[Firehouse]

You asked which is better for fraternities.

Informal rush is better for fraternities for these reasons:

1. Formal rush guarantees a pledge class but makes fraternities lazy. They tend to rush who shows up rather than seeking out the top candidates on campus.

2. If there's an off-year in overall numbers or quality in formal rush, the fraternities will tend not to correct it by aggressively going into the student body and getting new members. They'll tend to stay in their houses and rationalize.

3. Many of the guys who go through formal rush are attracted by the image of fraternities that they have seen in Animal House or spring break videos. Nothing wrong with having those guys in a chapter, but there's a problem when they become the big majority.

4. Formal rush generally does not attract the already-established campus leaders who are not Greek, nor the varsity athletes who are not Greek. Those guys tend not to join fraternities unless it's a small private campus.

5. For the reasons above, a lot of men who would be good members do not join. Varsity athletes, campus leaders, serious students often choose not to go through formal rush. As a result, the chapters turn inward and hazing becomes more likely.

6. With formal rush, the chapters learn not to work hard to seek out top candidates on campus. That takes effort and organization. The payoff is tremendous for a chapter willing to recruit all year round, and to go after the top names and faces on campus.
There are exceptions: top fraternities at Ole Miss will each pull 50-70 pledges out of formal rush. Quarterbacks Archie and Eli Manning are Sigma Nus; a lot of ole miss atheltes pledge fraternities (not in formal rush). And, fraternity men run most campus organizations.
Small private universities like Wofford, Duke, Wake, SMU and others make formal rush work well. But generally - generally - the larger the campus, the less helpful formal rush is for the fraternity system.