Fraternity Rush
 

Welp, it's here. The time has come.

As of tomorrow night, Fraternity Rush will officially begin for me. I'm a little nervous about it, but more excited than anything. My mom is really nervous for some reason...I dunno, she's weird.

There are 15 fraternities participating in this fall's rush, so I'm hoping I can find a group of guys that I get along with. Due to the fact that I am going to be a Soph. and that I've been able to go to several rush parties throughout the summer; I have an idea of which fraternities I do and don't like.

Convocation begins at 6:00 pm and is followed by Phase A of Round 1 of formal rush. I believe that rush will be over by midnight tomorrow night. On Thursday, we meet back with our Rho Alpha's at 7:30 and will go on to Phase B of Round 1 until 12 am. On Friday (my 20th birthday), we select 6 inivitations to continue on to and go through Round 2 at 8 that night. Saturday, we pick our final 3 invitations at 2, visit the houses from 8-11 and sign our preference cards followed by the last round of rush. At 4 pm on Sunday, we pick up our bid cards and then who knows what's going to go down.

Now, I am a legacy to quite a few of the fraternities on the row, so I'm hoping that will increase my chances...but who knows.

I guess I'll post something tomorrow night or thursday morning to let everyone know how things are going. Wish me Luck!

Lsutigah

good luck to you!!!

Good luck! :D

Good luck!

Best of luck to you!!!!!!!!!

I know I've said it to so many PNM's, but here's to you as well:
Follow your heart, and you'll find your home.

Good luck!!

Geaux lsutigah!

Hope you find the house that feels like home!

I grew up right across University Lake from the sorority houses. :cool: And went to way too many parties at the fraternity houses when I was in high school.

Have a great time...it sounds like the fraternities have a structured recruitment...how neat!

have a blast and see what develops.....
let us know where you land.

Phase A of round 1 is over. Last night, I arrived at the Union at around 6 pm along with a whopping 522 other guys. They had us sit down in the union theatre while they gave us a 1.5 hour speech on alcohol, hazing, etc. The woman who gave it was really hott...but she's married, damn.
After the speech, we met with our Rho Alpha's. Both of mine were pretty cool guys. There are 45 other guys in my group, and I've met some pretty solid other guys in there so that was good. There are 2 other guys from my highschool in my group, so atleast I knew a few people going into it.

OK, so I'm going to list the 15 different fraternities by symbols of Louisiana culture and LSU...alright? Oh, and I'm not going to put the houses in the same order that I went to them either... here it goes.

CRAWFISH- one of the first houses I went to... well, sorta a house. They had a tent set up on the row with food set up and whatnot. They just got their charter back last semester, so they're just starting. Really nice guys with alot of diversity within the group. They are small right now, but I have no doubt that they will be successful.

P-MAC- I absolutely HATED this house. Of course the guy who rushed me just so happened to be the loudest guy I've ever talked to and spit everywhere when he talked. This is a small fraternity with about 40 guys, and most of them are losers. They claim to be on the "up and up", but they're just terrible. Not for me.

PARADE GROUNDS- This fraternity had approx. 12 guys at their house last night...not too impressive to say the least. They are extremely small and don't have much (or any) of a social calendar. One of the guys in there wouldn't stop talking to me and had HORRIBLE breath. I would try to back away from him, and he'd just keep on inching forward...it was bad. The guys in there are nice, but definately not what I am looking for in a fraternity.

DEATH VALLEY- I really liked this group! They have around 100 guys in the fraternity at the moment and are definately in the "top 3" on campus. The food they served was awesome! They had brisket, sandwiches, fruit, dips, etc. I know a few of the guys so they all came up and talked to me. They called the Rush Chair and the President over to meet me, so I'm hoping that's a good thing. They told me that they'd really like to see me back on friday which made me feel good. I've gone out with those guys a few times and feel pretty comfortable there, so who knows? I'm definately interested...

MIKE THE TIGER- Another fraternity that I like alot. They have 90-100 guys in their house aswell and are part of the "top 3". Their house is very nice and all of the men in there were very well groomed for the occasion. It's obvious that they are looking only for the "cream of the crop" and won't make any exceptions. They have a very good GPA and the sorority girls really like them (very important to me!) I like these guys alot aswell, I hope to see them next round.

BURBON STREET- This name suits this fraternity well. Very nice guys, but they are MAJOR party animals. Don't get me wrong, I like to do my fair share of partying...but I also like to focus on my grades and get the things done that I need to. I knew a few of them from highschool and I wasn't too impressed with them back then and not too much has changed. All of the guys were very nice to me and made me feel comfortable, but I'm just looking for something different in my search for a fraternity. They are a great fraternity for some...just not me.

ATCHAFALAYA- I think this was my most favorite of the night! They have such a nice house, it definately made an impression on me. The house is really nice from the outside, but I had no clue that it was going to be that nice on the inside! Once again, this fraternity is also in the "top 3" and for good reason. This fraternity has a great GPA, girls love them, and they're very goal oriented men. I felt very comfortable in this house and I hope that they keep me around.

Well, that's a little bit from all of the houses that I visited last night. I have seven more houses to go to tonight so wish me luck!

LSUTIGAH

Well, looks like you had a good time! I have zero experience with large fraternity rush like this...so it's weird to read a guy writing it all! But it's awesome! Looks like you know what you are looking for...just as I'd tell any woman going through sorority rush...try to keep an open mind...some of the groups that don't shine right away might suprise you...

Keep up with the great updates!

Good luck and enjoy! :)

perfect posts...lots of good remarks...sounds like you are having a good time.
may your selection be perfect...

fraternity rush
 

thanks for giving us some insight into what a guy might base his decision on to join a fraternity. i find it very interesting. here's hoping that you get the chapter you want!

Damn! I always knew that the guys had better food! :D

Love the names you picked for the houses. It makes me want to go put my LSU flag up on the flagpole in front of my house. And this is fun to hear from a guy's perspective, so thanks for the update!

Wow, it's fascinating to read about a man going through structured fraternity rush!

Best of success to you! I hope you get your pick of the houses you liked the most!

.....Kelly :)

I enjoyed reading your break down. Makes me wish rush was set up like that when i went through. I came from a very small greek system and to here that over 500 guys came out for rush completely blows my mind. considering that is twice the size of my entire greek system(when i joined, its grown a little since then). Good luck and keep the updates coming.

I hate to sound like a broken record... but like others have said, it really is fascinating to read about rush from a guy's perspective... and a structured rush at that.

Best of luck! I hope you find the best fit for you. :)

Hey everyone-

Thanks for all of the positive feedback. I'm glad to know that ya'll are finding it interesting. Unfortunately, I don't have enough time to post about last night's 7 houses...but I promise I will later. I've got to clean up my house before my mom gets here, she's coming to take me to lunch on my birthday. We get our invite lists at 2, so wish me luck! TTYL

LSUTIGAH

Happy Birthday and good luck! :D

Ditto. This is almost as foreign as formal sorority rush. ;)

Best of luck.

yeah this is very interesting and unique, wish they had this when i went through, would have saved me a lot of trouble.

Round 1 Phase B:

I met with my Rho Alpha's at around 7 30 on the steps of the union. We waited around a few minutes for everyone to get there and then made our way to New Row (also known as Sorority Row).
We cut through some fields and had to jump over a few fences in order to get to the houses (we took a short cut), and I ended up ripping my shorts a little bit. Oh well. Oh yeah, for round one most guys wear a polo shirt and khaki shorts with either deck shoes or sneakers. I wore some top siders the first day and was miserable in them b/c they got full of mud and grass and crap. Last night I wore tennis shoes and I was much more comfortable.

LIVE OAK- This house was alright I guess. They don't have the best reputation around campus, so I had a negative image already in my head. They were actually half way decent and their brisket was AMAZING! The guy who rushed me was the social chair and couldn't stop talking about all the exchanges they were going to have this semester....a whopping 4. Uhhh....yeah. They were alright, but not for me.

PLANTATION- I liked this house alot. I'm a legacy of this house and I've been going to their rush parties all summer long. I knew most of the guys in the house, so I felt pretty comfortable with them. Their food was also good, big plus. When we left the house, I heard alot of the guys in my group saying how they were impressed with them so that's good. They also have a good GPA and many student leaders in their fraternity. I hope to keep them next round.

MISSISSIPPI RIVER- This was a big FAT no. These guys have around 25 guys in their house, and I don't think I saw one single guy that I have anything in common with. When we got there, they had us sit down and they showed us a video. It was nice to get to sit down and relax for a few minutes due to all the walking and standing that we've been doing. Definately not the house for me and I couldn't wait until the 15 minutes were over.

MARDI GRAS- So we walk into this house that was so disgusting that I wanted to go bathe right then and there. There were only two guys in the house, so I was a little freaked out. They gave us a small speech and proceeded to pour a beer on the floor, showing us what partiers they are or something. I dunno. They took us to the backyard where they had BBQ and a slip and slide. I didn't eat anything b/c I didn't trust the food. The actives were doing the slip and slide in shorts and sportcoats, it was very strange. The sad thing is that they are a good fraternity nationally, but they suuuuuck at LSU. No thanks.

MAGNOLIA- I liked this house quite a bit. This house had around 85 members, so a fairly decent size. Their social calendar seemed pretty decent, and their formal and semi-formals sound like alot of fun. All of the guys looked very professional, and really meant business about picking their pledge class. I'm definately interested in them, hopefully I will see them tonight.

Jambalaya- This house was really laid back. Some of the guys were in sports coats, other were just in a shirt and tie. Most of the guys in this fraternity are all from the same area, so I don't know if I'd fit in there. I like the guys, and know alot of them from the dorms last year...but they just aren't for me. Besides, I hear their hazing is really rough. So, the guys were cool, I enjoyed my time there...but I think I'll pass.

Roux- This is another very small fraternity, with around 20 guys in the house. We walked in and they had us sit down at tables with pretzels and water to play poker. It was 3 PNM's per active at the tables. After the first hand, I had taken almost everyone's chips and by the second game, I had to give the guys their chips back so they could keep playing. I wish we would've been playing for money b/c I would have made some serious dough. Anyway, I didn't like the fraternity and won't be seeing them again. Not for me.

Well, that's pretty much it for round one. I'm a little nervous about going to the union at 2...keep your fingers crossed!

Oh yeah, I'm officially NOT a teenager anymore. Heh, those teenagers are so immature.

LSUTIGAH

Happy birthday and good luck with everything!

Good luck, and I hope that you find the place that fits you the most!!! Have fun!

WNG,

sounds like you had your hands full.

Nice commentary on events.

Happy Birthday By The Way!!!!!!!!!!http://www.handykult.de/plaudersmili...rty/dance2.gifhttp://www.handykult.de/plaudersmilies.de//birthday.gif

Well, what else is going on;)

Well, I'm back from the 1st part of the selection process. Man, I didn't realize how much of a toll this thing would take on me. I am filled with so many mixed emotions right now...it's just weird to me.

THE GOOD NEWS:

And that would be... :p

now you know that was the wrong thing to do when dealing with recruitment junkies!!!!

SPILL IT!!!! :D

The good news? Spill it birthday boy...or we take away the cake and ice cream!;)

Seriously?? :eek: Oh my....... :o


Anyway, we're eager to hear how it's going! We hope you post soon...or else some of the people here might hunt you down! ;)

Happy Birthday!!! :) :D :cool:


.....Kelly :)

well first off...happy birthday.
secondly, what's up???
so far your tales are wonderful. keep them up.
keep your eyes open and have fun.
and let's see where it ends.
good luck

umm, so you really can't have cake and ice cream....what's the good news???? be nice to us old folks...our hearts can't take all of this suspense.

I'm back from rush...it's been a really long night. I'm sorry about that previous post, I dont know what happened to all the other stuff I had written. Anyway, I promise I write a nice long post tomorrow. Goodnight.

LSUTIGAH

I am so drained. Emotionally, physically, mentally...you name it, and I'm drained from it.

I'll start off with the good and bad news from yesterday's selection.

THE BAD NEWS:

Of the 15 fraternities on campus, I was asked back to 10 of them. The ones that I was cut from are: CRAWFISH, JAMBALAYA, BURBON STREET, PLANTATION, and most unfortunately ATCHAFALAYA.

I was really kinda surprised when PLANTATION cut me due to the fact that I had done things with them all summer and that I am a legacy there...but things happen I guess. I definately was interested in keeping them around, but they have their reasons.
As far as getting cut from ATCHAFALAYA...well, I was pretty bummed. I had kinda had my heart set on going them since the summer, but for whatever reason they didn't feel the same way. I'm not too sure what I did wrong? Oh well... you win some you lose some.

After we got our bids yesterday at 2...I just got really queasy and miserable. Not the way you want to feel on your birthday. I went to lunch with my mom and little sister who came in, but I didn't eat hardly any of it. I came home and took a long nap before I had to go back lastnight at 7.

THE GOOD NEWS:

Well, I was asked back to 10 of them! From there, we could make a decision to go back to a maximum of 6 houses. Unfortunately, I didn't feel strongly enough about six of them, so I only chose 4. I didn't think it was right or fair to waste my time or theirs when I knew that there would be no way I would ever choose them.
The ones I chose were: MIKE THE TIGER, DEATH VALLEY, MAGNOLIA, and LIVE OAK.


...fast forward a few hours to last night....

We went to the union at 7 to pick up our schedules only to find out that we had to wait until 8 to go visit the houses.

LIVE OAK was the first house I visited. You know, I'm still not too sure why I went to their house, but I did. Don't get my wrong, they're really nice guys...but I knew right off that they aren't for me. Their biggest selling point is their famous alumni...and in all reality, who really gives a shit? They are a small chapter nationally...and well, no thanks.

I had a break in between, so I went to my car and just vegged for a while to clear my head a bit.

Secondly, I went to DEATH VALLEY. I really like this house, all of the guys are really cool. One great thing about this fraternity is that they are very good nationally, and their local alumni support is really awesome. I know that they will have a big pledge class, and I personally like to be in large groups. The sororities on campus are all fond of them, which is a great plus as well. I met alot of the actives, and their house is awesome. I can see myself there in one way, but I can't at the same time. I don't know...it's weird. Also, they don't have any guys from my hometown in there...which is good and bad. I'd like to see them again and see how things go.

I went to MAGNOLIA after that. MAGNOLIA had a ton of cool guys, and I'm pretty comfortable there. This fraternity is pretty diverse but not too diverse, which is something I like. All of the guys are athletic which is cool and I think I would fit in alright. They gave me a verbal bid last night, so I was pretty pumped about that. If they in fact do ask me back, I'll be there tonight.

Finally I went to MIKE THE TIGER. I really, really like this fraternity...but to be totally honest with you, I don't think that I will be invited back. I know that a few of the guys in that house aren't too incredibly fond of me (disagreements from highschool and whatnot), but they are a great great house. I hope to see them tonight.

Ok well, I've got to go back to the union to see who kept and cut me from last night. Wish me luck.

LSUTIGAH

we do wish you the best of luck
 

lsutigah!! i hope that you are feeling well now, and that you are going back to your top choices!! lisa

things didn't go as well as planned. I went back to get my list, and the fraternities that I had my heart set on weren't on there. I decided that it wasn't worth my time or theirs for me to be in their chapter, so I withdrew from rush. It sucks pretty bad right now, but all things happen for a reason.

Sorry it had to end on a bad note, but I guess that's just life.

lsutigah,
I'm so sorry to hear how things turned out. Hopefully, you will have a possibility to rush your favorites in spring (I don't know how it works at LSU, but we have fall and spring fraternity rush) but either way, I hope that you find your home at LSU, greek or not. I can only imagine how you feel right now!

Good Luck and sending you lots of positive thoughts!