
Philanthropy Days: If you get cut completely from recruitment, you will get a phone call from your rho chis by a designated time in the morning. If you don't get the call, you were at least invited back somewhere. These days you wear your designated philanthropy day t shirts and a pair of cute shorts. Usually, there is one white shirt and one colored shirt

Philanthropy Days: A lot of girls like to wear cute Lilly Pulitzer shorts or patterned shorts with their shirts, but I would stay away from that and just wear shorts that matched the t-shirts. Last year a lot of girls felt like they had to wear Lilly and they ended up looking really mismatched with the t-shirts, but wear whatever you like the best but do NOT wear jean shorts, short-shorts, or nike tempo shorts. In everything you wear, remember that you are dressing for other girls, not boys, so you should wear something cute and not super revealing. You will be judged on this. On these days you should also wear sandals, like Jack rogers etc. but no flip-flops. Philanthropy days are really exciting and you get to learn a lot more about each sorority. You will start splitting up from your rho chi more (on the first two days you travel around to each house with your rho chi but these days you will be with girls in other rho chis as well), but you will meet girls that have a higher chance of being your new pledge sisters because y'all got invited back to the next round. At each house, there will be a short presentation about the sorority's philanthropy and then you will talk to one or two girls about it. It is important to at least act like you're interested in philanthropy because it is a huge part of being in a sorority and it is something that most of us take very seriously. Ask a lot of questions and use this round to decide how you feel about certain houses.

Philanthropy Days: I know for me, I really wanted to get involved in philanthropy and that was one of the big things that drew me to my sorority because I could tell how passionate all the girls were about it. I would definitely suggest using this round to start thinking about how you fit in at each house. There will be a lot of houses that you like (overwhelmingly) and very few that you dislike, which makes it really hard, but when you sit down and think about it, you can really start to tell by these days if could possibly fit in at each house. At the end of Philanthropy Days you rank your top 8 in any random order and then your bottom 4 in order of the one you'd like to go back to most to least.
Skit Days: Cuts go the same as before. The cuts before this day is rough because people have started to grow attached to certain houses and some girls in your rho chi will even cry when they get their schedules back, but please don't do this. I know that being in a sorority is important but you're just embarrassing yourself if you cry about getting cut from a house that you only visited twice. Just make the most out of who you have and try to enjoy it. Skit Days were the most fun to me and they are really the days where the sorority members start trying to impress you instead of you impressing them. At this point, if you go to skit day, we definitely like you--that doesn't mean you'll get a bid or even get invited to pref but we are more serious about you.

Pref: There is something called quota (which is equal to the number of girls accepting at least one invitation to the first or second round of invitational events divided by the number of chapters)& that is how we get our pledge class. Quota is usually a little bit over 100 or close to that & so when we go through our bid list, we want to get our top 100 girls, but not all of those top girls want us so people move up until the list is full. When you maximize your options, you are eligible to be a quota addition which means that even if you don't make it into the bid list of any sorority that you pref, you will be placed in your top choice house because you maximized your options. I know this is really confusing, but don't worry about it. Just maximize your options & you are guaranteed a bid. Second scenario, so if you really just dislike one of the houses that you pref & you cannot see yourself at the house AT ALL (like they are rude to you or for whatever reason), you can choose to leave a house off your card. I personally would not do this because then you can receive no bid at all, but if you would rather not be in a sorority than be in a certain one, then do not put them down just to drop after bid day because you will take a bid away from a girl who would want it. Personally, i can't see any reason why you would just absolutely dislike being in any sorority at UA unless you are just really concerned about popularity and that is the only reason you're joining.

BID DAY: Bid day is by far one of the most exciting days of your life!! The stress of rush week will be worth it when bid day rolls around! You will wear shorts (J. Crew chino are really popular) and a tank top because when you get to your sorority house you will be given a jersey with your letters on it to wear for pictures and stuff. You will meet your rho chi group in the stadium and find the manilla envelope with your name on. You can't open it until they count down and everyone opens it all at once. There's a huge scream from the stadium as people open their cards and see their new sorority inside and you meet with the rho chis that are in your sorority and your new pledge class at the bottom of the stadium and you carry your big wooden letters and run to your new house where all the actives are waiting for you. There will be a girl waiting for you with a sign with your name on it and a bag full of goodies for you! More than likely this girl will be the girl who preffed you or someone you talked to during recruitment and she will be your Bid day (temporary) big. You put on your jersey, take pictures with the whole house and your pledge class, and have lunch at the house! Afterwards you will go on your pledge retreat with your new sisters! It's a really exciting time, enjoy it!

What will we do with all of our stuff (bag, greek chic etc) when we Go into the sororities?

Rho Chi will tell you to leave them outside. You can't take anything inside or outside the houses. That includes bags, purses, cellphones, food, water bottles, etc.

You're welcome! I just know it can be overwhelming if you don't know what's going on

Like.Like.Like!

And a tampon or two if it's that time -- if not for you, for someone else who might need it.

I second that! Pan love!