hey all!
happy wednesday! i missed y’all monday but i had a super busy weekend and my first free time since recruitment to sit down and enjoy myself watch all the netflix i wanted and run. oh and did i mention, from recruitment i got a mild case of bronchitis? well i do, and i’m definitely getting over it i just gotta finish my course of antibiotics.
finally with the process behind me, and i’m not an officially initiated member yet, i feel like i candidly talk about my experience going through recruitment at GW reflecting the side of a potential new member of a sorority, so without further ado, here we go!
why i decided to rush/go through recruitment at GWU
i’ve definitely talked about this before, but the major thing i never expected about GW is that its incredibly difficult to meet people here. i went through my first few weeks at school having a terrible time because i felt alone despite living with 3 other people. i went to an incredibly small all girls high school so going to a school – and living in a dorm which was more than three times larger my entire high school. i just felt like i walked around everywhere and saw hundreds of faces that were all just strangers to me. for sure i had friends who i made in my classes and over a few more weeks i found people who i really loved being friends with. i still very much wasn’t content with the lonliness i still was feeling and i went to a few org fairs and was reminded about the greek community at gwu.
at gwu the greek community is present but definitely not necessary if you do not want it. my sister is in greek life at her university and i was never really sure if it was for me, but after my experience and need for a community at my school i decided to rush afterall.
pre-rush preparations
since the greek life is pretty chill at gw there is no need for getting written letters for recommendations. at gw you must go to two events before rush starts – one which is an introduction on greek life at gwu and greek life in general and one which is an orientation right before rush starts about the recruitment experience.
at gw the recuritment counselors are called your ‘pi pho chi’ (s) and they shuffle you around, help you with your schedule and are dissafiliated with their chapters to help you rank and work with what is best for you.
also before rush they send you information on what to wear for looks because lots of people are concerned about it – which they tell you not to be.
day 1
the first day of rush is the day where all the 600 girls who rushed visited the 11 sororities at GW which are adpi, aephi, alpha phi, chi omega, kappa kappa gamma, kappa delta, theta, phi sigma sigma, sigma delta tau, pi phi, sigma kappa. we went in with approximately 45-50 people to each party and each party lasted 20 minutes each.
most of these conversations entitled stuff about you : your major, where you’re from, about your first semester and on and on.
on this day we all wore a black ‘gw panhellenic’ t-shirt which was a v-neck and had white writing on it. they suggested that we style it in anyway which we felt comfortable. i opted for styling the shirt with black wide leg jeans, my gola high top sneakers and my urban outfitters teddy coat.
day 2
day 2 of rush is called ‘philanthropy’ round. in this round you can be invited back to a maximum of 8 sorority houses and you learn about each sororities charity events – and what they do to help the community around them. it was 30 minutes this time and in my experience this round was more questions about you and what you do. they also asked if i had any philantrophic experience or if i had any service experience. we talked more about the events that they each host during their week of service!
on this day they suggested that we wear ‘brunch outfits’ or something we’d wear to lunch with friends. on this day i wore my forever 21 glen plaid pants, a v-neck bodysuit and my sam edelman tinsley boots.
day 3
day 3 was entitled the ‘sisterhood round’ and in this round they showed videos of what they did and loved, some of their favorite events and talked about their overall sisterhoods. we went to a maximum of 5 houses this day for 40 minutes each and got to focus on the relationships within the girls in the house. on this day i definitely had a feel for which sororities were right for me and which i got to rank for the two going into preference night.
for the 3rd day they suggested we wear the stuff we’d wear to a nice dinner with family or friends. i wore my topshop wrap dress and my bp heels.
day 4
the last night of rush is typically called ‘prefernce night’ lovingly referred to as ‘pref night’. this night we went to a maximum of two houses for an hour each. each sorority performed some sort of ritual for new mems to essential decided where they belonged and at the end of the night be able to rank for which sorority they would like to be a member of. at the end of this night, we ranked #1 and #2, the sororities we most like to be a part of so we’d then be prepared for bid day the next day.
for preference night we were supposed to wear ‘cocktail outfits’ so i decided for me that would mean a nice dress. i wore this lulu’s dress in green with my black bp heels.
bid-day
this was the chillest of the whole process, and easily the most rewarding day of the entire process. on this day we picked up our bids between the hours of 1:30-4:30 and prepared for the bid day event parties at night.
i was so excited to pick up my bid, and since it was exactly as i expected i was SO SO SO happy. by sisterhood round i really felt like i found a sense of belonging within pi phi and was so excited. we all gathered together in the u-yard at night and ‘ran home’ to pi beta phi and the sisters who we would soon meet. from there we took pictures in the house and we went bowling in georgetown.
perceptions of sorority life ahead
as i’ve said before, i did not necessarily see myself joining a sorority but i’m so glad i did. since we officially had bid day some fellow pledges and i have been out with them a few times in a variety of different activities which we planned for ourselves. so far i’m so glad i’ve found a group i’ve really gelled with and i feel so glad to have them as an amazing backbone.
enjoy all! and i’ll definitely sharing more about sorority life soon!
