Bamarush

[jlt19]

I was just talking to my SIL about my niece picking a school because it’s apparently a “thing” to at least visit somewhere no one else has. My school was small and beautiful and just got on a top 10 most beautiful campuses list in the world. First question, is there Greek life there? Nope. I specifically chose a college without it because the thought of rejection terrified me.

[lilac05]

We ended up in Tuscaloosa last year during sorority rush week. We were staying way off campus, but our host was telling us all about rush and how crazy it was. She highly recommended that we stay far from campus. We drove through on our way out of town, and from what we could see, it was every bit as outrageous as we had heard.

I’m not watching. I saw enough in that 15 minutes to know that I wouldn’t find that entertaining at all. (We also realized our kids are closer to college age than we are…so we definitely are not their target audience! LOL)

[nextbigthing]

Super glad I managed to attend a large southern public university with a great fun football program that was only 17% Greek. Had a great academic and social experience and didn't have to put up with any of this shit.

[emilyinchile]

Aug 5, 2022 21:57:29 GMT -5 cuadrado said:

Aug 5, 2022 19:04:55 GMT -5 HRH Queen Dick I said:

MAGA hat, fake tanner, cock straws, Bible, Adderall

Lololololol.

I saw that the cost for these sororities is $4,700+ per semester. My mind is blown.

Is that price to live in the house or just to be a member? I was in a sorority at UCLA, so obviously not the same as in the South, but the yearly dues for people not living in the house were kind of steep for just activities whereas if you lived in the cost of housing (including food) + activities was a really good deal compared to just housing in dorms.

[arielroux]

The cost blows my mind! I was in a sorority in college and our dues were $300 per semester, lol. I obviously spent more than that after events, formal dresses and all that, but omg. My parents paid my dues for me and they didn’t even want to pay $600/yr! I’m pretty sure THOUSANDS would have been out of the question. Southern schools are just different, man.

[mambo123]

I’m a member of a Divine 9 sorority and our dues have been in the thousands for years. I’ve been out of college for some time now and dues for graduates are just as high.

[sugarbear1]

Do I need to google "cock straw"??

[HRH Queen Dick I]

Aug 6, 2022 8:57:12 GMT -5 sugarbear1 said:

Do I need to google "cock straw"??

.

[foundmylazybum]

What a racket

[frlcb]

Aug 6, 2022 7:01:28 GMT -5 emilyinchile said:

Aug 5, 2022 21:57:29 GMT -5 cuadrado said:

Lololololol.

I saw that the cost for these sororities is $4,700+ per semester. My mind is blown.

Is that price to live in the house or just to be a member? I was in a sorority at UCLA, so obviously not the same as in the South, but the yearly dues for people not living in the house were kind of steep for just activities whereas if you lived in the cost of housing (including food) + activities was a really good deal compared to just housing in dorms.

Just to be a member. To live in the house adds several thousand.

[mommin]

Aug 6, 2022 7:45:18 GMT -5 arielroux said:

The cost blows my mind! I was in a sorority in college and our dues were $300 per semester, lol. I obviously spent more than that after events, formal dresses and all that, but omg. My parents paid my dues for me and they didn’t even want to pay $600/yr! I’m pretty sure THOUSANDS would have been out of the question. Southern schools are just different, man.

Same! We didn’t have a sorority house so I had to pay for dorms on top of that. I’m entirely certain I would not have gotten enough school loans/grants/scholarships for that mess. Clearly, socioeconomic diversity isn’t a thing in these sororities either.

[arielroux]

Aug 6, 2022 11:55:14 GMT -5 mommin said:

Aug 6, 2022 7:45:18 GMT -5 arielroux said:

The cost blows my mind! I was in a sorority in college and our dues were $300 per semester, lol. I obviously spent more than that after events, formal dresses and all that, but omg. My parents paid my dues for me and they didn’t even want to pay $600/yr! I’m pretty sure THOUSANDS would have been out of the question. Southern schools are just different, man.

Same! We didn’t have a sorority house so I had to pay for dorms on top of that. I’m entirely certain I would not have gotten enough school loans/grants/scholarships for that mess. Clearly, socioeconomic diversity isn’t a thing in these sororities either.

Yep, same here. Our school didn’t have houses for Greek life, but we had designated wings in one of the dorms on campus, so I did live on my sorority wing for a year (which was an additional year of room and board). It wasn’t big enough for everyone, so the girls usually just lived on the wing the year after they were initiated and then ended up just moving off campus after that. 

I just cannot imagine the time requirement (in addition to the money) that these sororities require. I hated our weekly chapter meetings, let alone rush and pledging events, and that was probably nothing compared to what these girls do. No thank you, please.

[pugz]

I specifically looked for colleges that didn't have sororities. What was most surprising to me was a Christian college I visited that had them! I didn't know that combo was a think but apparently it was.


My second choice school did have them but they didn't have houses, they had a floor of a dorm designated for each one. This was because of an old city law that deemed any home with more than 3 unrelated females living in it a BROTHEL.

[whattheheck]

Am I the only one who remembers the shark tank episode pitching a rush clothing business?


gazettereview.com/2016/09/frill-sorority-clothing-update-happened-shark-tank/

[georgeglass]

There are many parts that make me cringe, but the "tradition" of moms and grandmothers coming down on Bid Day to watch just kills me. My D is a rising high school senior and I teased her all last year about what outfit I should wear to watch her Bid Day.

[Deleted]

Aug 6, 2022 2:20:27 GMT -5 nextbigthing said:

Super glad I managed to attend a large southern public university with a great fun football program that was only 17% Greek. Had a great academic and social experience and didn't have to put up with any of this shit.

Same. People would ask if I had any plans to rush, and I just told them that I had plenty of friends that I didn’t have to pay for. 🤷🏻‍♀️

[shortstax]

I went to a Midwest uni with a strong Greeklife culture. I went through a huge, organized rush with about a thousand girls (although much less formal and way more chill than what bamarush seems.)

I received no bids.

People were shocked and my rush leaders was horrified bc this had never happened before (lol, that did not make me feel better.)

It shook my confidence for years. Looking back I wish I could have told young Shortstax that none of that mattered. That type of rejection was tough though, so I get annoyed with all things bamarush—can’t watch the trainwreck, lol.

[pixy0stix]

This so isn't my scene, but I can see how people like it. I had enough group projects with sorority girls while I was in college to know it's not for me. I felt bad for a lot of them, particularly the twin sisters who hated it but did it because they were legacies. None of their "sisters" had learned to tell them apart even after two years of being in that particular house.

[foundmylazybum]

Greek life has a weird organizational structure that can lead to group think and clustering to save the organization at the cost of the individual if something happens.

Like deaths caused/linked to hazing and alcohol consumption to be part of the group.

The whole...idk presentation of rush and people striving to be part of such organizations and "families" is fascinating and fucking weird.

[carmenere]

Aug 7, 2022 9:19:07 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

This so isn't my scene, but I can see how people like it. I had enough group projects with sorority girls while I was in college to know it's not for me. I felt bad for a lot of them, particularly the twin sisters who hated it but did it because they were legacies. None of their "sisters" had learned to tell them apart even after two years of being in that particular house.

I had a roommate who rushed every semester during our first three years of college, trying to get into the same sorority her mother was in. She never got a bid. I felt really bad for her.

I wasn’t in a sorority but sometimes when I wanted to leave a study/project group meeting I would say “I gotta go, I’m late for chapter” and just leave.

[wise_rita]

If you've got the cash I vote invest in study abroad rather than a sorority.

[wildrice]

Aug 6, 2022 11:55:14 GMT -5 mommin said:

Aug 6, 2022 7:45:18 GMT -5 arielroux said:

The cost blows my mind! I was in a sorority in college and our dues were $300 per semester, lol. I obviously spent more than that after events, formal dresses and all that, but omg. My parents paid my dues for me and they didn’t even want to pay $600/yr! I’m pretty sure THOUSANDS would have been out of the question. Southern schools are just different, man.

Same! We didn’t have a sorority house so I had to pay for dorms on top of that. I’m entirely certain I would not have gotten enough school loans/grants/scholarships for that mess. Clearly, socioeconomic diversity isn’t a thing in these sororities either.

I am curious about this. The one and only person I know who went to Alabama did join a sorority. She is my mom's friend's daughter, who was a single mom who struggled financially. The daughter got a full scholarship but I always wondered how she did all this sorority stuff and traveling in college - loans? I didn't even know it cost that much.

She did graduate with a great job and lots of connections that she would not have had prior to college, so it's possible that investment paid off. I just remember watching her social media and feeling like she has landed in a foreign world. She definitely looked the part of a southern sorority girl.

[ssmjlm]

Not all schools and not all sororities are equal. I was in a small chapter with a cap of 50 members at a school of 5k students. It was a great experience, although I did not go through formal recruitment because freshman year I was an athlete, I did have a great experience and made some life long friends.

Alabama is like a whole other world of sorority life.

[rupertpenny]

Aug 8, 2022 5:16:16 GMT -5 wildrice said:

Aug 6, 2022 11:55:14 GMT -5 mommin said:

Same! We didn’t have a sorority house so I had to pay for dorms on top of that. I’m entirely certain I would not have gotten enough school loans/grants/scholarships for that mess. Clearly, socioeconomic diversity isn’t a thing in these sororities either.

I am curious about this. The one and only person I know who went to Alabama did join a sorority. She is my mom's friend's daughter, who was a single mom who struggled financially. The daughter got a full scholarship but I always wondered how she did all this sorority stuff and traveling in college - loans? I didn't even know it cost that much.

She did graduate with a great job and lots of connections that she would not have had prior to college, so it's possible that investment paid off. I just remember watching her social media and feeling like she has landed in a foreign world. She definitely looked the part of a southern sorority girl.

I'm not sure what the deal is in Alabama, but I know in my experience in greek life at an SEC state school very few of us were actually paying full tuition due to the Florida Bright Futures Scholarship, which is how I was able to afford to join a sorority.  I went to UF and at the time almost everyone accepted to the school met the requirements for at least a 75% tuition scholarship, most of us qualified for 100% of tuition scholarships. If you lived in the house your sorority dues covered all of your housing, meal plan, and a ton of social programming which ended up being a really good deal. I believe that Georgia has a similar scholarship and other states might as well. On top of that in-state tuition in many southern states is WAY lower than in-state tuition in other parts of the country. 

Of course there were a ton of rich girls and it was easy to spend a ton of money in the course of sorority life, but for people like me my sorority dues were one of my only expenses while I was in college since tuition and books were covered. 

ETA: I am not trying to endorse Panhellenic greek life here, just explaining how some people afford to join. I don't regret joining my sorority, but I strongly prefer that my kids to not participate in greek life when the time comes.

[cville]

So, I went to a school with about 1/3 Greek life. I went to the rush meeting my first year because I was curious. They said we had to make a name tag that also "showed our personality" and was no larger than 8.5 x 11. I noped my way out immediately after.

My friends who did rush experienced nothing like this. Nothing. I think this is very weirdly specific. And about half of them dropped their sorority after about a year and no one shunned them or threw hot pink paint at them or anything like that.

[egishere]

I was in a sorority at a Big 12 school that was pretty Greek-centric. I don't know what its like there now but our rush wasn't as intense as Bama. Did I have fun? Yes but will I encourage my daughters to rush? No! A lot of sororities have quit automatically giving legacies a bid including mine.

We had "lodges" which were a big, beautiful house but no one lived in them due to a stupid city ordinance. We just had rush, chapter meetings and small parties there-guys were not allowed in the lodge. The frats were allowed to have parties with alcohol at their lodges. I'm trying to remember the dues back in the late 90s but I feel like it was $600 a semester or something like that- which covered national dues, parties and events. Still spent a lot of other $ on clothes for said parties or formals, t shirts, gifts etc.

[shauni27]

I went to a school that didn't have a football team, let alone Greek life. It is something that absolutely has no appeal to me, which probably explains why I am so into watching this unfold--it is totally foreign to me.

[winnied]

This seems terrifying. My rush experience was totally different. There were still songs, skits, special parties/events to attend, but with...normal people.

I went to a small college in the North and loved my sorority experience. Our dues were somewhere between $200-300/semester in the early '00s. Living in the house was a separate cost, but it was actually cheaper than dorms with a meal plan.

The schools/chapters with high dues are just so that rich kids can have over the top parties and tons of crap. You need very little to sustain a Greek chapter! In my chapter, if you wanted swag for a date party that was an extra, separate, optional cost. You only bought the stuff you wanted.

I was an advisor for my sorority at a chapter in the Mid-Atlantic region. They didn't have houses or lodges, their dues in the 2010's were also around $250/semester. Rush was also not an insane experience.

As an alumni chapter president in the Mid-Atlantic, I was asked by HS seniors to complete recommendations for them to Alabama. No other school, just Alabama. One of Alabama's advisors told one of my peers that they would "never bring someone in that wasn't from the South." Clearly, they have a different set of values down there. It shows how superficial and unkind Greek life can be.

[pinkdutchtulips]

I looked into it but as a JUCO transfer it was unlikely I’d get a bid so I didn’t pursue it further. That said not being in a sorority didn’t cramp any social events - I went to plenty of fraternity parties, mixers, socials, and formals. All the while people just quietly assumed I was in a sorority and moved along.

[whattheheck]

Bumping to see if anyone watched the Bama rush documentary and their thoughts.