Formal Panhellenic sorority recruitment begins at DePaul on Sept. 21 and lasts until bid day on Sept. 24. While DePaul rush is nothing like Bama Rush (we don’t even have houses), it can still be stressful, especially if you go into it knowing nothing like I did. This year, seven DePaul chapters – Alpha Xi Delta, Chi Omega, Delta Gamma, Delta Zeta, Phi Mu, Alpha Omicron Pi, and Alpha Phi – are participating in recruitment.
My Rush Story
I went through formal recruitment in fall of 2021, just weeks after moving to Chicago. I don’t remember much from that week, but I do remember being exhausted. Not only are you in rounds for hours, but you’re talking and meeting a ton of new people, especially the first two days. It’s important that during the little free time you have, you take time for yourself and your mental health.
Though I was exhausted for the entire week, I learned a lot about myself and ended up joining Alpha Xi Delta, a chapter I love. I now serve on Alpha Xi’s executive team as Vice President of Philanthropy and have made some of my best friends both from being in my chapter and just going through recruitment. One of my best friends was in my rush group and while we joined different chapters, our experience gave us the opportunity to become friends.
How Rush is Structured
This year at DePaul, rush looks a little bit different. DePaul Panhellenic has stepped away from the traditional five-day rush cycle and switched to a four day one.
Day one is the Chapter Round.
For Chapter Round, each Potential New Member (PNM) will be given a t-shirt to wear and can pick whichever pants and shoes they feel best represents themselves and their personal style (I wore jeans and doc martens). Every girl will meet with every chapter for 30-minute conversations. This is the most casual round, and topics of conversation will generally include academics, home and family life, general interests, etc. 30 minutes may seem like a long time, but each round tends to fly by and can sometimes blend with other rounds. It’s important to quickly write down thoughts on different chapters between rounds so you can remember your thoughts when you go to rank them at the end of the day.
The second day of recruitment is philanthropy day.
PNMs, Potential New Members, will meet with up to five chapters based on a mutual ranking and selection process. This means those running recruitment will consider the opinions of both PNMs and chapters to decide who goes back to which chapter. Preface: this sounds a lot more intimidating than it is. During the philanthropy round, each chapter will present what philanthropic group they fundraise for each year. PNMs will then talk to active members of the chapter for the remaining time of the 45-minute session. For me, the philanthropy round was the most important round that led me to pick Alpha Xi Delta. For a philanthropy round, I would recommend wearing business casual clothing or something you would wear to a nice brunch with friends. Most importantly, remember to rock your personal style. When I was going through philanthropy round I wore leather pants, a bodysuit and boots.
Preference round is the final round of recruitment before PNMs receive their bids.
Pref is the longest and least casual round. During pref, PNMs will meet with up to two chapters to help make their final decision. Usually during pref, each PNM will talk to only one active sister for the entire hour, and each chapter will have some sort of preference ceremony. This is the day to get the most dressed up. I wore a summer dress and boots for pref, but heels, pants, skirts and more are also acceptable. At the end of pref, each PNM will sit down with their recruitment counselor (RC) to decide which chapter they plan on ranking first and second.
The final day of recruitment is bid day and is the day you get to run home to your chapter!
This will be a day-long celebration planned by your chapter where you’ll be able to meet new sisters from your member class and sisters already in the chapter. I would recommend wearing neutral pants, as you’ll receive a shirt from your chapter. I would also recommend wearing a tighter top so you can easily put the t-shirt on.
My Advice
Rush can be scary. At the end of the day, however, it’s worth it. My advice is to be yourself and to trust the process. Keep an open mind to all chapters, and good luck!