Welcome to Dirty Rush, The Truth about Sorority Life with your hosts me Gia Judice.

Daisy Kent, and Jennifer Kessler.

By you, guys, welcome to Dirty Rush, the show all about the wild, scandalous, and sometimes messy world of sorority rush and sisterhood.

Whether you're about to rush, whether you're reminiscing about your own rush, or just fascinated by Greek life, this podcast is for you.

We're here to pull back the curtain on what it really means to go through recruitment, from the outfits and parties to the pressure and drama and everything in between.

But we're not going to stop there.

We'll also dive into what sorority life looks like after rush, the friendships, the challenges, the traditions, and how sisterhood evolves throughout college and even beyond graduation.

And best of all, you're finally going to hear the truth behind everything that goes into sorority rush.

And we're basically going to tell you everything that you guys have wanted to hear in more, there's always a taboo to what you can release about sorority rush, and we're ready to tell it all.

So We're gonna share personal stories, debunk myths, and offer tips to help you survive and maybe even thrive during rush and the years that follow.

We're so excited to dive into our first episode today.

We're keeping it personal and real, sharing our own rush stories and what sorority life has meant to us.

So let's get started.

Okay, guys, So I am Jen Fessler.

You may know me from the Housewives of New Jersey, but we are not here to talk housewives.

We are here to talk about something that I went through about a million years ago at the University of Texas.

At Austin, I rushed my junior year.

Actually, I transferred from Boston University.

I started out in Boston even though I'm from Texas, and I really felt like I was missing out.

I was.

Boston is a city school, and UT is the quintessential college experience in the South.

The sororities are big, the girls are mean.

It's everything that you sort of picture, at least what I pictured before I entered this crazy world of Greek life and rushing, and my rush experience I'm going to say was tense, anxiety provoking, exciting, a little puky, But I think probably less stressful than what you guys have or had experience, and certainly less stressful than what goes down today.

I can tell you that I rushed every sorority house at the University of Texas, but as a Jewish woman, I knew that I was going to or.

I wanted to end up in one of the three Jewish sororities, and the three were AE FI, which and please forgive me, because again I just want to puke a little bit.

But a FI, which was the Pretty Girl Sorority SDT, which was the Nice Girl sorority, and DeFi E again, please forgive me.

I didn't make it up, but they called it dogs, pigs, and elephants.

I'm sorry, I don't know.

It's horrifying.

Like as now an almost fifty seven year old woman, I want to take my night.

What is I twenty year old self and just kind of hold her because it was so scary.

And I remember walking into these big because in Texas everything is big, these big sorority houses, and the girls were all beautiful, and they were all thin, and they were all perky, and I was none of those things.

But I was transferring and I had very good friends who were part of the Pretty Girl Sorority, which was a FI.

The thing is, I felt more comfortable in the Nice Girl Sorority SDT.

But from the beginning, all I wanted was what I think you guys call now top tier tier.

That's what I wanted.

That's what I wanted, and that's what I got, And for good or bad, I became an A five.

So, which will delve into those years, of course, but I want to hear about you, guys, and just a little bit.

Tell me a little bit about what schools and a little bit about your own personal experiences.

Yeah, so I am Gsju Dice.

Some of you might have known me from growing up on The Royal Housewives in New Jersey.

Now I have a new.

Show on Bravo called Next Gen NYC and a podcast called Casual Chaos.

So my years of my career really started to evolve once I graduated from college.

I graduated from Rutgers University and I rushed my freshman year.

I rushed my freshman year second semester, and I was one of a few of my friends actually that did rush because a lot of them did not reach the GPA requirement.

So to rush at Rutgers, you had to have a two point five GPA, and some of my friends, honestly, a lot of my friends didn't have that, so I was a little nervous.

I didn't know if I then wanted to wait.

Until my sophomore year to rush because all of my freshman year friends and all of the girls in my dorm weren't rushing.

So I was kind of going in alone.

I knew a couple people that were still rushing and that were able to rush, but I kind of went through the whole rush process by myself.

So Rutgers is not like Alabama.

I definitely don't think it's like Texas about it.

So to give you a little backstory, I mean, Rutgers is in New Brunswick.

It's not the best area.

It's not the best town.

Rutgers kind of takes over New Brunswick and New Jersey.

So not to be like rude, but the town's a little gringe.

I mean, it's it's not like there were shootings breake ins.

I mean, it's definitely rough.

So I think Greek life definitely kind of gave a light to Rutgers, and it was either you were in Greek life or you were with the people who played sports, and so I decided to.

Rush my freshman year.

And there were.

Top tier sororities and they were ZTA, G, FI, SDT, and FI SIG.

So those were like the top four sororities that you wanted to be in while I was going through the rush process.

It was a three day process, or no, it was a couple of weekends.

Actually, the first weekend was going to see all the houses.

So I think Rutgers had about eleven sororities, so we it was different rounds.

So the one round then it was Philanthropy was the last round.

I'm like blanking on the second round, you blocked it, Yeah, I'm blank.

Sisterhood, yes, yes, yes, yes, I think.

So there were there were three rounds of the recruitment process and it was three weekends.

So the first weekend was really seeing all the houses, seeing who called you back, and that was definitely intense because you were trying to impress all these different sororities.

And there were sororities right off the bat where yeah, you're judging a book by its cover.

I knew that I did not want to be in any of these.

Some of them also didn't have houses, so that was a big thing you would want.

I knew I wanted to live in the sorority house, so that's why I ad a lot from my list.

And then you know, it's all based off of first impression, and some people at the time just weren't my cup of tea.

So as you eliminate, they eliminate you.

You go through this process.

Then it came down to philanthropy where you pick your top three, and I picked FI, sig.

Gfi, and ZTA.

I was kind of gravitated towards SDT, but they had a bad rep, even though I really liked the girls, So I dropped SDT even though I probably shouldn't have, and I went with FI, sig Gfi, and Zeta because they were top tier at Rutgers.

And they had the best rep.

And so then I went through it all, and even though I was probably more gravitated towards GFI, at the end of everything, ZTA had the nicer house and the better chef and just all of the amenities that I thought were nicer in what you were paying for, because sorority was like paying for a sorority was also crazy.

So at the end of the day.

I then chose ZTA because majority of my friends who were older and from my hometown were in ZTA because a lot of people from my hometown went to Rutgers it was a Jersey school.

And then I ended up choosing ZTA and that was my rush story.

Can I just asked one question about going through it.

I can't imagine going through it as a famous person.

Yeah, I mean, I can't imagine how that transformed that experience for you.

I think I don't know.

I'm guessing that it was probably different for you.

I don't know if it was harder or easier because being Gia Judice.

I mean I think I went.

I think it was a little easier in the sense of nobody that I know, this sounds like screwed up, and nobody that I wanted dropped me.

So no sorority actually dropped me or I never felt that like horrible feeling in my stomach.

Yeah, I honestly, I didn't feel too much pressure.

If anything, I felt the pressure.

Of choosing the right one.

And at the end of the day, because of who I was and who my family was, I chose ZTA because people knew me from home and that.

Sorority, So.

I felt like a sense of comfort and I was like, Okay, people from my hometown are here.

My best friend ended up becoming my big which we can get all into that, but I I think I just felt more comfortable and kind of protected in a way I don't know.

And I was also so nervous in.

College to just have fake friends, so it was kind of that whole thing.

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So me, I went to San Diego State.

I had no idea about sorority life or what it was, and from like a small town in Minnesota, like nobody there did a sorority Like, I had no idea.

And then Christy, who was like my best friend from college, she called me and she was like, you need to sign up for recruitment and I was like, I'm not doing that.

Why would I do that.

She was like, I'll pay your recruitment fee and I was like, I really just don't want to do it.

Christie like I don't understand what it is.

Me and her had never met in person anyway.

She convinced me to sign up.

The night before you could, like sign up, So I read the last night you could.

I signed up, and then I get to school and our parents drop us off they leave.

It's like this whirlwind.

She's like, what are you wearing?

And I'm like, what do you mean?

What you guys when I tell you like, I had no idea what this was about.

I had no idea.

And then we're picking out outfits and stuff.

And coincidentally, my last names Kent.

Her last name is Keller, and so we were in the same group and it was like twelve girls, and like San Diego State is like a huge school, so many girls go through rush and I go into the first house, I forget what it.

Was and I leave and I was like, hell, no.

This is bonkers, Like this is crazy.

I just talked to all these girls.

I felt like they were just judging everything I sent.

I'm like Christy, I'm like I'm not doing this, and she was like, can you please just tick it out today just so.

I don't have to go alone?

And I was like okay.

And so then I remember I went into Akio and I was like, wait, that was kind of fun.

And then she convinced me to like stay with the process, so I did.

But it was a crazy experience and I was like I felt.

Like I was speed dating a bunch of people.

So funny.

Guess I look at you, Daisy, and I see every single girl that intimidated me in every single one of those houses in Texas like this, they.

Were all beautiful.

And meanwhile, right, and then I remember like waiting in line to go into the sorority house and like looking around and every girl's like smiling like this, and like so many girls are wearing like all this designer stuff.

I had nothing designer, and I was like, what is going on?

Like why am I here?

And then walking in and having conversations.

Eventually I just decided to go with it.

And then I remember on pref day you picked at San Diego State, it was you could pref to two houses if they didn't drop you.

So I prefed the two that I wanted.

Was it preh rown?

But so I had Alpha Fi and Akio and it was like Alpa Fi, Achio and Pi Fi were like the top houses at s Nego State at the time.

I don't know, like what are now, but I hate when people are like, oh, top houses because like also a lot of my other friends were in other houses, and like I made like such good friends with girls and other houses too.

So I'm just like I hate the whole like ranking system, I feel like it just gets more and more.

But then anyway, I ended up doing Alpha Fee and I hated it.

For semester, I hated it, And that was crazy to me too, because everyone was like, oh my gosh, I love a sorority, like it's so fun.

But I think when you get into a sorority, no matter what, like not every girl's and there is going to be your best friend.

And at the beginning, I was definitely.

Like in the wrong group of girls, not saying that they're like bad girls or like at all, like we just didn't vibe, you know.

And then I like found my group and ended up loving it.

But I think, especially going away for college for a semester, it can be scary, like you don't know you're making new friends, and if you get in the wrong group, like it can make or break of anything.

But now I have some of my best friends from my sorority still to this day, and it's so fun.

You guys, well you're because back then my mother didn't even know what a sorority was, Like she went to secretarial school in Brooklyn.

Yeah, so she didn't.

But well, I don't know if your mom, I'm guessing, was not in a sorority either.

Daisy was yours.

No, my all.

My grandma actually was no idea, but I didn't know until like after I joined a sorority, and then my grandpa was like, did you know your grandma was in one?

And he was in a frat too, So then I was like, oh, no one told me about this.

Ever, It's so funny, you know.

I mean my mom graduated with her associate's degree.

She wasn't allowed to go far for school, so she had no idea.

I I signed myself up for college, like I did everything.

I you know, she was there with me obviously learning and now she has the hang of it because she's on her third child in college.

But I was the first one.

That's why I had a college advisor helping me, you know, step by step on how to even apply to schools.

Like we had no idea what we were doing.

And then when it came to sorority, she was like what is this?

Like this is what what are you doing?

I'm like, oh, in DTA having fun.

I was like, want to come for parents weekend?

She goes like yeah, okay, Like everything was just new, very new.

You guys know that now, Like I've heard that the mothers they have to go for this whole experience, like they'd wait in hotel rooms to either like to pump their daughters up or console them or it.

Yeah, can be So do you guys have you heard of that?

As have you heard of anybody there?

I've heard of that, but I don't think it's San Diego State it really happens.

But or when I was there at least or I didn't even know because I didn't even know what it was.

But I remember girls like sitting on the curb, like bawling their head off when they got like dropped from a house, and I was like, this is like And I remember like a girl on my floor thinking her like life was over because she didn't get in one of the houses she wanted, and I like didn't understand it completely.

Well, you're in an advantage for sure.

Yeah.

I feel like probably down south it's a lot more intense.

So you probably experienced it at Texas.

I did.

But I feel like when I hear especially on TikTok, because when Bama Rush happens, it's all over TikTok.

It circulates the internet.

It's actually crazy.

And there's a couple girls who are now viral from Bama Rush and now they have s they.

Have a huge following.

Therewith brands now like they're full blown influencers just from starting this whole, you know, starting their TikTok channel based on Bama Rush.

But then looking at the Bama houses, their sorority houses are inchin mansions, granic, granite countertop, like they're like staircases.

I mean, they're nicer than people's average home.

Yeah, it's, oh for sure, insane.

Yeah, So I think if I would have done something like Bama Rush, completely.

Different experience and way more in tons.

So also, I think the difference between old lady Jennifer and young people beautiful Daisy Angia is that I didn't have social media.

I know that's hard for you to picture period, but picture me not having it, and I think probably we were a little bit better off because I hear now these stories of how you have to scrub your social media, yes, and then you have to make sure that when it's looked at, you look like nobody has ever had as much fun as you have in their lifetimes.

And it's crazy too, because when you're going into recruitment, like being on the other side of recruitment, Like you're looking at girls before they even come into the house, Like you're looking at their instagrams, You're looking at everything you can find online about them before they come in.

You're doing a any background check.

And I remember when we were doing that.

I was like, wait, it's so amazing.

We all were looking.

Like through all my stuff before I even like they were like.

Yeah, we already knew like a lot about you.

Well, which is great.

They basically have their top pick things.

Yeah, so each shore already has like a list of their top picks from looking at the potential.

Like the potential members coming in.

And let's see, like what do you think that they are?

What what constitutes she's my top pick?

And I again, it's like so much of this for me as somebody who is now a mother is just horrifying.

And I know though that Soborty life has been a highlight for so many It was for young women, for older women, they love it.

But looking at it from a different a bit of a different perspective, now I'm wondering, like, when the sisters looked at your social media, what were they looking for?

I have, I could guess, but what do you think?

I think your first thing right away is your looks.

You're emma, yeah, and.

I think also like looking at what you're involved in and what you like post about too.

You think there are there sororities that are looking for they really want women or girls from the debate team.

Are there any of those that exist, or girls that have done a lot of charity work or I.

Think for sure, because you kind of have you fill out, I think so.

But I think it also, you know, there's just so much that goes into it.

Okay, yes, you could be such a well rounded person in high school and you were on the debate team and you did Decca and all these things that you did in high school that were so amazing.

But if you don't fit that criteria of this certain sorority, then they'll place you somewhere else.

Or it's it's like a whole it's a whole ranking system basically, right, which is terrible.

It is crazy imagine getting ranked women girls getting ranked.

I know, and I remember, like I was always thinking, because you had like these little like rush sheet.

So a girl comes in and then they would leave, and you would like rank somebody, and I would always get sick to my stomach because I was like, this is like horrible, and I hated doing it.

And then I was like, I wonder what my rush guard said, you know what I mean?

And you started thinking things and I'm like, oh, these girls are in my sorority and they were all ranking me.

But I did have the time of my life after that first semester, and I loved it and I'm so grateful for it.

But I also think it's like important too.

You don't have to be in a sorority, you know.

I love college and have a great time.

I think I definitely could have done without.

Yeah, Like I have a ton of friends that were in a sorority.

So interesting.

Yeah, my daughter who is GA's age, just so, I think a year younger.

Then Ujia went through it also at Delaware, so different than going through it in California or the South.

Maybe a little more alert Wruckers.

But she did it during COVID yeah, and the waiting, and I was sick for her, probably more sick than she was waiting to get, you know, to push the button on the computer and see if what you're you know, who was preffing you and if it.

Was a mass zoom breakout room, oh my god, yes, it's ridiculous.

And then I remember she well, I had very serious ideas of which sorority she should be in, and she had different ideas, and it was all about for her.

She also wanted to be in a top tier sorority, and I wanted her to be in the sorority with the nice girls.

And it did matter.

Ultimately, it was her decision and she had a good experience.

But there's a whole other layer to this as a mother that I won't bore you guys with today, but it is.

It could be really just the anxiety of the whole thing, Like you know, yeah, made up my medication, I think during that time a little bit.

Yeah, No, it was definitely my Actually my nail tech.

It was her daughter was at Rutgers, goes to Rutgers, and she was going through the recruiting process and she was like venting to me, how our daughter didn't get called back to any sorority at Rutgers.

And you know, when you're in that I'm sitting there getting my nails done.

She's like so upset that her daughter didn't get called back to any because she knew I went to Rutgers, I was in Zata, and I felt terrible.

I was like, what do you what do you say?

You know it was and now her.

Daughter's studying abroad and she's hoping that her daughter has such a better experience studying abroad, and I was like, I hope so, and I felt I just felt so terrible because not getting called back to any is probably the worst feeling that nobody, nobody wants you, you know, like you're not accepted by anybody.

And that's where I think like the wine needs to be drawn at some point, because that could just send the girls into such a spiral.

I feel, oh, it definitely does.

Absolutely.

I remember walking into maybe my first house.

I walked into Texas, and I was a big girl.

Why at that time, like a buck eighty or something was big, not whatever anyway, but the point is that it felt to me like every single girl there was thin, fit, beautiful.

Forgive me, Daisy, they all look like you.

They just did end well and GA two, but they were all blonde, blue eyes, and I just I just remember feeling that just less than like I can never aspiring to be with these beautiful barbies knowing, but I also knew that I was probably going to go into this Jewish sorority anyway, so I kind of had that, which was helpful, but the pressure of that when you're just starting college, right, yeah, you want to make the right decision.

Yeah, And I feel like a lot of people there like leaving high school to kind of get out of those clicks a little bit.

And then I think you get to recruitment and you're going through it and you're like, wait, is this a click too?

Depends where you go for sure, because I have a friend that I'm really close with and she went to Ole.

Miss and like, oh that's her right, yeah, and her like only.

Friends are the ones that were in her sorority and and like were you friends with like any other girls and other sororities And she's like no, like once you got into your sorority, like those were your girls and like there our best friends were like in her wedding and everything.

But I think it depends where you go to and like what the Greek life is, right right?

Yeah?

No, I mean at Rutgers, you were friends with girls in different sororities.

Yeah, And I think that was also another thing, if you were a girl, like if you had boobs and a vagina, you could get into any frat party.

Yeah, so I that is what I was saying, in the sense of I probably didn't need to be in a sorority at Rutgers, and a lot of girls feel that way.

A lot of girls too.

At Rutgers.

They rushed, they found their friends, and then they dropped because they were like, Okay, I have all my friends.

I'm going out the same way that I would be going out if I was in a sorority.

The only thing that gets a little more clickie is I guess mixers.

Yeah, so okay, Zeta is mixing with Pike tonight, So that's a closed mixer until ten thirty.

Then the party opens.

At eleven, so now everybody else can come in.

That was the fun part because then you got closer with the frack like they.

For the fraternities.

That was what was fun.

But a lot of my.

Friends dropped because they felt like they didn't need it, and what's the point of paying this two three thousand dollars a semester if I don't.

Need to be in this sorority.

If it's not really benefiting me.

Which is the other thing we should talk about, which is the money of it.

The money, like how about expensive how.

About those girls that just don't have the money for it?

Well, especially at BAMA.

I know, I know when I told my friend because my friend went to the University of Alabama, I.

Told her I think my I think I paid like.

Maybe twenty five hundred, close to three thousand probably a semester to be in ZTA.

My friend faith I went to BAMA and she was in one of the top tier ones.

It was like I want to say, like probably close to six thousand a semester.

Crazy.

His parents were not only saving for college, they're saving for Rush.

They're saving for like which is crazy, which is so crazy.

I remember like with the boys, so they went the frats when there were three Jewish frats also at UT and so you got your bid and you went to the house and then the boys, all the boys got to pick which house to go to to ask the girls to the first mixer, like we were like yeah, we were like cattle.

And then all the frapes o god, I mean literally like they showed up and a lot of them showed up to a five because again that was where the pretty girls were, and I didn't get asked to go to the mixer.

So the greatest day of me getting into eighty five was like, you should have chosen the nice girls sorority.

That's where the nice boys went.

Well, I mean it sounds now looking back at it, it's just so so sad, But like, I don't know how the boys damper on your BID day.

I know, I have to say bid day was probably like one of the best days.

Really, we yes because we ran home, We ran home and I ran home to CTA.

It was so fun.

I mean, the older girls were sneaking me drinks even though they weren't supposed to.

We were having so much fun and just dancing, and then we went out after and those are the times where I was like, Okay, this was worth it joining us sorority, these times in these memories and getting a little and.

The big little process and all so fun.

All those little.

Events like that where you genuinely were with your sorority sisters and yet consumed by like other things.

That's the stuff that was super fun.

And there is I think so much.

There's so many positives, right, like going to school, especially when's it's big, and having this group of sisters and having it fat, having that happen fast, and then all of these events and all of these mixers and matches and like immediately you have this immediate social life and I guess you also write.

And it's so much like closer with people.

I feel like too in ways, like you become a little like a family.

Yeah, I know you do.

Any pledging process going through.

That, that's crazy.

We definitely have to talk about that.

But that also, you know, it's true, especially going to a bigger school, it does give you that sense of it kind of makes the how the school, how do I say this, It makes this.

This huge school feel a little smaller.

So I mean, I have to say Rutgers is massive.

I think I knew every single person in Greek life.

The school felt so small.

I saw the same people every time I went out, every time I went to the bars, same faces, And Rutgers is huge.

I should have been seeing a different face every time I went out, same people.

H Yeah, I think that's why I got a little old too.

But well, I think if you asked me, everybody at the University of Texas at Austin is Jewish.

Let me assure you that that is not the case.

But it felt like everybody there was Jewish, and all of my friends and all of the boys and everyone, and it which is such a it's such a strange thing.

But because like you, we were a meshed We hung out together, you know, all the time.

Yeah, okay, guys, this is just the beginning of Dirty Rush.

We're gonna take you through the good, the bad, the ugly, all the lingo, everything you need to know.

It's gonna get really juicy.

Yeah.

Well, and sororities have been around for like one hundred and fifty years, so we have a lot to cover.

And certainly it's a different experience now than when I rushed, and I'm guessing was very different one hundred and fifty years ago as well.

But I don't think we'll find anyone to talk about that.

But you guys, I don't know.

I've never heard anyone or any program or podcast really diving into this subject matter, right, like really getting into it and in terms of like the good, the bad, the ugly.

And I know a lot of mothers and their daughters who are now going through it, have been through it.

There's a lot to cover right, so.

Much to cover, and we are so excited to tell you guys our stories and really dive deep into what all of this really means.

But we're even more excited to hear your stories, so make sure to leave a voicemail leave your questions at our hotline eight four four two seven eight Rush again eight four four to seven eight rush and you guys can share all of your stories.

This is going to be totally anonymous, and we are so excited to really get into this.

I'm hoping some of you fiys from Texas call in please and.

Some of your bodies and diego State give us all the tea.

So, guys, until next time, just please be your amazing cells.

Sisterhood starts with those first steps, my sisters.

I'm thrilled to do this with you, my very little little sisters.

We're gonna have fun, you guys, this.

Is so fun.

Episode one done you guys back