I love TCU, but it seems that going greek is a must-do in order to have a social life. Is that true?
The entire process before, during, and after rush also seems intense. I’ve heard you need rec. letters for each house you rush and that there are events constantly you have to attend. If anyone could give insight into this process, without sugar-coating it. that would be great. Also, honest reputations of the sororities would be super helpful.
Can you rush after the initial rush period before the start of freshman year? I’m from out of town and without knowing anything about each sorority I don’t want to end up in a house full of people who don’t share my same values and morals.
Mind you, I am a parent of a sorority member. My opinion and assessment is from that perspective. Greek is pretty important unless you are involved in other established groups such as athletics, performing arts, religion, where you can establish relationships/friendships. That’s because so many girls are in sororities that’s where their time is consumed.
You have to go through the rush process the weeks before you start your freshman year, and, there is a less formal process the 2nd semester of freshman year for girls who didn’t get into the house they wanted or dropped out of the process or didn’t go through the first semester. I THINK there is a small group that go through as sophomores, too. That group is much smaller and I am not sure how many house bring girls on at those times/year.
It all depends upon what house you want to get in on whether you need letters of rec. If you really want a particular sorority, you should get as many letters as possible for THAT one but that doesn’t mean it will be a guarantee.
The process – from a non-sorority mother’s opinion from CA (where sororities aren’t the same) – is overwhelming and expensive. It’s non-stop for the week before school (so there aren’t school conflicts, at least). It’s expensive IF you take the whole dressing thing seriously. It’s also the proverbial “popularity contest”. If you hate that, you will hate the process. If you are OK with that, you will be fine and if you are neutral, just toughen up and go along for the ride.
The sororities are all know for different things. There are the “top houses”, whatever that means, and there are mid-tier and there are new and/or less “popular” ones. What I have observed is that everyone ends up being pretty happy in the end with where one lands IF you are focused on “fit” more than status. The process does work to try to get YOU enough information to be exposed to “like-minded” sororities. It’s not all about their screening of you, you do screen them. And, you can always drop out of the process before the end. The only weird thing I have seen is if you pledge a house and then drop out, you can’t rejoin or join another sorority in the future. It’s “one and done” once you go through the final “bid day”, I think.
Hope this helps. Good luck.