Fraternity Rush
 

I was just wondering how long your rush periods are? I was thinking that possibly a longer rush period would be excessive and that people will have made up their mind by the 3rd even they go to.

-Rudey

We at Nebraska (and a lot of schools in the Midwest-ie. old Big 8 area- for that matter) have summer rush. Basically starting in April people going through rush have to submit a rush application (click here to access web based form).

On the Friday of finals week, all the applications collected so far are then distributed to the fraternities, and they may begin making phone calls from that point. Usually during the Month of may, most houses will go and visit most PNM's and take them out to dinner/bowling/golfing or what not. Then during June, and early July houses will have rush events at various locations throughout the state, most being at lakes so that you can boat, and hangout. Most houses have 5 or 6 of these events. Also the houses are required to be open for tours after New Student Enrollment days. At any time houses can offer bid cards, and it's not uncommon for a rushee to recieve bid cards from more than one house.

I think that summer rush ends around August 15 or every year, and if you haven't signed by then you have to go through formal recruitment. At Nebraska Formal rush is sparsely attended and most houses don't go through it. There was a long period of time, like 20 years in which the university didn't even have a formal rush...everything was exclusively summer rush. Three years ago they brought it back, and the first year they had 50 guys go through, last year only 30 went through, and of that 30 only 12 signed a house. I have no idea how many will go through this year.

in san diego rush starts on a saturday with house tours. then sunday-wednesday is rush events where the PNM's go wherever they want to go. its very informal.

Hey Betarulz, what happens to kids from out of the area who can't be there for summer rush? Or are most of your students fairly local?

On my campus, the fraternity rush was (and still is) three weeks long, the first three weeks of classes.

Interesting
 

BetaRulz, I had heard about summer rush and actually even saw it when some kids from another chapter took a kid out like that. But isn't it just easier to wait until all the kids get there and then to rush them in one central location?

josh80 do kids join in less than a week?

See my problem is this. I go to a school where academics is number 1. There are kids here who spend their Friday and saturday nights in the library. So basically I wanted to find a rush program that would fit into most guys' schedules - not only for the rushes but also for the brothers who we want to attend the events.

I was thinking that people really make their minds up after 3 events with a house. The first event just lets them meet people and learn more about whether greek life is for them, the second makes them feel comfortable with that particular house, and the third makes them feel as if this house is the right one for them.

During those long rush periods, what do kids do? Are there parties every night or something?

-Rudey

On my campus, fraternity rush is 2 weeks long. This year the first week of fraternity rush is the week of sorority rush, which will be interesting. All the frats have there sweethearts or whatever( each frat calls the girls something different) at all their parties, but who knows what they will do this year b/c the majority of these girls are in sororities.

Here at GSU...
 

IFC Fall Rush is 13 weeks this year because we were able to get rid of the Summer Silence period in our rush constitution. Smoker week and Bid Night is usually 3 weeks into school. I would rather have the week-long rush, but it's not possible at a commuter school. A rush our length does let us get to know our rushees very well before we pledge them, and lets the rushees see if a particular chapter is for them. Here are some pro's and con's:

Rushee Pro's & Con's:
Pro's:
1) You get to meet all of the chapters if you want, and make an informed decision on who you want to pledge.
2) You still get to go to many events if rush isn't around your schedule

Con's:
1) If you already have made up your mind, you have to keep waiting till you get a bid and start pledging. Many tend to get impatient.
2) Sometimes chapter's you are rushing may forget the rushees that have been around from the beginning.

Chapter Pro's & Con's:
Pro's:
1) You get to know a rushee very well
2) You get a longer period of time to have more elaborate events

Con's:
1) More events=more money
2) Keeping the rushees motivated until bid night
3) Keeping the brothers involved in rush
4) Too many events to ask off from work for
5) Being creative year after year with events that don't involve alcohol (all of rush is dry)

I go to school with Josh. My rush week, I went to an event (not Delta SIg), and the nexy day they gave me a bid, but I didn't pick them obviously. I'm so happy I don't have to say "Oops, I joined the wrong fraternity!"

Our rush at Pitt is about a week long. It is longer in the fall and shorter in the spring. Smaller houses don’t have events every day but larger houses will have as many as possible. It’s very laid back nothing is mandatory you don’t have to go to all the houses and can only rush one house if you want to. If rush ends on a Thursday, like it usually does, houses can start handing out bids Monday. So most people have their bids by wed and they are due by 5 on Friday. In the past all the fraternities would have a 5:01 party that started right after bids were due at 5:01 pm. It’s an ok system, it favors the larger houses but the smaller ones do well too.

Interesting
 

Why does it favor the larger houses though? Do the houses try and talk to rushes outside of events?

-Rudey

Re: Interesting
 

we can bid starting on tuesdays...i think.

On my campus, fraternity rush was and is the first three weeks of school. Most fraternities have maybe three events a week, and the last one or two are invite only.

It's also totally unstructured - I've heard that some guys have rounds or info sessions, and we have nothing like that. Basically, the guys are bored, wander into one house and think, "Hm, this is fun," then check out the rush posters around campus for ones that look to be their style.

Fuzzie - For those out of state it does make the process more difficult. However, I'm from out of state (Kansas) and in my pledge class we had people from Iowa, 6 from South Dakota, and one from Washington state. So it can be done. Basically out of state students have to know they are going to go through rush when they come up for New Student Enrollment. All houses are required to be open in the afternoon of NSE days during the summer so that rushees get a chance to meet the houses. From there it just takes effort on the part of rushee to get down to events. Also, the out of state guys will help with rush by talking to people in their hometowns and will get reimbursed if they take the guy out for dinner or something. Finally, in my house we have like 22 guys from Sioux Falls SD and usually one of the three rush chairs is a SoDak and they can rush guys up there whenever they go home. All in all the system works.

Rudey - I suppose it might be easier in one central location, but for my house summer rush allows a better way of targeting people who we think might fit with us. Like I said there are rush applications that must be submitted, and that's our first "round" of cuts. We only call those guys who have the kinds of activities/grades/test scores that we are looking for. Then we try to get those guys out to meet them, and then decide if they fit in on a social aspect...
I tend to think that a more condensed rush process would be less than beneficial for us, because just having rush events in the beginning weeks of school I think would put the emphasis on who mingles best, plus we would have to worry about all the guys who we don't even consider in the process we have now.

Ours technically is 4 days, but is really only two. The first day the only thing happening is check-in, the 2nd and 3rd days are informal, go where you want type days. 2 PM on the 3rd day is when bids are issued, and one has to be accepted by 3 pm the 4th day. Makes me worry that I won't have enough time to make decisions and have others make decisions about me.


J

Rush at Stanford is always held at the beginning of Spring Quarter. Since all freshmen are required to live in dorms the first year, this gives them the opportunity to 1) develop friendships outside of the fraternity, and 2) get to know the houses over a period from September-April. All the fraternities have parties Fall and Winter quarters, and all are pretty visible socially, so by the time Spring quarter rolls around, a lot of the more popular houses know who they want, and who wants them, so getting a bid is a formality. When I went through rush, I was lucky that one of the groups I was invoved with had brothers who were Phi Psi's, so I knew that these were going to be my brothers, and I really didn't bother with any other chapter!