There are so many sides to sorority recruitment, commonly known as rush. You have the potential new members (PNMs) who are the ones going through recruitment and meeting all the sororities in hopes of joining one. Then you have the recruiters, who you typically see on your FYP doing door chants and choreographed dances.These women are the ones on the frontlines of sorority recruitment and are typically meeting and talking to PNMs during each round of rush. But there’s one unsung hero of rush that you probably don’t know about — mostly because you can’t see them. These are the “basement girls.”
Basement girls are the backbone of sorority rush.They’re current members of a sorority who do all the behind-the-scenes stuff that you don’t see on social media. Instead of wearing cute outfits and chatting with PNMs, basement girls usually sport sweats and spend most of rush on their laptops, ensuring everything happening upstairs — where the action is — is going smoothly.Â
To put it in other terms, basement girls are the mission control of sorority rush, who make sure that the astronauts (the PNMs and recruiters), have the best experience possible. One of the main roles basement girls have is matching PNMs with recruiters. On their computers, they have spreadsheets with all the info on PNMs and match them with current members who have similar interests. This explains why, as a PNM, you may meet members of a sorority you have a lot in common with.Â
Basement girls are also in charge of keeping track of which PNMs make it past each round, typically by logging rankings in a spreadsheet. They are also in charge of other tasks such as making decorations and running emergency errands.Â
They may get to wear flats and lounge sets, but being a basement girl is no easy task. These women are usually working for hours on end during recruitment to make sure everything turns out perfectly. The “basement,” or their designated room where all the magic happens, becomes their home for the duration of rush week, and they almost never interact with the PNMs until they become pledges on Bid Day.
Although this job isn’t as glamorous as the recruiters you see on your FYP, their job is more than important as they show pride for their sorority by staying behind the scenes and keeping it all afloat.