Help! Rushing at Indiana University
 

Hi, I am new here and hope you can help me. I am considering rushing at IU this year. I know a couple of girls from my high school who rushed and did not get into a sorority there and are telling me not to do it. I have no idea why they did not get in, because they are great girls - cute, friendly, good grades. It really surprised me. I really want to be in a sorority, but am afraid to be rejected like they were. They said it was humiliating.

I looked up IU's Panhellenic Group and their rush statistics showed that in 2014 only 1002 out of 1905 women got into a sorority even though they have more sororities that any other campus - 22 I think. That's only 52% - Yikes! Does that sound right?

My friend said IU is the toughest place to get into a sorority and that even girls that the sororities like get rejected because they want to keep it exclusive. She said they could change it, but they like it being really tough. Why is it so tough? Why wouldn't they want more good members?

Does an average girl like me even have a shot at getting into a sorority? I think I am decent looking and fun to be around, but so are a lot of girls, including the girls I know who did not get in. My grades are pretty good, but there's nothing outstanding about me - I'm not a cheerleader or an athlete or a musician. I'm just your average girl who wants to be social, volunteer, and make good grades.

I now wish I hadn't chosen to go to IU, because being in a sorority is important to me and I didn't realize it's a 50/50 chance there. I didn't know that until after I decided. My sister goes to another college and even though she's not Greek, a lot of her friends are. She said there is a sorority for everybody who wants to join one there and that you pretty much have to be a serial killer not to get in if you are open to all the sororities.

What can I do to make sure that I get into a sorority? Help!?

Oh, IU. I'll allow members here who are more familiar with the system answer your questions more specifically, but check out this thread. I know it's lengthy, but it will give you some insight into the process there:

http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/sh...d.php?t=136816

The long and short of it is that IU doesn't work on the same recruitment system that most other schools across the country use; they use "bed rush", which in its simplest term means that a good number of the chapters only take the number of girls it takes to fill their house. To be honest, it can be downright heartbreaking to hear stories about PNMs going through recruitment there. However, if that's what you truly want, you should make an attempt.

Good luck!

As an alumna of IU, I can tell you that while the process is grueling it can be rewarding in the end. What the stats you looked at don't accurately show are the number of women who withdraw from recruitment when they don't get invited back to chapters they "want". In previous years, women attended open house rounds before grades came in, there were always women who were removed from the process for grades and those women, since they started the process, were counted in the final placement rate. This is slightly misleading. Last year's recruitment was the first in which the entire recruitment took place second semester and with all of the bad weather, I am not sure how accurately those stats reflect the overall picture.

Is it possible to finish recruitment and not get a bid? Yes it is. Unfortunately, it does happen. All PNMs need to have an open mind, there will be 22 chapters and I cannot imagine not being able to find a group to call your own within chapters the size of IU's. I am on campus several times a year for sporting events and other events, I can honestly tell you that I have met wonderful women in each and every chapter there.


To be successful in IU's recruitment it takes a mix of having an open mind, ranking your chapters wisely after each round and just plain old fashioned luck. Don't let people scare you away if it's something you really want to do. I, along with thousands of other women, have made it through the process at Indiana so there are happy endings.

While I'm not going to pretend to offer advice, I remind you that you cannot be invited to join a sorority if you don't rush. If, as you say, being Greek is important to you, you do what it takes.

This is the kind of attitude you have to put behind you if you want a snowball's chance of being successful in rush. Few things are more unappealing than someone new who walks into a situation, points at the people already there and says "you're doing it wrong."

You have a whole semester to become the person YOU want to be NOW - not someone a family friend portrays you as in a rec or who you were when you graduated high school. Get involved on campus, don't sit in your dorm room playing online. Make an effort to meet sorority and fraternity members from as many groups as possible through extracurriculars, classes, and parties. (If you go to parties, either don't drink at all or have one drink and stop. You don't need to be the drunk freshman.) Surround yourself with POSITIVE people. Girls who tell you how humiliating recruitment was, who deride the Greek groups for their exclusivity and who talk about how much better their school's way of recruitment is are not positive people.

And do keep an open mind about all the groups, but be true to yourself as well. You should feel a sorority will contribute to you as much as you will contribute to a sorority. If this is too one-sided either way, you don't end up with a very positive sorority experience.

Good luck!

SERIOUSLY! This is true of EVERY campus that has deferred rush and even summer freshman. Don't screw it up before recruitment even starts by being 'that girl'

Keep an open mind when you meet the ladies of all the chapters, including the ones that are "unhoused."

:)

This is good advice. GLOs want members who are active on campus and get good grades. You need to bring something to the table.

1. Forget that anonymous site. Like right now. If you were to check any school on there, I'd venture to guess at least 90% of the posts are nasty, petty opinions voiced by insecure people who may or may not even be members of GLOs.

2. Someone from IU, feel free to correct me, but Lily for rush there doesn't sound right. (Unless there is a line of Lily parkas I'm unfamiliar with.)

Yes, Lilly for rush is not an IU thing! In fact IU is about as far away from Lilly as you can get. First round will be in January. PNMs more typically wear jeans, a recruitment tee shirt (if given one), boots and a Northface or Columbia jacket. The warmer the better, including hats, scarves, and gloves. You will be standing outside in the cold outside of each chapter house. Each day gets a little dressier and pref night attire is a cocktail dress. Think New Year's Eve dress for a classy event. Often on pref the PNMs wear Uggs between pref parties and ditch them with their Rho Gam right as the doors open.

And please do not even pay attention to that other site. Most of the comments are not even written by Greeks at IU. The posts are written by those intending to cause trouble.

There are several threads on Greekchat about acquiring recommendations from alumnae. Getting recs takes time and often a lot of effort. IU may not be as rec-happy as some other schools, but I would suggest doing your best to acquire them since they can only help you, and not having a rec for certain chapters will hurt you.

Also, if the $70 recruitment fee seems steep, make sure you review the costs associated with being in a sorority to be sure it doesn't present a barrier to membership for you. Costs can be quite high.

Stop listening to these girls. Now. Stop.

Be careful with this. You never know whose boyfriend or crush you are talking to at a school that size. Talking and being friendly to guys in class - good. Chatting someone up at a party all night - possibly very bad.

Read me!

Last year's rush was a super mess since a round of parties was cancelled due to inclement weather and women had to go from 12 chapters to 3. (Revisiting that thread, nobody ever did answer my question, by the way.) It should not be that bad this year.

Because there are 2000 people rushing. If the thought of that sort of rush turns you off immediately, then IU Greek life (or any large school Greek life) may not be for you.

Yes. This. (Not sure if you were overwhelmed by that or by the Lily reference.)

To restate: Keep your grades up. GET INVOLVED ON CAMPUS. Put yourself out there. Listen to POSITIVE people.

This is so important! So often, people think about what sorority or fraternity can do for them, versus what they can offer. Every organization needs people with different talents. Here are a few ideas:

- Committee Members - people to carry out plans in the background, good organizers, outgoing people to be the "faces" at public events
- Summer camp counselors, education majors - this kind of training and experience is great for someone who wants to lead new member education
- Prelaw or business student, someone with experience running meetings - every group has some sort of method for running meetings, such as Robert's Rules of order.
- Good with money - treasurer
- Writers - stuff to send to your Inter/national magazine, school newspaper announcements, nomination forms, scripts for skits/serenades
- Artists - create banners, posters, advertisements
- Singer - teach and lead songs for rush/recruitment, write new chapter songs and chants, serenades
- Dancer - put together skits for recruitment, Greek Week events, etc.
- Photographer - for official events, scrapbook/archives
- Cook/Baker - if you don't have a chef or even a kitchen, there are probably a ton of opportunities to make food - fundraisers, sisterhood dinners, recruitment/homecoming/alumni(ae) weekend refreshments
- Athletes - Greek week, intramural sports
- Crafty people to make decorations, favors for events, fundraisers, philanthropy events
- Good at public speaking - emcee/host events like formal, award ceremonies, etc.

There are so many opportunities in every organization. Figure out your talents and think of examples during which you've used them. This is the type of stuff people will find interesting during recruitment - what you're good at, your passions, etc. What makes you, you.