For First Timers: When Should/Shouldn't You Rush?
 

In the spirit of fairness, when shouldn't you rush as a first timer? We started a thread about when you shouldn't "re-rush" for those who have been through one or more recruitments as potential new members, but what if you're thinking about recruitment and you've never been through the process?

YOU SHOULD RUSH IF:
- You are a freshman, sophomore, junior or senior or transfer from another school (whether a community college or 4 year school)
- You are a legacy
- You're not a legacy
- You have letters of recommendation
- You don't have letters of recommendation (You can get a bid without them, but you'll feel good attempting to at least secure a recommendation for a couple of sororities)
- You're interested in making new friends
- You are interested in getting involved on campus
- Interested in leadership and team development opportunities
- Interested in intramural sports (playing, watching) or you're a couch potato who would rather watch the OC with your friends and bake cookies together
- You love arts and crafts
- You are the least arts and craftsy person in the world
- You have 100 girlfriends
- You have zero girlfriends
- Looking for social opportunities
- You're very outgoing
- You're shy
- Looking for great opportunities to get involved in community service
- Have a decent GPA and at least some high school or college extracurricular involvement
- Look at the dues you might have to pay and know you can find a way to afford them (parents, yourself, work a part time job, etc.)
- Have decent study habits and time management

YOU SHOULDN'T RUSH/JOIN A SORORITY IF:
- You have a very low GPA
- You're over-extended with multiple majors or multiple activities (double majors are fine and if you're a leader in a campus org or an active member in a few great, but a sorority is a time committment too, and you may feel spread too thin)
- You expect everyone to make the effort to get to know you without putting any effort in to come out to events and make friends
- You get crushed at the slightest rejection
- You are easily swayed by the stories of strangers
- You hate having to go along with majority votes and acting like you support it to the outside world

Anyone else? We seem to be getting a lot of these questions. Maybe it would be helpful to have a thread for PNM's to refer to, esp. as recruitments are going on right now.

You shouldn't rush if you're ONLY doing it because:

-your boyfriend is in a fraternity.
-your sister/cousin/best friend is in a sorority
-your mom/grandma/sister was in a sorority in college.

If you want to rush and these things are present....that's great. But if you're ONLY doing it because of one or all of these things....you should probably just say no. Especially if any of the above people are really prodding you into doing it and you don't want to.

You SHOULDN'T rush just because your best friend or roommie is rushing and she wants you along for the ride.

Also, don't go into rush with the mindset that you and your best friend have to be in the same sorority! You may be best friends but you have differences...and those differences could mesh well with different chapters. So if you absolutely refuse to go anywhere besides your best friend...proceed with caution.

Hey, the only reason I went through rush was because a friend was doing it and didn't want to go it alone... and I'm certainly happy with how things turned out.

That said, you definitely shouldn't join a Greek org if you can't make compromises or respect the opinions of others... unless you recognize this inability and are actively trying to correct it.

You shouldn't rush if you have a major problem with going to mandatory events. There were always a couple girls who always made a fuss, for whatever reason, about having to come to Initiation, chapter retreats, even rush. We were told flat-out from the beginning that there were some things that we were required to attend...it's not like they didn't know. So if you don't like being made to do things like that, then joining a sorority might not be for you.

Everyone else has made really good points, by the way! :)

It's one thing to go along with a friend and say yeah, what the heck, I'll do this, have some fun, whatever happens happens...it's quite another if the friend has to plead and beg and coax you into doing it. The latter is what we're saying one should not do.

That's exactly what I meant, i said you shouldn't rush JUST because etc etc....but if your friends encourage you to rush then good for them! More people :-)