My Unusual Rush Story

[TAJ<3]

Hi there everyone! This is just a (hopefully) short story about how recruitment went for me. It is meant to encourage other girls who know nothing about Rush.

I go to an average-sized Southern school, and I was the first person in my family to go to college/greek and one of the 10 people from my high school (graduating class of 342) to attending a University out of state. I did not have a single recommendation (partially due to the fact I switched what school I would be attending the last minute) and I didn't know very many people from my community who were Greek. There are 11 chapters in my school they are (I will be using names of flowers):

Begonia
Snapdragon
Orchid
Poppy
Dandelion
Fern
Sunflower
Daisy
Lilly
Rose
Carnation


[B]Day 1[B]
I visited all the houses and I can almost distinctly remember my feelings about them all, and it is one of the most interesting days of my Rush experience.

The night before I was super excited and couldn't wait, so I laid my clothes out. And then in the morning, my alarm never went off. The girl next door woke me up when she knocked on my door to see if I wanted to walk to our Rho Gamma group together. So needless to say, I threw on some clothes, called my Rho Gamma and literally did almost nothing to my hair and wore no make up. However, I'm kind of a tomboy so I wasn't bothered by it so much, but now I wear makeup everyday when I am at school and can't imagine going through rush without looking nice!

I run over to my group and we are getting in line to go into Begonia. I am super nervous because I literally had no idea of what was going to happen. Then I suddenly heard all this yelling and screaming and I thought the girls were fighting. Then they sent us in and I was like wait what. And it was just their door song! Now I laugh about it! I remember this house was loud, but the girl seemed really standoffish. I thought it was nice. They showed a video about all the things the girls did together and I thought that was neat. I really loved their staircase and I think I talked to about 3-5 people here.

The house we visited was Snapdragon. My orientation counselor was a Snapdragon and she was really fun and down-to-earth, so I was really excited about this house! But... from the minute I walked in, I knew it was not the place for me. I felt like every single member looked down on me and thought they were better than me- all by the way I looked. It was so frustrating, but I saw that my counselor was rushing me so I was very relieved! However, this house hot boxed me hardcore. There were times when I had about 3-6 girls talking to me at one time. And then they all left and the girl who rushed me just looked down at her fingernails and wouldn't talk to me. I hated it and couldn't wait to get out of there! I was sad. I wanted to like that house for my counselor, but I just couldn't.

Then I had to go to Orchid. A girl I used to work with went Orchid at Vanderbilt and that was about all I knew about it. I needed to go to the restroom very very badly. When I said this, the girl was soooooooo mad. I tried to be fast, but when I came back it was time to bump which was really awkward because she hadn't talked to me yet! That girl I talked to was SUPER nice and i had *their symbol* earrings on that all of the members kept complimenting. There house was one of the prettiest I could remember as well. I talked to about 3-5 girl the whole time and I like this house the best so far.

After that I went toPoppy. I hadn't heard much about this house at all, and it looked different than the majority of houses, but I liked it. Unlike the other houses, this house was very quiet and they didn't just open the door. One girl came out and did an awkward knock thing. I went in, and I liked this house because we were split up in different areas and I could actually have a conversation without screaming. I still remember the name of the girl I talked to. I asked the most formal questions here out of any of the houses and I didn't really get to know my rusher on a personal level. I can't even remember if we were bumped.

The next house we had to walk quiet a ways to get to. It was Fern. Now I had read many things about Fern, and lots of girls told me this is where the girls who couldn't get in anywhere else went. I thought their house was pretty, but the parking and location were super awkward. I talked to a girl was boring. When the president talked half of the girls looked like they were about to fall asleep! And it we were one of the first houses!!! I talked to a few girls here, and they were nice but sorta awkward. I knew a Fern alum, so I was very sad that I didn't like Fern more because I didn't want to disappoint her.

My favorites as of now were:
Orchid
Poppy
Begonia
Fern
Snapdragon

Then it was lunch time. I was super hyper after lunch and ready to go visit more houses.

We had Dandelion first. I was super duper giddy the entire time at Dandelion! My rusher kept playing with my hair and complimenting me. She laughed at all of my witty remarks and I felt like we bonded very well. She introduced me to alot of her sisters who all told me they had heard lots about me. They too laughed at my jokes. Then I she called over the president to meet me and we got along awesomely. I LOVED Dandelion! I almost didn't want to leave. She told me that she couldn't wait to see me tomorrow and she enjoyed her time with me. It was now my favorite.

Across the street was Sunflower. I wanted this house the most. I loved their philanthropy, I thought their house was amazing (from the online pictures), and I liked their symbols. I honestly don't remember much about this house at first. Someone took me upstairs and I talked to one girl and then another and had the EXACT same conversation with the EXACT same witty remarks. And then they bumped me to 2 other girls. I didn't know at the time, but it was the rich house on campus. I made the mistake of asking how much the dues would be. My rushers looked shocked. They got pale and quiet and then started looking me up and down and said what are those? oh you mean cost?! umuh we don't know. and then in unison "our daddies pay for those." And then it was really awkward. It made me upset and uncomfortable and I just wanted to leave ASAP.

Now Daisy had a reputation with me. As we approached, I thought about the horribly mean teacher that I had met that was a Daisy Alum. I had never actually met or heard of a nice Daisy, but I felt that I needed to keep an open mind. Then I walked in. This house was about 10x louder than the other houses... COMBINED. It had low ceilings and too many people in one room. My rusher was about a foot taller than me and she had to get in kissing distance (super awkward) to talk to me because she was losing her voice. I couldn't focus on anything because it was so loud. I hated it and never wanted to have to rush in a place like that the next year. Yes, that was my actual thought as PNM. haha.

I went to Lilly next. Now I am gonna get a lot of flack for what I am gonna say about this house, so I apologize in advance. I remember that they had super cute rush outfits. And I loved the location of their house. But as I was walking the through the tunnel, I saw a person that looked like a transvestite. I honestly couldn't focus on anything the rest of the time. I was like no, it couldn't have been! And then when I was walking out I was staring at him/her, and tripped over a chord. Serves me right, but I couldn't see myself in that house because of that. It was weird.

I went intoCarnation and thought they had a really pretty setup for rushing. But I was highly upset about the last 3 houses I had visited. So I told my rusher that I was not going to talk about my major or any of the typical questions. She looked so scared, like legit frightened. And she says so uh umh uh what would you like to talk about? So we talked about movies and I thought we had gotten along quiet well. And I don't honestly remember if I liked the house or not, but it was very awkward when they were bumping.

My last house was Rose. I loved the exterior of this house and their door song. I still remember it! The weird thing that I remember about them was that their door stack was almost entirely Asian. And it is just a normal Panhellenic Sorority. So I met my rusher, and out of all the rushers that I have ever had, she was by FAR the best! She had an uncanny way of making me feel like everything was going to be okay and I asked about dues here, like I did Sunflower. Instead of a dirty look, she pulled over another active that was paying all the dues by herself. (I have to do the same thing.) She talked about their philanthropy and I LOVED it! I still liked Dandelion better, but this house was wonderful. At the end, she asked me what she thought they could do to make rush better. And usually that would be odd, but I felt like I had known this girl since forever and that she really valued me and what I had to say.

At the end of the day this is how I ranked the houses:
Dandelion
Orchid
Rose
Poppy
Fern
Begonia


Lilly
Carnation
Snapdragon
Daisy
Sunflower
(I don't remember specifically the order of the bottom houses, but I know I cut Sunflower and Daisy.)

Now we only had to cut 3 at my university, but I KNEW I didn't belong in the bottom five and I didn't want to return to 8 houses. I still ranked them all and prayed that those houses wouldn't want me.

Tune In if you want to hear more!

[ree-Xi]

Originally Posted by TAJ<3

Hi there everyone! This is just a (hopefully) short story about how recruitment went for me. It is meant to encourage other girls who know nothing about Rush.

I go to an average-sized Southern school, and I was the first person in my family to go to college/greek and one of the 10 people from my high school (graduating class of 342) to attending a University out of state. I did not have a single recommendation (partially due to the fact I switched what school I would be attending the last minute) and I didn't know very many people from my community who were Greek. There are 11 chapters in my school they are (I will be using names of flowers):

Begonia
Snapdragon
Orchid
Poppy
Dandelion
Fern
Sunflower
Daisy
Lilly
Rose
Carnation


[B]Day 1[B]
I visited all the houses and I can almost distinctly remember my feelings about them all, and it is one of the most interesting days of my Rush experience.

The night before I was super excited and couldn't wait, so I laid my clothes out. And then in the morning, my alarm never went off. The girl next door woke me up when she knocked on my door to see if I wanted to walk to our Rho Gamma group together. So needless to say, I threw on some clothes, called my Rho Gamma and literally did almost nothing to my hair and wore no make up. However, I'm kind of a tomboy so I wasn't bothered by it so much, but now I wear makeup everyday when I am at school and can't imagine going through rush without looking nice!

I run over to my group and we are getting in line to go into Begonia. I am super nervous because I literally had no idea of what was going to happen. Then I suddenly heard all this yelling and screaming and I thought the girls were fighting. Then they sent us in and I was like wait what. And it was just their door song! Now I laugh about it! I remember this house was loud, but the girl seemed really standoffish. I thought it was nice. They showed a video about all the things the girls did together and I thought that was neat. I really loved their staircase and I think I talked to about 3-5 people here.

The house we visited was Snapdragon. My orientation counselor was a Snapdragon and she was really fun and down-to-earth, so I was really excited about this house! But... from the minute I walked in, I knew it was not the place for me. I felt like every single member looked down on me and thought they were better than me- all by the way I looked. It was so frustrating, but I saw that my counselor was rushing me so I was very relieved! However, this house hot boxed me hardcore. There were times when I had about 3-6 girls talking to me at one time. And then they all left and the girl who rushed me just looked down at her fingernails and wouldn't talk to me. I hated it and couldn't wait to get out of there! I was sad. I wanted to like that house for my counselor, but I just couldn't.

Then I had to go to Orchid. A girl I used to work with went Orchid at Vanderbilt and that was about all I knew about it. I needed to go to the restroom very very badly. When I said this, the girl was soooooooo mad. I tried to be fast, but when I came back it was time to bump which was really awkward because she hadn't talked to me yet! That girl I talked to was SUPER nice and i had *their symbol* earrings on that all of the members kept complimenting. There house was one of the prettiest I could remember as well. I talked to about 3-5 girl the whole time and I like this house the best so far.

After that I went toPoppy. I hadn't heard much about this house at all, and it looked different than the majority of houses, but I liked it. Unlike the other houses, this house was very quiet and they didn't just open the door. One girl came out and did an awkward knock thing. I went in, and I liked this house because we were split up in different areas and I could actually have a conversation without screaming. I still remember the name of the girl I talked to. I asked the most formal questions here out of any of the houses and I didn't really get to know my rusher on a personal level. I can't even remember if we were bumped.

The next house we had to walk quiet a ways to get to. It was Fern. Now I had read many things about Fern, and lots of girls told me this is where the girls who couldn't get in anywhere else went. I thought their house was pretty, but the parking and location were super awkward. I talked to a girl was boring. When the president talked half of the girls looked like they were about to fall asleep! And it we were one of the first houses!!! I talked to a few girls here, and they were nice but sorta awkward. I knew a Fern alum, so I was very sad that I didn't like Fern more because I didn't want to disappoint her.

My favorites as of now were:
Orchid
Poppy
Begonia
Fern
Snapdragon

Then it was lunch time. I was super hyper after lunch and ready to go visit more houses.

We had Dandelion first. I was super duper giddy the entire time at Dandelion! My rusher kept playing with my hair and complimenting me. She laughed at all of my witty remarks and I felt like we bonded very well. She introduced me to alot of her sisters who all told me they had heard lots about me. They too laughed at my jokes. Then I she called over the president to meet me and we got along awesomely. I LOVED Dandelion! I almost didn't want to leave. She told me that she couldn't wait to see me tomorrow and she enjoyed her time with me. It was now my favorite.

Across the street was Sunflower. I wanted this house the most. I loved their philanthropy, I thought their house was amazing (from the online pictures), and I liked their symbols. I honestly don't remember much about this house at first. Someone took me upstairs and I talked to one girl and then another and had the EXACT same conversation with the EXACT same witty remarks. And then they bumped me to 2 other girls. I didn't know at the time, but it was the rich house on campus. I made the mistake of asking how much the dues would be. My rushers looked shocked. They got pale and quiet and then started looking me up and down and said what are those? oh you mean cost?! umuh we don't know. and then in unison "our daddies pay for those." And then it was really awkward. It made me upset and uncomfortable and I just wanted to leave ASAP.

Now Daisy had a reputation with me. As we approached, I thought about the horribly mean teacher that I had met that was a Daisy Alum. I had never actually met or heard of a nice Daisy, but I felt that I needed to keep an open mind. Then I walked in. This house was about 10x louder than the other houses... COMBINED. It had low ceilings and too many people in one room. My rusher was about a foot taller than me and she had to get in kissing distance (super awkward) to talk to me because she was losing her voice. I couldn't focus on anything because it was so loud. I hated it and never wanted to have to rush in a place like that the next year. Yes, that was my actual thought as PNM. haha.

I went to Lilly next. Now I am gonna get a lot of flack for what I am gonna say about this house, so I apologize in advance. I remember that they had super cute rush outfits. And I loved the location of their house. But as I was walking the through the tunnel, I saw a person that looked like a transvestite. I honestly couldn't focus on anything the rest of the time. I was like no, it couldn't have been! And then when I was walking out I was staring at him/her, and tripped over a chord. Serves me right, but I couldn't see myself in that house because of that. It was weird.

I went intoCarnation and thought they had a really pretty setup for rushing. But I was highly upset about the last 3 houses I had visited. So I told my rusher that I was not going to talk about my major or any of the typical questions. She looked so scared, like legit frightened. And she says so uh umh uh what would you like to talk about? So we talked about movies and I thought we had gotten along quiet well. And I don't honestly remember if I liked the house or not, but it was very awkward when they were bumping.

My last house was Rose. I loved the exterior of this house and their door song. I still remember it! The weird thing that I remember about them was that their door stack was almost entirely Asian. And it is just a normal Panhellenic Sorority. So I met my rusher, and out of all the rushers that I have ever had, she was by FAR the best! She had an uncanny way of making me feel like everything was going to be okay and I asked about dues here, like I did Sunflower. Instead of a dirty look, she pulled over another active that was paying all the dues by herself. (I have to do the same thing.) She talked about their philanthropy and I LOVED it! I still liked Dandelion better, but this house was wonderful. At the end, she asked me what she thought they could do to make rush better. And usually that would be odd, but I felt like I had known this girl since forever and that she really valued me and what I had to say.

At the end of the day this is how I ranked the houses:
Dandelion
Orchid
Rose
Poppy
Fern
Begonia


Lilly
Carnation
Snapdragon
Daisy
Sunflower
(I don't remember specifically the order of the bottom houses, but I know I cut Sunflower and Daisy.)

Now we only had to cut 3 at my university, but I KNEW I didn't belong in the bottom five and I didn't want to return to 8 houses. I still ranked them all and prayed that those houses wouldn't want me.

Tune In if you want to hear more!

What a long day!

[TAJ<3]

Day 2

Now this is where my story differs from almost every story I have heard in person or read on GC. At my university we were supposed to get 8 houses back on day 2. I got 3 houses. I was devastated! When my Rho Gammas came to my door and showed me that I only had 3 houses I just started crying. I was so upset because I had no idea what I did wrong and why some houses didn't invite me back! But I really wanted to have an on-campus sisterhood (aka be in a sorority), so with much reassurance my Rho Gammas told me to "trust the process" and that this sort of thing happens sometimes, so I shouldn't worry just yet. Try to guess who invited me back.




The houses that invited me back:
That's right,Rose,Poppy, and Fern . I was really disappointed that I wouldn't be going back to Dandelion and I didn't understand why I wasn't going back. After all, this was the house where I met the president and the girl had told me I would make a great addition to there house, etc. (I realize in retrospect this is Rush talk and this is probably just how this house rushed every PNM.) After all, my houses were all in my top 5, so that was a good thing!

It was skit day and Fern was up first. I loved the decorations in the house and the drinks. I did notice that true to stereotype, they did have some bigger girls. Then when it came to watch the skit, all of the girls were really pretty and fit. They also put on an excellent skit! They had great singers and dancers. The actives looked really bored. It was odd. However, it was common knowledge that this house had not been to Greek Sing in the last couple of years, or ever. (Only 6 of 11 houses at my school participate in Greek Sing, with the top 6 actually performing in the competition.) And I thought it would be neat to be in Greek Sing. I did know that it was MUCH MUCH MUCH (!!!) better than the day before. I really liked it -until I stepped foot out the door. Everyone talked about how Fern was just for the reject girls, and the fat girls, and losers. This made me sad and made me question if I liked that house or not. (If you are upset at me for saying this wait until Day 3 and you will love me.)

Then it was off to Poppy. I met two girls who had great stories of what they did over the summer. They thought I was witty and I didn't really want to stop talking to them. Then they bumped me to another girl. When we got to talking she told me that she was in ROTC. I was shocked! (Remember that this is before I knew anything about the Rush process.) I am in ROTC too and going through Rush there were lots of girls who thought I was gay/a d*** because I did ROTC. It was pathetic that people were being that closed-minded. I don't remember mentioning it on the first day, but they knew and remembered (WOW!) so they had to care about me some. Now their skit was not nearly as good as Fern's skit. They said the lead girl had sort of lost her voice which is why she didn't sound very good. I felt really bad. But the actives cheered on her and all the other girls, saying things like,"Get it Little!" which I thought was just too precious. They also looked like they were totally into the skit. The ROTC girl who was rushing me seemed upset and uninterested, but I LOVED this house. I was sad that I probably wouldn't be coming back because of this girl and hoped the other two would want me. I was freaking out that I wouldn't be accepted back anywhere or two only one house, all because of the 3rd girl that rushed me.

Next was Rose. I walked in and got a completely different feeling than the day before. I got a girl I had NOTHING in common with, and she didn't even try to bump me. It was awkward. I LOVED their philanthropy, but anytime that we changed the subject to talk about something besides that it was just odd. Then their skit. Let's just say I was shocked when I saw their skit. Not because it was good or bad, but because of the plot. They said basically that they didn't like/ were rude to the non-member until she became a Rose (before she decided to go Greek/got her bid). WTH?! And they kept name dropping brands and they club danced in their skit. I was completely confused as to why they thought that was a good idea. They even had some girls dress up as dy*** that were supposed to by house boys. Now I knew nothing about Rush so I didn't know if house boys were actual boys or just sisters that were dy***. It was almost a completely different house than the day before. I liked it, but I didn't feel like I belonged.

Now I had lunch time. To this day I don't know how this happened, but I ended up sitting with girls that only got 1-3 houses back. Just like me! I met two girls that I really hit it off with. Their names were Nallie and Jackie. Nallie had 3 houses back: Fern, Poppy, and Carnation. Jackie had 2 houses back: Fern and Poppy. We all joked that there was a high chance we could all be sisters because we all had Fern and Poppy. After that I went back to Jackie's room because neither one of us had houses the rest of the day, and I didn't want to sit in my room by myself (I didn't have a roommate) over-thinking things.

So I went back to hang out with Jackie, having never met her before that 15 minutes that we had met at lunch. So we are talking about how we felt to only get 2 or 3 houses back. And all of the sudden, she begins telling me her life story. It wasn't awkward or forced. She tells me that she transferred so now she is a junior and that was probably why she didn't get very many houses back. And yes she was kind of upset, but then she tells me more about herself. She says that she has a disease (non-contagious) that makes her weak and in pain a lot. She lost control of her weight and felt like she had no control of her life in general. She says that it was actually a "God-thing" that she only ended up having 2 houses because she didn't know if her body could handle all 8 houses and it gave her plenty of time to de-stress. I know I am not doing her story justice because I am trying to keep it vague, but she goes on to say that even though she only got two houses, she was happy. She had gone through alot, besides her illness, but the girls in the houses didn't know all of her problems and for the first time in her life she felt like she wasn't defined by those things. She lost a lot of control because of those situations and now for the first time in a long time she felt like she had control and she was doing something good and right for herself. She talked about how Rush was so much bigger than her. It was proving to herself that she was worth it. She started crying and I might have too. It was such a beautiful story and it made me remember why I wanted to join in the first place. She encouraged me beyond words and I knew she would make an amazing sister no matter where she ended up. I said goodbye to Jackie, then went to the PNM meeting.

There a girl from my Rho Gamma group asked what houses I had left. I hadn't really talked to this girl before. I asked her why she wanted to know, not in a rude way, but in a curious way. She said that she knew I was gonna end up being a Poppy. She said I was determined, driven, sweet, smart, and caring and that was the house where those kind of girls went. Throughout the day I had heard girls calling that one of the bottom houses so I was sort of offended when she said that, but I brushed it off and forgot about what she said. This didn't change the way I felt about any of my houses. We were only allowed to keep 5 houses, but I just want to make sure I had houses to go back to. I ranked them:
Rose
Poppy
Fern



Tune In for Day 3!

[honeychile]

Love your story - but could you put the lighter colors in bold or something? I want to read the whole story without going blind!

[*winter*]

Nice story...but what's with the d*** references? There are gays, lesbians and bi people in Greek life too

[TAJ<3]

Originally Posted by *winter*

Nice story...but what's with the d*** references? There are gays, lesbians and bi people in Greek life too

No no no no no. I don't mean any offense!!! I am so sorry if you took it that way! NO OFFENSE AT ALL! It was just frustrating for me when people automatically placed me in that category because of what activity I participated in. And then the other house, I was simply explaining how they dressed. If I learned one of my sisters were a lesbian, I'd be fine. But based on some of my experiences I would tell people I am involved in an organization and they would dismiss me because they thought I was something I am not. Its really hard to explain if you have never been in the situation. I felt especially like there were houses that learned I was in the organization, thought that I wasn't hetero and then automatically dismissed me, even though I am hetero. I understand why it can be hurtful, but that is NOT what I was trying to be. I am extremely sorry!!!

[FSUZeta]

i am sure that it was unsettling to have only 3 chapters to return to, but they were all chapters where you seemed to enjoy yourself the most.

[*winter*]

I was in ROTC too! So I know what you mean.

Now...on with the story!

[TAJ<3]

Day 3

So on day 2 I was really trying to be the best I could because I didn't want to lose any houses until Pref Night. However, when I got my house list for day 3, it was only two houses. Any guesses?





That's right, Poppy and Fern. So yes, I was disappointed that I lost Rose, but I kind of saw the writing on the wall, so I was all good. Today was House Tour Day and I knew that if both of these houses kept me, that I would be in a sorority, YAY!

So I am getting ready and I walk over to Fern. I started to notice who was around me. Someone clued me into the fact that the girls who I was visiting the houses with might be in my pledge class! That never crossed my mind. But I started looking around at Fern and seeing who was there. Alot of the girls were talking about how this was for fat girls and no one would EVER want it. But then I stood up and said something about how that is really rude and sisterhood is for everyone kind of loudly to the girl next to me, but not addressing the group. Then we lined up. The girl who rushed me was super cute but kind of awkward. She talked about how they had a Christian Bible Study in the house, the church she went to, and interesting stuff. She was so cool and I really connected with her. She showed me around the house and it bothered me that the rooms were messy. I felt like this who I was in high school.

Then it was over to Poppy. I looked around at the girls standing outside this house. They seemed like really awesome girls, but ones that I would typically never talk to because they seemed cooler than me, and nice. I went in the house and the same girl that had rushed me the day before rushed me this day. I told her that yesterday I thought the house didn't like me because of her. and she said no no no, we are but I was just nervous! I went through their house and it was so much more adorable! Everytime they bumped they called someone their sister not friend. And for some reason that made their sisterhood really stand out to me! All of the rooms matched and were cutsy. This is EXACTLY how I wanted to be! All the girls that I met was the epitome of the girl I wanted to be in the future.


For the fourth day, pref night we could have 2 houses. I liked the houses in this order:
Poppy
Fern

Tune in for Day 4, Pref Night & the Results!!! Get excited!

[honeychile]

Fern didn't clean their rooms, knowing that people were going to see them? That's new!!

[BadRomance]

Can't wait to hear about your pref party!!!

[cirquedudream]

ahh i cant wait to hear the rest!

[preciousjeni]

This

Originally Posted by *winter*

what's with the d*** references?

and this

Originally Posted by TAJ<3

I was simply explaining how they dressed.

threw me off, but I'm hesitantly interested in hearing more.

[ree-Xi]

Originally Posted by TAJ<3

Day 2

Now this is where my story differs from almost every story I have heard in person or read on GC. At my university we were supposed to get 8 houses back on day 2. I got 3 houses. I was devastated! When my Rho Gammas came to my door and showed me that I only had 3 houses I just started crying. I was so upset because I had no idea what I did wrong and why some houses didn't invite me back! But I really wanted to have an on-campus sisterhood (aka be in a sorority), so with much reassurance my Rho Gammas told me to "trust the process" and that this sort of thing happens sometimes, so I shouldn't worry just yet. Try to guess who invited me back.


The houses that invited me back:
That's right,Rose,Poppy, and Fern . I was really disappointed that I wouldn't be going back to Dandelion and I didn't understand why I wasn't going back. After all, this was the house where I met the president and the girl had told me I would make a great addition to there house, etc. (I realize in retrospect this is Rush talk and this is probably just how this house rushed every PNM.) After all, my houses were all in my top 5, so that was a good thing!

It was skit day and Fern was up first. I loved the decorations in the house and the drinks. I did notice that true to stereotype, they did have some bigger girls. Then when it came to watch the skit, all of the girls were really pretty and fit. They also put on an excellent skit! They had great singers and dancers. The actives looked really bored. It was odd. However, it was common knowledge that this house had not been to Greek Sing in the last couple of years, or ever. (Only 6 of 11 houses at my school participate in Greek Sing, with the top 6 actually performing in the competition.) And I thought it would be neat to be in Greek Sing. I did know that it was MUCH MUCH MUCH (!!!) better than the day before. I really liked it -until I stepped foot out the door. Everyone talked about how Fern was just for the reject girls, and the fat girls, and losers. This made me sad and made me question if I liked that house or not. (If you are upset at me for saying this wait until Day 3 and you will love me.)

Then it was off to Poppy. I met two girls who had great stories of what they did over the summer. They thought I was witty and I didn't really want to stop talking to them. Then they bumped me to another girl. When we got to talking she told me that she was in ROTC. I was shocked! (Remember that this is before I knew anything about the Rush process.) I am in ROTC too and going through Rush there were lots of girls who thought I was gay/a d*** because I did ROTC. It was pathetic that people were being that closed-minded. I don't remember mentioning it on the first day, but they knew and remembered (WOW!) so they had to care about me some. Now their skit was not nearly as good as Fern's skit. They said the lead girl had sort of lost her voice which is why she didn't sound very good. I felt really bad. But the actives cheered on her and all the other girls, saying things like,"Get it Little!" which I thought was just too precious. They also looked like they were totally into the skit. The ROTC girl who was rushing me seemed upset and uninterested, but I LOVED this house. I was sad that I probably wouldn't be coming back because of this girl and hoped the other two would want me. I was freaking out that I wouldn't be accepted back anywhere or two only one house, all because of the 3rd girl that rushed me.

Next was Rose. I walked in and got a completely different feeling than the day before. I got a girl I had NOTHING in common with, and she didn't even try to bump me. It was awkward. I LOVED their philanthropy, but anytime that we changed the subject to talk about something besides that it was just odd. Then their skit. Let's just say I was shocked when I saw their skit. Not because it was good or bad, but because of the plot. They said basically that they didn't like/ were rude to the non-member until she became a Rose (before she decided to go Greek/got her bid). WTH?! And they kept name dropping brands and they club danced in their skit. I was completely confused as to why they thought that was a good idea. They even had some girls dress up as dy*** that were supposed to by house boys. Now I knew nothing about Rush so I didn't know if house boys were actual boys or just sisters that were dy***. It was almost a completely different house than the day before. I liked it, but I didn't feel like I belonged.

Now I had lunch time. To this day I don't know how this happened, but I ended up sitting with girls that only got 1-3 houses back. Just like me! I met two girls that I really hit it off with. Their names were Nallie and Jackie. Nallie had 3 houses back: Fern, Poppy, and Carnation. Jackie had 2 houses back: Fern and Poppy. We all joked that there was a high chance we could all be sisters because we all had Fern and Poppy. After that I went back to Jackie's room because neither one of us had houses the rest of the day, and I didn't want to sit in my room by myself (I didn't have a roommate) over-thinking things.

So I went back to hang out with Jackie, having never met her before that 15 minutes that we had met at lunch. So we are talking about how we felt to only get 2 or 3 houses back. And all of the sudden, she begins telling me her life story. It wasn't awkward or forced. She tells me that she transferred so now she is a junior and that was probably why she didn't get very many houses back. And yes she was kind of upset, but then she tells me more about herself. She says that she has a disease (non-contagious) that makes her weak and in pain a lot. She lost control of her weight and felt like she had no control of her life in general. She says that it was actually a "God-thing" that she only ended up having 2 houses because she didn't know if her body could handle all 8 houses and it gave her plenty of time to de-stress. I know I am not doing her story justice because I am trying to keep it vague, but she goes on to say that even though she only got two houses, she was happy. She had gone through alot, besides her illness, but the girls in the houses didn't know all of her problems and for the first time in her life she felt like she wasn't defined by those things. She lost a lot of control because of those situations and now for the first time in a long time she felt like she had control and she was doing something good and right for herself. She talked about how Rush was so much bigger than her. It was proving to herself that she was worth it. She started crying and I might have too. It was such a beautiful story and it made me remember why I wanted to join in the first place. She encouraged me beyond words and I knew she would make an amazing sister no matter where she ended up. I said goodbye to Jackie, then went to the PNM meeting.

There a girl from my Rho Gamma group asked what houses I had left. I hadn't really talked to this girl before. I asked her why she wanted to know, not in a rude way, but in a curious way. She said that she knew I was gonna end up being a Poppy. She said I was determined, driven, sweet, smart, and caring and that was the house where those kind of girls went. Throughout the day I had heard girls calling that one of the bottom houses so I was sort of offended when she said that, but I brushed it off and forgot about what she said. This didn't change the way I felt about any of my houses. We were only allowed to keep 5 houses, but I just want to make sure I had houses to go back to. I ranked them:
Rose
Poppy
Fern

Tune In for Day 3!

Originally Posted by TAJ<3

Day 3

So on day 2 I was really trying to be the best I could because I didn't want to lose any houses until Pref Night. However, when I got my house list for day 3, it was only two houses. Any guesses?





That's right, Poppy and Fern. So yes, I was disappointed that I lost Rose, but I kind of saw the writing on the wall, so I was all good. Today was House Tour Day and I knew that if both of these houses kept me, that I would be in a sorority, YAY!

So I am getting ready and I walk over to Fern. I started to notice who was around me. Someone clued me into the fact that the girls who I was visiting the houses with might be in my pledge class! That never crossed my mind. But I started looking around at Fern and seeing who was there. Alot of the girls were talking about how this was for fat girls and no one would EVER want it. But then I stood up and said something about how that is really rude and sisterhood is for everyone kind of loudly to the girl next to me, but not addressing the group. Then we lined up. The girl who rushed me was super cute but kind of awkward. She talked about how they had a Christian Bible Study in the house, the church she went to, and interesting stuff. She was so cool and I really connected with her. She showed me around the house and it bothered me that the rooms were messy. I felt like this who I was in high school.

Then it was over to Poppy. I looked around at the girls standing outside this house. They seemed like really awesome girls, but ones that I would typically never talk to because they seemed cooler than me, and nice. I went in the house and the same girl that had rushed me the day before rushed me this day. I told her that yesterday I thought the house didn't like me because of her. and she said no no no, we are but I was just nervous! I went through their house and it was so much more adorable! Everytime they bumped they called someone their sister not friend. And for some reason that made their sisterhood really stand out to me! All of the rooms matched and were cutsy. This is EXACTLY how I wanted to be! All the girls that I met was the epitome of the girl I wanted to be in the future.

For the fourth day, pref night we could have 2 houses. I liked the houses in this order:
Poppy
Fern

Tune in for Day 4, Pref Night & the Results!!! Get excited!

Easier for me to read like this.

[aab225]

ahh i'm disappointed to find this hasn't been finished yet! idk where you're from, but please stop with the d**** thing. it's offensive even if you don't mean for it to be. you don't have to classify lesbians in a derogatory way. they may just be your sisters! i don't mean for this to sound rude, I just needed to put in my two cents.