Diary Entry in the Shoes of a #Bamarush Girl

Tomorrow marks the start of the most stressful week of my life. It’s rush week at the University of Alabama, the biggest sorority recruitment in the world. Every day for the next week, I’ll be greeted by hundreds of sorority girls waiting to talk to me, find their new sisters, and ultimately judge me and the thousands of other girls rushing. The week (weeks, in the cases of larger schools) of constant hair and makeup prepping, chanting, smiling, posture, and shoes that feel probably about as comfortable as Cinderella’s glass slippers (shattered) is physically exhausting. At the end of every day, I get to rank the sororities, but my personal rankings are not nearly as important as how the sororities rank me. I’ve been trying to fall asleep since 10 pm; now it’s 2 am, and I need to be awake in a few hours for rush. I’ve already laid out my outfit for tomorrow. I’m wearing the t-shirt given to us by the Panhellenic council, a pink shiny mini skirt from Queen of Sparkles, purple glitter Golden Goose shoes that cost over $500, a pink bandana from Hobby Lobby, and the gold jewelry I wear every day. I spent days stalking the Instagrams of the girls in the top sororities to figure out what to wear; Emma McGowin, Haylee Golden, Ella Abner, Ashley Stahl, and Hope Wright. Anyway, I’m thinking about what to talk about to fit in with the sorority girls, who make up over 42% of all girls on campus. The biggest rule is I can’t talk about the 4 B’s; boys, booze, Bush (politics,) beliefs, or bucks. I need to show them that I fit in and can be one of them. They’re all perfect. I’m jealous. Perfect looks, perfect clothes, perfect boys, perfect social lives. Why wouldn’t you be jealous? 

I’ve heard that the sororities make you follow the 2/3 rule to make sure that all members look put together to uphold their perfect reputations. The 2/3 rule basically means that any time you leave the house you need to have spent time and effort making sure 2 out of the 3 areas of their beauty standards; hair, makeup, or outfit. If you want to wear sweats to class, you have to have your hair and makeup done. Don’t feel like blowing out your hair? You better have on a cute outfit and at least mascara. I’m not sure where it comes from, but sororities want all their members to fit their idea of perfection as each girl is a representation of the organization. Greek life prioritizes the societal ideal of perfection reinstates an age-old concept that the rich, white, thin, and beautiful are the elite. 

I’m standing outside of Zeta, my number one choice. The house itself is even intimidating, a brick mansion towering over me with big, white pillars. The doors swing open and I’m greeted by clapping and a chant, “you will be a Zeta if you know what’s good for you.” I do know what’s good for me and I’m hoping they’ll let me be a Zeta. There must be at least 100 girls in there, all in identical t-shirts. Alyssa is in line to go in a few spots ahead of me wearing the cutest silver Koch skirt. Its actually shorts, but the legs are flowy to look like a skirt with the comfort and security of shorts. I wish I had one to wear, but its $295. I have to get a better sorority than her, she got with Evan last weekend when I wanted to get with him. Jealousy and envy are supposed to be negative emotions, but I’m going to turn them into a driving factor. Envy can reveal our values and desires and provides great fuel and motivation to get there. It can highlight things we want but don’t yet have and when we know what we want we’re in a far better position to work towards it. Jealousy helps us guard what we have and motivate us to be a better version of ourselves. Without jealousy, the human race would have died out without it driving us to be better than our current selves and others. Standing in this line, the only motivation I have now is to be better than Alyssa. I’m hoping for ZTA, Phi Mu, [or] Alpha Phi, they may not be the nicest but they all have good-looking girls for the most part. 

In sororities, and fraternities too, there is an expectation of how you should look. Every sorority has a stereotype they’re known for and everyone in it is expected to fit. For example, Phi Mu is known to have Barbie girls, AXO is smart, wealthy, and important, and ADPi is girl next door. There is intense competition among houses and even between brothers or sisters from the same house often results in gang fights, eating disorders, the use of steroids, and plastic surgery. To fit the looks of the houses and appeal to the frat guys, many girls try to stay thin or lose weight. I’ve also seen a lot of nose jobs and boob jobs. I’m sure frats have stereotypes like that, but I don’t have to worry about that until I’m in a sorority, and I’m sure my sisters will teach me about each frat. 

One girl told me “we’re all truly sisters, Eskimo sisters.” The frats determine your social lives; the most important events are date parties and formal. Sororities have them too, but most girls just bring friends from other houses. To go to the frat date parties or formals, you’re expected to hook up with your dat.  If a guy asks you to a formal or a date party or something there’s always that implication that you kind of owe something to them, even if you don’t at all. The girls also have to have a look that appeases the guys so they can have a social life.

It’s finally bid day. There are thousands of girls sitting in the stadium with closed envelopes waiting for the countdown to open it and see what sorority they got. Following that, everyone will run to their home, welcomed and embraced by their sisters. 10, 9, I hold my breath, 8, 7, I’m holding back tears, 6, 5, this is going to make or break my college experience, 4, 3, actually, make or break the rest of my life, 2, 1. The sound of envelopes ripping echoes through the stadium, then screaming. I look at the paper, it says Zeta Tau Alpha and I join in on the screaming. I made it, all my hard work paid off. There are a few girls crying or sitting in silence who did not get the sorority they wanted. I feel bad but I’m just glad I’m not one of them. My next 4 years are basically all laid out for me now. It will cost me between 3 and 4 thousand dollars a semester to be in the sorority, plus around another thousand as a new member. On top of social events, we’ll have philanthropy events to support breast cancer. I’ll have to find time to study with all of these events, they want at least a 3.2 GPA. It’s going to cost me a lot of money, time, and effort, but it will be worth it.