spring rush

First things first: DO IT!

Joining in the Spring, depending on the chapter, can actually be a better thing. Spring pledge classes are smaller, so you end up being much closer to your pledge sisters than if you joined with 50+ girls in the fall.

If you join a mid-upper tier house, you'll end up with a small pledge class of about 4-8 girls. For me this was too small, so I actually went to DDD/Theta/Zeta/GPhi when I went through spring (as opposed to doing AXO or ADPi), and just got a bid/picked the one I liked. My pledge class was around 15, and looking at photos from that semester, all those houses took in about that many girls that Spring. My pledge sisters are the best thing about my sorority experience: we travel together, do spring break together, etc.

Being a spring new member is so nice. There's less chaos from FFR having just occurred, more options of actives to pick from when you're picking a big (since you can pick from the fall girls too).

bumping up because a lot of girls dropped out of fall rush and everyone deserves to be in a house that they love

Dropping out is rarely a good idea as your best options typically happen during fall recruitment. Most classes were large again this year so don't think we will see much activity in the spring. My only suggestion is to meet people in various houses and hope these connections will be strong enough to pull you through next year. I know in our house with few exceptions that once you are dropped you won't be asked back ever. Some people do ok in recruitment for the second time but its getting harder and harder every year. Also give serious thought to going with a house on probation as things can change quickly and you could be SOL with no notice which would be totally tragic. Best of luck.