[anonymouse42]

Thanks for defending my Animal House statement, guys!

Anyway, other posters have reminded me of another important factor, which is DEFINITELY have your members try to recruit people/get them to events by word-of-mouth. Even though our chapter does pretty well, we're on a pretty anti-greek campus, so I sympathize with how hard it can be to recruit people who initially aren't that interested. In situations like that, you can't just rely on standard rush events/advertising to attract people -- you need to convince them to show up!

For instance, tell all of your members to try to drag at least one guy friend to at least one rush event. You might spark some interest (and you'll probably have better luck recruiting people who already have one friend in the group), and even if some of the guys don't want to join themselves, if they have a good enough time, they might pass the word on.

Which actually brings me to another point: definitely encourage people who get along with you to keep coming to events, even if they turn down a bid or something. Not only might they change their minds, but they might bring friends! We definitely have some "friends of the house" who never wanted to join themselves (too anti-greek), but liked hanging out with us, and eventually brought by other people who DID join. Plus, it's important to have critical mass at Rush Events (even small ones), or else the event can seem awkward/lame.

Also, not strictly for Rush, but maybe try to link up with other groups on campus with similar goals, and throw events together (we've done open-mics with the Writing House on campus, for instance). It's a good way to meet new people with similar interests and to get your name out there in a positive way.


In general definitely make sure to market yourselves year round. Given that you only have 15 members, I assume you're one of the newer chapters or affiliates, so you need to make sure you're really getting your message out about what you are and what you have to offer that is different from other groups on campus. if you're doing a philanthropy event, make sure people know about it!