Sophomore Rush

Deciding to rush is an important decision and a time commitment. When my freshman fall rush came around, I was already exhausted from the hours I spent at REX and Orientation. When I looked at the rush schedule, I was overwhelmed with the number of fraternities and activities to choose from. For those reasons, along with my stereotyped image of a fraternity, I decided not to participate in rush my freshman year. 

During my first year at MIT, I came to realize that MIT fraternities are nothing like the typical fraternity stereotype. Most of my friends were affiliated and I got to see how each of them found an amazing community to bond with. By the end of my first year, I started feeling left out seeing all my friends go on retreats and having amazing times at parties and events with their fraternity. That summer I decided that I was going to try and rush during my upcoming fall semester. 

In preparation for rush, I decided to go online and look through all the fraternities at MIT. I wanted to get a good sense of which ones to talk to during the kick-off at Kresge. I found some houses that seemed interesting to me and I compiled my list of which groups I would talk to first. The only concern I had was being a sophomore while rushing. I tried to search for information about rushing as an upperclassman but found nothing. I did not know if fraternities wanted upperclassmen to rush or if they would even accept an upperclassman. 

When kick-off came around, I nervously made my way down the list of fraternities I compiled. I took card after card, talking to new people every minute. Each person I talked to was very welcoming and relieved my concerns. Almost every house told me that they welcome anyone to rush and I took notes of the ones who did not. Near the end of kick-off, I was taken to “dorm row,” by my current fraternity, Theta Chi. 

Most fraternities have people driving cars to bring people too and from their house. Thankfully, I ended up going with Theta Chi. I met a lot of their brothers and played games with them on their front lawn. One brother told me about how he also rushed as a sophomore and ended up finding an amazing community. Others told me stories about brothers rushing their house multiple times, but not committing until late into their years at MIT. Hearing all these stories eased my worries about my current situation. 

As the week continued and I participated in various events with multiple houses. I heard stories about numerous upperclassmen who did not rush their first year at MIT, and they all sounded as though they had found an amazing community, nonetheless. I wish I had heard these stories while I was planning to rush, they would have relieved an immense amount of stress. I learned that no matter what year you are at MIT, if you want to find an amazing and accepting community, you should try to find one. For me, that community was Theta Chi.