Penn State Rush
 

Could some of you GreekChat Nittney Lions tell me a little about what sorority rush is like at Penn State? I know greek life is huge there, but I was curious as to what the sorority rush experience is like.

How many women usually go through rush? Are most of them placed?

I've heard that most women wait until soph. year to rush. Is this true? Why do you think that is?

Are there "tiers" at PSU? I don't want you to name particular houses, but I was wondering if all sororities are all around the same size and get roughly the same number of new members, or if some do better than others.

How many houses can you go to for pref?

I went to Pitt, which is only a few hours from PSU, but it seems like it is a whole other world where greeks are concerned. So I was curious about how things work out there. Thanks!

blueGBI and I'm sure a few others can give ya some info. :)

i just graduated from psu in may (yea nittany lions!)

i can't remember how many women went through rush last year. . .i seem to think it was between 500 and 600? if the women go to ALL the parties, get invited back to pref niteand don't "intentional single preference". they are pretty much guaranteed a bid. quota last year was 19 i think? total is 80.

there are definately tiers. pretty much the top 5, middle 10, lower 3 then bottom 2, if that makes sense. with 20 sororities it's hard not to have some sort of pecking order. most of the sororities hover between 60 and 80 members. the lower ones have about 45 i'd say, though i can't be sure. recruitment the past few years hasn't been real great. the quota's have been fairly low, and a majority of the sororities end up doing spring recruitment. i think 15 did it spring of 2003. unfortunately we lost AGD in the spring of 2001 due to low numbers. I don't think we'll be expanding soon, though i'm pretty sure TFA had an interest group a while ago. panhellenic said if we do expand in the future AGD gets first dibs because they still have thier suite in the dorms.

i'd say we've got a 50/50 split with freshman and sophomores rushing. our recruitment isn't as cutthroat as others, and freshman and sophomores are in the same recruitment groups. penn state is so big i think a lot of sophmores rush because they hadn't really found their niche freshman year, and felt they needed a sense of belonging. (i rushed my freshman year) we also usually have 2 groups of juniors and there is a separate junior quota.

the recruitment schedule is as follows:
~open houses: visit all 20 sororities for 20 mins each
~1st rounds: visit a maximum of 14 for 30 mins each (video shown)
~2nd rounds: visit a maximum of 7 for 40 mins each (skits)
~pref nite: visit a maximum of 3 for 60 mins each
we have no frills recruitment. everything has to be approved down to the water cups and napkins. the sororities are allowed to go all out for pref nite. usually the pnm's visit the suite then go visit the sorority floor to see the rooms and stuff.


whew. . .hopefully that answered all your questions. let me know if you have any more! :)

ps. i guess i can forgive you for being a panther ;) ha ha ha

Ditto what I would say pretty much. I rushed but I didn't join a sorority so PSUSigKap would have a much better idea than me since she was in a sorority at PSU.

The only thing I would say is that its more of a Top 4, middle 11, lower 3 bottom 2 to me of the tier system but the tier system isn't as rigid as say at Alabama here.

I also didn't know that they lowered total. I thought total was still 85. Hmmm.