An honest account of sorority rush

Everyone knows the videos where girls with perfect hair and flash tattoos are blowing glitter out of their hands in picturesque locations while a Calvin Harris song blares in the background. You’ve seen these videos in the Neighbors 2 trailer, all over Facebook, and even once on the national news.

So now you’re thinking: “Hey, I bet I’d look adorable throwing glitter into a camera, and I should honestly get paid for my GoPro videography. Maybe I should rush.”

So, you get on the Panhellenic Council website, and you sign up for Recruitment. Total Sorority Move and other websites alike will tell you Recruitment will be one of the best weeks of your life.

Let’s just say it’s not all glitter clouds and flash tats.

Probably delirious after Recruitment finally came to an end on bid day

Anyone who has spent any part of their summer in Florida knows “The Swamp” makes hell feel like a ski retreat. Unless your detachable USB phone fan can spin fast enough to break the speed of sound, you will not feel relief until you get inside a house. On the bright side, you will have acquired a set of superhuman skills that allow you to defy Mother Nature and keep your hair and makeup intact.

Because the days start early and last forever, veteran caffeine addicts will be delighted to hear that this will become one of the many weeks in your college career where you will abuse caffeine. Newcomers, take notes.

At the end of each day, you’re so exhausted you can barely stand to hear yourself think. You’ll probably squeeze in a quick phone call to your parents, but after that it’s time to slip into your nightly vegetative state before you wake up to do it all again the next day.

They’re sorta worth stickin’ around for, I guess

Once you’re knee-deep in this process and a house that you like drops you, it’s going to suck. It may happen early on, but you can make it to the final rounds with a house you love and have the rug ripped out from underneath you.

It’ll take a second for you not to take it personally. It’s alright to be upset, but walking around moping, constantly wondering why they didn’t ask you back is a waste of your valuable time and closes your mind off to the other possibilities still on the table.

As a sorority girl, your camera roll will be brimming with shit like this

Finally, the day comes for you to receive and hopefully accept your bid. Bid day can be overwhelming. You walk off the bus into a pit of unfamiliar screaming girls who 24 hours ago were walking around in matching outfits, in perfect formation, with robotic smiles. If you had to guess, you recognize a grand total of 8 of them (unless you really kicked your mingling game into high gear or did mad stalking from home).

Maybe you’re at a house that wasn’t your first or even your second choice, and you can’t seem to shake the knot in your stomach. All of the sisters are looking at you excitedly, and you just don’t know what to do with yourself. It happens.

If you’re where you wanted to be, enjoy. If your situation isn’t ideal, don’t knock a house before you try it. After all, you came all this way.

Tip: If you wear a onesie to your socials, you will have 110 percent more fun and that’s just a fact

So maybe this wasn’t exactly the worst week of my life, but I definitely underestimated it. Ultimately, I was glad I went through with it. I love the house I’m in, and I’m happy I took the initiative to dispel all the stereotypes I conjured in my freshman head and gained my own experiences to base my opinions off of.

Greek life is not for everyone, nor is it essential for you to have a good college experience. If you do decide to go through Recruitment, never let your confidence waver, roll with the punches, and don’t cater to an insincere version of yourself you think will make you more desirable to a certain house. Otherwise, you won’t get the most out of your week.