Let me start off with this fact: I never thought I would rush a sorority. In fact, as a child I believed the stereotypes about Greek life — television portrayed fraternity brothers as rude and sorority sisters were vapid and mindless. These stereotypes were completely unwarranted, but since they were all I would see, I believed them. It was not until I came to BU that I understood just how wrong I was.
I honestly rushed on a little bit of a whim. I didn’t know if sorority life was for me, so I continuously looked up the pros and cons of being in a sorority, and also Greek life at BU. The lack of importance of Greek life at BU was one of the reasons I wanted to attend — even though I rushed, I still didn’t want to spend all my time focusing on my sorority. At BU, Greek life seemed chill — it wasn’t necessary to be in it, but it was there if you wanted to explore the option. For me, I knew nothing aside from the stereotypes, but I promised myself that I would try unexpected things in college. Therefore, I signed up for recruitment and anxiously awaited the long weekend.
The anxiety of sorority recruitment is unique. I can be an incredibly nervous person, as I tend to overanalyze actions of others. I went into sorority rush with a smile pasted on my face and nerves that shook my entire body. Fear played tricks on my thoughts, telling me I was to be dropped from every single sorority. However, after the first day, my nerves had calmed slightly. I found some of my conversations with girls to be amazing, and some as being just pleasant. But no conversation had gone badly, leaving me in a much better mindset than before recruitment.
However, just because I was in a better mindset about rush did not mean that my nerves completely went away. Though my Pi Chi’s (essentially group counselors) and my friends were abundantly helpful in dealing with the stress, it was hard to remain cool, calm, and collected at all times — even with the phrase, “Trust the process,” following me around. Every day, I would hear about girls dropping recruitment, and though I went in with an open mind, I couldn’t help but wonder if that would end up being me.
Sorority recruitment is really interesting because it can be hard to remember that getting “cut” from a sorority isn’t personal most of the time — the cuts are arbitrary, and it doesn’t mean that particular sorority holds anything against you. During the stressful weekend of rush, it can be hard to remember that, since you immediately question everything you said or did in a sorority that might have gotten you cut. The truth is, there probably wasn’t a big reason, and you shouldn’t let it hurt your self-esteem. You will end up exactly where you need to be.