questions a PNM should ask during rush

[PenguinTrax]

What EVENTS do you organize to support your philanthropy
What opportunities are there for new members to server on committees
What does the chapter do to support new members as they get acclimated to the chapter
What do the sisters do when just hanging out at the house?
Are there any national scholarship programs?

[CutiePie2000]

I was also going to say, try not to ask questions such as "what do the letters mean?" or point to their crest and ask "what do those symbols mean?". That would be treading into ritual territory, and you don't want to put your hosts in an awkward position. Keep it light, breezy and the above advice is pretty good thus far.

[KSUViolet06]

In general, ask open-ended questions (i.e. questions that CANNOT be answered with a simple "yes" or "no"). This keeps the conversation going.

For example:

PNM: "Do you guys have socials?" Not open-ended.

Instead, ask something like: "What kinds of social events do you guys have?" This leads to more conversation about date parties, formals, retreats, etc.

[WVU alpha phi]

While I agree that it's important to make sure you get all your questions answered, you also want to be careful not to grill the sister rushing you. Firing off question after question might make it sound like you have some kind of mental checklist or something. Definitely be genuinely interested in the answer and discuss it a decent amount before you shoot off another question. However, when I rush girls, I ALWAYS ask them if they have any questions that weren't covered during that round/by other girls who've rushed her - especially if they seem shy and might be scared to ask - and I appreciate the girls who do ask questions because it really does make you sound interested in the house.

[SoCalGirl]

Are dues all inclusive? Will you be paying extra for formal, or for your date to go to formal?

[ΑΓΔSquirrelGirl]

The four aforementioned B's are DEFINITELY no-nos. I will say this, though. If you are NOT a partying person, you might want to make sure you aren't getting into a house that parties 24/7. You can ask something like, "So do you guys go out together a lot?" And then, "Oh...well what's there to do in this town?" That doesn't imply that you're interested in any one activity, but if they list a bunch of bars to go to and little else, that should tell you something. This goes for anything that you're not comfortable around...if you aren't very religious or if you aren't very clingy...anything like that. Ask roundabout questions and look into the answers to find out if these are girls you'll be comfortable with. Because the girls you're meeting during recruitment are most likely not REALLY the girls you'll be with after. Recruitment, unfortunately, can be very fake. Also do ask about their philanthropy and ask some LIGHT questions about the national or international fraternity/sorority. If they can't answer these, this isn't a good sign. If philanthropy is very important to you, ask them what opportunities there are to raise money, where it goes, etc.

I would ask, nicely (and spacing out the questions if there's more than one) about things that will factor into your decision such as cost, the time it will take up (how many required events are there in a semester, typically?), whether or not you will have to live in the house and for how long, etc. Just make sure you space the questions out. It's not very nice to grill someone. A GOOD rusher, though, should ask if you have any questions while y'all are talking. You can then politely ask important questions, with more superficial ones to keep it light so that neither of you feels awkward.

[ClassicBeauty]

Thanks guys! These are so good and I wouldn't have come up with some of these! Also, thank you very much for the advice. I'm so excited to rush and I just want to have the best possible rush I can.