There are many reasons girls rush as second year students– maybe they missed rush freshman year or didn’t want to, are transfer students, or found that they wanted to meet more people or join their friends’ sorority. It may be daunting to join a sorority as an upperclassman, but I have found that there are benefits to giving rush a second chance. As a freshman in college, it is difficult to know what you want out of a sorority as well as out of your friends. That extra year may help girls who are unsure of where they want to be. For any girls who may have dropped out of rush or are devastated that their future as a sorority member is over, here is some advice – it’s not. Even though rush has been over for several months (or for some of you, more than a semester), here are some reasons why you should move forward from the aftermath of rush with an open mind.
When faced with a crowd of freshman jockeying for spots, the whole situation can seem rather intimidating. It is easy to feel like you will be forgotten, but I found that rushing as a sophomore did nothing to deter my enjoyment of the process. In fact, it made it more enjoyable. I knew girls in many of the houses, and knowing people outside of the recruitment environment gave me an even better sense of what each house had to offer.
Rushing as a second year is also less stressful because you are already a year older (and maybe wiser). Even though I was a transfer, I had been in college for over a year and I knew that sorority life wasn’t the be all end all. I had already undergone a substantial part of my college experience being unaffiliated, and still had fun and made friends. This knowledge that everything would be OK made my interactions at each house less tense. I was able to go through rush in a relaxed way because I enjoyed my conversations rather than stressing.
It is never too late for a second chance, and rushing is no exception. If you are brokenhearted that you didn’t end up in the house you wanted, you will be a different person in a year. Sororities can bring you a ton– friendship, fun, and community– but you can find that outside of sorority life, too. In fact, not being in a Greek organization should be an incentive to try new things and meet new people. It is worse to be in a sorority that isn’t a good fit than to not be in one at all– think of the dues. These things should be about the people you enjoy being with, and so your sorority should be worth it in every way. If it didn’t work out this time, that’s OK. It’s not something to be ashamed about because rush is an incredibly stressful and dense process. Just know that it’s acceptable to rush again, and you may end up in the right spot the second time around because you will know yourself so much better.