hey there...
as a fellow umass-ian (massholes rule) i just thought i'd let you knwo that at UML we rush until the begining of october, we give out bids the first thursday in oct.. most of the greek orgs do it that way, the ones that don't rush all semester and give out bids the last week of school.. we do get very big numbers, and it allows you to know your potential sisters/brothers before you let them in- who knows, they could be crazy...
just a thought