If you’ve recently seen a young white woman on TikTok give you a detailed, Alabama accent–heavy review of her outfit of the day, you’re not alone.
“I wore the gray shirt today with this skirt,” says TikTok user Blake Wright, or @blakeannajoy, in a video that’s been viewed more than 620,000 times. “It’s from Mustard Seed, I believe. And I wore these Goldens again just to add some color. Same jewelry except I wore these Kendra Scott earrings just to spice it up, you know.”
Videos like Wright's, which as a group are now being called "Rush Tok," have exploded over the last week. The hashtag #alabamarush has more than 28 million views on TikTok.
Some of the videos are made genuinely by women going through sorority recruitment (aka rush) at the University of Alabama. Some — maybe most — of the other content consists of parody TikToks and videos by users confused and wondering out loud how their For You pages became filled with Elle Woods wannabes.
One sorority hopeful’s TikTok sound has been used in 405 videos on Rush Tok, mostly from confused people poking fun at themselves for following so closely along. TikToker @youngbloodmcnasty used the sound, which begins with, “Hey, y’all, another OOTD for the second day," to show how her Rush Tok rabbit hole has spiraled into obsession.
The user captioned her video with “POV: you got on tiktok to take a brain break from autonomics but now it’s 3 hours later and you’re genuinely concerned that the earrings from shein and Steve Madden sneakers won’t be enough to get Chelsea into Kappa even if she is a legacy.”
It seems like everyone on the app is obsessed with following the young women's journeys to sisterhood. A few days after posting her first videos, Wright posted that she had reached “Pref Night,” where the women go to their two final houses before deciding which one they’ll choose.
Wright asked her followers and viewers to pray for her because she was “really stressed out” and wasn’t sure which house to choose between her final two. That video has been viewed more than 14,000 times.
Wright's earnest words and genuine emotion in her videos demonstrate what has made Rush Tok so compelling and memeworthy. When you’re 18 and trying to find a club to let you in during your first year of college, everything seems like life and death. Sororities take a lot into consideration before offering a bid to someone. What are her grades like? What is her reputation? Sadly, looks usually play a part as well.
The Rush Tok drama also has different POVs to follow along. Many of the sorority women posting on TikTok are going through recruitment, but others are already in a sorority and are on the other side of it.
These are the women trying to recruit the best women to fit into their sorority, and they’re the ones who are seen chanting and screaming as the sorority house’s door opens.
Those going through recruitment aren’t guaranteed a bid at the end of it, either, leaving viewers on the edge of their seats as to what will happen to their faves. Last year, 2,100 women participated in Alabama's sorority rush and 2,000 got bids, meaning 100 were left wondering what they did wrong or what they could have done better. To start off your college experience without a bid to any of the sororities: devastating.
Praying Blake, Chelsea, and the rest get into the sorority of their dreams, and the rest of us will continue to follow along.