The recruitment process unveiled: Surviving hell

The IU 2016 Rush process officially ended as of Bid Night on January 19th but for the nearly 2000 young women who have taken nearly two weeks out of their precious time to go through a process like no other there are a lot of different feelings.

Alyssa Watson, freshman majoring in English

Alyssa Watson has been hearing about sorority stuff from her big sister in Tri-Delta. Since she does not currently live with her sister, she feels like this would be a good thing to feel closer to her and find new sisters. Alyssa got a bit of an inside scoop on recruitment from her sister when she visited her in Virginia over break.

Alyssa is looking for all the benefits that come with joining a sorority: from having lunch with her sisters to putting her letters on a future resume to doing good. She feels that philanthropy is easier to accomplish in a sorority and it’s always good to help out the general public.

When Alyssa ran out of things to say or wanted to stand out she told me she would say “When in doubt say I’m from Montana.”

Mackenzie McCoy, freshman studying Psychology and Spanish, and Nicole LeBlanc, freshman studying Marketing and Sociology

Mackenzie McCoy had a sister rushing and felt that it was nice to have on campus. She admired the group and support system that her sister had and wanted one similar.

Mackenzie worked out for the upcoming recruitment because let me just be honest, the walks were brutal. Mackenzie is currently unsure if rush is worth it. She says, “One day I’ll look back and be optimistic about rush.” For now, though, there is a delayed pay-off for her.

Nicole saw how her brother, who was originally shy and a bit unmotivated, totally changed when he joined Greek life. He also met his current fiancé. So ladies start looking, and gentlemen, let’s keep it classy.

Nicole was looking to meet a really good group of people through recruitment. She heard the stigma that “sororities are where you buy your friends,” but Nicole feels she was being set up with people who would help her grow as a person.

She admits the process was “horrid” because she really had to put herself out there and be vulnerable where insecurities can be confirmed. But at the end of the day you begin to see yourself grow, and you really see who of these people who you could really get along with are, and who was there just going through the motions.

Admit Bhatnager, freshman studying Management

Aditi Bhatnager felt it couldn’t hurt to rush and would meet great new people, “making IU’s campus smaller.” As she and about 100 orientation leaders have said when we were choosing to go to IU.

She’s not a legacy and feels those who are, have an understandable advantage that can be seen as unfair. She is looking forward to the social opportunities and philanthropy, despite the negative stereotypes that linger in the air about Greek life.

Aditi feels the process may feel cutthroat and keeping an open mind is most important. She feels it is very worth it to put yourself out there and see where it takes you. And to also remember that top tier isn’t for everyone.

Rachel Lewyn, freshman Exploratory Major

Rachel Lewyn says that she went to a small “hippie” high-school where she felt more like a free spirit and knew most of her class. Now she goes to IU with 30,000 undergrads. So she latched onto the classic advice “to try to make her big IU smaller.”

She is a legacy, but felt that the policy may have changed on legacies to make the process fairer for everyone. She doesn’t feel that she had any advantage in any way, but does feel if others had a leg-up through the process it is completely reasonable since IU is based on tradition.

Rachel is looking for the bond of sisterhood and a chance to take advantage of the exponentially larger networking pool that has opened up to her.

She feels like this process was worth it. Though tentative in the beginning, she came in with humor and an open mind and came out feeling a bit better about the process.

Now that Bid Night is over…

We can all feel a sense of relief now those truly brutal two weeks are over. We are done waking up at 5am to curl our hair and bundle up to face the tundra outside. I don’t know what was worse: slipping on the ice or feeling like everyone was watching my every move for two weeks.

So whether you are in your top choice chapter, an unexpected favorite or saw the dreadful empty hands of your Rho Gam just know it was meant to be.