Early recruitment
 

Hi! I would like to have some feedback from chapters at schools that have recruitment in the fall/summer before classes begin. We are thinking about making a proposal to our university to do this. Can anyone who does this elaborate on the pros and cons? For instance, I know that doing it before classes start keeps recruitment from interfering with school work. Girls can possibly move directly into the house before school starts. Etc. Would love information on the whole process itself! Any help is appreciated! Thanks!

At Univ. of Kentucky, they do rush before classes start (or at least they did last year when I went through). It was kinda nice b/c you had nothing else to do and you really got to know the girls in your rush group. It was bad though if you got cut from rush b/c then you had nothing to do during the day except sit there while everyone else went to the parties. Another plus was that most of the parties were during the day or late afternoon so you could hang out at night and go out to dinner and such without having to worry about party conflicts. Thats my input.

Hey! Thanks for your input. Did you do it the week before school starts, or earlier in the summer? Where did all the freshmen stay? (Had they already moved into their dorm rooms, or did panhell arrange for temporary housing for the week of recruitment?) I'm on a large campus with a small greek population. We usually have around 130 girls go through for five NPC sororities. I'm also wondering if having recruitment before school starts will get pnm numbers up. (Get them involved before they get settled in).

It was the week before classes started and university housing opened early for girls going through recruitment. Rho Chis also stayed in an empty dorm room on the hall where their group was, or at least mine did.

At Northern Arizona University we do recruitment the week before classes start. The freshman have already moved into their residence halls. We like it because nothing gets in the way of recruitment. The problem on this campus though is that not all women when they come here want to rush...So I think sometimes it cuts down the number of girls rushing...Also nice though is we do move girls in before classes start if they want to move in. If you have any other questions just ask.

We used to do recruitment a little over a week before classes started. About the only thing to do during those few days was rush, which I think increased turnout. No need to worry about classes, either. Plus, you got a full 4 years with your collegiate chapter, rather than just, say, 3-1/2. Rho Chis also only had to deaffiliate for the summer, so they didn't have to spend an entire regular semester avoiding their sisters.

A disadvantage is that (as sbhill2 pointed out) if you got cut heavily or dropped out of recruitment, you had nothing to do except watch happy PNMs going off to parties. Another one is that the PNMs are already under a great deal of stress because they just got off the plane yesterday, it's often their first time away from home, they're starting to miss mom, dad, little brother, and the cat, and they're being thrown straight into another very stressful situation.

New Mexico State Univ., which has 5 NPC, chapters holds recruitment the third weekend after school starts in the fall.
(see their greek system web page - http://www.nmsu.edu/~gogreek/ )

This is a school where many of the students are the first in their family to go to college and have no ties to the greek system. IFC and PC spend the first three week heavily promoting recruitment with sign up tables and information sessions.

NPC recruitment has events Thursday evening, Friday evening, Saturday afternoon, Sunday afternoon, and bid given out Sunday evening.

Pros: everyone is living in their permenant housing and have gotten into their routine and started classes. There is time for publicity and to get more women to sign up to give recruitment a try.

Cons: Three weeks into school and there are already large assignements due. There is some conflict with classes Thurs. evenings. RCs and recruitment staff must find somewhere else to live for 3 weeks.

For those chapters that do recruitment before classes start, how and when do you go about promoting sororities to incoming freshmen? Does Panhellenic send out information regarding recruitment to all incoming and returning students? Do they sign up before they come to school? Our campus has spring visitation, and I think a short summer orientation. Perhaps we could have information sessions and sign ups then? This is so educational, thanks for all the information ladies!

The University of Arizona, which does formal recruitment prior to classes starting, sends out a Greek Life booklet to all incomming freshmen and transfer studends. This is a combined IFC, NPC, and NPHC booklet.

this is a link to the rush/recruitment web page:

http://www.union.arizona.edu/csil/greek/rush/index.php

I believe that greek life also does presentations and takes signups during summer orientation.

They charge extra for moving into the dorm early, but that's all spelled out in the booklet.

At Northern Arizona University all freshman are required to go through an orientation process we call previews. They come to the campus for a weekend and greek life and individual sororities all set up booths that they can see. The women can register for recruitment usually all the way up till the day it starts. Also, for continuing students, greek life generally tries to send out information the spring semester before trying to get women to sign up early for recruitment (generally offering them a discount on the registration fee). Also NAU generally sends out a lot of information in the mail to new and returning students about recruitment. I find it kind of funny cause even through my junior year I still ocationally recieve information about recruitment.

For those of you who joined before classes started, or the first week or so of school, how do you think it affected your overall experience of school? Example...most sororities strive to maintain good grades, and have study hours for new members, and time management seminars, etc. I'm thinking that if girls join right off the bat, then those ideals can be implemented immediately....Also, would you say that the sorority support system helped you become better acclimated to the college environment as a new student?

I'm looking to make a presentation to our college for early rush, and may need some strong arguments to bring my point to them. Thanks for all the info so far, you've been such a help!