Rush - how do you remember so many girls?

[sunandsand]

This may seem like a stupid question, but how does Rush work? Are there people in every sorority assigned to greet and talk with PNMs? Maybe people who might be considered to be the best judges of character? Are they usually seniors or do they encompass all years? Are they assigned to specific PNMs as recruitment continues (especially for Preference night)? And with a couple hundred women passing through your houses (more for larger schools I am sure), how do you remember the good, the bad, and the "really? she came through today?" well enough to decide whether or not to ask them back?

[FSUZeta]

sororities get a copy of the recruitment enrollment form for every pnm-many panhellenics require 1 photo(usually only a head shot) per form(12 sororities on campus =13 forms and photos-1 for panhellenic and the others for the sororities. then there are the recommendations that alumnae send in-they share informations about the pnm and often include a photo.

pnm's are encouraged to make notes on each sorority they visit after that party, and sorority members are doing the same. things like:name and hometown of girl, major, dorm,what they talked about, maybe even what she was wearing(not to be negative, but something like she had on the red sundress and strappy sandals) and their impressions of the girl. there is usually not enough time between parties to go into great detail, so everyone tries to note things that will help jog their memory later on.

now when xyz member finds out that patty is a nuclear physics major,or a competitive clog dancer or an award winning basket weaver she may manuever patty over to a sister that has the same major, hobby or interest.

at larger recruitments usually everyone will play hostess to a pnm-some may host two pnms at a time during the first set of parties. sometimes sororities will"stack the deck"-put their more experienced members, their better rushers and their most outgoing girls near the front of the line. that way, if the end of the sorority member line does not have a guest for that party, they can "float" from group to group and observe(and learn) how it is done from the sorority side and partipate in the conversation.

some groups have the hostess stay with her guest the entire party, and either the guest and the hostess go from group to group or they stay stationary and members come and go from their position. other groups have several girls sort of tag team-for instance xyz member #1 picks up patty pnm at the door, introduces herself, begins a conversation and walks patty to a seat, or some vacant spot in the room, and visits.after a few minutes , xyz member#2 comes over, is introduced and joins the conversation. xyz member #1 graciously excuses herself from their conversation and joins another group. after a few minutes the pattern is repeated. the goal is to introduce as many members to a pnm as possible and learn as much about her as they can, while sharing as much info. about your sorority as possible in the short amount of time that you have.

sometimes if there is a girl whose mother,grandmother, aunt, sister is a national officer, or the chapter has received numerous recs. on, the chapter might assign a particular girl to her for the first party, but for the other parties they would want other girls to be her hostess-again the goal is for lots of members to meet the pnm and for the pnm to meet lots of sisters. usually for the preferential party you want to pair the pnm with a sister who feels that she has connected well with the pnm.

[Zillini]

The active members also take notes between parties so they will remember who they talked to, what they talked about and their overall impression of the PNM. Depending on the campus, the PNMs might be assigned to a certain active for reasons FSUZeta spoke about.

On large competitive campuses, many sororities do PNM Review sessions during their Recruitment workshops. This allows the active members to get generally acquainted with the PNMs "resume" from the Panhellenic application and/or recommendations received by alums.

Panhellenic also supplies a list of all the PNMs that will be in attendance for each party. We create reminder cards of the PNMs including their picture and highlights of their resume to be handed out prior to each party. This gives the active a quick refresher on the PNMs activities and interests before she meets the PNM at the door.

All in all, no it's not easy to remember every single person, either PNM or active, but it is possible. It's a memory skill that needs to be developed. It's a skill that can help anyone later in life in the real world too. (Unfortunately I never completely mastered it and am still horrible with names. But faces I can remember practically forever. I think participating in Recruitment on both sides contributed to this.)

[sunandsand]

Wow! I am really impressed because when I am nervous, I have a hard time remembering things. I assume that many members are nervous, not as nervous as us PNMs, but pretty nervous all the same, so I give you all major kudos for being able to remember us!

[adpiucf]

Good luck at recruitment! You're going to meet a lot of women at each event. You can't take anything into the events with you, but your recruitment counselor can watch your things for you while you are in the houses/suites. Keep a notepad and pen with your belongings. As you exit each party, jot down a few notes about who you talked to and your impressions of the party. You may not remember every single person you spoke with, but taking notes will help you recall those impressions and the sorority women you really clicked/didn't click with. It can help you to make your decisions later on when you may have to cut sororities from your list.

[KSUViolet06]

My school's rush is pretty small (about 150-ish girls w/ 7 sororities), so it's not really difficult for me. You meet 90% of the girls before recruitment at Greek Info Night, so when you see them at recruitment, you tend to remember most of them.

[Sister Havana]

When I rushed at IU, years ago, we had these index-card type things with our name, basic info, and pic, which we'd hand to the first person we talked to at each house.

[LionTamer]

We used to lose a LOT of great girls because not enough members remembered meeting them.

I notice from the Penn State web site that things haven't changed - even with several hundred girls coming through, they still don't use headshots, resumes or recs. It was REALLY frustrating when you had a great conversation with someone, and no one else could remember her.

My (eventual) Little Sister had a stellar personality, but average height, average looks, unremarkable clothes - but she wore a Mickey Mouse watch where the head moved as the watch ticked. So everyone remembered her: "you know, the girl with really great laugh and the Mickey Mouse watch!" That may not have gone over well everywhere, but quirky fit right in with us.