Rushing as a Grad?
 

I was just wondering...is it possible to go through recruitment as a graduate student?

Hi,

I think some groups do take in grad actives, but for most, your option will be Alumnae Initiation. Please check out the Alumni Initiation subthread in the Alum thread.


-Cynthia, an AI

Re: Rushing as a Grad?
 

Depends on the organization.

Alpha Phi Omega, the National Service Fraternity, does welcome grad students as pledges. That's how I joined.

APO also allows for grad students to join as advisors, so that's another option.

APO doesn't allow for alumni initation.

Alpha Xi Delta allows graduate students as new members. I think Phi Sigma Sigma does as well.

Tri Sigma doesn't allow grad students to become collegiate members- BUT we do have an alumna initiation program. :)

Phi Sigma Sigma does allow graduate students as collegiates but it may depend upon the school and chapter. If you do a search of grad students you'll find a couple threads about it.

I was a founding member of my chapter of Phi Sig as a grad student

Carolyn

Alpha Phi does not initiate graduate students as collegiate members. They are allowed to alumnae initiate, however.

Good luck if this is something you decide to do!

Alpha Gamma Delta only allows full time undergraduate women to go through Recruitment.

We also participate in Alumnae Initiation.

How would one go through Recruitment as a graduate student?

As someone who is currently in a Master's program, the idea of going through NM Education and grad-level work makes my head spin.

Oh? Didn't bother me.

I was a pledge as a grad student. Note that this was as a non-traditional student taking graduate classes on-line for a second masters degree, which means I was a bit older then the other pledges (or actives).

I became an Alpha as a graduate student as well.

Maybe your program wasn't very intense.

For a professional program like an MBA, JD, or MArch, and even some MFA programs...you wouldn't even consider it---especially not in the first year.

My MFA program was INTENSE!!! But I made time to found a chapter of Beta Sigma Phi. It is all about how you choose to use your free time...no matter how limited or nearly impossible free time might be. My chapter met for about two hours twice per month. Every person, no matter the program or profession, should make at least that much time for herself or himself. I am in a Ph.D. program full time now (totally different field than my MFA), and I'm teaching three college level courses. I still make time for things that I enjoy, including holding an office in Beta Sigma Phi and serving on Section Staff for APO. If a grad student wants to find time for Greek life, it is possible. Just don't expect to have much time left for things like eating, sleeping, or hanging out on GreekChat;)

Erica

I'll have to agree with the last poster. I was in the middle of my third year as a PhD student when I joined my sorority. I was in the middle of internship interview, prepping my dissertation, teaching two classes and attending my own as well as doing a myriad of things for the department and seeing clients. It was a LONG few weeks but it was a lovely payoff.

Every program is different.

The program I was in was aimed at those already in the profession, people with full time jobs & lives. So we weren't expected to take as full a load of classes as those who are 'full time students'.

But as another poster pointed out, its also about how you manage your time. For a period of several years I worked a full time job (40 hours week), was a full time student (12 credit hours), plus was involved as a scout leader (2 hour meeting a week plus atleast one weekend). Now a days if you ask a college student to take out a couple of hours every other week and its a massive imposition. sigh.

Let me refine my statement:

"If you're in a traditional professional degree program, and are required to fill certain requirements for Architecture, Law, Urban Planning, or Business, maybe going through recruitment (not alumnae inititation--which is, as I remember, completely different from rush) isn't the best thing for you. Many of those programs have 18-19 semester credit requirements. Especially in the first year, it might be best if you focus on your academics."

I was--and still am!--an excellent time manager, it's just that sorority life was very low on my priorities. Since my parents and I were paying over $50,000 a year for me to get this degree in architecture, and the work was very intense, sorority stuff could wait. It wasn't a "massive imposition," I just had to have my priorities straight during the first year.

My statement still stands---it doesn't seem as if your program was that intense. My sister, who is in graduate school, has classes that go around her work schedule and therefore has more time to be active in her sorority. There are simply some programs you can't do that for--and that's why I qualified my statement.

Delta Upsilon has no rule against graduate pledgeship, the bylaws simply state a male must be enrolled in the University where the chapter is located.
We had one member pledge with an AA degree and 70+ hrs. of college he also was an ex-marine and 24.

Grad student here
 

I think it all depends on when and where you join.

I joined as a grad students this past semester and went through recruitment like all of the other freshmen and sophomores at my university. It was definetly a great experience and my only wish is that i would ahve done it sooner. I am soooo glad to hear of other grads who are interested in joining.

Dont let your grad status deter you but do know that you will be judged differently as a grd because you cant offer a full 4 years to an organization. I am super glad with the results from my rush process and am happy to say i found a home even thought i am working on my second degree. I am older than everyone in the chapters even one of the advisors (I am only 23) but i have still leearned so much!

let me know if you need more information, i will be happy to suply it.

co-sign. there is NO way a JD student who goes full time has time to sleep, let alone put in the committment as a new member. I would also think the school itself would prohibit it-- many schools dont allow 1Ls to work a part time job.

and most people who get their MBA have jobs full time, so they dont have the time commitment either.

I'm going to for either an MSW or a masters in psychology, so the course load isn't intense. It's a lot of work, but I think I can handle it. I did pledge a house before (didn't get initiated though :( ) so I understand the time commitment. I know that pledge programs vary for some houses, I've heard of 6 week programs up to 9 week programs. I figure I'll rush if I can and then once I see what my options are I can talk to the Pledge Ed about the time commitment and if I'll be able to do it.

I rushed as a full-time MBA student. There was barely enough hours in the day just to finish my MBA work yet alone pledge. It really made my head spin. I wish I was given the opportunity to pledge as an undergraduate because that would have worked out a lot better.

I just finished my master's in psychology in May - and the courseload was intense. I AI'ed at the same time I was doing my master's, and I know there were times I had to very carefully balance my time so I had a day or an afternoon free for activities.

AI is very different from formal rush, to be sure, but there's still a time commitment there.

I wouldn't take the time commitment so lightly - it's easy to think it won't be hard, but it's very different once you're actually in the classroom.

I guess it depends on your perspective of what is intense and your ability to time manage. As I said, I went through intiation in the spring in the middle of most of more time sensitive parts of my counseling psych PhD program. But this was something that I was committed to doing so I just figured out ways to condense as much stuff as possible and function on limited sleep because on top of everything involved with initiation I had an hour commute each way to get to meetings. All of my time was scheduled out but everything sort of ended at the same time too (dissertation proposal, internship matched the day after we were initiated, etc etc) so I got a few good nights of sleep then was off to a party for us. It would have been a different experience in undergrad granted but I wouldn't trade it for the world. It taught me a lot about what I could do under stress and now I have all these wonderful sisters all over the globe. If you want to do it you can PROBABLY figure out a way to do it.

That may be true for you and if that's how you feel about YOUR program then that's the way you feel. Blanket statements about the rigor of someone's program aren't cool. I too was a graduate student when I went through recruitment and I survived just fine. As a matter of fact I had (still have) a husband, a full time job and managed to survive recuritment. I was in a professional program (Master of Public Administration) which required MOUNTAINS of reading (journal after journal after journal) and papers every week in each of my classes. So you can't just go around INSULTING the rigor of someone's program.

As you said sorority wasn't a priority of YOURS; therefore, YOU didn't make time for it. Others decided to make Greek life a priority.

Trade your MPA for 3 years of law school and there IS a difference in rigor. It's not an insult, it's just the way it is.

Some fields ARE more challenging than others. Someone out there probably offers a Masters in Basketweaving, but just b/c it has the name masters on it doesn't mean it's hard.

Good for you for having time for everything. But don't be complaining about people "insulting" others when you come in here and just start ranting and raving and basically just insulting back.

So it's not okay for her to "insult" someone when it wasn't even an insult but it's okay for you to insult her?

pot... kettle

Perhaps we're using the term "harder" when everyone should be using the term "workload". Professional grad programs have insane workloads. The ability to do anything outside of class, lab and study can be a challenge.

It's not neccessary that the programs are harder - some just take more work.

Quite true. Which is one thing that bothers me about some programs. When I first started taking graduate courses, I was told that for every 'hour' of a class I would need to spend something like 4 hours of outside time. Because of this, the number of credit hours I would be expected to take as a full time grad student was LESS then what I did as an undergrad (9 vs 12).

When I later went into a second graduate program, since it was aimed at working professionals who already were working a 9-5 job, the expectation was we should be taking even LESS credit hours per semester then someone who was a 'full time student' (student first, if you have a job it came second and was usually a part time one). So 6 credit hours per semester was a norm.

It was during this second program that I pledged and remained an active member of my Fraternity.

So when I hear of graduate program that demain students take more credit hours then I took as an undergraduate, I have to wonder, especially with a 1hr=3hrs type of 'rule'.

I wish the grad students going through recruitment much luck and hope that it works out.

My personal opinion, however, is that grad students have another set of priorities that undergraduates may not identify with, and might find better support in a pre-professional organization, or getting closer to their fellow program members. All of my close friends from sororities that have gone onto grad school have grown very close to those in their program.

Again, good luck with your choice. It IS your choice. As others said, the less years in school and the further away in age you are from the "traditional age" student, the less competitive your recruitment is LIKELY to be.