We're about to get a case study in whether immediate or deferred rush works better! (this is long, sorry
)
What school did you attend?
MIT
How many students?
about 5000 undergrads
Percentage who go greek? ( *new question* )
about 40% of men, about 20% of women
How many GLO's? (local and national)?
When I rushed:
- 4 NPC sororities plus 1 local that held rush 1 week after formal rush
- 26 (I think) NIC fraternities plus 2 locals
- 1 all-female independent living group (ILG)
- 5 coed ILGs
- 2 NPHC fraternities, 1 NPHC sorority
(All groups except the NPHC groups were governed by IFC. The NPC sororities and the local were also governed by Panhel.)
Now:
- 5 NPC sororities
- 23 NIC fraternities plus 2 locals
- same ILGs and NPHC groups
(Non-NPHC fraternities and ILGs are governed by IFC. Non-NPHC sororities are governed by Panhel and are no longer IFC members.)
Chapter total?
80 for the sororities. Quota has typically been around 30.
Fraternities and ILGs used to require all members, including pledges, to live in the house, so they were limited by how many beds they had. Freshmen are now required to live on campus, so fraternities and ILGs now issue non-residential bids.
Was your recruitment early fall or deferred?
When I rushed: early fall, before classes started
MIT is currently transitioning to deferred rush.
If deferred, when was it held?
For sororities, the new deferred rush will be held over the weekend before spring term and the weekend after the first week of spring term.
Fraternities deferred rush to the 4th week of fall term.
Ladies, did you ever serve as a Rho Chi/Rho Gamma?
yup
If so, did it color your thoughts on when Recruitment was held?
no
Does your GLO openly support one or the other?
Not to my knowledge.
Do you think a different style of Recruitment would work better at your school?
I think they should have stuck with immediate recruitment.
Do you think numbers are affected by the timing of Recruitment?
Hooo yeah.
I believe that the new deferred rush is going to kill numbers. It's a question of time commitments. With immediate rush, you go in knowing that you will have to commit some time to your studies, and possibly to a job or a sports team - but that leaves you plenty of time to commit to being a GLO member. With deferred rush, you've already committed time to a variety of things, aside from your studies, that may include a job, sports, your dorm, choir, theatre group, community service, etc. - so you may decide you can't fit a GLO into your packed schedule.
In addition, with immediate rush, there was a period of about 5 days where the only thing to do on campus was rush. With deferred rush, both PNMs and sisters/brothers have to worry about problem sets and exams at the same time they're worrying about rush. (visions of a PNM and a sister huddling in the corner during a party, working together on a problem set
)
The administration has as much as said that they expect a couple of the smaller fraternities to fold as a result of deferred rush.
I'm going to try to scare up the fraternities' rush results.