Anyones DD going thru recruitment aka RUSH? ***UPDATE***

My niece just went through RUSH last week at University of Texas. It was so stressful for her, her mom and our entire family!

Good luck to your daughter!

How is your niece going through rush week stressful for the entire family?

Not me (since we have neither a girl nor college age child), but a friend's daughter indicated that she was enjoying the rush process. What college does your daughter attend? Hope she has a great year!

I never went to college, so please excuse my questions. Can someone please explain the whole "rush" thing and why it is a good thing for kids or not in college. Thank you.

So much what now?

I don't have the best memories of rush time, but I wouldn't change being part of a sorority - those are the people I still stay in touch with from college. It is not necessarily a southern thing - I went to school in Indiana, my mother, grandmothers, aunts all went to school in the north and were part of sororities.

where I went to school, sororities and fraternities provided the majority of the upper class housing on campus, and most students pledged a greek house. It is moving away from that now, but I have good memories of being part of the house.

My daughter went to a school that didn't have sororities, and I am glad she didn't have to go through that, but would have supported her if she had. I hope all that are going through rush have a good time, and get bids from the houses they want!

Sororities are NOT a southern thing. They are involved in colleges all over he country .

Not having been in one, they do provide a sisterhood of girls that support each other, socialize and even do public service projects together. I couldn't afford a sorority, (other than academic) so unsettled on being a little sister in a fraternity. 40+ years after college, many of those guys are still close friends

Studies have shown that girls in sororities have a high GPA than the general population. A few benefits are they teach leadership skills, philanthropy and life-long friendships. Can people get those things without belonging? Sure. For me, when my parents moved 1000 miles away at the beginning of my sophomore year it meant I still had *family* to count on. I wouldn't trade those 4 years for anything.

My dd rushed last year and is in the thick of the process this year. She joined a soriety for friendship. For her it made meeting people much easier, she instantly had 60+ women who truly wanted to know her. She has thrived in the Greek life setting. She is AOII.

Before she joined, I always thought that only rich snotty girls joined soroities. I could not have been more wrong. The girls I have met are so not rich nor snotty. They are some of the nicest, intelligent and independent girls I have ever met.

This year she is living in the house as the house RA. Greek house is "owned" by housing at her school. So far she is enjoying it.

I went to a smaller northeastern engineering and science based university with a heavy male to female ration. It was something like 5 men: 1 women at the time. I joined for female companionship in a world of testosterone. We did not have the sort of formal rush like you see on larger campuses. I suspect most people knew very quickly which of the 3 sororities they would fit into. Mine was probably the more boring, down to earth, somewhat geeky one! Then again, all the sororities at the school were likely more geeky than at any other school!

I was part of the Panhel and did go to national Panhellenic and IFC conferences where I met Greeks from colleges around the country with very different experiences. It was eye opening to hear about other campuses with rush like the OP described and even more eye opening to visit the houses on some of those campuses!

Two of our nieces joined sororities, and they said they are very, very expensive. The younger one is a senior this year, but had to go alum because she is pregnant. Oddly enough, her fraternity member boyfriend did not have to go alum for impregnating her. Interesting double standard.

I'm not tearing it down at all. I was just wondering what was the purpose these days? It doesn't seem to be the rich snotty girls anymore, but it's very expensive to join? so to ME that sort of rules out students with less money, correct? The benefits of having a sisterhood, volunteering, etc etc. can be met in so many different ways now these days. I think when sororities were 1st developed, those needs were not met. My dd's never joined ones in college. One dd was....what's the word, when they ask you to join? but she declined. She gets all those advantages thru other clubs on campus, volunteering, etc, all without paying a lot.

If it's a big deal for your family, and carrying on a tradition, that is nice. But I sort of feel bad for if the girl doesn't get in like you mentioned OR they really can't afford it.

My dd has had a wonderful experience in a sorority. And, they're not necessarily "very, very expensive". My dd's isn't. She told me that the more expensive ones are usually those sororities that maintain a house. But dd's school doesn't have sorority houses so dues are just based on how many girls are in it. So for first semester the dues are a bit more because the new girls don't enter until January. Second semester dues will be less because the total is divided up among more girls. Dd paid $400-something for this semester. 

My dd has learned that she can be a leader, and in fact she has taken on several leadership roles. Her university is not huge -- about 5,000 students -- and has a very strong pan-hellenic group. She lives in an apartment with three other girls and all four of them are in different sororities. They joke that their apartment should be the poster children for the Pan-Hellenic Council. lol. Dd has had leadership positions in her own sorority, and in the pan-hellenic groups. She has worked with several charities for the sorority's philanthropy. She has gone from a somewhat timid freshman to a strong young woman who's beginning her senior year. And as others have said, she now has a network of sisters across the country. She has a job this semester working in the Greek Life office, where she'll be supervising other students. Good training for the "real world". 

I look at a sorority as women looking after other women. It's the group of female friends that every woman needs (in my opinion anyway). Can someone find that without being in a sorority? of course. But if joining a sorority is what a girl wants to do then I say go for it. I always had the old stereotype of sorority girls -- stuck up, rich, just at school for their M.R.S. degree, etc. But I was certainly mistaken about that.



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