I'm writing this article a week after bid day and now I am extremely happy and thankful to be where I am. However, these were my thoughts during the process of recruitment.
1. You will be exhausted
After the first round of rush was over, I had never experienced the same level of exhaustion as I did getting in bed the second night. Rush is an extremely physically and mentally draining process which certainly took a toll on me. I am such an insomniac and even I ended up falling asleep at 10:30 after the first round. Walking from house to house and talking to so many different people takes a lot of energy.
2. You will have to manage your time
At my school, rush takes up 2 full weekends of your time. While you are not at houses, you will be sitting around during breaks, unable to go back to your room. Make sure to get as much work done as possible before the weekend because you will be too tired to function when you get back (see number 1).
3. You will talk about the process with your friends
Everyone tells you not to talk about the rush process with your friends because you do not want to influence each other and sway their decisions. However, it is nearly impossible to avoid talking about it with your closest friends especially when you are used to spending so much time together but haven’t been because you were at houses all day long. It is also inevitable that the process will be spoken about, especially at my school, because there was a week in between the different rounds so everyone was extremely stressed and nervous to find out which houses they got back. Talking about the process with your friends is extremely difficult at the same time when you all want similar houses because then the process becomes very competitive.
4. You will get dropped from houses you want think you want
After waiting a week to find out which houses I was asked back to, finding out that I was dropped from ones that my friends and I had talked about wanting (see number 3) was very challenging. I did not understand where the conversation went wrong, and after a week of waiting I was hurt to be dropped from so many. It is hard not to take it personally when you are dropped from a house that you really enjoyed but trust me, you are not alone. The process is terrible and it happens to everyone. Sometimes this will be a blessing in disguise.
5. You will cry a lot (at least if you are me)
Rush was a seriously emotional process for me and it took a long time to come to terms with some of the events that happened. Between finding out what houses I was going back to, how many, having to rank, finding out that the houses my friends were going back to were different than mine and having to make decisions after preference round were just a few of the things that made me cry during this experience. Knowing that I have friends that will stay up with me to let me cry to them over facetime at 1:30 in the morning made me feel like I wasn’t the only person who felt this way.
6. Bid day will be overwhelming
You will automatically be thrown into a huge celebration with people you barely know. Whether or not you are happy with your bid, bid day can be overwhelming. But for people who had a difficult rush experience, this exciting day can turn out to be something not so great. However, going in with an open mind is crucial no matter how you are feeling so that you don’t start off on the wrong foot. This day will be long but it is the start of a brand new chapter.
7. Everything happens for a reason
This is my motto. Despite how difficult I found rush to be, I am already starting to form a bond with girls in my pledge class. While I may not have known that my sorority was for me the second rush began, I am learning how happy I am. I can genuinely be myself around these girls and am looking forward to everything that being involved in a sorority has in store. I didn’t see it at first but now I know that I have found my home. Thank you to those who saw something in me and have given me the opportunity to meet my sisters and learn a whole lot about myself.
Thank you to everyone who let me vent about this process and helped me see that I am in the best place for me. I can't wait to continue to get to know my new sisters and experience the new member process. With any change there is bound to be stress but I am truly learning that as much as "the process" is terrible to go through, it put me in the right place.
