Dartmouth College is famous for many different reasons – its academics, the beautiful campus and the surrounding nature and our Greek Life. The majority of undergraduates at Dartmouth College are involved in Greek Life. Sorority Rush can be intimidating at first, because it is something that simply does not exist at High School – but worry not!
You cannot rush until your Sophomore Year, which gives you time to first explore other social spaces during your Freshman Year. The rush process starts at the beginning of your Sophomore Fall and is about two weeks long. If you are not on in the Fall, there is the option to rush in the Winter. The process involves several rounds and there are Rho Chis assigned to every PNM (Potential New Member) that will help and guide you through this process. She is the going to be the one that you can address all your questions to.
Round 1
You will have to visit all sorority houses for at least 30 minutes and at most 90 minutes. Depending on how many houses participate in the rush process this is usually about seven or eight chapters. Some houses choose to do other processes such as shake-outs. That process is one week long. Every day, different houses have “Parties”, which gives you the opportunity to plan the process around your own schedule. Just be mindful that you do not try to cram all houses into the last few days! Even if you are sure that you do not want to be in one specific house, you still have to go to that house. This round is basically just small talk, where you get to talk about what you are involved in on campus and get a feel for what the different houses are like.
After you visit all the houses, you then have to list your preferences. Basically, you list your top four choices in no particular order and your bottom three choices in descending order. (Ex: 1, 1, 1, 1, 5, 6, 7). Each house then has a different method of deciding which PNMs they want to see in the next round.
Round 2
After Round 1, you can get called back to a maximum of four houses. You then go to all the houses you got called back to for at least 60 minutes and at most 90 minutes. This time, there are less PNMs in each house. This really gives you the opportunity to ask questions about what it is like to be in that specific house.
After Round 2, you list your top two choices in no particular order and your bottom two choices in descending order – assuming you got called back to four houses. (Ex: 1, 1, 3, 4)
Once again, houses decide which PNMs too invite back.
Pref Night
You can get called back to a maximum of two houses. This time, it is not an open house event, but you get told when to go to the specific houses and the houses will try to match you up with a sister in each house that you have previously talked to (depending on how many sisters and PNMs there are).
In this round, the house basically wants to convince you to list them as your number one choice, so the sister just tells you about all the amazing events the house does!
After Pref Night, it gets a bit complicated.
If you have been called back to two houses, you have several options
Option1: You can list the two houses in your preferred order. If you do this, you are guaranteed a bid in one of the two houses.
Option 2: You can also do “suicide rush”, where you only list one of the two houses. If you do this, you are not guaranteed a bid in one of the houses. This is an option if you do not think you would be a good fit for one of the houses.
If you have been called back to one house only, then you can either list the house or not list the house. You are guaranteed a bid if you list this one house.
The sororities then discuss by themselves again. In this round, it is also quite important to be very vocal about your choices! Tell the house openly what you are thinking. It is better for them to know if you can see yourself at the house or not, because that will make it more likely that you will get a bid from the house you feel is a better fit.
Getting a Bid and Bid Night
One or two days later, you can then get your bid. It is actually quite funny, because all the PNMs get an email saying that bids are out. All of them will then go to “Collis Center” (our center for student life) to see if they got a bid. If you get a bid, you get a letter with an invitation to join the sorority.
During Bid Night, you get to meet your new sisters and introduce yourself to everyone!
My overall tip is to be yourself because you want to be in a house that likes you for you!