<p>I am trying to decide if I want to rush and I have a few questions I would love to get answered!
1. How much alcohol is going to be involved in recruitment and then the new member period this year? (I know about the new rules but is that what will really happen...)</p>
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<li><p>Is it alright to not be completely into clothes and makeup? I love getting dressed up but not everyday...</p></li>
<li><p>Are you guaranteed a bid if you go through formal recruitment? </p></li>
<li><p>What are the houses like? Are they nice places to live? What are the bedrooms like? How long do you live in them? </p></li>
<li><p>What is the food like at the sororities? Do they have their own chefs? </p></li>
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<p>Thanks so much! I would love any advice you can give me. I have been so busy my first semester that I feel like I am going into this process with so little information.</p>
<p>I’m a guy so obviously not in a sorority but dating someone who is:</p>
<p>1) In terms of rush week alcohol use, expect it to be virtually zero. Girls do go out some nights of the week but now that frats cant have alcohol at events probably will be very little drinking. As for the semester you’ll be going to mixers which will have alcohol at them so feel free to drink as much or little as you want.</p>
<p>2) Some sororities are more catty about this. Expect to ‘follow’ some dumb rules for when you are doing rushing and in general they want you to look respectable when you’re wearing your letters around campus.</p>
<p>3) I don’t believe this is the case, but I could be wrong. A new sorority was added this year and in general most girls who go through the process will get into a house. </p>
<p>4) The ones I’ve been in are very well kept (X1000 times cleaner than a frat house) and most have people who clean the house on a regular basis. You generally live in your sophomore year (although some who rush as sophomores live in junior year). Just be very skeptical of the ‘room tour’ day of rush week as they often only show the best rooms and load them up with everyone’s collective expensive stuff. Though in general the rooms are nice and very livable.</p>
<p>5) I haven’t heard any girl ever complain about having a bad chef (I believe every house has one) and have actually heard a lot of people rave about the food. Though expect a lot of ‘healthier’ options as girls will complain if the chef puts out unhealthy food.</p>
<p>I am in a sorority. I am abroad this semester, however, so I can’t account for how any of the new rules are going to affect rush–I don’t think they’ll affect sorority rush as much as fraternity rush anyway though. </p>
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<li><p>Absolutely NO alcohol is ever involved in rush/recruitment/whatever they make you call it. at all. The whole process, unlike with frats, is extremely controlled by PanHel and thus very strict and coordinated. As for New Member Period, that varies between sororities. Before the new rules you had a mixer every day (except one day off!) for the first month, basically. But I know that mine adhered very strictly to the rules last year, and held dry events (snowball fights+hot chocolate, dinner parties) with frats for the first three weeks. I do know some sororities did sneak their pledges alcohol. Not sure how it’ll work this year, but for mine and most other sororities, drinking is obviously a big part of greek life but never required/mandated. I know several girls in greek life who prefer not to drink or don’t drink at all but still go to mixers and have fun. </p></li>
<li><p>Yes. Being a fashion major, I kind of am by nature, but plenty of girls aren’t. Honestly though, it’s probably best to get dressed up for rush, as much as they try to deny it, especially the first few days you’re having three minute conversations and people by nature tend to take into account whether you look polished/presentable when they’re trying to judge you, which is basically what rush is. think about it like an interview? if you have an AMAZING personality obviously thats going to stand out more, but most people can’t really convey their personality well enough in those initial rounds to make up for wearing sweatpants. </p></li>
<li><p>No (like 90% sure, but not completely). However, the system (though really quite faulty in some ways) tries its best to match up everything. The quota for sororities is adjusted based on how many girls are rushing each year. But while you aren’t guaranteed a bid, I’m pretty sure that if you get to final round you are guaranteed a bid from one of the ones you go to (again, don’t hold me to that, but I think that’s how it works). </p></li>
<li><p>The majority of the houses are beautiful. In fact, if I had to pick the worst physical house it would have been KD but they just got it renovated and I was there over the summer so I saw it happen–and now it looks absolutely fantastic! The houses are all very different but most are really nice, from what I’ve seen. I agree with the person above who said they’re 1000x better than frat houses. I would die before living in a frat house, god forbid. I’m going to miss it–it’s so nice having a chef, someone to clean the bathrooms/common spaces, a big living room to hang out in, a tv…it’s pretty great. I think they’re great places to live, and work really well for sophomore year. You usually only live in the house sophomore year, and it’s a great bonding experience for your pledge class so I would definitely recommend living in if you join. The specifics of the houses/bedrooms vary though. </p></li>
<li><p>As far as I know all sororities have their own chefs, or at least most of them. The food would vary based on the chef, but ours was awesome! and it’s great having a kitchen constantly stocked with snacks!</p></li>
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<p>i’d say if you’re considering rushing, just do it. there’s no obligation and you might as well just try it out–I know plenty of people who absolutely hated it and dropped out after two days, but others who weren’t expecting to like it but ended up joining and having a blast. I was one of the latter.</p>
<p>I’m a parent of a boy, and one who is not interested in rushing, but I did hear about a young woman from our community who did sorority rush at Cornell a year or so ago and did not receive a bid – much to her disappointment. I have no idea how often that happens. I know I’ve also been surprised by some of those who ended up joining a fraternity or sorority. Some I thought would do it for sure turned out not to like it, while others who never seemed the type loved it and got in. Ya never know!</p>
<p>Hey, I was wondering if anyone knew anything about sophomores who will be going through the rush process as well. </p>
<p>From what I heard, it seems like sophomores only have a chance at a bid if they have pretty good friends already in the system… which I don’t. :(</p>
<p>Should I take those opinions very seriously and not even bother rushing? Or will sophomores who are relatively unfamiliar to the Greek system still have a pretty decent chance at getting bids?</p>
<p>you can get a bid as a sophomore even if you dont have good friends in a sorority, but it honestly is harder than as a freshman. houses are reluctant to take too many sophomores because they want the pledge class to bond well and its harder when the girls are of different years. they are also wary that current sophomores might already have leases for next year and not want to live in the house, so if you do rush make sure you make a point of how you really want to be part of this and would love to live in the house with the other girls. i always tell people they should just rush and give it a shot because you never know whether you’ll love it or hate it or what might happen.</p>
<p>Hey alamode, thanks so much for your quickly reply. I’d like to ask a couple more questions…</p>
<p>During the first round, should I make it clear that I’m a sophomore or keep quiet about it till they ask? </p>
<p>I didn’t rush in my freshman year due to a legit reason that kept me away during rush week so I’m fine with just being honest… do you think it’ll help my case if I bring it up in conversation with the sisters during the first round?</p>
<p>Also, are there any houses that cut sophomores immediately i.e. they have strict “no-sophomore” rules?</p>
<p>I am a parent, but with a daughter who went through the whole sorority process at Cornell. </p>
<p>Unilovely - There is no point in you hiding the fact that you are a sophomore, every house will have a list of all of the girls who are interested in rushing, and probably would have noted each of them by the time rush starts. I think it would be to your advantage to let people know you are a sophomore, especially if you think you are going to make a good impression, because then they could very quickly spot you on the list when they are deciding who they want to keep on the next round. </p>
<p>Try to keep an open mind about each house, don´t get too caught up with the ranking, make sure you end up at a house with people who you wouldn´t mind living with or be friends with. It was a great experience for my daughter.</p>
<p>i mean you probably shouldn’t randomly say that you’re a sophomore completely out of context but you shouldn’t try to hide it–they already know anyway from when you sign up for rush. if something comes up in conversation, which it probably will like they ask a question that relates to freshman year, then just say that you’re a sophomore and that you wanted to rush last year but couldn’t, etc.
nobody cuts sophomores initially, it doesn’t really come into play until the 2nd/3rd rounds i think. it just that each sorority has about 45 girls, and only about 5 will be sophomores–of course less sophomores rush, but its still harder
Also, are there any houses that cut sophomores immediately i.e. they have strict “no-sophomore” rules?</p>