USF moves to delayed recruitment
 

Recently, the 8 sororities and Panhellenic council at USF decided to host formal recruitment for Fall 2008 over the Labor Day weekend. Info night will be on Thursday, Aug. 28, all the way through pref day/ bid night which will commence on Sep. 1.

Im really excited about the fact that this will increase the number of PNMs going through recruitment. Has anyone else experienced having recruitment change from right before school starting to a week afterwards? Does it affect the numbers of PNMs? How do the sisters cope with both schoolwork AND recruitment?

:)

I never experienced it personally, but my alma mater (Ole Miss) changed to delayed recruitment. There are some Ole Miss GCers who rushed then.

Nothing takes the place of good, old-fashioned promotion of the Greek system.

It might increase the number of PNMs since the registration fee will presumably be lower now because PNMs won't have to pay the extra room and board before actual move-in. Not to mention, that should be more friendly to out-of-state students.

Is USF still mainly commuter?

Found this online:
 

yes unfortunatly

My daughter rushed at Ole Miss at the end of September. There were positive and negatives about the timing. The positive was that the girls were settled in and had at least six meeting with their Rho Chi (or Gamma Chi - I can't remember which Ole Miss uses) so were VERY ready for rush.

The only real negative was that rush was during mid-terms. It was bad for both the pnm as well as the houses. Actually, I think worse for the houses as they had meetings after the rush parties.

I do think the ideal for 1st semester rush would be to do it early enough in the semester so as not to conflict with tests/papers. The first week of school sounds great. That allows the chapter to have most of their prep done before school starts and over before mid-terms.

Best of luck with the new date.

I think it's better. The rushees don't have to decide almost before they sign their college acceptance letters to go through rush. They can decide after they get to school.

It's slightly better than 2nd semester rush, IMHO.

How do the sisters cope with rush and school? They plan ahead.

You may find a good many potential rushees go home for Labor Day weekend.

I've never understood this concept in general - the first long weekend of college when you can have fun and you go home? Lame. I would hope that if people want to be in a sorority, they can "sacrifice" and stay on campus.

If the school is still mainly commuter, though, it might be a moot point.

You're away from home for the first time, maybe a little panicky and missing mom and dad, need more stuff from your room, want to see your hometown honey, need money from parental units, miss your own room and bathroom, miss mom's and dad's cooking...no, not everybody will go home, but a lot of freshman don't understand that they can't go through rush later in the semester and that this is the big show.

As I said....

Lame.

Sorry but this is one of my pet peeves and I think that parents that permit/encourage it are just as bad. You need to start as you mean to go on. Unless you had a job that has a big blowout Labor Day sale and you're going to make tons of commission, there is just no point in going home after a flipping WEEK.

I was the first group with a delayed rush at Ole Miss back in 98. I don't remember it being so bad when I was going through recruitment. The only week that was hectic was the actual week of rush.

Now on the other side, I wanted to pull my hair out. Practice started the week before school began and I feel like all I ever did was go to rush practice until mid-terms. (I still have dreams about the door song!) I don't think I slept at all the week of rush. It was exhausting...fun, yes, but I get tired just thinking about it!

I typically took 18+ hours per semester so I didn't make life any easier for myself. The girls with fewer hours weren't near as stressed out! :)

But if recruitment is marketed as a way to find a "home away from home" freshmen will be more likely to stay for recruitment. As in, "I feel kind of lonely since my roommates suck but if I go through recruitment I might find a home and be happier."

Tons of people go home for Labor Day, freshmen-seniors. When I was a freshman, my parents made me stay up at school that long weekend. I was so angry at the time. I wanted to come home for my first visit since moving to college. Plus, I wanted to see my high school friends who were attending other colleges and were coming home, too. In retrospect, I'm glad my parents made me stay at school. It helped me adjust more quickly to UCF and develop my own independence.

Anyway, I think it is a great idea to move recruitment to later in the semester in order to attract more potential new members and to give them an opportunity to see the sororities in action on campus. How are you going to deal with issues like dirty rushing and promoting the Labor Day kick-off? If it hasn't already been mentioned, the earlier you start promoting this, the better -- mailers to prospective freshman over the summer, eblasts on the university list-serv in the spring, banners, meet and greets, philanthropy events, newspaper ads and t-shirts in the fall.

However, it does seem a little unfair to have recruitment so close to midterms. I agree that it would be harder to give school your "all" when you have recruitment practice, actual events and voting in the first half of the semester up until midterms. And vice versa! How do the chapters plan to cope with this? Do you think it will affect membership retention or all-chapter GPA?

Honestly, your school is similar to my school. You'll be just fine. I'm absolutely certain of it. Change isn't easy, but you'll be back in the swing of things by 2009 for sure! And trust me, people will stay. And there are always girls that manage to miss recruitment; they'll just have to cope until the next chance. We always hear those stories every year too! (We also have a lot of people who drop out due to emergencies at home, etc. that pop up during the next recruitment as well).

U of West Ga starts school mid-August and has had Labor Day NPC weekend for several years. Frankly, we're tired of it, lol. We want our holiday back!! 2 Pref Parties and Bid Night on Labor Day.

A move might mean more pnms since they don't lose the first 3-day weekend.

So...we'll have to wait and see if it is changed next fall or maybe Fall 2009 if the new houses go through.