Rushing as a Sophomore Advice

I am going to be going through sorority recruitment when I return to school. I am very excited, but also pretty nervous because I know that preference goes to freshmen. I go to a northern college where sorority recruitment isn’t the biggest deal on campus, but it is still competitive. I was about to rush as a freshman last year, but I couldn’t rush because my GPA was below the requirement to just sign up, but my GPA is way above the requirement right now. My question is, if I am asked why I am rushing as a sophomore, would a better response be either “I was about to rush last year, but I had to improve my grades, which I motivated myself to do so” or “I needed more time to readjust to this large campus that is 8 hours from my home”. Thank you and please only post constructive or positive advice!

How about saying you realized you were missing out and wanted to be part of sorority life, and you wanted to bring up your GPA?