After weeks of teas, rushes and cuts, female pledge hopefuls have ranked their top social club choices, making way for Bid Night at sundown.
Before campus witnesses bright lipstick, yellow skirts and clock calls, prospective pledges were required to rank their preference of women’s social clubs.
Sarah Kelly, senior Ad/PR major and GATA club president, said this last phase in rushing is used to benefit both the pledge class and social club. Ranking prevents a woman from receiving a bid from two clubs and taking a spot from another pledge, she said.
For hopeful pledge Madison Dampier, a junior family studies major from Dallas, considerable thought was put into her club rank selections.
“I felt very comfortable throughout ranking and the entire process,” she said. “It was something very personal and something I was in prayer about constantly. My friends in every club were very supportive about every choice I have made, which has made things easier.”
Rankings can be the deciding factor for a woman’s club bid, but are kept secret from any members, said Sigma Theta Chi president Sarah Miller.
“The women’s social clubs have no idea how any girl ranks,” said Miller, senior accounting major from Irving. “Sometimes we will be given a number of how many girls ranked us first, but never names of the girls who did. Mark Jackson and his office are the only people who see the rankings, using them to make sure each girl gets her highest preference possible.”
Club members were scheduled to make calls to chosen pledges Thursday night, with Bid Night, the beginning to the five-week pledge process, to take place Friday.
“The goals of Bid Night are different for each club,” Miller said. “But the main goal is to teach the traditions and secrets of our club to the new pledges.”
Dampier said club members have prepared her for the experience often remembered as “the most fun you will never want to have again.”
“They have been mostly encouraging,” she said. “I know it’s going to be intimidating. However, it’s exciting that I will hopefully become a part of a new community and sisterhood, and that makes all the hard work and late nights worth it.”
