Sorority ‘rush consulting’ firms step in to fill a market need

(This post originally appeared on The Washington Post)

We’re just a few weeks into freshman year and you know what that means: rush season! That’s when fraternities and sororities are out in force recruiting the next class of brothers and sisters to live, party and make memories together over the next four years. For many young women, getting into the right house can make or break a college experience. But it’s hard – there are just so many parties, dinners and cocktail gatherings to attend – and all those other girls competing for a limited number of spots. So what’s an aspiring rush candidate to do?

Maybe consider hiring a sorority rush consulting service. Don’t worry. This is America in 2017. And based on this Town & Country report, there are options.

For example, there’s Rushbiddies, which was founded by Auburn University grad (and sorority member) Pat Grant in 1999. Her firm is dedicated to help its clients–usually freshman college girls (and their parents)–get into the sorority of their choosing. Then there’s Go Greek Girl, based in the Midwest, providing similar services. Or Manhattan-based Greek Chic. Sorority rush consultants are quickly becoming a cottage industry.

The services offer help in a variety of ways. For example, they coach their young clients who have been raised on smartphones and Facebook how to have actual face-to-face conversations with other human beings in a social setting. “You might be a great girl with a lot to offer,” Go Greek Girl’s Brooke Howard told Town&Country. “But if all you know to ask another girl is where are you from and what’s your major, you’ll be at a disadvantage. Your time is too limited.”

Others, like Grant, try to intervene when a client isn’t dressing modestly or–for goodness sake–wants to wear something creative. “You have to meet what’s expected until you’re established,” she advised one young client who almost committed sorority suicide by wearing her cowboy boots to a rush party.

Of course, this important advice comes at a cost. At Rushbiddies, a 90 minute in-person or phone session starts at $100. Its most popular package costs $1,500 but that’s because it includes up to 40 hours of text, chat and skype sessions as well as workshops and consultations that will cover everything from interview techniques to what to say and how to behave at social functions.

The service is also ready for any “damage control” for when candidates say the wrong thing on Twitter or mistakenly post an unflattering picture on Instagram.

Grant’s goal is to get her clients into one of their top two houses and she claims a high success rate. Her clients (and their parents) seem happy. She’s like “having a fairy godmother with all the right answers,” one happy mother told Town & Country.