I don't know about taking it to that extreme, but I can understand a Chapter looking at their invitation/Bid List and taking locations into consideration. A Chapter on a competitive campus needs to think about it's members hometowns. You need diversity to have a better chance of knowing PNMs from that location. Also it can be a selling point to PNMs if a member is from their hometown/high school, even better if the PNMs know them or at least knows of them.

Something else to consider. Even if it were by complete coincidence, if a large percentage of members are from the same hometown/HS then a Chapter can get the reputation of ONLY taking members from that hometown/HS. PNMs may cut the Chapter because they assume it's only a matter of time before the Chapter cuts them since they aren't from there.

Good post Zillini.

Sometimes I find that us guys take hometowns more seriously than the sororities do. But it's an important factor.

I wrote about this years ago when my son was rushing. I agree.

With guys rush, where there is no "formal rush", just a bunch of summer parties and get togethers, it's totally WHO you know.

It's kind of a catch 22 - How do you get to know people in the houses, because you have to be invited to events; How do you get invited to events if you don't know people in the house?

I've found, after hearing about recruitment from my son who was a rush captain, that they are contacting kids from certain highschools, summer camps, etc. where members have either attended or know someone. Every now and then, they may get an email from an alum, giving them a heads up to contact somebody, but this is pretty rare.

So, if you are some random kid from out of state, who doesn't know any of the current members, or have some "in" in the house, you might not have a chance, even if you are an awesome guy.

At schools where the bids are handed out before school even starts, kids from out of state won't even get rushed at many of the houses. That seems a bummer!

At least with sorority rush, you have your 15 minutes to shine!!

If there was truly a "disadvantage" for out-of-state girls I would think it would really only be for those who come from areas where recruitment isn't as hardcore as it is in certain southern schools (like those where you essentially "need" recommendations, etc.), who just don't know the nuances of going through recruitment at those schools. Of course, if the girl is truly interested in joining an org at that school, that would be something that she would have to take upon herself to find out ahead of time.