I went to SMU, and I liked deferred recruitment. It allowed us to get our feet underneath us before rushing. Despite not talking about rush
, we did meet and talk to plenty of girls in houses and definitely had an opportunity to make good impressions (or bad depending on the situation).
As an active, it gave us the whole fall to prepare for rush, we held workshops and really got to know girls going through by the recs and inside info we had access to.
I think it opens up eyes from both sides. Just my opinion.
Edit to add - as to the housing situation, you didn't get to live in the house until your senior year (or junior if you were lucky or an officer) so there was no issue with housing contracts.
And, I think it helped academically (which is the REAL reason we all went to college, right?) to have that semester to learn how to handle the work load without the extra load of pledgeship.
It also allowed friendships to develop among the freshman before they were split into groups, which I think helped keep lines of friendship and communication open after we all went to different houses.
Okay, that's all
