Many students on Pitt’s campus saw, or, at the very least, HEARD the hundreds of girls racing up the steps of Soldiers and Sailors this past weekend. In case you did not know what all of the commotion was, that was Bid Day. Bid Day is the day where girls who have been rushing sororities for the past two weekends get to finally learn which sorority they will finally call home.
Wondering what happens during the rushing process? I’ll clue you in on what rushing is like for a potential new member. The entire process takes two weekends to fulfill. It starts off with 10 Rounds, during which over the course of Friday and Saturday of the first weekend, girls meet with every sorority and talk to members of each sorority face to face. It can get extremely loud with tons of girls packed shoulder to shoulder in the tiny rooms of the William Pitt Union, while they chat away during conversations. 10 Rounds is a fantastic way for those who are rushing to get an introduction to the sororities that Pitt has to offer. After the 10 Rounds is completed, each girl ranks the sororities in order of their desire to revisit each one. I found 10 Rounds to be exhausting after having spent two days talking to tons of sororities, but it was definitely an important part of the process.
Then, on the Sunday of the first weekend of rush, 7 Rounds starts. If you’re starting to get the idea of the process, then you guessed it, each girl meets with up to seven sororities based on her own rankings and the rankings of the sororities that invite her back. Once again, it involves talking to the girls in the sororities and figuring out which ones interest you most. I learned about the philanthropies of each sorority during this round. I was very impressed by the wonderful community service that each of Pitt’s sororities completes. Greek life is a wonderful way for Pitt’s students to get involved with helping others. At the end of Sunday’s sorority visits, each girl ranked the sororities that she was invited back to. Weekend one of rush was now complete. The hard part was having to wait until the next weekend before finding anything out about which sororities I might get to see again.
After a week packed with classes and homework, weekend two of rush hit us straight on. Friday night was called 5 Rounds, and each girl visited again with up to five sororities. The time spent with each sorority increased throughout each round of rushing. We also dressed up a little more for this round, swapping out jeans and blouses for dresses with boots or heels. I, along with the other girls in my group grew nervous, because we knew we were so close to Bid Day, which meant we would soon have to decide which sorority we would want to be a part of. Ranking the sororities on the night of 5 Rounds was the most difficult, because I had gained a greater understanding for each sorority, and I thought I could see myself being a part of most of them. Nevertheless, I ranked my sororities and returned on Saturday for what is called Preference Night.
On Preference Night, girls were called back by up to two sororities. It was an exciting feeling knowing that one of the two sororities on my schedule would end up being one that I would become a part of. It was a special night for all of the girls rushing, because it meant that each sorority to which we were invited back, thought that we could potentially be a perfect fit for their house. Meeting with my last two sororities helped me finalize my decision as to which sorority I most wanted to be a part of. I found that Preference Night truly exemplified the sororities. When I went to rank the two sororities, I found relief in knowing I was done with the rushing process. Now I had Bid Day to look forward to.
Sunday morning, the various sororities lined up along the stairs to Soldier and Sailors, while dancing and cheering. Once inside, we received our bids in envelopes. I wanted to rip mine open instantly, but I had to wait for the countdown. Then we all scrambled to rip open our bids and find out which sorority we would belong to. One by one, each group of new members ran out of the doors together to join their sorority sisters. Every girl was beaming with joy, because we had all found our new homes.
This was my rushing experience as a new member. But also, Jessie Iacullo (our wonderful HC president) shared with me her experience as a sister in a sorority on the other side of the rushing process.
Jessie: “Hello from the other side: the behind the scenes of sorority recruitment.
The days are long, the talking is loud, and sometimes an IV of coffee is needed. However, though recruitment is a long, tiring, and stressful process, bid day makes it all worth it.
What most people don’t know about the sorority side of recruitment is that we’re all just as nervous and scared as you are. Hello, it’s a lot of responsibility to know that just one conversation with a girl can make or break her feelings about her house! We spend hours on end brainstorming questions and topics that aren’t boring, aka things other than “what’s your major?” or “what year are you?” My personal favorite questions to ask revolve around eating and traveling, because those are two of my favorite things.
We always try our best to always be smiling and not complaining, but sometimes you can’t help but apologize for dozing off or looking tired- we’re only human! There are copious amounts of coffee and mints involved so we can make sure we’re presenting ourselves as best as we can.
In between the speaking rounds is a circus- though we try to take a break and relax, this includes taking off our heels as soon as the door closes and sprinting to our stash of Goldfish and Pop Tarts (though that might just be me.) It can get tiring as the days go on, but when the nights start to end, the best day comes around…
Bid Day is such an interesting day: girls dressing up in glitter and paint, cheering on the top of their lungs even though they just went through the longest days of their lives (which are usually spent in bed with Netflix), and welcoming so many new girls into their sorority homes. At the end of the process not only is there a huge addition to the house, but the members of the house all get closer than ever through the recruitment process.”
So, now you have a little sneak peak of what rush is all about. Intrigued? You can always (and should) rush next year.