The Truth About UC Davis Rush

As the end of summer looms, girls across America are preparing for their own version of the Hunger Games: rush (or recruitment, if you’re feeling formal). 

“Rush,” is the process in Greek life where “potential new members,” spend a few days visiting every sorority house on campus, holding a few conversations, baring their soul, and ranking each house from favorite to least favorite.

Sounds simple enough, right? Sacrifice a few weekends, play dress-up, make small talk, and pick your houses. Done. Except the sororities are ranking you too. Suddenly it’s not that simple.

However — when you account for the fact that the sororities themselves are also making their “pick,” it becomes more stressful.

Instead of remaining true to yourself, it becomes a game of trying to be the most attractive, most ideal candidate. Add in perceived campus “rankings,” pressure from the girls in your rush group, and the whiplash of feeling like you connected with a chapter one day, only to get cut the next — and the experience starts to feel like speed dating on steroids. 

Scary and intimidating as it sounds, UC Davis rush — officially called “recruitment” — is a gentler beast than what you’d find at Alabama or San Diego State. Over two weekends and four days, you visit nine houses on the first day, “Go Greek Day,” before the number slowly dwindles by the last night, “Preference Night.” Having been on both sides of the process, I think the judgements on the entire recruitment process are deluded.

Ultimately, recruitment is what you make of it — much like college itself. And at UC Davis, being in Greek life does not make or break your social status — I’ve never been treated better by being involved in it, if anything being a part of Greek life has gotten me judged before actually knowing me. 

I rushed as a second-year. Albeit still nervous, but with a better sense of security than most, knowing the world wouldn't end if I didn't land at my dream house. I stumbled through four long, sweaty, exhausting days with basically no idea what I was doing. I'd done my "research" via TikTok. It did not prepare me for the real thing. Nothing does.

Here's the truth: recruitment isn't bad, as long as you don't treat it like life or death. And I get why first-years do — it's your first two weekends on campus, away from home, away from friends, running on a rotation of emotions while trying to stay hydrated and keep your makeup intact. Getting cut from a house you thought you clicked with stings, especially once you've already imagined yourself in their merch, at their philanthropy events, texting the active you hit it off with. But recruitment only carries as much meaning as you assign to it. 

Going into the process, I had no idea what to expect beyond the sensationalized college comedies I saw growing up. But after the first day, I knew I wanted in. Throughout the process houses I liked cut me. I got discouraged. I got jealous of girls landing “top houses.” But I didn't lose myself over it. Maybe I came home a little peppier each night than I actually felt — but I stayed honest with myself, and trusted it would work out. It wasn't the end of the world when things didn't go my way. 

Even though you don’t know the real reason why a house cut you, it’s not worth stressing over. Girls after each cut would cry and rack their brains over and over about what they did wrong. Sometimes you didn’t do anything wrong. Sometimes it just wasn’t the right fit. Personally, I was awkward at houses, talked about Wicked a little too much, and my lack of traveling experience. I didn’t have social media, and the coolest thing about me to others was writing in a newspaper. 

At one house a girl asked me who the coolest person I interviewed was. I said, “Maybe the UC Davis librarian?” I was swiftly cut the next day. 

By Preference Night, I was torn between two houses. And on Bid Day, when I anxiously opened my little envelope — I didn't get my first choice. Granted, I did rank it #1 solely based on one conversation on Preference Night that changed everything. But the house I did get, I realized I had a string of even better conversations than my first choice. 

I'll admit, I was bummed on bid day. Bummed the week after, too. But by week two, I met someone who changed everything. Someone who made me feel seen. Then another. Then my two best friends. Then my three littles. Now I'm just weeks away from my last recruitment as an active member.

All of this to say: recruitment isn't that deep. Maybe your heart gets temporarily broken. Maybe you find a sisterhood. Maybe you find a completely different organization that fits you better. Either way — what do you actually have to lose?