advising friends to rush

[betababy08]

i know i'm on a bit of a posting spree tonight, sorry

anyway, i rushed this fall as a freshman, and i couldn't be happier in my chapter. i love greek life and my sisters, and a lot of my friends are now considering rushing as well. a few--i'm not sure how many exactly--of the other chapters have to do informal spring recruitment now, and i'm not sure how to advise those friends who are considering rushing. many of them don't want to wait until the fall, which i understand. however, i would advise anyone, regardless of if my chapter had to do spring recruitment or not (which we don't), to wait until they could go through recruitment with all of the sororities. what should i do?!

[KSUViolet06]

People are going to make their own choices. You can't MAKE them wait until formal if they don't want to. Not everyone is interested in going through the structure of formal. I wasn't.

They could potentially go to spring events, end up hitting it off with a chapter, and getting a bid. There's nothing wrong with that. You should just be excited that your friends are interested in Greek Life.

[PhoenixAzul]

Originally Posted by betababy08

i know i'm on a bit of a posting spree tonight, sorry

anyway, i rushed this fall as a freshman, and i couldn't be happier in my chapter. i love greek life and my sisters, and a lot of my friends are now considering rushing as well. a few--i'm not sure how many exactly--of the other chapters have to do informal spring recruitment now, and i'm not sure how to advise those friends who are considering rushing. many of them don't want to wait until the fall, which i understand. however, i would advise anyone, regardless of if my chapter had to do spring recruitment or not (which we don't), to wait until they could go through recruitment with all of the sororities. what should i do?!

First, check something for me: So your formal recruitment is in Fall, so your friends would have been around during that time? Or is it held before campus really comes alive?

I think in some ways, having that extra semester to gauge Greek Life might be a bonus for them, especially if they fall into that huge 70% of "maybe joiners". So they've seen you go through recruitment and your new member period, and they see how happy you and others are in Greek Life. They've also gotten the campus gossip about the chapters...the good, and the bad. I think that the best plan of action would be to be as panhellenic as possible...not sugar coat things, but don't perpetuate stereotypes that are not true, and not helpful. Every chapter has lovely women in it, and there is a home for every type of girl. Encourage them to use Spring recruitment to get to know the chapters, if they are extended a bid from a sorority and they feel at home there, then great! If they go to some events and decide that the chapters represented aren't really for them, then encourage them to try in Fall formal.

Also: along the lines of being panhellenic, make sure your friends know that you, as one lone member, cannot "give" them a bid or promise them a bid, and your friendship cannot guarantee invites or bids either. You can sure lobby for them, but you're only one voice in the membership selection process. Just so that they don't have unrealistic expectations of you or your organization.

[FSUZeta]

i would advise your friends to give spring recruitment a try-if they find a group that they like-hooray! if they don't, they can always try formal recruitment in the fall.

[violetpretty]

Originally Posted by FSUZeta

i would advise your friends to give spring recruitment a try-if they find a group that they like-hooray! if they don't, they can always try formal recruitment in the fall.

Exactly, they have nothing to lose by seeing the participating chapters in the spring.