My school was small. Fall rush was optional and wasn't until several weeks into school. Freshman are not allowed to rush their first semester. (Only transfer students and upperclassmen). So a lot of the orgs. don't participate in fall rush.
Everyone participates in Spring rush, which starts almost right after Christmas break. And everyone on campus is eligible.
The school wants freshman to have an idea of what school is about, time management, etc.
before getting involved in greek life. Of course, they do learn the reputations of various GLOs before rush. But they also have the opportunity to speak with any members and get to know them for an entire semester before hand. It seems to be an okay system.
I should mention, we don't have any NPC or IFC GLOs on campus. While the local sororities rush structure is
similar to that of the NPC, it's still a lot different from the big formal rushes I've learned about here.
As far as traditions go, there really isn't any. Rush is 3 weeks long. Bids are turned in by prospectives on a Friday afternoon. Some of the sororities would have brunch with their new members on Sat. morning and then go to a school basketball game. Everyone had their induction (or whatever they called it) ceremony on the following Sunday night (this is when new member ed, or pledging, begins). Other than that, rush traditions just depend on each individual chapter.
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SilverTurtle@greekchat.com
Phi Beta Fraternity
Phi chapter