Sorority & Rush Information Sessions for High School Seniors
 

Are these sessions helpful? Are they needed? Can they be more helpful, esp given the comments we all see so frequently here on GC like "I just did not know etc" or I was so mis-informed, etc"

How can we help to make potential rushees better informed about rush and sororities BEFORE they get to college?
What can we do to stimulate more interest in high school girls about sororities and rush?

I think it depends on the area. Around here, people can go to big state-related schools like Pitt or Penn State, state system schools like Clarion or Slippery Rock, or private colleges like W&J or Westminster. Rush is TOTALLY different at these three types of schools and from school to school. In other words, what I might tell someone to do from my experience might be completely off for the school they are going to. This isn't even taking into account women who leave western PA.

I don't know how successful you would be getting high school administrators to allow GLOs to distribute information directly, but there may be another avenue.

One of the kinds of work I do for my alma mater is act as an AAV: Alumni Admissions Volunteer. We are groups of alumni who volunteer for Boston U in our home towns--manning a booth during "college night", giving presentations to HS seniors who've expressed an interest in applying, and once in a while do field interviews as part of the application process. This is not a unique thing to BU: most colleges/universities have either pros and or alumni handling these jobs.

If you could get some organized info into the hands of whoever does outreach to potential applicants, you'd achieve the same goal. You could fit it in the section under "Student Activities" or "Campus Life". Then, during "College Night", or what have you, you can introduce your GLOs and Greek life along w/ the school.

IMHO, it's a good idea. I helped staff a presentation in the fall to about 300 HS kids in the Houston area, and recently conducted an interview for an applicant. BOTH TIMES the FIRST questions I got were, "Is there a Greek system?" "Do you have a chapter of XYZ?" "Is there anything I can do now to prepare for rush?" Thank God I was up to date on our current Greek system and how it works--a lot of kids (esp in the South <g>) are really eager to hear it.

Adrienne (PNAM-2003)
:)

I don't know how successful you would be getting high school administrators to allow GLOs to distribute information directly, but there may be another avenue.

One of the kinds of work I do for my alma mater is act as an AAV: Alumni Admissions Volunteer. We are groups of alumni who volunteer for Boston U in our home towns--manning a booth during "college night", giving presentations to HS seniors who've expressed an interest in applying, and once in a while do field interviews as part of the application process. This is not a unique thing to BU: most colleges/universities have either pros and or alumni handling these jobs.

If you could get some organized info into the hands of whoever does outreach to potential applicants, you'd achieve the same goal. You could fit it in the section under "Student Activities" or "Campus Life". Then, during "College Night", or what have you, you can introduce your GLOs and Greek life along w/ the school.

IMHO, it's a good idea. I helped staff a presentation in the fall to about 300 HS kids in the Houston area, and recently conducted an interview for an applicant. BOTH TIMES the FIRST questions I got were, "Is there a Greek system?" "Do you have a chapter of XYZ?" "Is there anything I can do now to prepare for rush?" Thank God I was up to date on our current Greek system and how it works--a lot of kids (esp in the South <g>) are really eager to hear it.

Adrienne (PNAM-2003)
:)

I don't see it happening
 

At the highschool where I student teach, it is in our dress code that students are not allowed to wear greek lettered paraphenalia. Highschool is so cruel and cliquey that inviting sororities would make it so much worse. I can hear it now. "I'm gonna be a AD!" and then the fat girls are already shoved in to "rattle rattle hear comes the cattle...omega moooooo!" It would be horrible. I also think that it would totally turn off some of the wonderful PNM's that aren't in those cliques. I'd hate for plain Jane to think she has to be Barbie to rush...and no matter what the colleg girls looked like, it'd be the highschool girls setting the tone. Anyway, jsut my .02. We have Civinettes and Anchor club here and jeeeez, it's not supposed to be a popularity contest but the girls that get in and aren't "popular" end up dropping usually. it's so sad! Anyway, just me. i think they need that summer to get some distance and mature before rushing. Persoanlly i think should fall freshman should not rush anyway. Wait for grades.

Depends where you're talking about ... in a big city where lots of girls are likely to go Greek, great. The problem is that the girls who know at that point they want to go Greek are the ones who need the least help!

I am from a smallish town (60,000 people), and believe it or not it is the biggest metropolitan area for three hours any direction! At my high school, I am aware of two other women and two men who went Greek from my class - out of 400 graduates - although there may be a few I don't know about. I don't think there are any individual sorority or Panhellenic alumnae groups in the valley. So the ROI for a Panhellenic to drive down and do a presentation would be poor. And yet this is the biggest goldmine - clearly this is a part of the country where Greek life has not yet reached its full potential. Most of our regional state schools have no GLOs at all.

Well.. let me preface this by saying I went to a huge school in Alabama where the vast majority of the girls went to Alabama and Auburn and ended up in very strong chapters on those campuses. Our high school counselors held an info session for senior girls one day after school. During that time, they passed out a book with "rush terms" like ice water tea parties.. just random stuff that people might have never heard of. They also had schedules of the rush events and I think even the applications for Alabama and Auburn. Beyond that, they listed all of our teachers (who were willing to write recs) and their affiliation in college so we could get recommendations. While I know this is not the norm, maybe a booklet like this could be helpful at some of the schools. I know I wasn't able to go to the meeting (golf practice) so I just went to the office the next day and picked up a book. If you have any other questions about my school atmosphere, or what else was in the book, just ask me! I can try to remember a little more.

I really like...
 

...that booklet idea curlyagd! Thanks!

To be honest, I DON'T think it's a good idea to make special efforts to inform girls about rush, rush terms, etc.

"I just didn't know" isn't a good excuse for anything. Rush meant ALOT to me and so I went out there and researched it... that's how I ended up here at GC!

I think rush is, for the most part, an accurate process that eliminates the girls who really "want it" from the girls who are indifferent. The former will research the process of their own intiative whereas the latter won't!

XOXO,
Annie.

I wish we had had something like this at our high school. I had 400 people in my entire high school (grades 7-12) and I think only about 10 kids per year went to college. Those who did rarely came back. I don't think any of us even knew sororities existed before we got to college. I didn't.

Because of that, I was at a COMPLETE loss when Rush happened freshman year. I honestly thought that "Greeks" were special clubs for people of Greek ethnicity, and didn't pay it any more mind. It wasn't until much later (and too late for me to rush again) that I figured out what was going on.

Maybe in bigger cities or southern areas kids know about going greek, but in smaller towns... it's a total mystery to most of us. And with Recruitment getting earlier and earlier, I think too many girls miss out.

I'm not exactly sure how long ago it was...over 5 years for certain.
Our Panhellenic Alum Assoc. Was allowed to set up a table at the High Schools and had little pamphlets and reps from SOME of the sororities (Here we go again.) ANYway, they stopped doing it. When I brought it up to one of the officers, I was told it really wasn't a good idea. WHY??? Get ready...
First, these sororities were NPC. There are 2 High Schools in our area the ladies would consider visiting, the other HSs did not have the same "interest" level...
Second, they really didn't have the "manpower" to write recs for girls they didn't know and who perhaps, "weren't cut out for sorority."
Third, with all the discrimination suits, they felt they were opening themselves up if they didn't visit all the HSs.
Fourth, they want the girls who represent OUR area to be of the "highest caliber" so a rec from their association carries some weight.


They now drop of fliers at the offices, an announcement is made, anyone interested picks up the application and turns it into the association.

This is why, IMHO, information about Greek life should come from the **colleges** not from the GLOs themselves. Along with the fact that Greek life is different in almost every school you attend--according to dozens of threads on GC.

Adrienne (PNAM-2003)
:)

Here's an online example from my own alma mater. When we have information nights or Summer Send-Off, I'm going to try to get the Student Activities Office to send me a boatload of the print version:

http://people.bu.edu/gogreek/viewbook/cover.html

Adrienne (PNAM-2003)
:D

I was actually thinking about this today.

I brought it up to a few guys in my chapter and they liked the idea. I think I'm going to find out when the next college fair is at the local highschools and set up a booth there.

This might sound dumb, but how do you know if you really "want it" if you've never heard about it? :confused:

I mean, yeah, there are some schools who send out fliers of rush information to all incoming women, because they have fall recruitment and have it before school starts, necessitating women moving in to dorms early... but not all schools do that. And let's face it, while many schools have web sites, not all of them have panhellenic pages, and many that *do* have greek sites haven't updated them recently.

(I keep a list of chapters, with links to chapter, panhel/greek, and school sites for each school that had an ADPi chapter, and trust me when I say that some sites have not been updated with recruitment information since 2000 or so.)

Not to mention that while it's easy to hear about recruitment at State U if you live near State U and all of your older siblings' friends go to State U, but it isn't so easy if you're going to school out of state.

Just like not all sororities have the same "personality" on every campus, not every campus has their recruitment or even "we have a greek system" info out there. If I ever become a Valpo Guild member and host a get-together for incoming freshmen, I'll be darned sure to tell them that there's greek life there!

I attended one of these when I was a senior in High School. Basically, it was a"dos and don'ts" session for creating our recommendation information forms to send our recommenders. The women were alumnae of different sororities, and they all wore their NPC "Go Greek!" buttons. They were there to answer any questions we had and it was very informative.

Maybe it's the "South thing." I grew up in Northern Florida--more "gentility" southern than a lot of the traditional South. :P

I think this would be ridiculous -- the Greek system would be missing out on a lot of great girls if they went by this idea.

As pointed out, a lot of girls in small towns know nothing about the Greek system. Girls from all kinds of backgrounds may never be exposed to anything other than the sorority girl stereotypes until they get to college. I was lucky enough to have had a camp counselor who was the epitome of everything I wanted to be, incredibly sweet, motivated and talented, nothing like the stereotypical sorority girl -- and the member of a sorority at the University of Minnesota. This experience definitely reshaped the opinions I held up until then of sororities, and she was a major factor in my decision to research the Greek system and eventually rush. But without this kind of exposure, I never would have realized that being in a sorority was the kind of thing I wanted to do.

I think it's important to maximize high school girls' interaction with sorority members (especially outside of the South, where Greek life is less of an expected course of action) in order to minimize the stereotypes -- this will definitely encourage more girls to rush. Leaving rush only to the girls who KNOW they want to be Greek and are motivated enough to do their own research is a bad idea, because there are so many girls who would make great sorority members but just don't know enough about it to know it yet.

>>>"I just didn't know" isn't a good excuse for anything. Rush meant ALOT to me and so I went out there and researched it... that's how I ended up here at GC!

I think rush is, for the most part, an accurate process that eliminates the girls who really "want it" from the girls who are indifferent. The former will research the process of their own intiative whereas the latter won't!<<<

While my daughter is more like you, Shark, and researched things and asked around so she would have all the information and recs she needed before recruitment, not everyone knows to do that. She had my influence and we knew what to do to make things work for her. However, not everyone's mom was greek and they may not know how to even start the process. That doesn't mean they don't "really want it" or that they wouldn't make good GLO members.
My town has a loosely organized city Panhellenic Assn. made up of any interested NPC alum groups (or just individuals if their GLO has no local alum group). We hold an ice water tea after high school graduation each year (mostly publicized by word of mouth) and give the PNM's information about sororities, recruitment, etc. We also have them bring a picture and information packet for each NPC group at the school they will be attending. We then divide the packets up by GLO and get recs written for the girls. It works well for our local girls and gives them a good start.

>>>(especially in the South, where Greek life is less of an expected course of action)<<<

I would have thought the opposite. Greek life is very much alive and well in the South. Almost everyone in my daughter's peer group (and mine for that matter) expected to join a GLO in college.

Maybe it's a west-coast thing... but I don't see how one could NOT know that sororities and the Greek system is out there are nearly all Califiornia's schools. With either a UC or a state school about two or three hours from nearly every city in California, if not much less, how hard is it to expect a potential rushee to call ahead, ask for brochures, check out websites, etc.?

Also regarding your comment about going to school out of state, if you are going to a college not in your home-state, would that school really send representatives to your highschool to get information out about rush? That sounds difficult to accomplish.

My mother was not Greek and in fact did not go to college in the United States. Surely if a girl got into college, she could research the rush process for herself!

Perhaps girls who are for the most part uninformed about rush would make great GLO members, but I would much rather take the girl who, of her own intiative, went through rush well informed rather than the one who didn't know what a sorority truly is up until a few days before rush.

Maybe this attitude goes along with the fact that the Greek system at my school seems to attract plenty of girls each year without downright aggressive recruitment.

XOXO,
Annie.

Editted for typos

>>>Maybe this attitude goes along with the fact that the Greek system at my school seems to attract plenty of girls each year without downright aggressive recruitment.<<<

And it sounds as if you do not realize much about how other colleges may operate, outside of what your experience has been. There are many, many colleges in the United States that are in rural areas and their students are from small high schools. A lot of the time, these students are first generation college students. Just because they don't go into the process with all the information that they need to get into the sorority that they have chosen for themselves, does not mean that they should be immediately discounted for lack of preparation. It is fortunate for your campus that you don't have to deal with uninformed PNM's. I doubt that is the norm.

Oops -- that was a typo -- I meant to say "especially OUTSIDE of the South, where Greek life is less of an expected course" of action. :)

Annie--

Some of us posting are writing from a perspective of having experienced college/GLOs/alumni/etc from way outside where they were born. It sounds like you know the California system pretty well. However, how about New England, the Mid-Atlantic East Coast, Mid-West/rural, Mid-West/urban, Texas, and SouthEast? Those are the types of colleges and school systems I've communicated with personally over the past 12 years as a college alum. Let me tell you, they are as different from each other as red is from green. I can guarantee that the Greek system at Boston U (the one I've had the most experience with personally) is extremely different from yours in California.

As far as schools or groups going into high schools to talk about rush: scroll up for my post on the subject. Yes, they do--as part of "Campus Life" in introducing their programs to potential applicants. I know, because I'm one of those people who does it on a regular basis.

No one is really arguing here--it's just that those of us pointing out the differences may have had a few more trips around the sun to see them.

;)

Adrienne (PNAM-2003)
:)

Annie, I think a lot of it does have to do with where you are. Here in PA we have state schools too, but the Greek system isn't always well publicized. Not to mention we still have a lot of very rural areas and first generation college students - I wouldn't be surprised if there are some people just in the past year who are the first in their school to go Greek at all.

Thank you!! This is what I was trying to say. My parents and the majority of my friends' parents (both in high school and college) didn't even graduate high school, much less go to college. I find it rather offensive that I am not worth having simply because I wasn't born and bred knowing how the Greek system worked.

Very hard, if the Rushee doesn't know such a thing as greek life EXISTS. My friends and I should have called the school and said "hey, tell me about that thing I've never heard of"? Please. That would be the whole reason for the Sorority and Rush information sessions that we are discussing...

I think we all tend to form opinions based on personal experiences. Even being Greek didn't prepare me OR my daughter for what she would experience during rush, GC did. Yet, every OTHER Mom (in my circle) seemed to know. I really do think young women without information are at a disadvantage, IN SOME INSTANCES, definitely not ALL instances.

I can't buy the argument that some girls don't know what a sorority is or does...I will say that their image may be tainted
by movies, TV or Miss America Pageants. (That is where some REAL work needs to be done-breaking the stereotypes.)

aopinthesky-My town has a loosely organized city Panhellenic Assn. made up of any interested NPC alum groups (or just individuals if their GLO has no local alum group). We hold an ice water tea after high school graduation each year (mostly publicized by word of mouth) and give the PNM's information about sororities, recruitment, etc. We also have them bring a picture and information packet for each NPC group at the school they will be attending. We then divide the packets up by GLO and get recs written for the girls. It works well for our local girls and gives them a good start. I wish our town did this...

You still don't reach the smallest of communities and if these young women attend a campus with a very competitive system,
they won't have the knowledge about recs or the ramifications should they decide to rush their Sophomore year and a host of other unwritten "rules". Maybe the answer lies in a stronger
campus Panhellenic that gets the info out there with the college
brochure. My son received a TON of literature from numerous colleges. ALL plainly listed the fraternities and sororities on campus. It also listed every other organization. So, you see both sides have a point in this discussion. Ultimately though, it really is up to the individual to go to the web site, do a little research and find out what they can. Right or wrong, I don't see any other real solution. (Perhaps deferred rush???)

I just have to say this..............

I didn't know anything about greek life when I went away to college (live here in WA, went to school in St. Louis). No one in my family's greek, I led a very sheltered life and I went to a school where I knew no one. I just signed up for Rush, tried it out and found a home. No knowledge ahead of time.

Considering I have helped found an alumnae chapter, am now an International Officer, the Chair of a Task Force, and I support our locl collegiate chapter I think I have turned into a pretty good GLO member.

Sorry, but that just rubbed the wrong way.

help!
 

Hi! My name is Amanda!I am high school senior, and I am going to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the fall. No one in my family has ever been in a sorority let alone knows anything about it. I am really intrested in joining though. I have looked at tons of web sites talking about rush etc, but I still feel confused. My main concern is there are only three sororities on the campus I am going to. I want to distinguish myself so I get in the one thats "right for me", but im not sure how. Since I dont know anyone who has been in a sorority a recomendation is a little out of the question. Also, I don't know anything that I should do before I get to college. This is something that means a lot to me. Being apart of a group of friends you can relate to and share with voulenteer with laugh and cry together that sounds awesome! Going into college is already pretty stressful as all of you know im sure..not knowing anyone..worried about your classes..and money..and all that. I really want to know more about going Greek and rush etc but I just dont know who to ask. I have posted on a few boards like this. I have emailed a director at my campus, but their Greek websites arent really updated. I hope that someone will read this who can help. Thanks so much for your time!

Manda-There is a wealth of information strewn about on GC.
There is a big difference between a "Southern Rush" or a huge Greek systemn like Indiana, Oklahoma etc... compared to A&M in Corpus. Not to say it isn't competative. Just kind of sift through things that may not apply. These links will take you to some threads about tips. You can also refine your search and try to find more. Don't disregard a thread because it is dated 2000 or 2001. Good advice is good advice no matter how "aged" it is.
Good luck and KEEP POSTING!


http://130.94.21.174/gcforums/showth...ight=rush+tips

http://130.94.21.174/gcforums/showth...ight=rush+tips

http://130.94.21.174/gcforums/showth...ight=rush+tips

My point exactly! (Though I probably didn't state it well.)

If you're going to a school out of state, or one that isn't the usual pick, you *won't* get a bunch of people telling you what its campus greek life is like, or even that they have one. Sure, many campuses send out info *listing* that they have greek orgs, often buried among other campus orgs and activity groups, but that doesn't mean that a person knows what a sorority truly is. Or especially what greek life at that campus is like-- strong or dwindling, party-heavy or service-oriented, cooperative or competitive, etc.

Not all campuses send out info on recruitment. Many do, if the recruitment is in fall, but many don't if it occurs in spring. How many times do we hear people saying that they didn't know they *had* to rush as a freshman to get a chance, that they *had* to solicit their own recs, that they could find a local alum panhel org to make contacts to get those recs, etc.


Possibly, but I'd rather have someone who was the *right fit* for my org and didn't know much about the sorority system before she signed up, than someone who researched the whole thing, thought she'd be a perfect fit for our group, and *wasn't* a good fit at all. Rec or no rec.

As for knowing what a sorority truly is? I'd wager that many of us didn't *really* know what a sorority truly is until we'd finished our pledge periods, been initiated, and been a dedicated and loyal sister for a few years. I was in a local sorority, and while it was nice, I don't keep in touch with most of those women. OTOH, having been alum-initiated into ADPi a few years ago when that chapter went national, and having been involved with the chapter during the past year, I see the whole system with different and new eyes, and find myself excited to be a sister to those collegians.

Yeah, maybe your greek system at your school attracts a lot of women to recruitment, but that doesn't mean that it works at other kinds of schools in other parts of the country with other greek systems. And I think we'd get a lot of great women if it was better advertised to those who don't just want to be the traditional sorority-girl stereotype, or those whose families went greek in school, or those who are great campus leaders but who were turned off by the stereotypical frat-mat image. I really think we're missing out on some quality people. Sure, at some schools, these are the women that you get through COB, but how nice it would be to have them rush in the first place!

You know what Kate, I don't think there's a real disagreement here at all. What started out as one topic has evolved into another. A few general statements were made and somehow, it got all out of whack!

I think one of the best statements you made was loosely about not knowing what a sorority was until you finished pledgeship and had some time as an active. I would venture a guess, based on my own Greek experience, many may NEVER really know...

No one in their right mind would argue that some girls who are so indoctrinated with the "system" make HORRID sisters while others who "stumbled" into the process may be the next National Officer. Yet, I think we all can agree that there IS a system and yes, it does differ from campus to campus. Most of us too would agree that for girls IN GENERAL, it is beneficial to know as much as they can about their campus and THEIR system.

I guess I feel
Knowledge is power.
Everyone has seen either Legally Blond, Animal House or Sorority Life:rolleyes: (This REALLY is sarcasm!)
Those who WANT it bad enough will seek out information.
It would be nice if everyone found a spot...but they don't.
Bottom line, IF someone really DESIRES to be in a sorority, it is because they have some concept of what a sorority is, or at the very least, what they THINK it is.

Are we all arguing if a girl should go out there and search for information OR, should it be spoon fed???
I've kind of lost what it is we are all talking about!:confused:

This just in...
 

...just returned from our regional leadership conference and while there I asked some of the collegians what they thought about high school info sessions for passing on sorority information and they all thought it was a great idea -- only one of the collegains I talked to (out of a total of just 8) had known anything about sororities beforehand. The others wished they had known something while in high school.
I then asked the girls what was the best way to get high school senior girls to COME to one of these sessions? To wit -- Our brand-new alum Panhel association did one session last year -- our first -- but it was poorly attended -- okay sure we did not deconflict the date with the high school prom calendar and our session was the day after the prom! (dumb I know)
But thanks to word of mouth we had other girls who were not there download our forms from the website and get them to us by our deadline to get recs etc...the girls who did come and/or who did get their paperwork to us -- we had 9 total -- all got into sororities except one (since this girl seemed to be a HUGE partier and was not much into studying -- this was a blessing methinks;) )
Anyways, the collegians I asked about this said they thought I had a good idea to advertise our info session in the high school newspapers and they all said the ads should emphasize what is available once you become a member of a sorority -- particularly scholarships...
So I guess we will try that approach this year -- we DID deconflict the date of our session with the area proms -- ;) and we shall see what increase -- if any -- we get in interest and attendance...I do like the idea of creating a booklet as someone posted earlier on this thread though I think that will have to wait til next year...
I think we will keep doing these sessions and we will continue to strive for good local publicity so more young women will see the Panhel name out there and realize it can be a good thing to join a sorority!

That's part of the problem.

I think a lot of those who seek it out seek it out because of what can be stereotypical portrayals. Those who "really want it" may have a totally different perception of greek life if they've only seen the above portrayals. I'm not saying that they'd make horrid sisters, not at all! But the fact that someone *wants* it because she wants to live in a house like the "Delta Nu's" in Legally Blonde is going to get a huge culture shock if she thinks that Valpo sorority life is going to be like that! (I wish we all had over a hundred members and a house to live in!)

The other thing is, stuff like MTV sorority life may actively *turn away* quality women, because they get the idea that all sororities on all campuses are like that. If I thought that I needed to look like the girls of Delta Nu to get into a sorority, I'd never go through formal rush. Why bother researching the sororities if you feel that you don't have a chance against a bunch of rich, long-haired party girls? Again, it doesn't mean that they'd be great sisters, but how can you find out if they don't get interested in rush? By the time some women realize that sorority life isn't that stereotype, and *want* to rush, it may be too late for them since all of the houses are at quota and only want freshmen.

I think that we as individual sororities, and as GLOs in general, need to think about marketing. We want to attract many different kinds of women, not just one stereotype of women.

It's kind of like me going to college. I never would have thought about Valparaiso University if they hadn't done a "Valpo Sunday" at church with alumnae speakers and displays and flyers about what Valpo had to offer. *Because* I saw that information, and heard about the good qualities of the school, I did want to know more. But I would have never "done the research" into Valpo if my church hadn't had a Valpo Sunday. Similarly, I think there are women who won't research what greek life has to offer until they are given *some* information about what NPC sororities are really like (both in general and on specific campuses).

So no, I don't think that women need to be totally spoon-fed, but if you want to have a more diverse, quality group of women to choose from, you need to market a broader and more accurate picture of sorority life to women. Again, not that that applies to every campus, but it needs to apply to some.

Valpo has seven sororities, and had less than ninety women go through recruitment. Sixty-five received and accepted bids (snap or otherwise) on bid day. That's *fewer* than some sororities take for ONE PLEDGE CLASS!

Like I said, if your campus doesn't have a problem attracting a diverse group of women, you may be fine... but GC has often had stories of women asking if they can get a bid as a sophomore. Wouldn't it be nice if they had known enough to decide whether to rush as freshmen, and decide to investigate sorority life on their campuses before it's "too late"?

Just as a little addition to this, Annie is a member of my chapter and although it sounds as if a lot of women come through recruitment at UCR with knowledge about sororities, there really aren't a lot of women that come through recruitment, sadly. For those who are actually interested and informed, it's because they, as PNMs, are willing to get the information on their own (such as Annie did through GC). Formal recruitment at UCR really only consists of about 150-185 PNMs, at least over the past few years. Our Greek system is not really growing because of these numbers- it is thriving on the same numbers (most houses hit total of 70 probably once during a year, but then are down to 40 or 50 once people graduate... and we start over again with the same problem).

Although I somewhat agree with Annie about how it's usually easier and sometimes better for a chapter to take girls who are more informed than others (i.e. they know what they're getting into in the areas of dues, time management, etc), I also think that part of UCR's problem is weak publicity of the Greek system. We aren't really allowed to do much (no more dorm-storming, can't talk to PNMs over the summer anymore, etc.) and our local high schools don't really feed in many students. We're a commuter school, but people from up to an hour away from campus will commute, which leaves little time for social life.

Sad to say, but I just don't think if our particular school advertised to local high schools, it wouldn't get even 2% of the graduating seniors interested in recruitment at ANY school.

info session
 

hey speaking of this if anyone knows about an information session in my area please email me or post on here..im from Dallas,Tx. thanks!!

Well, it sounds like you (Kate) and I are on the same page, because I too think the concept of marketing is a good one. In fact, I am of the belief that half of the strength of a sorority on any given campus has a LOT to do with the way they "market" themselves.

We just have a whole different problem with our location because
instead of helping, I really believe OUR Pan. Alum Assoc. closes doors to many girls. As an individual, I know I try my hardest to stir up interest in Greek life, but since AXO doesn't have a chapter at LSU, the best I can do is help them locate people to write a rec, make them aware of deadlines and such and share a few tips from GC along the way. Just like each campus is different, so is the mindset of the ones in control of the information. Here, it would appear they don't WANT to market rush...they would like to hand pick it.:(

Maybe if enough of YOU guys bang the drums, we will see some changes. Sad to say, or area is going backward rather than forward.

I wish I'd had the opportunity to attend an information session. Rush is stressful enough when you -do- know what to expect.

However - even if such a session had been offered in my area, my parents would never have permitted me to attend. My father in particular is vehemently anti-greek. Kate and JAM, I'm with you on the marketing idea, but it has to be directed at parents as well as at PNMs.

I think an information session would be most beneficial if it (a) stuck to general descriptions of how formal and informal rush works - things like what a rho chi is, what snap bids are, etc.; (b) didn't mislead PNMs into thinking that everyone gets a bid, you don't need recs (at some schools), fill in your favorite myth here...; (c) was open to all NPC groups; (d) was open to all HS senior women and their parents.

MANDA! Call the Panhellenic Office at SMU right away, they may be able to give you the dates of the Dallas Rush Forum OR the Richardson/Plano Rush Forum held at the University of Texas at Dallas, which you could call as well. Try the Student Life office. Both are held usually in the month of February, so get moving!!!
I was the Rush Coordinator for Richardson Panhellenic for a few years back in the late 90's and we usually had over 400 girls and their moms attend.
There was a sign in/register process, with a general session for all the girls. Then you broke up into groups according to where you were going to school - UT, A&M, Texas Tech, TCU, as well as out of state schools like OU and LSU. Then there was a group for "far away" schools. The in-states had an active/RhoChi from their schools to answer questions.
One thing for sure - the sheets they filled out were copied, given to each Alumnae Chapter's Rush Chairman so that these girls could get their recs no matter where they were going. The girls were also given a list of each sorority's alumnae contacts/Sponsorship chairs to contact about rush questions, rec requirements, etc.
Texas schools are very specific about photos, etc. while some schools in the North and Midwest tell the freshmen they don't even need a rec.
I will tell you this, however. If it is 1 a.m. and they like you, you're from out of state but have no rec, and Mary Sue from in state has one and they like her too - they take the path of least resistance. I always told the rushees to get recs and many times their Mother would call me when rush was over and say "Oh, boy were you right!"
I think it is important to have as much info as you can get, and to see girls from different groups. Understand that group ABC at Texas is very different than ABC at say, Indiana. Throw out preconceived notions, keep your eyes open and have fun!

we...
 

...encourage parents to come to our sorority info sessions as well -- last year even though we only had a handful of girls show up, all of them brought their moms -- none of whom had been in sororities! We had three collegiate sorority girls speak too (disguised as vanilla sorority girls -- no letters etc) and they emphasized what a great enviroment it was for girls who are away from home for the first time --what they said allayed some parents' fears...

I guess what I hope to hear from GC is how to get more girls who would typically not even consider sorority membership to attend our info sessions....is there a magic phrase? And I sure hope the newspaper ads in the H.S. papers work!

YOU ARE NOT GOING TO BELIVE THIS..that meeting was yesterday...talk about discuraging. I wish there were someway i could just mail a resume and have an interview with someone and they could write me a rec..this is very complicated. Anyone have any suggestions..thanks again guys...