My rush thread...fraternity fall of '06

Styrofoam · #1 07-11-2007, 07:41 PM

Just as a precursor I am still in school, still in the fraternity... not really retro, but thought i'd put my story out there. I graduated in 02... took a year off and went to college late. Had some family hardships and had to drop out for a year and came back... and in the course of my education i've changed majors too many times to count. I'm no nearer to graduation than those i rushed with (sadly, but happily at the same time).

There are 7 fraternities on campus.

Cap'n Crunch
Fruity pebbles
Frosted Flakes
Cheerios
Mini Wheats
Cocoa pebbles
Rice Crispies

I never really thought about going Greek tbh. Durring my first years in college, like I said, i was either facing some very harsh things at home, or i was busy spending time with my girlfriend/fiancé. I talked to some of the guys from cocoa pebbles my freshman year and nearly rushed to join them that year, but on our 4 year aniversery she left me for another guy (leaving me virtually friendless) and in despair. I knew it was time to be in a fraternity.

Styrofoam · #2 07-11-2007, 08:10 PM

So, That summer, while i was wallowing, one of my friends came back from Europe and enrolled in the same school i was going to. I asked him if he wanted to rush with me, and he did. School started in august. Right before school started a guy started work with me who was a member of rice crispies, and me and one other guy at work started talking about it. It seemed interesting enough. It was the only real exposure to greek life i had seen outside of a few talks about hazing and intermurals. with some of the guys from cocoa pebbles.

the weeks leading up to rush week my buddy colby called me nearly everyday about rush "hey, we still rushing?" every day. Rush week rolled around and it is a little different than what i've read or heard about from the bigger schools. Rush was tuesday through friday, and monday was a "mandatory" meeting where the differnet houses had presentations about their houses. This is when they passed out our bid cards...seperated into 7 differnet boxes. We had to visit each house at least once and get a stamp in the corresponding box. The house we chose to rush is who we turned it into, and they could accept it or give it back. Anyhow, i missed the meeting and had to get a bid card from the greek life office. Tuesday night Colby, Tanner (my co worker) and I go around to the houses to get a feel for them. We started at cap'n crunch. They seemed really decent. The first guy who saw us offered us something to drink and eat, which we gladly took. They offered us a tour of the house (they have a very small house..actually two very small buildings for a house) but apart from the one guy showing us around, the other guys in cap'n crunch shirts didn't pay us attention, and we didn't really get introduced to anyone else.

We ended up getting our stamp from them, and piled back in the truck and headed to the fruity pebbles house. Now, I had seen a few of these guys in my classes...they were the "preppy" guys, and quite frankly i didn't like the ones i had met in class. I told the guys i was with i wanted to go in and get my stamp and leave...the other two were a bit more open minded and took the tour when we went in.. i just got my stamp and waited for them to get back. From what i saw of the house, its the nastiest house on campus and my friends confirmed that it was not worth joining.

more to be added later.

LOVEinZTA · #3 07-11-2007, 08:40 PM

I'm still kind of in awe of fraternity rush stories since they're so incredibly different from the formal structure I know. It's also funny to me how every house's personality really shows - maybe I'm the only one who felt this way but for me it was pretty hard to see the big differences in sorority chapter personalities until the third round and pref!

Senusret I · #4 07-11-2007, 08:42 PM

I am loving the names! I don't know who to root for if not Fruity Pebbles.

Styrofoam · #5 07-11-2007, 09:23 PM

So, the night was getting late after fruity pebble and we called it a night. Wednesday rolled around, and i was at work. My co-worker brother (actually i was his boss) asked if I went around to the rice crispies house. I hadn't, and really didn't want to because he wasn't my kind of person.

That night we decided to go to as many house as we could and get stamps and re-visit the ones we liked. The three of us piled in the SUV and went off. We visited the frosted flakes house next. The guy who gave us the tour of the house was very friendly... told us how their house had just been built not long ago (it looked really amazing on the outside, but kind of a pit on the inside). Something he said peeked my ears up a bit... the fact he said that years and years ago the brothers did something in one of the hallways we were standing in. Immidiately i got a sense that either he was a liar or that he had no idea what he was talking about. if the house was only 3 years old, then they couldn't have done the thing they said years and years ago. We left feeling torn about this house but..whatever. I also heard things like "if you can't get into any other house, you become a frosted flake" which turned me off of this house as well. Needless to say, they weren't grrrrrreeeeeeeaaaaaat! (lol)

Across the street was the cocoa pebble's house. I immidately felt like this house i could fit into. I went to highschool with some of the members, and i had english with a few more including their future president. I asked them all the important questions: What are dues? do you have to live in the house? Hazing, etc. I was excited, and really ready to turn in my card right there, but i still needed more stamps. I got my card stamped and told them i'd be back to turn it in. They were excited. I was excited. Then a bombshell hit. Tanner asked how long pledgeship lasted. I was not prepared to hear the answer: a full year. I am old already .. 22 nearly 23. I don't have a year to be a pledge... despite this i was still VERY interested in this house, and ready to sacrifice a lot of what i wanted so i can be in it.

We left the cocoa pebbles house and went to the Cheerios house. These guys immidiately turned me off. For whatever reason. They had an amazing house, a great deck built on... and the guys were nice... they were just.. nerdy... i guess. Tanner recognized someone and chatted for a while. I met a few of their brothers briefly, but didn't want to talk too long... didn't ask the dues question or anything else. It just wasn't happening for me.

We headed around the corner to the mini-wheats. It was so steryeotypical it isn't funny. The vice president took us around their house, which smelled of stale beer and cigarette smoke. He said "Well, honestly... we mini-wheats don't care about grades, campus activity, or anything...we just party. I gladly got my stamp and headed to the last house.

Rice crispies house was a medium sized house. Not alot of rooms, but the brothers seemed nice. I recognized 2 guys i went to highschool with but wasn't able to chat with them. They were watching animal house on tv when i got there, and a couple guys were playing table tennis. I didn't get to talk to anyone very long, but the house seemed nice. Nice enough to come back to on thursday.

I had made a mental list for the next day.

Cocoa pebbels
cap'n crunch
frosted flakes
Rice Crispies
Cheerios
Fruity Pebbels
Mini-wheats

I decided I'd cut the bottom three no questions asked. I was definately ready to give my card to cocoa pebbles. But a strange twist of fate happened the next night...
Stay tuned for the next update.

violetpretty · #6 07-11-2007, 11:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Styrofoam

This is when they passed out our bid cards...seperated into 7 differnet boxes. We had to visit each house at least once and get a stamp in the corresponding box. The house we chose to rush is who we turned it into, and they could accept it or give it back.

I am a little confused about this bid card thing. You get a stamp from every chapter you visit since you have to go to all of them at least once, I got that much. So when your card is full you say, "Hey cocoa pebbles, I want to join your chapter, here is my card."??? Right? Or is that totally off? What if you are interested in more than one chapter?

BabyPiNK_FL · #7 07-12-2007, 01:31 AM

i think I know who Cocoa pebbles is. We have a chapter at my school that is very much to-do regarding eveything thing they do, from meetings, to elections, to dinners and their pledging is just jaw-dropping to me.

Styrofoam · #8 07-12-2007, 04:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by violetpretty

I am a little confused about this bid card thing. You get a stamp from every chapter you visit since you have to go to all of them at least once, I got that much. So when your card is full you say, "Hey cocoa pebbles, I want to join your chapter, here is my card."??? Right? Or is that totally off? What if you are interested in more than one chapter?

yeah, thats right...basically we get to choose which one want. If they don't want you...you get told.

btw...i'd finish my story tonight, but i just got back from the bar, and i'm totally drunk.

LOVEinZTA · #9 07-12-2007, 12:51 PM

Hmm, drunk GCing...hope that doesn't become the new fad! hehe

Styrofoam · #10 07-12-2007, 01:34 PM

Its now thursday and Tanner isn't with colby and I anymore. I'm pretty sure he had already signed with rice crispies, but in actuality i didn't care. I had my list of houses to visit a second time. And i went in no particular order. When I got back to the Cap'n Crunch house the guy who talked to me didn't even remember my name. It was quite a turnoff, and since i wasn't introduced to anyone else, i had no one else to go off of. I immidiately scratched them off my list. The closest house to me at that point was the cocoa Pebbles house, and I knew that I'd sign their house if i went there. I decided to skip it and come back to be fair to the other houses. So i went to the rice crispies....if you remember it was 4th on my list, and the only real reason i was going was to see it more...

Then I got to talk to an someone i knew from highschool...someone that I wasn't too fond of.. that was a brother of rice crispies. He gave me a quick tour of the house...and while we were upstairs we just talked for probably two hours about the house. He asked which houses i was interested in and I told him about cocoa pebbles. He told me "those are a bunch of good guys. You probably would do very good as one, but I see you in my house a lot easier." he gave me the reasons why... and what stuck out to me the fact he didn't talk bad about the other houses like everyone else did....

It was a crazy moment. We went back down stairs and played some table tennis for another hour, and by the time i knew it, it was nearly 11. I hadn't been to the other two houses yet, but i had this feeling that I didn't want to. This house had turned the guy I knew in highschool into a caring compassionate person... and I realized that not every brother you're going to get along with. I turned in my bid card to rice crispies that night and shortly after colby did as well (I think he would have pledged the same fraternity as me anyways... but it was nice to have him as a pledge brother). The brothers were thrilled, and colby and I were taken to the front of the house and made to stand on the table while two GDIs read aloud "BROTHERS OF KAPPA SIGMA PLEASE WELCOME THE NEWEST PLEDGES COLBY AND STYROFOAM!!!!" Immidately after that the brothers cheered and went into an inaudible chant (we later learned the words to the chant).

I feel bad for not giving hte other two houses my time... but I just knew this house was the house for me. KAPPA SIGMA!!!!!

BTW... if you were wondering what the houses were, i'm not going to tell you which corolates. But i'll list the houses in whatever order.

Sigma Nu
Tau Kappa Epsilon
Alpha Tau Omega
Acacia
Pi Kappa Alpha
Sigma Tau Gamma
Kappa Sigma