Rush 101: Your Rush Questions Answered

Sorority Rush 101: Your Rush Questions Answered

By Nancy Leighton

Hi Rushee! Are you ready to take on recruitment? Well, if you’re at all hesitant, we are here to help :) Going through Sorority Recruitment is an amazing experience for college students that leads to lifelong friends, memories, and networking. Find all the deets from what to wear, what to expect, and what to look for below!

Sorority Rush is the process of visiting + meeting your College/ University’s Greek Chapters over the span of a week to find the perfect match. Okay, okay that is a bit of a simplification. You can expect to have a lot of walking, talking, and reflecting throughout Rush Week! To help give you a more insightful understanding, here is a brief breakdown of each “Day” of Rush Week. Please note, sometimes there are multiple days assigned to Day 1 + Day 2, depending on the size of your school. Bids are received at the end of the week, so it’s important to know what to expect on bid day and beyond prior to the beginning or rush.

Day 1

Attire: Comfortable bottoms + school issued Panhellenic T-Shirt! Day 1 is the longest and most physically exhausting. Make sure to wear comfortable shoes! Feel free to accessorize and show your personal style through your bottoms, footwear, jewelry, and hair!
Agenda: Bright and early, you will meet with your assigned Potential New Member Group and settle in. You will go from Chapter to Chapter with your Rho Gamma (Potential New Member Group leader) and experience 20 minutes with each individual Sorority that is active on your campus. In each round, you can expect to have short, surface-level conversations with multiple active members. I recommend jotting down your thoughts after each visit in your notes app because it is easy to lose track of what house made you feel the most welcome after multiple rounds. When you finally meet all the Chapters, your Rho Gam will pull you aside in private to have you rank your visits from favorite to least favorite. Depending on how you rank the Chapters and how they score you, you will or will not revisit them the next Day.

Day 2

Attire: Bottoms of your choice + cute top (occasionally your school may provide a T-Shirt for Day 2 as well). Comfortable footwear is best here as well, but the day will be overall shorter than the prior. Continue to express your personal style!
Agenda: Day 2 is known as Philanthropy Day! When you meet with your PNM Group, your Rho Gamma will give you your schedule, which tells you which Chapters invited you back and what time you will attend their party ( aka round). Each Sorority will present their unique Philanthropic Cause and the events they hold to fundraise. After the presentation, you will have a few conversations with active members that are slightly deeper. They may pertain to your passions + volunteer history and will last a little longer than Day 1. Continue to note down which Sororities you connected with and rank your favorites with your Rho Gamma.

Day 3

Attire: “Dress like you Crush is in class'“ is a phrase that best describes how to style for Day 3. Sundresses, Skirts, and Rompers are all typical for Day 3. With much shorter durations, it is finally an appropriate time to wear some sandal heels or cowboy boots!
Agenda: Day 3 is Values Day. You may only have a few Chapters on your schedule now, it is normal to have it narrowed down! Each Sorority will present on their Greek Values and their official statement of Purpose. After the presentation, you will have a couple conversations with active members. The conversations will be longer and more personal. The members will want to hear about your personal values pertaining to family, friendship, career, and everything in-between. Try your best to be as honest + open as possible, it will help you build strong + meaningful connections. You will finish by ranking with your Rho Gamma again.

Day 4

Attire: This is your chance to be memorable! Wear your best dress and favorite shoes to be your most confident. Depending on your school's location, PNM’s may be wearing pretty show-stopping styles. I love a good Babydoll Mini Dress with Heels for Day 4.
Agenda: It is standard to visit only 1-3 Chapters on the final Day. Pref (Preference) Day is the finale to Rush Week and is the home stretch. You can expect to have each chapter share their most vulnerable hymns and ceremonies with you. I will admit, this is the most “culty” segment of Recruitment. After their ceremony, you will have a 30 minute conversation with a familiar active and dive into the core of your identity and sense of self. When the fit is bad, the conversation can lull, but when you find the right Sorority, it should flow and feel short. This is an amazing time to ask the active why they chose to pledge their Chapter, and reflect on whether or not their story resonates with you. When you leave, you will submit your final ranking and wait. to hear back from your Rho Gam.

Browse our Sorority Rush Shop and find the perfect Rush Outfits!

Does everyone who rushes get into a sorority?

No. Not everyone will receive a bid from a sorority. It is a possibility to receive no call backs on any given day of rush, or make it through Pref round and get dropped at the last minute. This can happen for a multitude of reasons including GPA, lack of community service experience/ interest, unaligned values, quality of small talk, or history of criminal/ distasteful behavior. Regardless of receiving a bid however, recruitment is a great exercise of interviewing and socializing.

Why do sororities call it rush?

Rush is a term that is synonymous with going through recruitment. The verbiage originated in the 1800’s, when Greek members of Sororities and Fraternities would “rush” to greet incoming first-year students at the train station when they arrived at campus.

What is the difference between rush and pledge?

A Rush or Rushee is a potential new member in the process of going through recruitment that is not officially given a bid to any Sorority. A pledge is a PNM who has been offered a bid to join the Chapter, but not yet been officially initiated. Once initiated their status changes to a “sister” or “member”. To say you are “rushing” a Sorority means you are striving to receive a bid. To say you are “pledging” a Sorority, means you are striving to be initiated.

How do sororities pick you?

Active Members score each individual PNM based on their conversation substance and GPA. They will consider if your values, volunteer work, personality, and general vibe matches their Chapter identity. If you speak negatively, seem disinterested, or say problematic things, they are likely to score you low in an effort to drop you. Being your authentic self is the best way to find the best fit for yourself.

What should you not do during sorority rush?

1. Do not fake it. If you fake your way through recruitment, you may come off as not genuine which may get you dropped all together; or you will end up in a Chapter that you actually don’t fit. It is so important to be genuine and real.
2.  Stay away from the 5B’s in conversation (more on this later ;).
3.  Don’t talk about your rankings after the Day is finished. Discussing your individual experience to others (besides your Rho Gam) can cause others to feel unsure in their rankings or sway your true preference.
4.  Do not drink or go to parties during Recruitment Week. Aside from underage drinking being illegal, it is considered a “Dry Week”; meaning Greek organizations strictly prohibit it, even for those of legal age.
5.  Do not purposefully try to get dropped by a certain Sorority. For instance, if you are continuously getting called back to a chapter you rank lowly, do not try to sabotage the conversation (seem disinterested, be argumentative, say passive aggressive things, make yourself look bad, ect.) to have them drop you. Not only is this extremely rude and harsh to the Active Member you are speaking with, Sororities have the power to blacklist you and share feedback with other houses. In short, you can end up getting yourself dropped from every chapter on campus.

What are the 5 B’s in Rush?

The Five B’s of Rush are Boys, Ballots, Booze, Bible, and Bucks. These represent touchy subjects you should avoid bringing up during your conversations. In other words, do not bring up dating, politics, substance use, religion, or financials because it can lead to inappropriate stories or make the active member uncomfortable.

What I wish I knew before joining a sorority…

I wish I knew how excited the active members were to meet me! I went into Recruitment knowing absolutely NOTHING. I hadn’t even watched a single YouTube Video in the process. Part of me is so happy I didn’t have any expectations, because it allowed me to really follow my heart and think clearly. When I entered my first Sorority on Day 1, they were chanting and clapping to welcome each PNM in; it felt so exciting.
A factor I didn’t keep in mind was side-chatter and people swaying my opinions when the “Day” is finished. I would go back to my dorm and hear how people felt about my top choice, which can make someone feel confused about their feelings. I would recommend trying to stay away from other Rushee’s during Rush Week; instead reach out to your Rho Gam for support and guidance sorting through your feelings.

You made it through our Crash Course on Sorority Rush Week! After studying up on the process, plan your outfits with help from our ultimate guide to sorority rush dresses. Now, you’re all set to find your home this recruitment season <3 Remember that joining a sorority is not the be all end of a college social life; but going through the process or rush can be an enriching and life changing experience for all women. Here’s to finding your chosen few.

Toodles!
Nancy