Rush leaves some frosh by the wayside

For men and women, the process of gaining admittance to a fraternity or sorority is markedly different -- and while hardly any men have officially withdrawn from rush, some women have removed themselves from the process entirely, before it has even reached its halfway point. While many girls have reveled in meeting the women of Penn's seven sororities, more than a handful were unhappy with the rush process. The reasons for withdrawing from rush are varied. For some, the costs of joining a sorority were prohibitive. Others simply did not connect with any particular sorority. Still others were upset that the sororities they wanted to pledge did not reciprocate their interest. And some people quickly got the sense that sorority life was not for them. Nursing freshman Sara Levin withdrew from rush almost immediately. "Everyone was wearing black pants and black pea coats and makeup, and I had red pants, a red jacket and no makeup. I stuck out like a sore thumb. The girls were nice who I talked to, but in picking people, they can't really base it on much except for how you look... and I don't want people to have a preconceived notion of me just because I'm in a certain sorority." Indeed, superficiality is something several girls cited when talking about the sororities. But members of the Panhellenic Council say this concern is unfounded. "In some ways, spending half an hour with someone may seem superficial, but the women in our chapters are trained to meet these [rushees] and make judgments not based on looks but based on conversation," Panhel Vice President of Recruitment Anu Singla said. "That's what we train these women to do." College freshman Jessica Gamburg compared the sorority rush process to college admissions. "It's like [applying to] college," Gamburg said. "If you don't get a bid from your top two choices, it's not the end of the world, and you'll probably be happy wherever you end up. These girls [who withdrew from the process] think they're being rejected as a person, but really they're just being rejected based on one conversation that may not have gone in their favor.... That's life, deal with it." Commenting on the dropouts, Singla added, "There are so many things that go into why somebody decides to withdraw that any one reason is hard to pinpoint." Singla could not release statistics specific to the number of women who withdrew from rush but indicated that this year is following a typical trend. "The numbers are consistent with years past," Singla said. "As a general impression that me and the executive board felt, there were actually fewer girls who were upset [this year], so that's a good thing. We were actually excited." Some feel that ups and downs are just a part of the process. "The bottom line," as summed up by College freshman Allie Parker, "is that it's right for some people and not for others."