These are the answers to questions submitted anonymously via this form concerning sorority rush 2015! The original article containing 10 tips for Sewanee rush may already answer some questions you have, so make sure you check that out too! P.S. keep in mind that these are unofficial and informal, answered by the Her Campus Sewanee team, not the University or the official Greek Life leadership. We’re just trying to keep it real!
1. I’ve heard that each sorority gives their new pledges their letters to wear on shake day, but I’ve noticed other sororities dress up their pledges in crazy outfits. What should we wear depending on the bid we get?
Well, each sorority is different. Most of them do give the pledges t-shirts with their letters on them to wear as soon as they get to the house on Shake Day, but as far as the crazy outfits go, pledges usually just come to the house dressed crazy anyways and fun accessories are added by the actives. Because Shake Day is just generally known to be one of the most absurd days of the year, it’s a good idea for freshmen to go ahead and pick out a crazy outfit of their own (try heading down to the Goodwill in Spittsburg or the army supply store in Monteagle). Your shakers will likely have some fun accessories for you, like crazy glasses or necklaces and such, to give you as soon as you run onto the lawn of your house. Regardless of what you pledge, I’d suggest an outfit including, but not limited to, an oversized t-shirt, leggings, overalls, a combat suit, a baseball cap, bean and/or rain boots, and a jacket…none of which you’d mind getting completely ruined. ‘
2. Is there a page for frat rush?
Considering none of the Her Campus team members have been through frat rush, only srat rush (although we are always looking for male writers – if you’re interested, apply here!), there’s no page for frat rush because we don’t feel like we could accurately answer questions about something we’ve never been through.
3. Roughly how big are the pledge classes normally?
Usually around 20 girls for the larger srats, between 10-15 for the smaller ones.
4. What should we wear for rush? I know it’ll be really cold.
Check out the original article for what to wear for rush, but I may as well go ahead and elaborate a little. You’ll definitely want to layer – it will be cold when you’re walking from house to house, but warm when you get inside, so make sure you wear something cute underneath your coats and scarves! I would suggest a dress with tights and cute boots, or jeans and a cute top and boots. Check out this recent article from our writer Tariro on good tips for layering! And p.s. — a statement piece is always a good idea!
5. So, is there really time for a sorority if you are taking a full load and want to keep your grades up, participate on varsity sports team, have work study commitments and want a little down time?
Please tell me what the typical time requirements are for a new recruit!
I think there is absolutely time to be in a sorority and still do all of those things. I know several girls who do all (and more) of the above and still are able to come to functions and events! Since most of our events are at night, like formals and such, those typically don’t interfere with classes or sports practices. Occasionally girls on sports teams won’t be able to drink at formals or will have to go out of town for formals. To be honest, for most girls, their sorority isn’t their number one priority – grades, teams, and/or work studies are our primary commitments, and our sorority is something we do for fun on the side! I don’t know if there is a typical time “requirement”, since going to srat events aren’t really “required”, but as a pledge you should expect to have at least 2-3 hours/week of srat stuff to do.
6. You said you can wear jeans and a cute top or a dress and tights, but is there any specific time we have to wear a dress and heels? What are we supposed to wear to pref night?
I mean honestly you can wear whatever whenever, but if I’m being honest, I would save your cutest/best outfit for pref night (i.e. the night you go back to the top 4 sororities of your choice). Wear something comfy-cute, like jeans and a cute top and comfy boots, for Skit Day—the first official day of rush, the day you’ll be walking around for 8 hours going to every sorority house and watching their skits and having to make small talk with hundreds of girls. For pref day, the day you’ll go back to the top 4 sororities of your choice, pull out all the stops. Wear something super cute and noticeable, like a dress and tights or jeans and a top and a statement piece. That’s really when you’re going to want to make an impression.
7. What are the benefits of rushing a local sorority?
It’s defintely an experience that’s totally unique to Sewanee! But, there are benefits to joining both local and national, so it’s a really great idea to talk to actives in both types of sororities to see which type is the best fit for you.
8. How many houses do you return to? Do they have to invite you back or do you just choose to go?
You have to return to at least four houses. No, they do not invite you, you decide which ones you like best after Skit Day (the first day of rush, when each sorority tries to woo and impress you).
9. What was the most surprising part of rush to you?
Skit day. Nothing will prepare you for the chaos of skit day. Each sorority performs different skits—some of them are eh, some of them make you want to run out of the house immediately, some of them will make you very very uncomfortable, but all of them will be very entertaining, unexpected, and will give you a pretty good idea of what the srat is like!
10. Do we have assigned groups that we walk from house to house with or do we just go with our friends? I’m kind of confused by the whole structure of it.
Yep, you’re assigned into groups alphabetically. Depending on the size of the rushing class, you’ll probably be in a group with about 10-15 girls, maybe 20. You’ll have a Rho Chi, which is a girl currently an active in a srat, who will be in charge of your group for the day and will lead you around to the houses. You won’t know what srat your Rho Chi is in.
11. How do you let a sorority know you want to join without seeming too desperate?
It’s super important to let a srat know that you want them. If you’re 100% set on a srat and you know it’s the one for you, make sure that srat knows they’re your number one pref. If you’re close to a few of the actives in that srat, let them know before formal rush start that you want them. Text them, Facebook message them, tell them at lunch, however you can let them know. I mean, think about it, it’s common sense—srats want girls who want to be in that srat. If you’re not particularly close to any of the actives, just be bold and Facebook message an active you’ve run into a few times at a party or rush event before, and tell them! It might be awkward for you, but it will work out in your favor during bid sessions, trust me. In terms of being desperate, I don’t think you should worry about that—unless, of course, you’ve told the same actives eighteen million times how much you want their bid. They’ll get it after the first time you tell them! Pro tip: It can sound a little desperate if you’re going around during formal rush week talking about oh my God how much you want a bid from this so-and-so! If you’re talking about it incessantly, everywhere, there’s a good chance it can be overheard by an active or two, and that can seem borderline desperate.
12. What happens in a bid session?
After pref night—which is the night you’ll go back to the four top houses of your choose—sororities will go into a room and choose to whom they would like to extend bids. Every srat is different. Some pull up pictures of girls they had taken when the girl entered the house that night (purely for face recognition purposes—there are so many names!) to jog memories, some will pull up Facebook pictures. Actives will have the opportunity to “pro” a girl they want to be in their sorority. A pro can be anything from, “she’s been to a bunch of our rush events, and she seems really cool!” to “she told me before rush we’re her number one pref!” or a range of other compliments or nice things actives have to say about potential pledges. There’s no “conning” during bid sessions—saying mean things about girls in order to keep them out of the srat. It’s strictly positive! (And super long by the way—bid sessions have been known to go into the wee hours of the morning. Ugh.)
13. How can I make conversation with the girls at formal house? What are the formal house visits like? Is someone assigned to talk to us?
Check out these tips (esp #2) from a previous article about how to hold a conversation at formal house! As for your second question, formal house visits typically follow one of two patterns: a) the rush groups are chauffeured into the srat house or other location the srat has chosen for formal visits, 15 minutes of small talk and meet-and-greet ensue, and then a 15-minute skit is performed by the sorority; or b) the same thing, just reversed. As for your third question, no, no one is assigned to talk to you, which is why you have to be bold and confident and introduce yourself to people!
14. Are rush groups done alphabetically or by dorm?
Alphabetically!
15. Do pledges go through any sort of initiation?
I’m not sure exactly what you mean by that question, but I’ll do my best. New members spend the majority of spring semester being taught the traditions and histories that are unique to their sororities. There are two actives who have been elected by the sorority to serve as New Member Educators, and they are the ones primarly responsible for “initiating” the new members into the organization. This involves everything from teaching the new members chants or songs specific to their srat, to familiarizing the new members with the rest of the actives by organizing social events in which the actives and new members can get to know each other better. Some sororites have specific events that mark the formal “initiation” into the sorority — for example, one srat has a pinning ceremony, in which they give their new members the official pin of the sorority which symbolizes her full initiation into the sisterhood, while another sorority gathers at a special spot on campus and has each girl sign her name in a book filled with the signatures of every girl that had been in that sorority since it was founded. So, in a sense, yes, new members go through an initiation: a positive one in which the pledge class can bond with both their fellow pledges and their future sisters while learning about how special their sorority is.
16. Is there any method to return house? Stay at the one or two sororoties you are definitely preffing your top 2 the longest. Actives definitely notice the girls who sign in, stay around for a minute or two, and then leave. On the flip side, actives definitely notice girls who stay for long periods of time and make an effort to introduce themselves to as many actives as possible. So I guess the method is to pay the most attention to the srat(s) you want most!