[deadbear80]

My alma mater, Washington University in St. Louis, does deferred rush 2nd semester for freshmen. It switched over from 1st semester Rush before I got to campus in 1998, and I know that it really hurt one sorority in particular who at one point in the mid-90s was the largest on campus, but closed its doors due to low numbers in 2000.
Pros: Freshmen have a chance to get situated and used to the college environment. They have a chance to make friends outside of the Greek system. They can get involved in other ways on campus first, and make sure that joining a GLO is right for them.
Cons: Girls get preconceived notions as to where they want to join before Recruitment. While some girls find that they really do fit better somewhere else, some girls drop out of Recruitment because they didn't get asked back to where they wanted to go.

While my chapter did not always make Quota during my tenure (even after the one chapter closed), I will say that we had one of the best retention rates and really used Fall COB (for upperclassman) to our advantage. This year, for the first time, the girls didn't do COB in the Fall--which may cause more upperclassmen to Rush (although they did get a new NPC chapter on Campus this Fall that is pledging 72 girls)...pledge classes had just gotten too big (we only had 5 NPCs for a while after the one closed...now its back to 6 and should lower quota).

To even further the 'narrowing' of girls going through Recruitment, Formal Recruitment (for women) is held during the last week of Winter Break before everyone else comes back. Women that don't want to leave the islands of Hawaii or the slopes of Vail don't come--those that do come are pretty serious. Very few women make it all the way through without a bid (maybe 2%).

Sure there's lots of room for 'dirty rushing' first semester...but most people on campus will tell you Deferred Recruitment made the choice to Rush easier for them