Self-Selection struggles

6:00 a.m., January 27th, 2012, had finally arrived. As freshmen girls eagerly awaited in their rooms, upperclassmen danced, stuffed goodie bags, and began to wonder why they had not stopped to take at least a nap at any point in the past 20+ hours. Excitement hung in the air as we reflected on our own self-selection nights: the jitters, the nerves, the changing out of pajamas and into cute clothes even though we weren't supposed to know the sophomores were coming….It is a Davidson tradition everyone loves. It is self-selection.

As we all know, rather than the sorority rush process, Davidson participates in a self-selection system with organizations called eating houses. These organizations entice around 40% of the female freshmen to join each year, and the houses include Rusk, founded in 1977, Warner Hall, founded in 1982, Connor, founded in 1991, and Turner, founded in 1998. This process allows the female freshmen to become familiar with the upperclassmen during their first semester of college and, if all goes well, join the house they like best come spring semester. The catch? Our fates lie in the hands of a computer.

That's right, a computer program is the one who decides where we are placed based upon lottery numbers, cluster sizes, number of females interested in joining, etc. So what happens if we don't end up where we want to be?

"I was definitely pretty disappointed" one Davidson junior states as she remembers when a certain eating house came to pick up her cluster on self-selection night. "We all planned to switch out asap". And did she?

"I debated switching houses right up until we came back sophomore year, but ultimately I loved the girls in my class and I realized that I would not be able to find better friends in any other house…I knew I hadn't really given it a fair shake my sophomore year, and once I decided that it was where I would stay, things just got better and better!".

Although it is merely a process to determine which eating house one is placed into, maybe self-selection can also serve to teach us a lesson: just because life isn't always "fair", doesn't mean you should have a negative outlook. Once your attitude changes and you start meeting people, it really isn't so bad after all! Perhaps the "negative" repercussions of self-selection can actually help us meet girls who we otherwise would never have come into contact with, the very girls who may become our close friends in the future.

Self-selection is able to, however, place many girls with their first choice house. Question is, how do we decide which house we like best? "The Turner girls were the girls I met first when going out in a social setting. They were also the girls who were most similar to me in terms of attitudes, interests, and lifestyles" reflects Turner sophomore and social chair, Krista Catafago. "Based on the freshmen dinners at the houses, I felt more welcome at certain houses and less at others. I connected more with the girls in the houses I put on the top of my list".

Do eating house stereotypes really not play into our decision at all? Many on campus are familiar with the rhyme: "Warner to date, Connor to bed, Rusk to hate, Turner to wed", with Warner and Turner being reversed occasionally. "I think stereotypes influence our initial perception of the houses", continues Krista Catafago, "but once you actually meet the members, you realize they are hardly accurate".

So you are lucky enough to get your first choice…and you aren't happy? One Davidson sophomore recently switched houses after her cluster received their top choice last year as freshmen. "As the semester progressed, I began to have doubts as to whether my particular house was the best fit for me. I also found myself drifting apart from some of the friendships I had made at the beginning of the year and actually ended up becoming closer to friends in other eating houses. When the opportunity came to switch eating houses I decided it would be best for me to try something different; I looked forward not only to spending more time with my close friends but also to meeting an entirely different group of girls."

So there you have it. Girls, whether you got your first choice or not, take the time and make the effort to become involved in your eating house and meet new people—it may or may not be the right fit for you, but maintaining a positive attitude and an enthusiasm for your house are key in making eating houses the enjoyable experience they are meant to be.