Always good to list legacies? Sometimes not?

[Elephant Walk]

Originally Posted by FSUZeta

as violetpretty said, women list their sorority affiliations even if the sorority does not have a chapter at that school. it lets the campus sororities know that the family understands the obligations of membership and that the family is most likely supportive of the daughter participating in greek life. i just wondered if fraternities think that way.

My chapter doesn't, personally.

Perhaps others do...anyone?

[Entrepreneur]

I think everyone's overlooking the competitive nature of guys. I was rush chairman at my fraternity. If we wanted someone, we actively recruited him regardless of legacies. In fact, we considered it a bonus if we stole a legacy from another house (provided he was someone we wanted). I know it worked that way for other houses too.

When one of our legacies came through, we always gave the kid a good rush, even if we didn't care for him. Unless the legacy acted like a complete jerk during rush or was loathed by a fraternity brother who went to high school with him, we were going to give him a bid.

Once, a guy came through whose father was big in national. I don't think anyone was wild about the kid, but we recruited him hard. Because *we* recruited him hard, a competitive house went after him...and got him. Maybe he sensed that we were rushing out of obligation and the other house really wanted him. Who knows.

The ending was happy for everyone. The legacy got into a better house than he probably would have otherwise. We got a nice letter from his father, thanking us for the effort we put into rushing him. Our competitor thought they stole a legacy from us. And while we would have taken the legacy, we were pretty darn happy to lose him.

[magichat]

Not that way exactly, but when we see a guy's father was in a fraternity we get the idea that his parents may not be so over dramatic about the concept of him pledging and whatever that may entail.

It is not a plus or a negative for him though, just a point brought up in bid deliberation.