MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
On top of SAT coaches and admissions coaches, some families are adding another item to the off-to-college expense list - sorority coaches - consultants who help young women get into their sorority of choice, navigating the process known as rushing, including, for example, how to manage RushTok (ph). Yes, that is a whole thing on TikTok. Here's a taste from the University of Alabama.
(SOUNDBITE OF MONTAGE)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Today is Day 4 of Alabama rush.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: It's Day 8 of Alabama rush.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: Hey, y'all, it is Day 1 of rush here at the University of Alabama, and today is convocation, so we're going to give you guys a little O-O-T-D.
KELLY: Washington Post reporter Amber Ferguson has been reporting on the sorority coaching industry. She's in the studio with me now. Welcome.
AMBER FERGUSON: Mary Louise, I'm so happy to be here.
KELLY: Let's start with the why. If I am a high school senior, and I'm really interested in Greek life in college, why hire a coach?
FERGUSON: Sororities, especially in the South - they are so competitive to get into. There's 2,500 to 3,000 young women every fall vying for just a few spots in a few houses. And, of course, you know, sororities tout sisterhood and philanthropy. But now being in a sorority has also become a business for many women. RushTok and social media has just exploded, where brands are seeing these young women who are getting these followers that are getting an audience. They're rushing to them in some ways. And it's just becoming really profitable to join a sorority.
KELLY: So it's like any little thing you can do that might nudge you over the top into getting the bid from the sorority that you want is helpful. And what do these coaches actually do?
FERGUSON: Oh, my gosh. They're on call 24/7. So these coaches - they range between 3,000 and $6,000. And really...
KELLY: Three thousand and $6,000 to get you through the rushing season.
FERGUSON: Oh, yes.
KELLY: OK.
FERGUSON: And there's no guarantee that you're going to get a bid, which is an invitation from a sorority to join at the end. So you need months, sometimes a year or more to prepare. Literally, these coaches are walking young women and their families - especially their moms - through the process of rounds, which is usually a video application. Especially after COVID, most houses went to video. And so they're helping them script, edit, the lighting for their application.
Every house requires letters of recommendation, some require two. So if you're applying to 15 houses, that's 30 recommendations you need. So they're helping you with your talking points, and they're really curating your Instagram feed. So they're telling women, especially in their senior year of high school, these are the type of things I want to see on your Instagram.
First, they need to follow the women that go to the college that they want to be in and the sororities they want to be in and then kind of emulate their profiles. So championships for sports, Mother's Day brunches, them out with friends, group pictures - that's all being curated their senior year of high school to get the attention of the girls in the sororities.
KELLY: OK. So you're describing someone who's functioning as everything from a social media coach to a wardrobe coach to - I mean, it's the whole shebang.
FERGUSON: Yes.
KELLY: Amber, is there something a little bit heartbreaking about this in the sense that sororities are about your social life, and social life is supposed to be fun in college, and this sounds super stressful, not so much fun?
FERGUSON: I know. So I was speaking to a young woman who used a sorority coach. She went through the process her sophomore year, and she didn't get a bid, and she was just saying it was a really stressful process. And she used a sorority coach for her junior year, and she said this person became like her emotional anchor.
KELLY: OK, so they're a therapist as well...
FERGUSON: Exactly, yes.
KELLY: ...As your social media wardrobe...
FERGUSON: And I was speaking...
KELLY: ...And everything else.
FERGUSON: ...To one rush coach who said that she even brought on counselors for the young women and their families because it is such a stressful process.
KELLY: How early does this process start? If you're going to hire a sorority coach, where do you need to be along that - in the pipeline to do it?
FERGUSON: The majority of rush coaches work with junior and high school seniors. But one rush coach I spoke to said that she had a sixth grader inquire for her services.
KELLY: A sixth grader?
FERGUSON: Yes.
KELLY: So...
FERGUSON: So starting really early.
KELLY: ...Wow. Is this concentrated mostly around the big Southern schools, or is this a nationwide thing?
FERGUSON: One hundred percent it's around the big southern schools - think Alabama, Auburn, Clemson, Texas schools...
KELLY: Ole Miss.
FERGUSON: ...Oklahoma. Oh, Ole Miss is huge. And even with the coaches that are concentrated on the East Coast, they're going to these schools to be with their clients during rush week, and they're saying they're just seeing an influx of northern students - a lot of them from elite, private or boarding schools in the North - wanting and just flocking to southern schools.
KELLY: What about the guys?
FERGUSON: So I actually did look this up. There are fraternity (laughter) coaches, too. I feel like that could be a follow-up story.
KELLY: There we go. Teed up for the next story - Amber Ferguson of The Washington Post, thanks for coming in to talk with us.
FERGUSON: Oh, thank you so much.
(SOUNDBITE OF KAYTRAMINE SONG, "REBUKE") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
