Rts

[furmanbeta]

I was just wondering how effectively y'all have been able to use RTS (Recruitment Through Scholarship), as a rush tool in the past. My chapter was able to send out our information to the incoming freshmen for the first time ever (usually there is to be no contact by Greeks until the conclusion of freshmen orientation) and had 53 applicants, representing about 1/6 of our male freshmen class. While this success is great, I'm wondering what kind of rate of return y'all have gotten in terms of getting former applicants to pledge or even be fairly interested in your chapter.

[Coramoor]

The semester we used RTS, we saw our largest spring pledge class in the last 10 years.

You guys have the chance to really pull this recruitment off with a bang if done correctly.

[Betarulz!]

I think that RTS is a wonderful tool for chapters that are struggling for members. It gets people interested who otherwise might not be. However, I do think it is possible to outgrow RTS, something Coramoor's chapter needs to be aware of.

What I mean is, RTS is designed to get quality, driven guys interested in Beta, hopefully with the intention of signing them. Even if a kid doesn't get the scholarship, he's going to be meeting with you, so hopefully you can manage to pull him in. You start pulling those guys in, all of sudden your more desirable to the guys that would be drawn to the scholarship.

In my years as an undergrad, we never had more than a handful of guys apply for the scholarship and more than 95% of those were guys we had already signed. For us, we can point to a lot more of our success to recruit those types of kids. So for us at Nebraska, RTS is not near as effective as it could be. I think it could be altered so that we did it to attract good sophomores who didn't think a fraternity was there type of thing - before they end up joining Pike.

[mmccutc]

I don't agree. We still use RTS and I believe it is a very useful tool. I mean, a lot of people do not rush who are applying for these scholarships, but it gets Beta's name out to people who aren't rushing and who might not be rushing beta. It shows that beta cares about scholarship and that we support undergrad academic achievements. it's good press and every fraternity can use good press. I just feel that it should be used and Nationals is paying for it. Why not use it?
_Kai_
Cutch

[Betarulz!]

Cutch,

I understand what you mean. It just seems that for us, it hasn't been as effective as it would be for smaller chapters.

Reasons why we haven't particularly needed it:

We've been number one in grades 5 of the past 8 semesters, and our gpa has been over 3.4 for 10 of the last 12 semesters or so. We won the Va Tech award for highest GPA in Beta for 6 years in row, and only lost this year by .01. We also got a 3.545 this past spring. Our record on scholarship speaks for itself. We don't need RTS to show we care about scholarship.

We've also won 4 Knox Awards in row and 5 of 6 years.

Finally, we won the NIC Award of Distinction this year one of only 5 chapters of any organization in the country to get this award.

Now...obviously we're a chapter that's not the typical chapter, and that's why I said that the RTS is still a great tool. What I was trying to underscore is that as a chapter uses the RTS to increase the overall quality of pledge class, the chapter is going to get better, and naturally attract a large number of high quality guys. When a chapter achieves that and is at the top of a campus competing for the best guys, the nature of rush changes. You're going to attract the best b/c you are the best, therefore RTS has become less effective.

[mmccutc]

Betarulz,
I understand where you are coming from because I am a beta. Freshmen who are looking to rush a fraternity do not. During rush, people generally look for a group of guys that they could see hanging out with for the rest of their college experience, not just GPAs or Knox awards. RTS gets your name to those people and shows them that you are serious about grades, once they come around to meet the brothers as potentail rushees, you show them your awards and proof of GPA. RTS is a stepping stone to get them to you. Congrats on the Grades! y'all are awesome! We had number one in grades for 6 semesters in a row, but we initiated some slack brothers and are now suffering the loss in GPA.
_Kai_
Cutch

[a.e.B.O.T.]

RTS only has a little to do with getting guys with high gpas. It is getting betas name out to those who dont know it, it is about setting up an interview process with out the 'go beta go beta' jazz so that both have a chance to know each other, its about saying that beta cares. period. Not necessarily about scholarship, but about people succeeding, about people getting a chance. Its way more then a recruitment tool, its about saying Beta is freaking awesome

[ECUJacob]

I believe at some point in the not-so-distant past, our University stopped helping us with RTS. They used to provide us with the names and addresses of the incoming freshman guys. Now, they've labeled that as solicitation and they would prefer that Univeristy organizations not bombard the incoming students.

So, basically we've resorted to sending RTS applications to the high schools that our brothers graduated from and their surrounding areas. We've also attemtped to put flyers in the residence halls to attract freshman/sophomore's to apply.

In all honesty, we're lucky if we get 20 guys to submit an applicaiton. Of those 20, 5-10 are only doing it to be funny and put ridiculous answers on their application. Of the remaining 10, we throw out Seniors and Graduate students etc. Then we are also forced to throw out those applicants who have <2.5 GPA's. So, that usually yields about 4-5 guys, none of which usually seem very receptive to Greek Life, they just want/need $$$ for school.

Overall, RTS doesn't seem to be a very efficient/effective tool for our particular chapter. It could be that the last two semesters were simply outliers/flukes. Maybe this semester will prove to be different.

[a.e.B.O.T.]

this may not work at a big school... but do you have a student directory and mailboxes... just put them in the mailboxes if you have a directory... it doesnt have to be all, just like 500-700 or so (lol, or a lot less)... thats what we do