Questions for sorority sisters

[soflabbwlvr]

I'm working on a story that takes place on a college campus during rush week. I have a few questions about the process.

1. What is the schedule of events?

2. How many women typically apply for admission in a given cycle? How many are accepted?

3. How much time does it take to complete the process?

4. What percentage of members live in the sorority house? How long does it take for new members to be provided housing?

Bonus question for officers and/or selection committee members:

5. How many people are involved in the selection process? How often do they meet during the process?

Thank you in advance for your help. I don't need to know the name of your organization or college affiliation, but I am interested in the area of the country and whether you attended a large university or small college.

 

[soflabbwlvr]

So, is it really true that no one who has ever pledged a sorority reads this forum?

 

[glynndah]

You might have better luck asking this over in the AH.

 

[IndyGal]

Sorority life

Yes, sorority members are on Lit -- can't sleep - just caught your question.

I pledged a sorority (it's been awhile) -and I can help explain. To join, you go through "Rush" - a time of about 2 weeks. All who want to go through Rush sign up and meet in a large room (i.e. school auditorium) where you break off into smaller groups go through rounds of parties - which may last only a short time, like 30 minutes. You have a number of sororities to visit in on night, so it's quick. As you travel between parties, the active members are gathering and quickly evaluating you - to see if you 'fit' into their group. When you're done for the night you go back to the large room and rank your favorite sororities from top to bottom. In the next group of parties either you're finishing up seeing others, or, it's the next round, and you're going back to meet the sororities again. They are always a different theme, doing different skits to explain what they're about, etc.... Until the last round is the bid night where you pretty much know which sorority you want to pledge. You may be going to three parties that night, and the times to meet with them are longer - dressing up is expected. With luck, they pick you, you pick them ... it's a match and you're asked to pledge.

The percentages of who gets in a sorority -- well it depends. All schools would be different. At ours, I'd say a high majority that wanted to be a sorority and go through all of the rush parties probably found one they liked and would be accepted - but again, it's been awhile.

Moving into a house -- I can't say. Our sorority didn't have a house, we were all together in the school's dorm. There ususally wouldn't be room until the next semester - or next year, as housing has filled the spots. You wait your turn for the seniors to move out, or underclassmen to move off campus. We had to submit our housing assignments - specifically saying where we want to be (and as a sorority member you are top priority), but as to who gets to move it - I believe it was the luck of the draw with the housing committee. Sorry - can't help much there on housing selection.

Went to a mid-western school where the sorority's 'ceiling' was set at 65 (number of girls we could have at one time).

Hope this helps.

 

[soflabbwlvr]

Thank you, Indygal. Your response is very informative. As it turns out, I was proceeding under a number of misconceptions which would have resulted in a ridiculously misdirected story.

If I'm understanding you correctly, "Rush Week" is a two-week period during which the sororities try to recruit new members by throwing parties every night. The recruits travel around the campus in groups, sampling what each organization has to offer. At the end of the period, the recruits pledge the organizations of their choice, and thereby become members.

At which point do the secret rituals take place? If there were any hazing, when would that occur? If someone were unable to keep up, would they be merely humiliated or could their membership be revoked?

I realize that you cannot discuss any details, and no one would ever admit to hazing, but if some hypothetical rogue house were to be involved in such activities, when and how would they occur?

 

[Kumo163]

(this is what happened at my school)

1. What is the schedule of events?
When i rushed, it lasted about 5 days. Every day, the girls were free to do what they wanted until late evening-evening, where you were invited to different rooms around campus by sororities, basically getting to know the girls better. Every day, you were selected to come back by fewer and fewer greek life organizations until the final day where it was often between 2 groups where you had the option of choosing who you were accepted by.

2. How many women typically apply for admission in a given cycle? How many are accepted?
Totally depends on the school and its size, how many greek life groups decide to take members during Rush week, etc. From what I remember right, 10-15% of all who applied actually were accepted.

3. How much time does it take to complete the process?
Rush was about a week. For those who are dropped by day 2-3, they're left to do with the rest of the week whatever they want until school starts (rush was a week before the rest of the student body arrived on campus).

4. What percentage of members live in the sorority house? How long does it take for new members to be provided housing?
Again, totally depends on the school. Some schools are super greek life oriented, others, it's barely a thing. Most of the time when i'm walking to class, I see at least 2-3 sororities attempting to advertise some kind of charity or event. I'm unsure of the housing.

 

[Bookishleigh]

I imagine it's very different for each campus. I went to a large school in Indiana where it was a rather in depth process as we had close to 20 sororities.

1. What is the schedule of events?
Ours started one weekend in the fall where you were required to tour all the houses. This started Friday evening, all of Saturday, and most of Sunday. From that point you made cuts and the houses made cuts. You returned for during winter break on a Wednesday for more rounds. Each round became more formal with more mutual cuts being made. There was a round Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. I am pretty Saturday you just went to visit a final of three houses. On Sunday, you made final selections and as did the houses and then it was revealed if you made it in. And of course, a big party night.

2. How many women typically apply for admission in a given cycle? How many are accepted?
At my school, the fall weekend started with hundreds of women going through rush. I'd say each house probably accepted 10 to 15 at the most.

3. How much time does it take to complete the process?
The entire process at my campus occurred over a long weekend in the fall and again over winter break for close to a week.

4. What percentage of members live in the sorority house? How long does it take for new members to be provided housing?
All members were required to live in the sorority house with the exception of the newly initiated members (as we normally had dorms paid for and apartments that first year).

Bonus question for officers and/or selection committee members:

5. How many people are involved in the selection process? How often do they meet during the process?
In our sorority, ALL MEMBERS were a part of the selection process. There was not just a small committee that made the decision who was in and who was out. It was a long night.

 

[soflabbwlvr]

Thank you Ashleigh, Fermina, and Kumo. Your responses are very helpful. It appears that my concept is flawed, and I need to ask different questions. At this point I need to learn a little more about the pledge and initiation process. What can anyone tell me about those stages of the proceedings?

Thank you in advance for your help. It is greatly appreciated.

 

[warmAmber]

Thank you Ashleigh, Fermina, and Kumo. Your responses are very helpful. It appears that my concept is flawed, and I need to ask different questions. At this point I need to learn a little more about the pledge and initiation process. What can anyone tell me about those stages of the proceedings?

Thank you in advance for your help. It is greatly appreciated.

I am an alum of a sorority. The proceedings are secret for most "Greek" houses. Those secrets are more traditional word bonding with friendship and knowing the history of the sorority than any physical acts.

Write what you want. There might be those who protest any sex involved acts don't happen and they will be correct but that doesn't stop the mind, does it?

Good luck.

 

[soflabbwlvr]

I am an alum of a sorority. The proceedings are secret for most "Greek" houses. Those secrets are more traditional word bonding with friendship and knowing the history of the sorority than any physical acts.

Write what you want. There might be those who protest any sex involved acts don't happen and they will be correct but that doesn't stop the mind, does it?

Good luck.

thank you Amber. I'm not asking anyone to reveal any secrets. Rather, I'm interested in the general framework. I now have a much better grasp of the Rush Week agenda, and from that I learned that my story ideas make no sense in that context. Generally speaking, I'm interested in the time frame of pledge week, the schedule, the purpose of it, and whether there is any attrition. I'll make up my own details, and they will be over the top outrageous. I just need to know how and when I can make them take place.

 

[AlwaysHot4It]

Pledging

Our pledgeship lasted a whole semester. If you made your grades, you were initiated in January or August, depending on when you pledged (regular fall rush or open rush in the spring). We didn't have any hazing, it was pretty chill. The only drama was when a pledge flirted or hooked up with an older sister's boyfriend (or you didn't show up for required attendance things).

Initiation day consisted of our Big Sisters dressing us up in a ridiculous costume - sometimes funny, sometimes slutty - and then the pledges/some of the sisters would go around our little college town and make us do dumb & embarrassing things. Sometimes they would take the pledges to the frat houses and make us sing songs or propose to the guys, but nothing too bad or vulgar at all. Initiation was held at night Ina local church. Lights off, candles, white robes, reciting things, learning secret words & handshakes, drinking blood & sacrificial virgins were the usual suspects. (jk about the blood & virgins - everybody knows there are no virgins in a sorority!)

 

[soflabbwlvr]

Our pledgeship lasted a whole semester. If you made your grades, you were initiated in January or August, depending on when you pledged (regular fall rush or open rush in the spring). We didn't have any hazing, it was pretty chill. The only drama was when a pledge flirted or hooked up with an older sister's boyfriend (or you didn't show up for required attendance things).

Initiation day consisted of our Big Sisters dressing us up in a ridiculous costume - sometimes funny, sometimes slutty - and then the pledges/some of the sisters would go around our little college town and make us do dumb & embarrassing things. Sometimes they would take the pledges to the frat houses and make us sing songs or propose to the guys, but nothing too bad or vulgar at all. Initiation was held at night Ina local church. Lights off, candles, white robes, reciting things, learning secret words & handshakes, drinking blood & sacrificial virgins were the usual suspects. (jk about the blood & virgins - everybody knows there are no virgins in a sorority!)

Thank you. This information is all helpful. Can you expound a little on the Big Sisters? Was one or more assigned to each pledge? Were they of any particular year or rank? Did they select their pledges or was it random assignment? What was the role of the Big Sister?

If anyone else can share general information regarding the pledge process they went through, please feel free to contribute.

 

[AlwaysHot4It]

Thank you. This information is all helpful. Can you expound a little on the Big Sisters? Was one or more assigned to each pledge? Were they of any particular year or rank? Did they select their pledges or was it random assignment? What was the role of the Big Sister?

If anyone else can share general information regarding the pledge process they went through, please feel free to contribute.

A Big Sister was an older sister that paired with a pledge during her pledgeship. The Big Sis chose the pledge, usually her favorite she met during Rush. She remained secret to the pledge before initiation. Sometime, usually within a couple of weeks before the end of the semester, there was a big reveal for who was your Big Sister.

During your pledgeship, she leaves her Little Sister presents and notes (a sweatshirt with our Greek letters, coozies, pic frames, general girl stuff with the sorority letters or the girl's monogram on it - and yes, I'm from the South and we LOVE our monogrammed things!! .

There wasn't a rule about assigning Little Sisters. Usually everyone had their favorites but if there were 2 older sisters who wanted the same pledge, the more senior girl "won". As long as the Big Sis was an initiated member in good standing, she was good to go. The Big Sis role was to encourage the pledge, give her "happys" (btw, I HATE the use of Happy as a noun/object - brings back bad bow-head memories! Lol), and make the pledge feel included and special. I am still friends with my Big Sister, 20+ years later.

Also, the Big Sis was to watch out for the pledge. If the pledge was doing anything she wasn't supposed to do (ie - smoke standing up, drink out of a can {crazy,I know!}, screw around or act like a slut in general), the Big Sister's job was to call her on the carpet. Usually gently at first, but if the pledge didn't straighten up, she could be called before Standards and get fined or suspended or kicked out. Of course, that was back in the 80s when girls still had curfew in the dorms. I don't know what they do now but I'm sure it's not much different.

All that being said, sometimes your Big Sis was just kick-ass awesome (like mine) who never ratted you out, bought you beer when you were still under age and partied with you. The above description is how it was "supposed" to be. But in reality, it was mostly horny girls getting drunk or semi-drunk and flirting and/or hooking up with hot fraternity boys. Or boys on the baseball team. Cough, cough.

 

[soflabbwlvr]

Thanks again, AlwaysHot4It. You have been a tremendous help.

And.once again, any other input that you or anyone else can offer is greatly appreciated.

 

[Bookishleigh]

Our pledge time sounds pretty similar - definitely no hazing. In fact, pledging a sorority is actually the best time because that's when they WANT you to join so you're constantly being showered with gifts from the sorority and taken places, etc. We didn't get our big sister assignments until after we were initiated though. Ours was an overnight process where the night before we did something fun in small groups and then spent the night in the sorority house. The next morning we woken up very early but not told what time it was. Our initiation was very serious with the white dresses and candle ceremony though. I won't go into too much detail because, yes, it's all secret (but nothing crazy). After the initiation ceremony we were surprised by a nice lunch with our families waiting for us and our new sorority pins and that's when our big sisters were revealed.

 

[soflabbwlvr]

Thank you once again, Fermina. All this information is incredibly helpful.

 

[masterandmargarita]

I've been researching this as well and I was mostly interested in the concept of "hell week", which is more associated with fraternities than sororities. In my opinion, writing a hell week in to a sorority story is the best way to take advantage of sexual hazing, humiliation, power play scenarios, etc. I assume that hell week falls somewhere in between pledging and initiation. I don't know how realistic any of this is, but maybe others can confirm?