The 21 Ways to Survive 21 Party

You just got back from Thanksgiving break and have roughly three weeks left of the semester, so what is everyone talking about?

Holiday presents? Nope. Finals? Try again. Sorority recruitment? Wait… what?

Sorry sorority girls and future PNM’s*, but you heard correctly. Unlike most universities, sorority recruitment at IU begins this Saturday to Sunday with the first official round of rush, 21 Party. Recruitment can be a scary time for many freshmen and even some sophomores on campus and HCIU is here to help. So before you max out your credit cards on Lilly Pulitzer dresses, we present to you the 21 ways to survive 21 Party!

1. Get your homework done now. If you haven’t already, make sure to get all of your work done before Saturday. You do not want to have to worry about it on Sunday night.
2. Eat Breakfast. Before you leave to go to your houses, make sure to eat something for breakfast. Even if you aren’t a breakfast person, you should make sure to eat to have energy for the afternoon.
3. Dress for the weather. While you may think that you won’t be cold, your thoughts can change when the sun goes down and you are still waiting in line outside of a house. Make sure to wear warm socks, boots, and a comfortable jacket. Remember that it is hard to talk to girls if your teeth are still chattering when they greet you at the door!
4. Bring snacks. Make sure to throw a few granola bars in your bag before you leave in case you get hungry. You want to be focusing on each house, not your tummy rumbling.
5. Mints and Tissues. Throw some mints and tissues in your bag also, in case you need one in between rounds. Avoid gum because you’ll probably want to spit it out anyway before you go into a house.
6. Make sure to check in! At each house, there will be Rho Gammas there to call out everyone in your walk-around group’s name and make sure you are all there. Pay attention when they are calling out names so you don’t get marked absent.
7. Don’t forget your cards. When you first walk into a house, it can be overwhelming. Make sure to have your cards with your information and picture on it, ready to go, before you walk in the house.
8. You can go to the bathroom! If you have to go to the bathroom, make sure to tell a Rho Gamma before the round starts and they will show you where to go. 
9. Keep your energy up. As the day goes on, you want to make sure you are keeping your energy up. While everyone is tired, you want to make the same impression on your last house as you did for your first.
10. Eat lunch. Along with bringing snacks, make sure to eat enough for lunch during the break. Even if you don’t feel hungry, you need to eat something to keep your energy up for the rest of the day. The c-store and gresh will be extremely crowded, so try to stock up your fridge the day before so you don’t have to worry about waiting in lines.
11. Do not nap during the break. Taking, what you assume, will be a 20-minute nap can seem like a good idea. However, you should not take the chance of feeling groggy when you wake up or even worse, oversleeping and missing the rest of your houses.
12. Charge your phone. It seems obvious, but make sure your phone is fully charged before you leave your dorm. You’ll want it to use when you are waiting in line at each house. Play a game of temple run or browse some Instagram pictures to ease your nerves and kill some time!
13. Try not to talk about houses to your friends. 21 party is about you and the houses that you like.
14. Talk to your Rho Gamma! While your friends can have a variety of opinions about every house, your Rho Gamma is the perfect outlet to talk about the houses you liked and did not like.
15. Stay with your group. For 21 Party, as long as you stay with your walk-around group, you will be guaranteed to get to every house on time.
16. Be social! Don’t be afraid to talk to the girls in your walk-around group. Everyone is going through it together and you might just make a new friend.
17. Write it down! After every house, try to write down what you may have liked or did not like, and even something you talked about there. While it may not seem important now, those little notes can really help you later in the recruitment process.
18. Take care of yourself. Many girls tend to lose their voices or have sore throats during this round of rush because you are talking to so many girls. Try to buy some throat lozenges’ and green tea from the c-store, just in case!
19. Stay positive. If you didn’t have a great experience at one house, try not to let it bother you… Rush is only beginning!
20. Get a good night’s sleep. Saturday night you should try to go to bed early so you have energy on Sunday.
21. Have fun!

*PNM = Potential New Member