Prentice Hall Student Success SuperSite

One Student's Journey

Rushing Back to School

This isn't a good week for claustrophobics. I'm writing this column from a diminutive little runt of a tent which sleeps two people at the most, and that's only if they're both shorter than me, which is pretty damn short. Yes, tenting season has begun -- again. Some students actually came to Duke a week before the end of break to set up their tents for the Carolina game. Because the people in my tent had better things to do with their free time, we didn't set up until the day before Rush (for non-Greeks, one day before class started.) Hence we are tent #83. Sick, sick, sick. And we don't even have the real tent set up yet -- this one's only holding our place for the moment.

But all those complications can't hold a candle to the incredibly hectic and rushed thing we call -- you guessed it -- Panhellenic Rush. After one week, I feel like I've got a pretty good handle on the nature of Rush, so I suppose I could relate a few of its ins and outs.

Sorority Rush commenced last Wednesday, when I was awakened at the ungodly hour of 7:30 a.m. by my friend Jaime, clothed in a bright blue sweater, full make-up, and curled hair. Jaime is usually a talkative person, but her morning liveliness (is that a word?) astounded me. It continued to astound me after twelve hours of running around West Campus and having the same conversation 56 times in a row. Anyway, I joined the rest of the female population by stumbling into the showers, stumbling back out, rubbing my eyes, and peeking hopelessly into my closet. I still don't understand the math -- I now officially have more clothes than my closet can hold, yet I still couldn't find anything to wear. After 8 different outfits, three minor crises, and many, many butterflies in my stomach, my freshman friends and I set out for West Campus and the first round of Rush.

If Jaime was champagne-bubbly that morning, the girls at the first party were Jolt Cola. I have never seen so many girls talk so much, so fast, so loud. (That's another reason claustrophobics might want to avoid Duke Rush!) Fortunately for me, my nervousness translated into chatty, brisk speech, and no problems ensued. The girls performed a cute little skit about their sorority between conversations. Everyone was completely friendly -- the problem was, after meeting seven different people, I started to forget names. After that it was all downhill for my memory, but the sororities continued to entertain. Surprisingly enough, in spite of their claims of diversity within their organizations, many of the sororities were easy to identify by stereotype. Some of them were tough chicks with attitude -- and beauty, of course. Others were the cool, relaxed ones, some bore a suspicious resemblance to Barbie dolls, and still others seemed like they thrived on Vivarin. That isn't to say anything derogatory -- in fact, by the end of the day, I had only found two out of ten sororities that I didn't particularly love. And after a twelve-hour day, I'd say it's a good indication that I was still in a decent mood. Detractors of Rush should really go through it -- it's not as bad as you've heard.

The Countdown 8/25
Moving in 9/1
Going to Class 9/8
Rated PG 9/15
Athletes Foot in Mouth 9/22
Shaken Not Stirred 9/29
Sleeping with the Enemy 10/6
Withdrawal Symptoms 10/13
Why Duke? 10/20
Par-ants Weekend 10/27
Halloween 11/3
Who Am I? 11/10
Travel Guide 11/17
Give Me a Break 11/24
Thank You 12/1
Campus Camp-out 12/8
Apply Yourself 12/15
Rushing Back to School 1/26
Chi-Omega Land 2/2
Apply Yourself #2 2/9
Three Month Itch 2/16
School Daze 2/23
Politics and Popularity 3/2
They Came They Saw, They Choked 3/9
Dating at Duke 3/16
Weekly Update 3/30
Beep Beep 4/6
Extra,Extra 4/13
Room to Move 4/20
End of the Innocense 4/27
Help Me 5/1
The Last Hurrah 5/8

My Rho Chi (that's pseudo-Greek for Rush Counselor) came through with a card on which I had to rank the sororities in order of preference. Afterwards, I realized I had made a mistake -- my official second choice was actually my first, and my third choice was my second. Oops! Fortunately (I suppose), that was amended quickly. Two days later, I received my schedule for the next round and immediately noticed something strange -- my first choice was missing. I had been cut.

That was tough. Let's just say I didn't really feel like leaving the room for a couple of hours. But eventually, I started to realize that it was for the best, and after my best friend Nathalie didn't make it into that one either, I was quite relieved. The next day (Saturday), Rush began again, this time with only seven sororities instead of ten. Although the parties followed the same basic concept of mingling, they were shorter and more conversation-oriented. Each Rushee only met about three girls per sorority, and I think we all began to define our concepts of each group more clearly. I noticed that a definite first choice had emerged from the mess -- and it wasn't even the silver-medal winner of the last round. It was my previous third choice. I left that sorority (whose name I will hopefully be able to divulge soon) with a sunny feeling after the second round, even though the skies didn't agree with my mood. And tomorrow, I'll find out what they thought of me. Wish me luck!

Fraternity Rush is an ENTIRELY different story. Jon is rushing as well, so Jaime and I have been tagging along with the guys to their parties. And I do mean parties. It felt like the beginning of the year again this weekend with loud music, strobe lights, and beer cans in every imaginable place. Jaime and I fit right in -- I think bringing us along might have been the guys best move yet. A little estrogen mixed in with all that testosterone can do wonders, you know. Forget video dating services and the Psychic Friends Network. A frat party is the easiest place in the world to pick up guys, and seeing as how the two temporary main attractions were following their male friends around, the guys were immediately a little more popular than they might have been. A tip for guys who have yet to Rush: make friends with girls who like to party, and other guys will make friends with you really quickly. But our guys could have certainly held their own -- it made me proud to see Jon joking around with the frat guys like he was already one of them. Wish him luck too.

There is one more aspect of Rush that some colleges may not have, and that's selective houses. These are different from frats, but run on the same basic concept -- they're dorms that hold Rush to determine who gets to live there. They're all on Main West, so the location is great, and the people generally know how to have a lot of fun. Girls can be in both a sorority and a selective house, but guys have to choose between the two. I'm rushing Mirecourt, which is in my opinion (and many others') the most fun of them all. Fortunately, that Rush doesn't start for a couple more weeks, so I can get myself settled into Greek life before I have to start worrying about housing. Don't worry, you'll hear all about that later!

For the meantime, I'm going to try to get some sleep in this tiny tent and wait on pins and needles for the results of Saturday's round. I'm not nervous... really... oh, who am I kidding?