The most perplexing thing about rush is that it is taken so seriously. In the three years that I have gone to school here, I have seen people go on ridiculous diets to ensure that they can fit into the proper outfit for rush and I have also sat with my nervous friends who were waiting for a member of certain houses come by to tell them whether or not they got a bid. Why does all of this take place? Because they either want to make the right impression or they are concerned if they have made the correct impression.
This is where it gets funny. The only real opportunity that these individuals have had to make an opportunity is during rush. Let's say you rush a house from which you seek to get a bid, and let's assume that you want to do it "right." In order to have a "successful" rush, you would have to talk to every brother and/or sister in the house who is active.
But, you are working under a time constraint. Well, with this in mind, you would have to spend about five to eight minutes average with every brother and/or sister. You also have to be honest to make sure that you like the individuals who are already members of this Greek system in order to make an informed decision as to whether or not you want to join the house.
Most of us have had a rich history filled with experience and our personalities are not pre-packaged goods which can easily be given and digested. So realistically speaking, eight minutes is just not enough time to accurately portray yourself to another individual as well as try to get an understanding of the individual with whom you are conversing. In fact, it is a miracle that anyone gets a bid in the first place.
Unfortunately, we live in a society in which we are judged based upon our race, sex, religion, physical appearance and the Greek letters that we wear on our sweatshirts. As a natural side effect of this fact, some of us have our self esteem wrapped up in these physical trappings.
Being accepted or rejected by a house, however, is not the true measure of your individual worth or the way your peers view you. Being in a house will not make you really cool.
I could see someone being hurt if they were drilled under a hot lamp for two hours by every brother and/or sister in the house with the help of a psychologist. If you were rejected after that, okay, maybe you can be confident that you were not the most popular person interrogated. But, if you get rejected after eight minutes, I think it is safe to say that you were not being rejected, only the perception of you.
The sad part about the rush process is the fact that I can't find a single justification for it. Rush does not teach any skills truly necessary to a professional. I would imagine the situations are very rare when the deciding factor in whether or not a person is to be hired is if he or she is someone the interviewer would like to hang out with.
Let me clarify, this is not to say that having a good personality won't help you when interviewing. But, if you didn't have a good personality before rush, rush probably won't make a bit of difference. You might just be a lost cause. There are those who might argue that if rush does not kill you it makes you stronger. I'm not buying that. When I was six or seven I was attacked by three pit-bulls. It did not leave me stronger. It left me with nightmares, unable to walk for a while and an amazing fear of dogs.
