Before you roll your eyes and dismiss this as another non-sorority girl hating on Greek life – don’t. I love the idea of sororities and to be honest, I loved Rush Week. As hot and exhausting as it was, I made good friends and gained major experience with small talk and interviews. I even learned that coffee filters can be used as oil blotting wipes (who would have thought, right?). So why did I walk away from Rush Week, homeless? Here’s where I think I went wrong.
1) Preconceived Ideas
Going into rush, I had asked everyone I knew about the reputations of each sorority: this was a bad idea. I had preconceived ideas about every house I walked into. It was so hard to focus on making a connection with the girl sitting in front of me when instead I was boxing her into the stereotype I had set for the whole sorority.
2) Love at First Sight
I think every little girl grows up believing in love at first sight. But the day I met my first love I thought, “Ew, not my type.” Love at first sight- it’s just never happened for me. So why did I think that it would happen during Rush Week? I guess I imagined I would walk into a house and feel warmth, or butterflies, or some sense of ecstatic joy. I thought I would sit down and talk with a girl and instantly know, “This is my future Big!” But it didn’t happen that way. I saw beautiful houses and met amazing girls – girls I could definitely see as potential best friends. But I had put so much stress on having to feel a certain way that when I didn’t, I felt empty instead.
3) Commitment Issues
To me, being initiated into a sorority is a lot like getting married. Rush Week is when you date around, then you accept your bid and you’re engaged, and initiation is when you officially tie the knot. With this in mind, the part of me that can’t even commit to a nail polish color panicked. I had only just briefly met these girls – how was I supposed to accept a marriage proposal?! I went back and forth between multiple houses trying to imagine myself in them. I thought about how each choice could radically change my life – different memories, different friends and different bridesmaids – a different “husband!” And when you put that much pressure on one decision, you start to lose your mind.
When I woke up on Bid Day, I had a pit in my stomach. I knew that’s not how I was supposed to feel. I was handed a bid card from the house I had chosen and still, the sense of dread didn’t go away. It wasn’t fun putting so much energy and thought into a decision, and then walking away from it. But choosing to go GDI has given me the time to put away preconceived ideas and form my own opinions. I’m enjoying exploring college life independent of a sorority and I’m looking forward to another sweaty, exhausting, coffee filter-filled rush week next year. And hopefully, it’s a more successful one.