Thanks for all your help. We are going to pay .37 for the 700+ letters. This is our first year doing a mailing so I hope we see some results.

#9
 

Pledge #9 signed on the spot after a given a bid card. So that's pretty good.

We also got confirmation from two other rushees that they will sign with us. One is the guy with the not so hot rush application, so I guess the rush chairs were satisified with the answeres he gave when questioned about his grades and stuff.

The other confirmed signee was the one where the rush chairs really impressed me at Parent's Day by talking to the rushees little sister a lot. One rush chair expects this kid to turn in his card tommorow.

That's all the news so far, the pledge class really is beginning to take shape.

I'm off to Lincoln for the weekend, expect some update on sunday.

That's great news, Beta! Keep up the good work! :D

Great to hear of rushees singing their bid cards and I hope the other 2 rushees sing w/your GLO soon.:)

Okay, it was a good weekend. I'm a little sunburned, but really not too bad. I'm also still a little hungover from last nights festivities despite the fact I've been up for 6 hours and driven home already...


Anyways, went up Friday, and met some guys who were going through houses after NSE. Actually had one kid recognize me as the guy who gave him a tour of our house during his senior visit day. I guess it's really not that surprizing since our house was the only fraternity house shown on those days, and I gave like 95% of the tours through the house.

We had a kid from Idaho show up, and come back later in the afternoon, and I think that he may have been given a bid card, but I'm not sure. Obviously the rush chairs had been in contact with him throughout the summer up until this point.[edited] He was not given a bid card, but probably will get one in the mail it looks like.

Yesterday (Sat). we had a rush party out a lake north of Lincoln, and the weather was great, and we had a great turnout of rushees, signees, girls and brothers. Over 60 people were out there as part of our group, tossing around frisbees, footballs, going jet skiing and swimming. We had almost half our house there which is really great, because it shows the dedication the actives have towards getting a pledge class. It was also good to have most our new pledges in the area show up and they actually got a chance to talk to the guys we were rushing to see what they thought of a couple of them.

Two new bid cards were given out, one to yet another guy from that same Lincoln HS, i think that puts us at probably 6 from there. I'm weary about it, but meeting these guys, and seeign their apps just makes you want to sign them and so we have. The other bid card went to a guy from Holdrege, our second from that area. His friend signed early this past week.

Two guys from Kearney have given the word they are going to sign with us, one of them was the Valedictorian out of a class of over 400, and the other is my Pledge Dad's little brother. After our rush event they went and punk'd another house for a free meal, even though they knew their decision.

We have one kid who has apparently become a rush crush, and is saying "Beta or Bust". Problem is we have to tell him that we're not interested. I talked to him about what other houses he was looking at, and he told me just one other, but that he called them a couple weeks ago and they never picked up so he hadn't talked to them in over a month. To be honest he doesn't mesh well with us at all, and perhaps thinks that the fact people talke to him at our rush event is a sign of interest, when it's really to see what the rushee is like and if we want to become interested. I watched him for a little bit during the day, and he pretty much only speaks when spoken to. Now being quiet isn't a negative, but during rush, it's one of those things that you make yourself more outgoing, at least going up and saying "hi" to the people you've met before.

The kid who I've mentioned before who is a sophomore live out in the really intensive program was also there and I talked to him a lot, just to really get enough to make my final judgement. He's a really nice kid, and is great to talk to in a group of two or three, but in anything larger he just completely shuts down. I also think that while he would have friends in the house, that he necessarily would fit in/be able to talk to all the different types of guys we have, particularly in his own pledge class si where I worry about this. This makes me hesistant to want to offer him a bid, not even thinking about his situation of being a sophomore live-out in a very intense program that is very demanding of his time. If he only had two strikes against him, I'd say we should probably give him a card, but the tri-fecta just really makes me anxious. I think what the rush chairs decided was to tell him that at this time we can't offer him a card, but if we think our #'s aren't where we want them that we'll sign him.

As for some good news about rushees, I met some more of the guys we've signed and I'm really excited, all of them are super, super cool. They're smart, easy to talk to, interesting guys, and they remind me a lot of my pledge class in that way.

I also talked to a couple of rush chairs from other houses, and they all said that they were amazed how we are dominating rush, really getting the top guys and having such good signing % of the guys we've given bid cards to. It's nice to hear such praise coming from other houses.

I really think taht this week will bring us a lot of signed bid cards, I certainly hope so.

congrats
 

this remains one of the more outstanding rush threads. congrats to the betas. you guys rock.
:cool:

Okay, I said in my super long update that the kid from Idaho with the MILF of a mom, didn't get a bid card yet. Well, I lied, or rather our rush chair in charge of posting rush info on our chapter message board forgot to add him to the list of bid cards outstanding.

We lost another guy to a certain house, and just due to numbers and their reputation, we think they maybe talking shit on other houses, just because they are getting guys they typically wouldn't have gotten in the past, and we don't think they have much to offer a rushee, yet they are getting guys that they "shouldn't".

I'm still feeling pretty confidant in our pledge class as we have 10 signed, 3 who have commited to sign, and 1 who has told other people that he is going to sign, but not told the rush chairs. That's basically 14 for sure, and there are 2 guys who are down to us and one other house, one guy between us and 2 other houses, and one rushee who is a legacy which of course gives us an advantage. There are also three guys who are "leaning our way" according to the rush chairs.

Also, I'm feeling confidant just based on the numbers we have compared to some of our closer "rivals". We're either tied with them or beating them at this point so that's a confidance boost.



mmcat Thanks for the compliment, I'm not sure what makes a great rush thread since I usually don't pay that much attention to them for the girls unless they are someone who was on GC way before they begin rushing. I really think the only one I read religiously was TaraHopeful's...But again thank you for the compliments...we do rock.

Well, my posts are not as interesting as Beta Rulz, but I will post how my chapters summer recruitment is going. We have been holding recruitment events every two to three weeks around Kansas this summer. We would like to do more, but do to our size it is not possible. Two weeks ago we held an event in Wichita, Ks. We ended up meeting one guy who has verbally committed to the house. He will be a great addition. He also has a friend from high school who is very interested, we will probably sign him when we meet him. Giving bids for our chapter is kind of strange and difficult during the summer. For a bid, 80% of the chapter has to be present to vote and 75% have to "yes" to giving the rushee a bid. It would be a lot easier if the rush chair could hand out the bids with out the entire chapter voting.
Also, a guy who we have been recruiting since last spring has decided to sign a bid. We also have a friend of a couple brothers who is planning on rushing our house. So, early in the summer, we have about 4 guys planning to join the house. We are hoping to get at least ten guys during the summer and at least another 5-10 when school begins. Our next event is in Colby, KS we know of at least one guy interested so I hope things go well there.

Events
 

Hey guys, I'm interested in what events you typically hold for your summer rush. I've already graduated but this is interesting to me since I was in charge of rush for so long.

I know the BBQs were great and we did them with everything. We always did events that let us talk to the guys. That's why I never understood how other chapters in my fraternity took the guys to paintball or whatever.

-Rudey
--Nice job on summer rush so far.

Everything is centered around talkign to guys like you said Rudey.

Pretty much all our summer events are BBQ's of some sort, just different locations. Chapter House, lakes throughout Nebraska, Members houses, Alumni houses.

The rush chairmen when meeting a guy may take them out to dinner or golfing or bowling but that's about it.

I think some chapters look at rush as a way to sign guys that are interested in them, not looking at their opinions of the guys past the obligatory labeling of whether he is cool enough or not. If he's cool, than I think those chapters just want guys to stick around long enough to give them a bid card...

What percentage of the guys that you have go through this formal rush place with houses? Is it pretty much known that these kids all want to be in the greek system and you get to pick and choose those that fit with you? The thing is you talk about securing guys but I can't tell if it's just over other houses or into joining a fraternity.

-Rudey

Hey Betarulz

Do you have guys rsvp to these events?

Rudey, I would guess that probably between 85-90% of guys that go through rush sign with a house, but I really have no idea what the actual numbers are. Most goign through want to join a house from the beginning but there are always a couple who are just checking it out, and so you have to fight the battle to make them join a fraternity, then try to get them to sign with you.


Matt, guys do not have to RSVP to an event. Rush schedules are set during April, so that guys who are workign during the summer can get off for work, and all the houses will post information about those dates either on their chapter website or some other easily accesible place. A rushee armed with that information should be able to just show up for an event.

Sorry for the absence of news Summer Rush Fans!
The 4th of July always wrecks some havoc on rush for everyone...rushees don't call back, rush chairs don't make calls, there are no rush events....

Anyways my last updates about our rush said that our two "discussion cases" (the sophomore live out adn the not-so-hot rush app) had been given bid cards. Both of them have signed, so I guess all the house should be happy (most of the people wanted one and not the other and vice versa). We also got 2 other signed cards and one more "it's in the mail" bringing our total up to 15.

One of the guys was Valedictorian from Kearney High, the other is pledge number #4 from the same Lincoln HS as the others, and the other "it's in the mail" is the guy from Idaho!

We did have rushee #3 choose another house...but still only to have "lost" three guys who had bid cards from us is a very good % in my mind.

The most unfortunate news is that one guy who said he was going to sign with us (my pledge dad's little brother) is still looking at Farmhouse, and while is probably leaning this way is still not locked in. I really hope he'll come to his senses and stop toying with us and just sign the card. The rush chairs are not giving up and the fact that his friend signed with us is a plus, along with the rest of our Kearney contingent.

After that, there are 4 other guys who are "leaning our way" according to the rush chairs, and three other guys who are either down to one or two other houses besides us. So there are still 8 bid cards out there, with some other guys out of Lincoln, Omaha, Kansas City, and SoDak that might get cards soon.

This weekend will the usual BBQ at the house, and on Saturday is our Alumni Rush event. The Alumnus owns a ranch/farm south of Lincoln, and has invited his entire pledge class to come for the event. Not really sure what effect this has on the rushees, but it's awesome to have our Alumni support us like this, as well as get a chance to show off our success to them.