greek question from a non-greek
 

hi everyone!
i was just wondering whether or not it would be taboo for a brother or (well preferably) a sister (because i'm a girl) of a GLO to maybe explain the rush process to a non-greek. not really on a personal level (i don't want to know how you felt about it or any specifics) and not about initiations either. i just don't understand some of the terminology(pref parties? bid? rush? etc.) some of them i kind of get, but not exactly. i've looked at a few of the "greek dictionaries" offered on some websites but none of them describe what i'm looking for! if it's okay, could someone PLEASE explain to me? i'm asking in hopes that i'm not the only non-greek who visits these boards and that doesn't quite get some of the things that are discussed. i know alot of it has to do with the fact that i'm not IN an organization, but i really just want to know for KNOWLEDGE's sake!

i feel really silly for asking this because i'm just a girl who might be interested in pledging someday....but for right now it would really just make the whole rush process a bit easier to understand....!!

thanks!!

Do a search, or just browse through the rush forum, and you will find a wealth of information.

The rush process depends on what sort of GLO you're interested in pursuing. If you're going after membership in an NPC sorority, you will probably participate in a formal rush process where you'll meet members of every NPC sorority at your school, get invited back (or not) by each group, and narrow down your choices until you (hopefully) receive one and only one bid. If you're pursuing membership in an NPHC sorority (historically African-American) you will most likely select one group to pursue, and meet with them; one of the NPHC members on GC can tell you more. Multicultural, service, local, and regional sororities all have their own membership selection processes, and they can vary widely.

Hope this helps :)

check out our webpage and the recruitment section

www.bgsu.edu/studentlife/greeks/alpha-gamma-delta

marissa

so the gist of what i'm getting is
-the GLOs on campus "unite" and in essence do rush together...and the PNMs just pledge where they get a bid from??

now- if this is correct.......does that only stand for NPC sororities? (*meaning do the locals participate in that same formal rush as well?*) or do the local sororities/fraternities rush seperately - but at the same time...
or is it completely seperate?

**sorry if i'm being a pain but this is one major thing i was definately NOT understanding!**

Thanks Bunches!

No one knows how it works! Its another one of those female mysteries like menstration, or abstract geometry.

If the local sororities belong to the same "council" as the NPC sororities - whether this is called Intersorority Council, Panhellenic Council depends on the school - they will participate in formal rush the same way that the NPC groups do.

the perverbial "fog" is beginning to disperse!
 

thanks, that part makes so much more sense now!

-but about things like a "pref party"?
this is what i get from what i've come to understand on here......

each organization has a party for the people they "PREFer" to be a PNM?? and this happens during rush......and if you don't get invited you don't get a bid from that group....

is there anything else that i'm allowed to know?

"Pref Party" is short for Preference Party. On most campuses during formal recruitment Preference is the last round of parties. There are usually two or three Preference Parties depending on the campus.
Preference night is a very special night of recruitment. It is a time when the PNM's make a decision about how they want to rank where they want to pledge (out of whose Pref parties they attended) and the chapters make similar decisions. On a lot of campuses the collegiate panhellenic has rules that require all women who attend Preference Parties to be matched to one of the groups whose parties she attends. This is to prevent what are otherwise known as cross-cuts. If you go through formal recruitment your recruitment counselor or greek advisor can answer any questions you might have about how Preference works on your individual campus.
There are various threads that discuss Preference, how many parties campuses should have and cross-cuts in the rush forum. You should check out the different threads on rush and feel free to PM me if you have any questions.

Laura

thank you!
 

Thank You all!!

Seriously, this whole process makes alot more sense to me now!
It is definately rather confusing when you're not part of it and just want to know!

Maybe someday I'll be able to REALLY know, and at least I'll understand what's going on thanks to all of you!

Thanks again! :D

Almost everything during the "rush" process you are allowed to know- other than how a particular chapter votes and ranks rushees.-

Formal rush is very structured- you have an alotted time to meet many sisters of all the sororities over a few day time frame- this is a time to ask questions, bring up concerns, get to know people and have a great time. Since you are just learning about rush it is important to note you do NOT have to accept a bid! It is a personal choice- Formal rush is really a mutual selection- both you and the chapters narrow down choices.

Formal rush is a lot of fun- As everyone else has said read the things in the "rush" forum and go to your greek advisor on campus- they would love to give you more information.

Informal rush is less structured and honestly I don't know much about it- I am a new member who went through formal rush this year- but I think it is more of an invite thing- you invite friends who are interested in joining and other people inquiring about your chapter- but I could be wrong-

If you want to know- ask a greek:) Who knows maybe Greek Life is for you:) So go check it out (sorry this is long winded)

As someone who went through informal rush, I've got to give you my 2 cents worth!

Informal rush is much more casual and nowhere near as complicated as formal rush. It's much easier to get to know the sisters in the house, since everyone is more relaxed, and you're not on a tight schedule.

Most houses will advertise when they're having a COB event (COB=continuous open bidding, which is just another name for informal rush), or you can call their houses and ask for the VP membership and find out when their next event is. You don't have to be invited, but you should let one of the sisters know you're coming, since if they don't have any PNMs coming the event may be cancelled.

Events are a lot more fun than in formal rush, too. They include things like karaoke night, or going out for ice cream sundaes.

Hope this helps!!

Lindsay :)

I also joined my sorority via informal rush. I found it a LOT more laid-back and relaxed than formal rush, although it serves the same purpose - gives potential new members (PNMs) a chance to meet the sisters and find out more about the sorority, while giving the sorority a chance to meet PNMs and choose the ones they'd like to invite to join.

Whether informal rush parties are openly advertised depends on how many bids the sorority is able to extend. If they can only extend one or two bids, they probably won't advertise their parties - they'll just invite 4 or 5 women they already know well, and that's it. If they can extend 15 or 20 bids, then they'll advertise - and if you've already let them know you're interested, they'll give you a call.

You should also note that you're ineligible to participate in informal rush if you haven't already had the chance to participate in formal rush - the idea being that you should at least have had the opportunity to meet all the sororities via formal rush first. So if your school holds formal rush in January, and you're a freshman and it's November, you have to wait. However, if you're a sophomore, junior, or senior (even if you're a transfer, and even if you've never been through formal rush) you can participate in informal rush.

yippee!
 

*does a little happy jig*

i feel like i understand this SO much better now!!

one more quick question though:
When you go through informal rush you choose the specific GLO??...instead of the formal process of the pref parties and such?

...interesting :)

Re: yippee!
 

Yes, YOU decide which houses you want to go to. You'll want to go to as many as possible, although I only went to two (out of five) and I don't feel like I missed out. I ended up exactly where I belonged!!

Lindsay :)

While informal rush is the right choice for many people, I just want to point out a couple of potential pitfalls -

One, you are limited to rushing groups that are not at ceiling. The bigger and more "competitive" the system is, the fewer chapters that will have spots available. So you may have fewer groups to choose from.

Two, it *may* be harder to make an educated choice about which GLO is right for you informally. If there are 17 chapters on your campus, it's hard to visit them all informally. It really helps to know members personally before informal, whether through classes or the dorms.

I guess this is just a warning against saying, "Informal sounds less stressful, so I'll do it," because there are more factors than that.

Regarding the "council" what if the greek system is not "part" of the campus? (not supported/part of the formal student organizations)

Now say at a school where the Greek System is relatively small (4 each of fraternities and soroities with only 1 of each being national) how does that usually work??

Do GLOs tend to do things in pairs? like kind of buddy along (ex. i remember reading in a thread about how someone was scared if she pledged one way, she might lose guy friends in the fraternity that didn't hang out with that sorority...)

Okay- Am I wrong? I'm getting that there are national sororites that exist that are not of the 26 NPC groups....true/false??
If true, does that mean they do not abide by the NPC regulations and that is why they are not included??

*wow...i must be being such a pain, or else i seem really dumb!*

THANKS!

There will still be councils if they are national orgs.

If there is only one national, no council is mandated by the orgs themselves, although the school may create one.

There are several councils. The NPC (National Panhellenic) governs the 26 historically white sororities; the NIC governs fraternities, the NPHC governs the 9 historically African American fraternities and sororities, and NAFLO governs Latino fraternities and sororities. NPC, for example, requires that if there are two NPC groups on a campus, they must form a local Panhellenic council. Basically for each council there are a big national council composed of the national orgs and many campus councils composed of local chapters. Whether a local organization is included in the local council depends on that group and that campus.

But wait, there's more! There are GLOs that are not members of any council yet are national. These include some of the multi-cultural GLOs, of which Theta Nu Xi is the one that springs to my mind. There are Ceres and Sigma Alpha, agricultural sororities. There is Kappa Beta Gamma, which while national has fewer than ten chapters. There is Phi Sigma Rho, an engineering sorority. There are a few collegiate chapters of Beta Sigma Phi, which is in general a non-collegiate adult sorority.

And if you're not feeling like you're a little dizzy and need to sit down for a while after trying to digest all that, you're a stronger woman than I!

after reading that 2 or 3 times, I think I pretty much understand...but i'm still processing....give me a little more time!!

Good luck getting all this! It is so complicated. But to make it worse...or maybe more clear...if you are interested in joing a GLO I would really talk to a someone in the Greek Life Office. Find out how your school works the Greek system. There are so many variations it is crazy.
I go to a school that does not even operate a formal recruitment period. We do events all year long, usually about everyother week or so. We give out bids when we want to, and as many as we want (we are the only NPC.)
If you get the basics you are doing great! Find out your school's details from your Greek Life Office. Those are my two cents if that helps at all.
Tau Love
Lil E