Summer Rush Begins!!!

[Betarulz!]

I got a PM from someone asking about what types of things made parents excited about our house as part of the rush process. This is going to stray from the focus of rush, but it might be interesting to some of you.

I can think of several things that really were important this past weekend.

First off, was the answering of any hazing questions by looking the parent directly in the eye and telling them that we don't haze and meaning it. For some parent's that's huge and really allays any fears that they may have. It really probably makes them feel that they can trust us with their pride and joy.

Another thing was just having our house clean. We pride ourselves on having the cleanest house on campus and we make sure that every room is clean enough to show. I heard a lot of moms making that comment on Saturday of how clean the place was.

The other thing, that I really noticed got parents excited was talking to them about our Parent's Alliance and all the things that Parent's can get involved with. We have a Parent's day that coincides with Homecoming week that has a silent auction, a luncheon and of course the game. We also have parent's come and decorate the house for Christmas, and a program that has parent's send snacks for Dead Week and Finals week. Another thing is that we have our parents come for our Winter Formal, and serve us and our dates dinner; the parents then order pizza and clean up, while really getting to know each other.
Another things the mom's all love is the fact that we have a Mom's Day each spring. Nothing super fancy, just a nice luncheon and some singing.

The Parent's Alliance is really great about raising money for the house too, and I think that gives the parents the feelign that they're making the house better for their sons. This summer our Alliance raised money to get all our bathrooms steam cleaned, as well as get new patio furniture for our deck. Also the Parent's Alliance allows all the parents to stay involved with their sons in some way and that can't be underestimated.

Obviously the last way is through the Parent's Day rush event. My parents along with alot of other brother's parents came to the house to meet rushee's parents which I think shows that our parents think very highly of what we're doing at house, and that we're happy to have our parents help out and be involved...

Hope I explained just how we get our parents involved and excited about the house, and how that really can help during rush.





PS: Some people mentioned retention earlier. Our initiation rate over the past 4 years has been about 95% (only 5 out of 93 were not initiated).

[Betarulz!]

Well there's been some drama the last couple of days. Basically, this is the first rushee that we've been pretty confidant that we're going to get and then find out that he's not as strongly leaning towards us as we thought.

This rushee is friend of a couple guys in the house, and so we thought we had that going for us. He apparently came through on his NSE day and when one of the rush chairs jokingly asked if he was going to sign the bid card, the kid actually answered that he was. Over the past couple of days though reports from his friends in our house have said that he's really torn between us and Farmhouse.

Now when you know this is the situation, there are two ways you can go. You can either keep in contact with the rushee, maybe even schedule another visit with his parents at his house, or you can leave him alone. Some rushees will be turned off by the extra attention and feel that a house is desparate for them, while others will go to the house that really seems to want them. Sometimes there is the feeling of desire to go to the place that doesn't call just because they seem not to need you.

It's also tough though because we don't say bad things about any other houses. And so we can't say things like "Well they are on East Campus, do you really want to have to ride a bus or drive to City Campus everyday?" or point out the obvious pros and cons of our two houses.

In the end, a 30 minute phone call from one of the rush chairs seemed to have firmed up his commitment to our house, but with rushee like this, nothing is certain until we have the bid card in our hands to turn to Greek Affairs.

[The_Nash]

I was wondering what do you look for in guys when they turn in their rush app. Like, what are the grades that you expect to see from HS, and stuff like that.

[douthit]

First off, I just wanted to say that I think this is the best rush thread that I have read, simply because it's about time that we have seen kind of behind the scenes of a guy's rush that doesn't usually get presented on GreekChat!

As for the kid who is torn between the two houses, I think leaving him alone would do more harm than good. If you think he is truly "Beta material" as you've said, more contact without overdoing it will just strengthen the standpoint of your house as well as letting the rushee know that he is top material and cream of the crop.

[Betarulz!]

Originally posted by The_Nash
I was wondering what do you look for in guys when they turn in their rush app. Like, what are the grades that you expect to see from HS, and stuff like that.

The things we are looking for in rush apps are by no means completely objective, but you know a great app when you see it.

Basically we're looking for ACT scores of at least 22, and HS GPA above 3.0. Class rank can tell us a lot in bigger schools, but sometiems we're dealing with kids who graduated with 25 people and so it's possible their class rank isn't so great.

We also look for involvement in their school, so things like varsity and JV sports, NHS, Boys' State, StuCo, DECA, and things like that are eyecatching.

The thing is that it's easy to tell a great app and a horrible app, but defining the line between okay, and sub-par is difficult. That's why if we do meet with someone, we put greater importance on the face to face time. Also there have been several rushees with great apps that are total tools in person. So again the feelings one gets from meeting with a guy are going to be better judges of how the guy will fit into our house.

The other thing for us is that it's important to take the entire application into consideration and not call guys just because they were validictorian, or had a 35 ACT score, or were president of all their clubs in HS, or whatever one amazing thing about the kid might be. We're looking for well rounded kids more than anything, and we usually would prefer to take the kid who was Homecoming king with a 25 ACT and 3.3 GPA, then the kid with 4.5 weighted GPA and 35 ACT score but nothing else.

[MattUMASSD]

Im going to agree with Nash, I am glad that there is a fraternity perspective on rush on greekchat.

[aephi alum]

First off, congrats. Looks like your summer rush is turning into quite a success.

I'm very interested to get a view on fraternity rush other than my own school's. I've seen lots of sorority rush stories here, but few fraternity stories.

We had summer rush for both fraternities and sororities, but it was more of a way of getting a sneak peek at PNMs. For fraternities, extending bids before the third day of fall rush was a big no-no, so you could use summer rush to figure out who you wanted to bid, but you had to wait to actually bid them. For sororities, PNMs had to go through formal fall rush. (My school has since gone to deferred rush, so summer rush has gone away.)

What do you do about guys who don't live in the immediate area? Are they just SOL?

Do you have a target # of guys you want to sign before the fall?

Good luck with the rest of summer rush

[SAE_KSDE]

Beta,

Just a couple questions on Summer Rush. I am from a small school in Western Kansas with open rush. We have decided to recruit through the summer by planning several events around the state. Our first event was not very successful, with no potential members from the area attending. The next event is tomorrow in Wichita, KS which looks to be more promising.
Do you happen to have any suggestions on how to entice more recruits to come to the events? Any suggestions on calling them or attracting them through mailings?

[Betarulz!]

Originally posted by aephi alum

What do you do about guys who don't live in the immediate area? Are they just SOL?

Do you have a target # of guys you want to sign before the fall?

For the guys not in the immediate area, you have to define immediate area. Our Rush chairs will pretty much go to someone within a days drive to meet them if it's necessary. There are some kids who live in Nebraska who are 7 hours away from the University, so trips to Iowa, or the three hours to Kansas City or Sioux Falls are really no big deal.

However for the kids farther away the best time for them to meet with houses is when they come to campus for their New Student Enrollment day, which every incoming freshmen has to do. If they don't make an NSE day then they don't enroll for classes and arent' coming to the University. Since many of those kids don't fly out the same day it gives them time to explore houses. One of my pledge brothers is from Seattle. Typically it seems that most kids that come in from out-of-state have relatives either in Lincoln or Omaha or nearby, and they'll stay for a couple days and travel into Lincoln to see houses. So there are ways for guys that are way far away to join, and most chapters will make exceptions to there general rush parties for those circumstances.

As for the number of guys we try to sign. We usually try to fill our pledge class during the summer, maybe find one more guy during formal fall rush, but that isn't a guarentee, nor is Formal rush that widely used. There has been an effort to increase participation in Winter rush, but my house does not participate in it, because we want to have pledge classes be together for the whole year. Plus our house is at capacity so we wouldn't have room to move guys into the house.

originally posted by SAE_KSDE


Do you happen to have any suggestions on how to entice more recruits to come to the events? Any suggestions on calling them or attracting them through mailings?

I'm guessing your from Fort Hays...

The biggest thing you can do is get the word out. Contact them early and often. This could potentially be a very big project, as it's possible that you'll just get a list of every incoming freshman male from your University or Office of Greek Affairs.

First I'd go to Greek Affairs and see what they can do for you, or if they have any suggestion on how to get names of rushees. You may have to try the Office of Admissions after that for names, and they may not release them to you for various reasons.

One idea that will have to wait until next year, but could be successful would be to go to all the sororities and ask the girls for recommendations (along with contact info...at least a phone #) for guys who would be a good for your chapter. Offer a party, or some other sort of prize for the sorority that gives you the most names.

As for the events themselves, try to get as many guys there as possible, make sure there is food and something to do, even it's just a swimming pool as some guys house. Also, make sure the brothers talk to the rushees. It won't help you out if the brothers keep to themselves the whole time, never getting to know any rushees.

Good Luck, hopefully I've offered some help.

[mmcat]

to your chapter's success. it shows what hard work and organization can do.
props to you beta for an outstanding thread.

[justamom]

I LOVE THIS THREAD!

As a parent, I can say I TOO would be impressed if I met you and your brothers under the circumstances you have described!
The hazing part is so important-especially when it's an honest answer!

When I read about the things you look for on an ap. I thought "uh-oh" because my son's class was one of those where it was really uncool to be in STUCO or hold an office because the clubs were dominated by girls and a few guys that were not too social. He did graduate with honors, and though his class rank is high, it isn't as high as the guys who took the "easy A" courses.
His were all advanced and beyond the college requrements. Oh well, in reality, he is better off.

Though he has been invited to parties, he has no place to stay when out of town except with friends from a different fraternity.
I would bet the larger chapters have their pledge class pretty much selected by now as well. Maybe he should skip the process and wait to see what he really wants and who really wants him.

Anyway, this is such a great read and so informative!

[SAE_KSDE]

Since this seems to be an interesting thread, I will add my chapters summer rush plans. I am a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon at Fort Hays State University, which is in western Kansas. We have a very small greek poplulation(less than 2%). Our rush is open so we can recruit members at any time. We have decided to start doing summer rush to get a jump start on rush. The fraternity's on campus usually recruit mainly in the first two weeks of the semester. Most of the students who go to Fort Hays are from Kansas so we have planned five events around the state. Our first event was in southwest Kansas. We try to call a few recruits before we went to the event, but didn't have much luck. When we went to the event, we were hoping that maybe one rushee might show up, but it didn't happen. It wasn't a total lose since it turned into a brotherhood event.

Tonight is our second event. We are going to Wichita, KS which is a lot bigger, and students from that area our more interested in Greek Life. We have contacted several potential members from the area. We have one confirmation, which makes the trip worthwhile. Also, we have received a recruitment recommendation from a member of SAE from the Wichita State Chapter. We are hoping that the trip turns out successful.

[justamom]

SAE_KSDE My sister went to Fort Hays (SSS). Do you have any members from Great Bend or Ellinwood? GB may not be the most progressive town, but they have their own little social scene going and there is/was a strong Greek history for all the college bound who now have children entering college. Fort Hayes was a unique palce (can I say "neat" even though I date myself?) that I enjoyed visiting.

[aephi alum]

Originally posted by Betarulz!
For the guys not in the immediate area, you have to define immediate area. Our Rush chairs will pretty much go to someone within a days drive to meet them if it's necessary. There are some kids who live in Nebraska who are 7 hours away from the University, so trips to Iowa, or the three hours to Kansas City or Sioux Falls are really no big deal.

However for the kids farther away the best time for them to meet with houses is when they come to campus for their New Student Enrollment day, which every incoming freshmen has to do.

That makes sense.

We typically held our summer rush parties wherever we had enough brothers/sisters. Typically, this meant Boston, NYC, maybe Chicago, maybe DC, maybe somewhere on the west coast. If you lived elsewhere, you got the info for the Boston parties and you were pretty much SOL unless you made the trip.

For sororities, it wasn't a big deal if you couldn't get to summer rush, because you had to go through formal fall rush anyway. For fraternities, it could be a problem; some fraternities had their pledge classes pretty much picked out before fall rush, while others had a good idea of a couple of guys they wanted, but were still looking for more new members.

[SAE_KSDE]

Justamom,

We currently do not have any members from Great Bend or Ellinwood. At Freshman Registration, we talked to a couple of guys from Great Bend who seemed interested. We are inviting them to our recruitment event in Salina, and our talking about visiting Great Bend and taking them out for Dinner.