No Frills Sorority Rush

Chiocutie · #1 06-18-2001, 02:30 AM

I would like to know more about No Frills Sorority Rush. I personally think that Formal Rush is too played up and very fake because of all the competition. I think that if Rushees could meet the House -minus all the hype, they could make a better informed decision about which house they actually click and fit in with. Anyways after all the props are put away and the skits are over, you are just left with your chapter. That should be the emphasis of Rush. It is also pricey on the sorority's part (not that we can't afford it) all to impress rushees to see who has the best room, house, etc. We have a house but most don't so we hold rush at the University Center. Do any of your schools hold No Frills Formal Rush? What are the Pros/Cons. This is just my impression especially because when I compare Spring (Informal) Rush to Fall (Formal) Rush, through informal we and the rushee can make a better decisions. Anyways, thanks!

PenguinTrax · #2 06-18-2001, 09:11 AM

ChiOCutie,

This has been discussed on the boards before - have you done a Search? However, that shouldn't stop anyone from replying to your emssage (and I hope it doesn't)!

Barbara

SilverTurtle · #3 06-18-2001, 11:43 AM

ChiOCutie..

My campus didn't have any NPC sororities... 3 locals. So their Rush was loosely structured after NPC rush, but without all the "frills". Rush on our campus lasted 3 weeks. It was both Fall & Spring semester, but the local sororities only participated in Spring Rush (because 1st semester freshman weren't allowed to rush). I never went through rush for the social sororities, but I'll tell you what I remember since several of my friends did.

Things that were similar to NPC Rush:

You had to attend all of the organizations' rush functions.
After the first or second round of parties you had to be invited back to different chapters' events.

Things that were different from NPC Rush:

There weren't dedicated events like "Skit Nigth" or "Philantrhopy Parties". Each chapter did whatever they wanted. (Which was good for some... some of them could use some structure from what I heard ).
You didn't "pref" your sororities. You got bids from 0-3 of the chapters, then picked the one you wanted. Whichever bid you turned back in, that was your sorority.
The university didn't have set quotas, and I only knew of one of the sororities that set a quota for themselves.

It seemed to work okay for them. But on a small campus (1500 including non-traditional students) with only 3 social sororities who didn't rush until spring, you kind of knew people already.

On a large campus I don't think it would have worked well.

I don't think you should have to use all the "frills" to get to know each other, regardless of campus size. Although I do like the idea of a Philanthropy-themed event. We (my GLO) always played these really cheesy ice breakers (like you would play at camp) with our rushees. It always made everyone relax, because they were so funny, and really did help us to get to know a lot of people quickly. Our (my GLO again) rush was like a hybrid of what I listed above and COB, which was perfect for our chapter.

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SilverTurtle

Phi Beta Fraternity: National Professional Association for the Creative & Performing Arts

33girl · #4 06-18-2001, 08:38 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Chiocutie:
I would like to know more about No Frills Sorority Rush. I personally think that Formal Rush is too played up and very fake because of all the competition. I think that if Rushees could meet the House -minus all the hype, they could make a better informed decision about which house they actually click and fit in with. Anyways after all the props are put away and the skits are over, you are just left with your chapter. That should be the emphasis of Rush.

Chiocutie, I couldn't agree with you more!!

My chapter was never that into the skits and fancy costumes - maybe we weren't no frills, but we were definitely low frills. I think some women in the chapter wanted to do more skits & stuff but I wasn't one of them. I would rather have a woman bid my group cause she likes us, not our decorations or food.

I was at a smaller school, so when I hear about chapters spending thousands of $$$ for rush it boggles my mind!!

All this no-frills was supposed to be implemented and done years ago. I know at some schools it is a tradition and hard to give up, but on the other side of the coin I think a lot of local PHC's haven't done a whole heck of a lot to push it.

Harmony · #5 06-18-2001, 08:50 PM

My school has no frills rush. It's very disappointing. You can't do anything for the rushees. There are a ridiculous amount of rules...down to how many fans you have in the room, everything has to be the same for every group. It would be nice to have a little frills, but I know if you get a little, it'll get out of hand.

Silverlily80 · #6 06-19-2001, 12:06 AM

My school has no-frills formal recruitment. We have had this for at least the past four years, so I really don't know anything else. One of the bad things is there are a lot of rules. Each sorority can only spend $800 on the entire 4-day recruitment. You must turn in reciepts to panhellenic within 48 hrs of bid day. A small snack is serverd on skit day, but it is absolutely just water for every other day. We do have skit night, but we are only allowed to decorate the room where the skit will be performed. Same goes for pref. You cannot have a theme on any day of recruitment. There are many other rules, but that is all I can remember right now. One good thing is it cuts down on competition somewhat, and you really have to focus on conversation with the girls. It is hard somtimes because of all the rules and it makes it really easy to get an infraction during recruitment(you can get an infraction for letting a girl leave the house with a napkin, or having a candle lit in one of the rooms in the house!) But overall, I think it is very effective even though you always have that $800 limit to keep in mind! Hope this helps!

phisigQT · #7 06-21-2001, 09:38 PM

my school is starting a no frills rush this semester and it does not sound too bad. as far as i know we are allowed...
*15 pieces of sorority paraphanalia
*drinks only (water and punch)
*NO decorations, themes, etc.
*we have one "free" day to plan ourselves

our week will work like this...
monday...fall recruitment shirts
tuesday...phc shirts
wedensday...TBA
thursday...pref night
friday...BID DAY!!!

i went through a frills rush so we will see how different this truly is. i unfortunately feel slightly cheated b/c i feel as though one of the reasons that we are initiating a no frills rush at my school is b/c my chapter recieved so many girls last fall esp by way of a suicude bid...

"once a phi sig, always a phi sig"

KayDeeCareBear · #8 06-22-2001, 02:13 AM

We don't really have many frills, even though it's not a requirement not to. Greek life is so small on our campus... Funny thing is, I remember walking into the KD room and just being impressed by the fact that the girls were being themselves, and there weren't huge cutouts all over the place, or overly-smiley people.

another sorority was the same way, though they went a bit overboard... Hm. I guess I'd say that a no-frills rush would be a good thing, because I was attracted to the sororities that showed me themselves, rather than showed me what they COULD be like, if they wanted to.

[This message has been edited by KayDeeCareBear (edited June 22, 2001).]

SLOTheta · #9 06-23-2001, 05:35 AM

We have a very structure rush here, but not exactly no frills, or frilly. We have 4 days of rush.
First Day: Pan Hell Shirts
Second Day: Theta Shirts
Third Day: Our Choice
Forth Day: Pref Night, formal wear, we serve a sit down dinner for one group, and a dessert for the second group.

Each day, we decorate the house with pictures and Theta stuff, that's about it. And we can only serve water with a piece of fruit in it...cherries, limes, lemons...

Each house is featured, we tried the on campus recruitment and it just didn't work. yes, some houses are prettier than others, but we wouldn't want those girls who cared only about the house itself.

I like Spring Informal rush because it's completely relaxed, and we are basically just hanging out getting to know the girls. Unfortunately, we don't get high numbers of turn out from both the actives and PNM when it's informal, some people just love Formal Rush!