What type of recruitment would you have preferred?

[FSUZeta]

in my day(waaaaay before the internet) panhellenic mailed a rush information booklet out at the beginning of the summer. there was also a panhellenic presentation at orientation.
if you were staying on campus, you(or your parents) paid a little extra and you moved into your dorm room a day or two before rush started, and that process was all explained in the booklet.

[DGTess]

FSUZeta - was that enough to interest them? I don't think it would have been for me, but I'm only one data point.

[FSUZeta]

i guess enough girls knew about sororities and wanted to join one from their own knowledge, coupled with the rush info. booklet and the information at the orientations. fsu has held rush prior to the commencement of classes for decades and hasn't had to cancel yet.

[khlkcca]

I loved the structure at GMI many years ago. During a three week period the three chapters had a party on a different prescheduled night each week (9 total parties). You were required to attend each group at least once. The parties were not typical formal rush parties. I can remember one party was a tie dye party.

The real fun was the rest of the three weeks. The chapters would have socials doing all kinds of things canoeing, luaus, drive-in movies to name a few. These events might overlap so you chose whatever you wanted to go to, or none at all. At the very end you were invited to a pref type party by 1,2, or all 3 of the chapters. In reality, by that time everyone pretty much knew who was going where because people tended to attend most of the socials at their favorite group the third week.

I loved this because you got to know people in a more natural environment like you would hang out with friends.

I'll tell you about my least favorite later on.

[DGTess]

Originally Posted by FSUZeta

i guess enough girls knew about sororities and wanted to join one from their own knowledge, coupled with the rush info. booklet and the information at the orientations. fsu has held rush prior to the commencement of classes for decades and hasn't had to cancel yet.

Cute.

So the girls who don'[t know about Greek Life and aren't swayed by the brochures are just riff-raff? Not in a derogative sense, but simply left out, because no one makes an effort to get them? I feel for them.

But I guess the other side of that argument is if they chose a school with intense Greek life and didn't investigate, that's their issue.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by DGTess

Cute.

So the girls who don't know about Greek Life and aren't swayed by the brochures are just riff-raff? Not in a derogative sense, but simply left out, because no one makes an effort to get them? I feel for them.

But I guess the other side of that argument is if they chose a school with intense Greek life and didn't investigate, that's their issue.

Wow. No, she never said that. She said that in spite of girls who are clueless about rush except for the info they get from the school, they do manage to get enough participants to carry it off.

And what do you mean - "get them"? Just because they changed the name to recruitment, doesn't mean it really is and sorority women are going to their houses knocking on their doors like the Army or Hare Krishnas. They get the information on Greek life - just like they get information on housing, athletics, and other facets of college - before they begin classes. If they get there and don't know how to drop/add classes, where the office is to buy tickets for football games, or how to participate in rush, and don't bother to investigate it or ask questions if this is something they have an interest in, that's really their own damn fault.

I find it amusing that someone who is such a proponent of personal responsibility thinks that young adult women need their hands held every step of the way as far as joining a sorority is concerned.

[DGTess]

And here I was remaining away from ad hominem attacks; just asking questions. Oh, well, some things never change.

[FSUZeta]

Originally Posted by DGTess

Cute.

So the girls who don'[t know about Greek Life and aren't swayed by the brochures are just riff-raff? Not in a derogative sense, but simply left out, because no one makes an effort to get them? I feel for them.

But I guess the other side of that argument is if they chose a school with intense Greek life and didn't investigate, that's their issue.

i never called anyone riff-raff. true, some girls may have had an edge because of familial ties to greek life, or neighbors or friends who had talked to them about greek life, but every girl who enrolled at fsu got the same information from greek life mailed to her home at the beginning of the summer and had the ability to educate herself on FSU greek life.

if i remember correctly, the booklet had greetings from the greek life coordinator, as well as the panhellenic president. there was the requisite information explaining what a sorority is, the advantages to joining a sorority, the process of formal recruitment, cob opportunities, an enrollment form and each sorority had a page that had a photo of their house, their standard information and i believe, their dues and other financial information.

so i feel, in essence, the greek life office at fsu made an effort to get every new girl at fsu to go thru recruitment, by mailing out a booklet to her.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by DGTess

And here I was remaining away from ad hominem attacks; just asking questions. Oh, well, some things never change.

Putting words in someone's mouth (especially someone who never says anything negative on here) just because she suppports something you loathe is just as bad. Oh well, some things never change.

You can't say in one post that it's ridiculous that young women have to be shepherded from rush party to rush party and not allowed to choose not to go to some, and in another post bemoan the fate of the poor lost lambs that can't get sufficient information (or find a name/number to get further info) from what are usually VERY detailed rush guides. If you're thinking of women who say "oh, well I would never belong in a sorority" and miss the boat - I know that if the school considers something important enough to send me a 30 page brochure on it, I'd be a little more inclined to check it out, even if I hadn't been prior to that.

I don't really dig first semester rush, either, but it's the member groups that keep that going - not national or local Panhel, and not the schools. Any national sorority could make a policy tomorrow that says women who do not have a college GPA cannot join.

[KSUViolet06]

I went through COR and I tend to prefer it (if available) particularly for an older PNM or transfer student.

I think I like the structure that functions like a COR/FR hybrid. I think it's Partially Structured. Parties on one's own schedule, more relaxed events, but still having to visit all chapters.

[aj12291]

I guess I will be the first to chime in on Spring recruitment We have formal structured recruitment the second week of spring classes. I really enjoyed going through recruitment in the spring. It gave me a chance to get to know the women who were rushing me outside of the confines of recruitment, and it let the women get to know me as well.

We weren't simply being judged on our ability to "interview" and our appearances-we were being looked at for how involved we are on campus, how we portray ourselves in our everyday life at Witt, and on our ability to survive our first semester of college. Similarly, we were able to see the sororities as more than just what the women rushing us portrayed themselves as. Even the chapter that seems the most superficial has women thriving in classes with me, and doing philanthropy, and being involved on campus. While we stereotypes more having gone through a semester, we can also see past them much easier.

As far as timing, I liked having recruitment during the second week of classes. It meant that we didn't need to move back in early (and sacrifice time off our 3 week break as PNMs) and that we kind of had a grip on our semester before we threw in hours of recruitment on top of our already busy schedules.

While I feel like a fall formal recruitment is a great way to get to know women on campus, I feel like spring recruitment was perfect for me.

[kaylaxlove]

Recruitment week coincides with Orientation Week at my school. It's completely structured, formal & stereotypical-style recruitment. haha. AND I LOVED IT. We also do Winter Recruitment which is structured informal, I believe. And that's better for some people, so you kind of get to choose.

I loved jumping in before classes started as a freshman...first of all, all of the Greek students, theatre students (they do orientation skits, and help with orientation activities), peer mentors, and RAs (we call them CAs, though) are on campus--as well as all the incoming freshmen & transfer students, so you get to know so many people before school starts.

I also liked formal recruitment--the houses are completely UNRECOGNIZABLE. I remember moving into our house after Bid Day and being like..."THAT'S what the basement looks like!" I had completely forgotten from house tours--because it looked completely different every night. And SKIT night...it's intense. We had an entire dorm room as our set. lol

[DGTess]

Originally Posted by FSUZeta

i never called anyone riff-raff.

Ah. So you just didn't read "not in a derogatory sense" and instead read the term "riff-raff" as derogatory instead of as "all others".

Guess I should have selected a more neutral term. In looking it up, I find it has a negative connotation; in my experience, the term had always simply meant "everything else". I did acknowledge there is a derogatory meaning, but stated I didn't mean it that way.

So phrased differently, as long as there are enough "girls" to fill recruitment schedules, we're okay?

[KSUViolet06]

^^^Ok with what?

[FSUZeta]

dgtess, i don't understand your hostility, nor do i understand your last question. in case i am understanding you correctly, i will quote myself:

"but every girl who enrolled at fsu got the same information from greek life mailed to her home at the beginning of the summer and had the ability to educate herself on FSU greek life.

so i feel, in essence, the greek life office at fsu made an effort to get every new girl at fsu to go thru recruitment, by mailing out a booklet to her."