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I agree with a lot of what has been said in this thread. I was someone who was dropped from recruitment and then became a sister in Tri-Delta. The reality is that many girls who really want the greek experience and would make great sisters just are not very "good" at rush.
The main problem with rush is that you have to have a certain type of personality to get through it successfully. You have to be extremely self-confident, good in a large group, and be able to BS people extremely well. Those are great traits but, personally, I don't want all my sisters to be the same.
We have to remember that the girls going through rush are about 17 or 18 years old. There whole personalities haven't even formed yet. Shouldn't rush be a time to get to know the "real" them vs. a glamour shot and 20 mins of what's your major?
I know that most greek women were "sucessful" rushees and therefore their first inclination is protect the system that got them where they are, but we are cheating ourselves and our sisterhoods when we say that the NPC formal recruitment system is the best way to pick sisters.
Some of the things I think could improve recruitment:
1) END DELAYED RECRUITMENT - I know this is controversial but coming from a delayed rush school I can honestly say it is necessary. In principal, delayed recruitment makes sense (helps the girls adjust to school first, ect.). However, in reality, it ensures that rushees are NOT going into rush with an open mind (they've been listening all fall to what people have to say). It also severly tempts dirty rushing. GLO's want to get the best girls and they spend all semester trying to identify them and sway them before rush even starts. (it makes for a very unfair playing field among rushees) Finally, with delayed rush, the grades with which you are consided are the grades from fall of freshman year not the 4 years worth of high school grades you have. (I personally had about a B/B+ average in high school but with the stress of going to college and all the change in my life my first semester grades in college were the worst grades I ever got)
2) Be more honest about the recruitment process - While this is less of a problem in places where rush education is done in the high schools, I am from New York and no woman I know had ever rushed before. I knew nothing. If I had known it was my responsibility to get recs, I probably would. It should not be the responsibility of rushees to discypher the rush rules. Sororities should spell them out clearly, not make misleading comments like "don't worry if you don't have a rec" or "it doesn't matter if the picture's good, it's for identification purposes"
3) Make first rounds longer - When first rounds only last 20 or 30 minutes and you meet 2 or 3 sisters, how can houses really get any idea what the girl is like? Unless she does something completely outrageous, a 10 minute conversation does not adequately tell you whether you want to share your sisterhood with a person. I once calculated that after going through all of rush at my school you would have spent a total of two and a half hours with the house to which you joined. I personally wouldn't even except a date with a guy I'd only met for two and a half hours.
I know some of the things I have said may seem like the ramblings of someone who was rejected and is angry, but remember that I am a sorority woman too and I want great sisters just like you all do. I do not advocate the idea of open rush or the lowering of sorority standards. However, I do strongly believe in mutual selection. Unfortunately, the system we have now, I believe, stacks things too far in the sororities' favor and makes the reality into "I end up where they took me." Mutual selection means putting power not only into the sorority's hands but also into the rushees.
P.S. I do not believe that thinks happen for a reason. Sometimes the machine that is rush gives bids to women who make lousy sisters and eats great interesting girls alive. Sometimes the machine does both at the same time. That is the reality of rush.
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