Deferred Rush

lionlove · #1 12-13-2001, 10:20 PM

My school does deferred rush where men and women can not rush until the first semester of their sophmore year. I like this system because it allows freshmen to get settled and make their own friends before going greek. Plus, the people who do go through rush really want to go greek and aren't just looking for something to do. Do other schools do this? What are your feelings on it?

BrownEyedGirl · #2 12-13-2001, 11:36 PM

We rush in the fall, and freshmen are eligible (and usually do) rush. Our Panhellenic Council, however, is looking into the possibility of holding a deferred rush in the spring (January). I am interested to see what they choose - I really see pro's and con's to both. Rushing in the fall of their freshmen year allows new students an immediate social group to ease their adjustment. On the other hand, a deferred rush may make PNM's more knowledgeable about the Greek system as a whole and the particular organization they join. A number of PNM's have their heart set on only one or two organizations in fall rush, though, and are deadset on pledging there or nowhere. Deferred rush could help freshmen see that there are other options, but some serious dirty rushing could occur, and it'd be hard to NOT know which sorority your Rho Chi was in. Sorry to ramble, but I see both sides of the story!! I'd love to hear what other campuses have chosen in terms of rush and why.

Lil' Hannah · #3 12-20-2001, 12:19 AM

A few pros and cons on deferred recruitment:

pro : Students get a chance to get settled into college life before making such a large time commitment to a GLO. I think that this helps with retention because if a student barely has the time to keep up with her school work, she will probably drop the sorority.

pro : When PMs are required to have a minimum GPA to go through recrutiment, it helps to weed out those with less than desirable GPAs that will only be trouble down the road.

con : Being at school for a semester allows students to find out more about the Greek System, but this unfortunately includes stereotypes as well. PMs may be less likely to give a house a chance because they've heard that they're not "cool."

I'd like to hear people's opinions on other pros and cons

Eirene_DGP · #4 12-20-2001, 12:56 AM

I think this is a really good idea. At our school we have a problem with people pledging an organization in their first semester and then end up depledging by their junior year. At our school, it is a really big deal to fit in because there is nothing to do and you need a good support system. Deferring rush is also a good idea because you get to see the orgs for what they really are and not just say, Oh I will pledge who ever takes me.

dzsaigirl · #5 12-20-2001, 01:19 AM

I guess your school routinely graduates people in 4 years...

Well, mine does not. I pledged sophomore year when I transferred in and I got to stay 4 years. I only went alum this fall because I didn't want my parents to pay the dues anymore. We are allowed to stay in as long as we want to! The longest anyone I know has stayed in the chapter is 5 years. There is something called 5th year alumni status. Once you finish your senior year of college, you are allowed to petition to go alum. This means that if you pledged as a sophomore , you can go alum after 3 years in the chapter.

Another thing is that since our school has people that take longer to graduate, we usually ask how long someone has left in school. So we wouldn't pledge a junior who is graduating the next year, but we would consider a junior if she had changed her major or something and that was causing her to have another 2 or 3 years left. Make sense?

UofIL AXO · #6 12-20-2001, 01:39 AM

Well in general the rush process is sort of crazy to begin with ... but I have alot of biases towards freshman rush simply because that's what I'm used to.

I really liked freshman year having a pledge mom who was there through boyfriend fights, picking classes, taking me to the movies, showering me with initiation gifts, etc. I liked looking up to the older girls in the house and having them set the example for what I wanted out of college and where I wanted to be my senior year. I liked the home away from home feeling of a sorority house where you can plop on a couch and it feels like a family instead of the dorm which was basically a functional academic prison. I love having freshman in the sorority too because they bring a new level of excitement and they look up to you for advice and guidance. I personally enjoyed rushing freshman year plus my school has 30,000 people so it definetly makes the school ALOT smaller.

The freshman system is by no means perfect, people find out reputations and stereotypes no matter how early you have rush, but I think by sophomore year everyone would have made up their mind about the houses.

I haven't really seen it here that people who join houses are excluded from their dorms or making other friends at all. I think greeks their freshman year have a healthy mix of both.

My two cents

twinstars · #7 12-20-2001, 08:36 PM

My college lets freshmen rush in January, and the vast majority of girls who join a sorority do so as freshmen. We have had deferred rush since before I came to school. I think it works out well for most houses. It gives the sororities a chance to "watch" the freshmen girls for a semester before deciding who to give bids to. Our membership decisions are based on more than just rush-week impressions since we have three or four months (with pretty "open" contact) in which to casually get to know the rushees. We are allowed to invite them to dinner (they pay for themselves), invite them over to watch a TV show, and things like that. The freshmen girls ARE NOT allowed to attend our parties, though, and we absolutely can not buy them alcohol or anything like that. Essentially, we have time to get to know the new girls at a natural pace, as opposed to trying to see what they're all about in only a week or two (if rush were at the start of school).

From the rushees' perspective, postponing rush until January gives them more time to observe the sororities "in action." They probably hear more about each house's stereotype than they would if rush were earlier, but I don't think that hurts my house. It might hurt the few weakest houses, but at least rushees aren't being mislead when they make their choices in January. They know what kind of a group they're joining, and they know how the campus at large perceives that group.

I think deferred rush is a good thing. Both parties (sororities and rushees) are making really important decisions during rush, and putting rush off a few months gives rushees and houses more complete (less superficial) information on which to base those choices.

33girl · #8 12-20-2001, 11:16 PM

I totally agree with twinstars!

Deferred rush gives the women time to get used to being at college and away from home...they're not just joining to have something to hold onto.

You don't spend a semester educating a woman only to have her flunk out, transfer, or go back home because she misses her boyfriend. (not that this never happens in deferred, but it happens far less often)

Deferred rush helps prevent senior burnout.

Deferred rush helps ALL the houses, as the rushees get to see that maybe the biggest and prettiest house isn't all that, and the smaller houses know the rushees are joining because they like them and in spite of whatever "rep." I think that in general, first semester rush greatly favors women who already have it all together and is rough on women who need a little time to be away from home and become their own person.

The only positive I can see from first semester rush is to keep the house full. Since we didn't have those type of houses at my campus, it's very hard for me to see anything positive in it at all.

AlphaChiGirl · #9 12-21-2001, 05:04 PM

Isn't it true that, with Deferred Rush, the attrition rate is a lot lower, meaning more girls stay between Bid Day and Initiation? Yeah, you might have a smaller class, but more of those girls will stick through it, since they've had a semester to think about it. I'm a HUGE supporter of Deferred Rush, because I don't like the idea of girls coming to school two to three weeks earlier JUST TO RUSH. That's not why they're in school...right?

twinstars · #10 12-21-2001, 05:58 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by AlphaChiGirl
Isn't it true that, with Deferred Rush, the attrition rate is a lot lower, meaning more girls stay between Bid Day and Initiation?

I'm not sure if this is always true in general, but on my campus (with deferred rush) we always have very few drop-outs after bid day. Last year, more than 150 girls pledged sororities, and probably fewer than 5 of those girls "de-pledged" before initiation. I can think of two girls in particular right now who dropped out (both got bids at the same house), and I can definitely see how those girls would feel like they didn't fit in with that house. I think one of them preffed that house, and the other didn't.

greek girlie · #11 12-21-2001, 06:43 PM

Quote:

Another thing I question is what happens if a girl is a sophomore and intends on going to pharmacy school or med school or law school? Since they may only be there a few more years do you all give her an equal chance? Or is she cut because of her major? Just an honest question so I can understand the whole thing better.

Hootie- On my campus older girls get shafted.

We are allowed some free juniors. We have 11 chapters so they divide the number of juniors rushing by 11 and we get that many free. Free means they don't count for quota, juniors only count if you pledge a bunch and that never happens. If you rush as a junior and have awesome grades and good activities you are okay. Few juniors rush so usually there is only one free junior, this is bad for the "average" juniors because chapters don't want to chance getting stuck with a bunch of girls who aren't around for 3 or 4 years. It sounds harsh but it is a numbers game. Juniors have it much better than sophomores.

Sophomores usually have a rough time unless they are a legacy or have a best friend in a house. Several of the elite chapters release 90% or more of the sophs on the first night. It's very sad. As a Rho Chi I saw many girls crushed because they waited a year to rush. This is especially sad because many times a sophomore pledge is very active because she knows what it is like to try to meet people without the security of a chapter. Along the same lines if a girl expresses a desire to go to nursing school (even as a freshman) she may get cut because she will have to transfer after 2 years. It gets pretty cutthroat and I'm not even at a southern school. Sometimes older members will get irritated if they pledge a girl and find out later that she is going to transfer after a year or two.

We have chapter houses on my campus that house 50-100 people depending on the house. There is no way we could defer rush because the house would not be dificult to fill because some of the older girls want to live out-of-house.

Older girls having a difficult rush could also be do to the girl's reputation. Houses may not want to a pledge a girl who is a known problem or has gotten a bad rep.

I don't think either way is perfect. I rushed as a fresman a week before school even started. I loved it and no one will ever be able to convince me defered rush is better.

lyrelyre · #12 12-22-2001, 03:01 AM

greek girlie-I pm'd you

We do the same thing with juniors and I think it works well for them. Older girls rushing is a problem-it's hard to know how to deal with. We had one pledge class that was about 1/2 sophomores. When they were seniors there were only a handful left. Seriously it was sad because there were fewer than 10 of them. You are always going to lose a few to transfering and marriage and such. It makes it much more difficult when they are older to begin with.

As far as defered rush is concerned I can see both sides. I am very happy that I rushed before school started. It made me feel more comfortable in a strange place. I probably would not have gone through rush if I had been on campus for a while first. My first semester of college was rough and I'm glad that I had the support of my chapter.

33girl · #13 12-22-2001, 05:09 PM

Riddle me this, Batman: if, as NPC states loudly and often, sorority membership is a lifetime commitment, why do they pitch a fit every time someone suggests deferred rush? If it is a lifetime commitment, is one semester really going to make a difference?

That is another thing I hate about 1st semester rush - not everyone is ready to make that decision at the same time. If I had had to go through first semester rush, I would have been screwed. I wouldn't mind it happening - because some women are ready for it and know what they want - but what I do hate is the "first semester or never" thing.

As far as attrition, the whole time I was active we had a 100% initiation rate, and most of the other chapters on campus did too - I don't think anyone had more than 1 or 2 pledges quit. Little sisters were still around and allowed first semester pledging and had tons of people quit before pledging was over.