As summer comes to a close, Rush season is once again upon us. For all you non-Greeks, Rush is a period of recruitment for sororities where potential new members meet with different houses to hopefully find their perfect match. Although Rush is a beloved tradition, be ready for some bizarre events.
1. Meeting hundreds of people
Going into Rush, prepare to meet dozens upon dozens of people. You will never remember all of their names, and you have to fight to make yourself known among a sea of Lily Pulitzer. You’ll talk to hundreds of active members, but neither of you really care about each other’s majors or hometowns. And with some members dressing identically, you may not even remember who you spent 10 minutes talking to. Whoops!
2. Dressing up nicely
Look, we get it. Rush is a massive event and may determine how one spends their next four years at university. It is important to make a good impression! So be prepared to sweat through your spanx and expensive dress, all while trying to impress the active talking to you. But let’s not kid ourselves, you’ll be wearing yoga pants for your entire college career. Honestly, they will never see you dress this nice ever again, so let’s not start lying to each other now!
“If I added sweatpants to this ensemble would it still be business casual?”
3. Artificial actives
Every active member you talk to is going to be aggressively cheerful, no matter what (if they aren’t, the recruitment chair will send them to kitchen duty and you won’t see them until Rush is over). They are forced to act happy by the officers even though they have probably been working since dawn and have talked to thousands of other girls in the ridiculous heat. So while they’re fake joy may be a little overwhelming, cut these people a break! They’re working long and hard for you.
4. All the singing
If you’ve never experienced Rush before, be prepared to listen to hours upon hours of members singings their sorority house songs to you. Whether it be to welcome you to an event or pump up the potential new members, the members never stop singing the same boring songs. And while you may be sick of it, imagine how the actives feel! Songs are taken way too seriously, and members may have to attend workshops on trivial song matters, like how to snap during the songs or how big to smile. The actives are sick of it, you’re sick of it, but you still suffer through it for some reason (even if it makes your ears bleed).
5. The conversations
The people you talk to may potentially be your new sisters, but the first conversations in the house are always super uncomfortable. The people you are talking to are paired specifically with you based on your interests. So while it may seem exciting at first that they also did the same sport as you in high school, after awhile it just seems creepy. After a few minutes, you may notice that maybe the person you’re talking to is maybe feigning some of their enthusiasm at your enthralling life story.
“No please, tell me more about yearbook club.”
Although Rush can be a painful and awkward process, it ultimately leads to larger sisterhoods and changed lives. We suffer through Rush to find our family, and in the end, it is always worth it. Have fun during the wildest week of college!
Photo Courtesy of PhotoStock, Vladmir Pustovit, and Linzi Clark.
