Kylan Darnell unexpectedly became the face of Bama Rush. She answered the Daily Mail’s Zoom call while putting on a final coat of mascara, which felt fitting for the influencer who found fame showcasing her ‘outfits of the day’ and beauty routines.
Darnell, 21, was calling in from her family home in Ohio, where she was preparing to head back to the University of Alabama for a fourth and final year.
This time around, when the semester begins later this month, her younger sister, Izzy Darnell, will be joining her at the state school famous for its football games and party scene.
Darnell quickly became famous for her lavish outfits and a cheery catchphrase: ‘Have a great day, not just a good day!’
Darnell previously told the Daily Mail she spent close to $100,000 on outfits, fees and other expenses to be in an elite sorority at the University of Alabama, but she’s since earned more than $1 million from sharing her experiences online with her 1.1 million TikTok followers and signing lucrative brand deals.
Since her family back home in Ohio had no idea what recruitment entailed, she sent them videos showing off her outfits and explaining the process. After her mom (who has had a few viral moments herself) suggested posting them, she considered it, although she was scared of getting ‘banned from the houses’.
Like many beauty pageant contestants, she chose to pursue a degree at the University of Alabama – the school matches scholarship money from the Miss America program.
Darnell, who is in school for sports broadcasting, finds it funny that she has become an unofficial spokesperson for the sorority recruitment process many now know as Bama Rush, because she had no idea what she was getting into. Some southern sorority girls, on the other hand, have spent years dreaming about what sisterhood they will land in.
Former pageant queen Kylan Darnell (pictured) has made more than $1 million after joining a sorority
While plenty of TikTok viewers were quick to add up how much they thought Darnell’s ensemble cost, she admitted that many of the pieces came out of her pageant closet
During the first round of recruitment, most women usually dress casually and wear Lululemon athleisure. Darnell wasn’t aware of the unwritten dress code and instead ‘popped out in Gucci shorts’.
Now, she’s sharing some of the university’s behind-the-scenes recruitment secrets with the Daily Mail.
What kickstarted Darnell’s notoriety was when she, as a freshman and prospective sorority member, shared a video showing off her look (including the now viral Gucci shorts) and explaining the rush process.
Throughout recruitment, Potential New Members (PNMs) turn their phones in for the day, so they can’t communicate with current members or the outside world.
Once she got her phone back, she was shocked to find the video had received eight million views and was ‘skyrocketing’.
TikTok viewers quickly estimated how much the designer ensemble cost, although the pieces came out of her pageant closet as Miss Ohio Teen USA.
Darnell said she saved money compared to other people she knows who spent ‘$4,000 off the top with a rush coach to teach them how interview’.
‘I know girls that will spend crazy amount of money on Zimmerman dresses,’ she said about the popular Australian designer frocks retailing for $400 to $3,400.
While she loves to purchase designer wares and said ‘it’s like a show for me now,’ she thinks it’s ‘crazy for a PNM to come in and do that, because to be completely honest, we don’t really remember what they’re wearing because there are so many girls’.
Her sister, Izzy, is joining her at Alabama in the fall, and she already has thousands of her own social media followers.
‘She’s either gonna get more online love or more online hate,’ Darnell admitted. She’s committed to letting her little sister ‘do her own thing’, but wants her to be far more aware of the undertaking.
While Darnell loves to purchase designer dresses, she thinks it’s ‘crazy for a PNM to come in and do that, because we don’t really remember what they’re wearing’
Her sister Izzy (right) is joining her at the University of Alabama in the fall, although she’ll be going through recruitment with millions of her own followers
‘I didn’t even know that being from Ohio would get me cut by four houses,’ Darnell confessed. Many times, ultra-exclusive, traditional southern sororities only take girls from neighboring states, with some even sticking to specific school districts in Alabama as the ultimate pipeline.
It didn’t help that the incoming freshman didn’t have a single reference letter, which is typically frowned upon. Sorority alums generally write letters of recommendation for younger girls going through recruitment, giving them a leg up and introducing them to current sisters.
Of course, she’s now happy in Zeta Tau Alpha, which she said is the only sorority ‘you can actually be an influencer in’, since many of the other houses are ‘extremely strict with what they post and if something gets too many views, they’ll make the girls take it down’.
Meanwhile, one this Darnell definitely isn’t recommending is an expensive rush coach.
Instead, she offers her own $100 online pre-recorded services during which girls receive 12 videos, including advice on how to do their makeup, what to wear, what to avoid saying and more.
She believes $100 seems like a reasonable price, especially when she heard some of her friends ‘paid $4,000 to learn how to sit down and have a conversation’.
Though of course it’s hardly surprising that these women are investing so much in an effort to gain acceptance, because many are devastated when they’re cut from the house of their dreams. Some are even dropped from the process entirely, and Darnell explained that ’99 percent of the time it’s because of their grades’, with the expectation of a 3.6 GPA – although, she said the cut could also be because of inappropriate leaked pictures.
While Alabama has 40,846 students, Darnell said ‘everybody knows everybody’ and ‘videos will get sent around’, adding that PNMs will often message ‘stuff that they shouldn’t be sending online’.
‘My message to girls is do not send anything that you do not want your mom or your grandma to see, because I promise it will get out.’
While Darnell ‘can’t personally speak on behalf of sororities,’ she said ‘rumor has it that they’re not going to take girls that are doing social media this year’
Becoming an influencer paid for her college experience, but her time as a viral sensation has not been without controversy
Becoming an influencer paid for her college experience, but her time as a viral sensation has not been without controversy.
She unintentionally landed in the middle of a love triangle with a fellow influencer after being cheated on, was forced to admit that some of the designer handbags shared in her viral Christmas gifts haul were fake, and found herself feuding with her freshman-year roommate after a spring break trip gone wrong.
Darnell has also received plenty of uninvited feedback from adult women, who are not involved in rush, who will ‘spam’ her social media inboxes asking why her sorority did not accept certain young women as members. While they do not know the teens personally, they become attached, she said.
Darnell said these women often fail to realize that she is not the ultimate decider. She receives their messages after an exhausting 12-hour day of recruitment, which typically lasts from 6am to 6pm, the influencer said.
‘We’re mentally drained,’ Darnell admitted. ‘Then you come home, and you’ve got all these people that you’ve never met before in your DMs, basically screaming at you because this girl got dropped. I can’t do anything about it.’
Darnell said that many of the women ‘ranking the girls and trying to figure out what sorority they’re going to go into [is] getting a little bit ridiculous.’
However, it’s possible there could be less input this year, because there might be fewer posts. There are extensive rules for the young women going through recruitment, including abstaining from alcohol, and now documenting the process on social media is frowned upon.
While she ‘can’t personally speak on behalf of sororities’, Darnell said ‘rumor has it that they’re not going to take girls that are doing social media this year’.
‘It’s fun and it paid for my college,’ Darnell said, adding that ‘the girls who are recruiting should lighten up a little bit, because our whole world has gone to social media. If you find a good balance, then there’s nothing wrong with that.’
