What for????? I am assuming this remark comes because your school does not have deferred recruitment.

At my school and I would never want it that way. Big 10 schools are different, period! And remember, not every Big 10 school has fall recruitment, so what would be the point?

I won't speak for the other 10 universities, but I would really get on my soap box if Panhellenic did something like this because. Frankly, we don't see the "ABC girls are all blonde and from Metro Center and the poor EFG girls are sociallly awkward and from Podunkville". Girls from out of state have an equal chance of pledging the way it is. Also, with deferred recruitment, PNMs have three months to meet students, line up their recs (which are not needed) and attend "meet the Greek" events.

If OSU with its 52,000 students had greater than 5% in the Greek System, one of two things would happen.

1. Students would go bidless where now a bid is nearly guaranteed to anyone who keeps an open mind (many houses don't take quota, nor are they at total)

2. The Greek System would need to expand and there is no physical space to do so. Many of the houses of chapters that have left campus have been sold and converted to apartments and are now a wreck (SDT and Phi Mu come to mind) or purchased by a Fraternity and smell of beer (old ADPi and ZTA houses). Apartment owners won't sell back to the Greek system because they have been salivating for property on 15th for decades.

I have said this before and I'll say it again, many of the schools in the Big 10 are in large metro areas where students don't need the Greek system to find something to do. Granted, your school may not be in that category, but don't assume the entire Big 10 is in your shoes.

I can't speak for the other Big 10 schools, but Greek Life at OSU is pretty laid back and that is the way we like it. Students don't get stressed out about not getting into the "right" house, Sophomores/Juniors can easily get into solid chapters and friendships are made before recruitment and last throughout your four years.

Is there dirty rushing? Absolutely. Does it happen in every house? No.

I love the system at DePauw. First semester Freshman are permitted to attend lunch one time in each chapter. I'm not sure how they schedule it, but it gives all girls an equal chance of getting to know the chapter before recruitment. Besides the group house tours, this is the only time PNMs can go into a house during the first semester.

Maybe, instead of suggesting that 'the Big 10 take heed', suggest they move recruitment to spring at your school.

ETA...when I went through "rush", we did not have deferred recruitment and I would rather have had it deferred. Right now, I work with a local chapter and will help at Pref next Saturday and it's just too complicated having it so soon.

Sounds like someone is angry.

That's actually rather foolish.

The Big 10 average city size is approximately (and this is a pretty rough estimation 189,000.) The SEC average city size is only 155,000.

I guess a tiny town the size of 34,000 reallllly makes a different.

I view Bama's spring Recruitment events as comparable to a campus that has deferred Recruitment in the spring. Presumably those sororities are using the fall months to get to know pre-PNMs and vice versa so that educated decisions can be made during actual Recruitment. Bama is doing this too, except it occurs in the spring with HS seniors since Recruitment takes place before classes start in August.

The SEC has a heritage and so does the Big 10. Why would someone make a blanket statement that the Big 10 should follow what works in the south? They are different cultures and that is why we love where we went to school.

If a girl went to an OSU or UofM football game in a Lily Pullitzer dress, she might get stares, but not in a good way. Likewise, if I showed up at a Bama game in my game-day gear (football jersey, shorts and Mardi Gras beads), they would run me out of town. You won't see me in a sundress at a football game and I would never tell a Bama lady to wear what I would to game day.

Should I make the blanket statement that Iowa should change to Spring Recruitment? Nope! The OP can complain all she wants and live vicariously through the SEC, because it's doubtful her Panhellenic is going to do something because an alumni read something on Greek Chat that she thought was a good idea.

Speaking of football, I have a Bama game to watch.

Would you look at Northwestern as Evanston or Chicago? Yes, if you are using the 74,000 population, I can see where you get your numbers. Evanston is in Cook County, hence Chicago;

• Cook County = Chicago = 2.8 million people.
• Columbus > 3/4 million
• Madison: 1/4 million
• Ann Arbor is less than one hour from Detroit
• Iowa City - You win; it's not a metro area.

You do the math.

I didn't mean to touch a nerve. What I was getting at is by having all of these early events the southern schools are building interest and enthusiasm in sorority life. I don't see it as a way to weed out girls or make it scary. I think it must make girls excited to be part of it.

But I don't accept the fact that Greek systems are only good in small cities and towns. Raleigh-Durham isn't exactly waiting for cable tv these days, as an example.

I understand that Greek systems in the Midwest are not the same as those in the South, but a good marketing plan is a good marketing plan. I think there must be some way to adapt this process of informational parties in the spring of a girl's senior year of high school while she's talking with the other girls who are also making their plans for next fall.

Again, I apologize for offending anyone.

Thanks to Zillini, Anchor Alumna, and everyone else for your helpful post. D and I plan on attending the april preview, and learning more. I have friends and family ready to write recs when needed for all but 2-3 houses. Need to find some Phi Mu and AXO friends. AXO doesn't have Ky chapters so that may be hard.
The house where my daughter is a legacy (my Mom), posted on Facebook that they are identifying class of 2010 girls now. So I wanted to make sure we had the correct timetable for recrutiment events and sending recs.
Thanks again,

If every football team and playing style was that of the SEC it wouldn't be nearly as exciting. Same with sorority recruitment, kinda. I like hearing about different types of recruitment, but I wouldn't change a thing about how I joined and how members are joining my chapter now.

And, uhh... I like Pitt. IDK.

Good luck with things catfan.

The enthusiasm is already there. They do these events because they have a zillion Greek alum parents and prospective members contacting them every day asking for it.

A good comparison: department stores in Pittsburgh don't sell Steelers gear to "build enthusiasm" for the team. They sell it because people are already psychotically excited about the team and they'll make beaucoup bucks. This is simply giving the people what they want.

Ask your Greek friends if they know a Phi Mu or an AXO...quite often Greeks know other Greeks. Good luck!

I think it helps perpetuate things though, and it does channel the interest. It feeds it, rather than just reflecting it.

I mean think it through:
contrast the level of administrative support you'd have to have to pull off the Bama pre-rush stuff with levels at places where Greek Life struggles.

At schools where there are different, and yet self-sustaining traditions, I think differences among campuses is one of the strengths of Greek life.

But if participation is waning or has waned in the past, maybe looking at what other schools has value. (I'm not saying that everyone should aspire to be like the SEC by any stretch because it has its drawbacks too.)

And in a kind of unrelated point, it seems to me that at least half of SEC schools are either in pretty decent sized metro areas or are within an hour of one. I mention this because the size of the metro area being used to explain interest in Greek Life might not go as far as just looking at what role Greek Life typically plays in campus life, regardless of the size of the city. Sure, having nothing else to do probably makes people more interested in joining, but not every SEC school is in a town like Starkville.

ETA: neither of these schools is SEC, but Georgia Tech, which you probably know is in Atlanta, is about 25% Greek and Emory, which is technically in Decatur, is about 30% Greek.

The administration at Georgia Tech is very supportive of the greek system. In fact, they used to run a PSA on the radio narrated by their dean of students touting the greek system at Tech and how fraternity and sorority members had higher grades, better graduation rates and long term financial contact with the Institute as alumni than unaffiliated students.

One thing that's different with my kids and their friends (living in a big city as opposed to a college town) is that more social life actually happens on campus because it's not so easy to "go out" in Atlanta as it is in Athens where everybody has a fake.

So I really don't know if the argument that you don't need to be greek if your campus is in a large city and there are other things to do really holds true or not. Just an observation.

alright what if youll be a sophmore? (not in a sorority) can you still attend panhellenic weekend?

Oh, they probably have fakes in Atlanta too, they just don't work at the "good" bars - my son has had 2 fake id's confiscated on 6th Street in 2 years, consequently he spent most of his time partying at the fraternity house. Now that he's 21, he's crawling the bars with his "of age" buddies.

Austin- 656,562 souls, percentage of Greeks at UT - 11% (according to Wikipedia); whereas Dallas - 2,412,827 souls, percentage of Greeks at SMU - 30%.

I think it is the culture of the university that dictates the size of, and enthusiasm for being a part of, Greeklife.