Is rush strictly for undergrads?

[DeltaBetaBaby]

Originally Posted by 33girl

I think you are interpreting the word "taboo" in the wrong way.

It's more like - people on GC got sick of any Jane, Susie or Mary who didn't join a sorority in college (and often for really dumb reasons) being told that "there's always AI." It's not a consolation prize, it is a special honor. It is also not a substitute for collegiate membership and the activities you do as a collegian.

G Phi B's website is also pretty clear that coming in cold (i.e. AIing without knowing a soul or having any connection to anyone in the sorority) really isn't the way to go about it. There was a rash of posters on GC some years back who were "sorority shopping" - i.e. trying to AI into some group, ANY group, that would take them.

Also, there's a chicken and an egg thing with AI. A PNAI(?) may know that she would be an awesome adviser and do a ton for the local collegiate chapter if she were initiated, but she would have a hard time getting initiated without having a connection to the chapter first. On the other hand, being around as an adviser when she isn't an alumna is weird. So there's not really a smooth way to get a foot in the door without a personal connection.

Now...occasionally, you have a remote chapter with little alumnae support. In those RARE cases where they really need more local support for the collegians, a group could be open to a sort of "cold call", but I think most would still want to know why a PNAI had selected *that* group, and that she wasn't calling everyone.

Even so, I am surprised at the example upthread, as just-out-of-undergrad grad students are usually not good choices as advisers, because they are too close in age. Maybe if they serve a minor role on the advisory board it would be okay, but I have to think that most groups are like my own in that they pick 23-year-old advisers as a last resort.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by DeltaBetaBaby

Now...occasionally, you have a remote chapter with little alumnae support. In those RARE cases where they really need more local support for the collegians, a group could be open to a sort of "cold call", but I think most would still want to know why a PNAI had selected *that* group, and that she wasn't calling everyone.

I know this is often given as a reason for AIs, but IMO, a chapter that's that remote (especially if they're just beginning) needs women who have been involved with their sorority for a number of years...not those who have just being initiated without any collegiate Greek experience. Unless, of course, the women who do the real advising are doing so via the net/email and the newly initiated advisor is just a formality to clean the ritual catsuits.

[DeltaBetaBaby]

Originally Posted by 33girl

I know this is often given as a reason for AIs, but IMO, a chapter that's that remote (especially if they're just beginning) needs women who have been involved with their sorority for a number of years...not those who have just being initiated without any collegiate Greek experience. Unless, of course, the women who do the real advising are doing so via the net/email and the newly initiated advisor is just a formality to clean the ritual catsuits.

Well, now I'm hijacking, but I think that an adviser from a very different type of school can be just as clueless. Hopefully, in that case, HQ keeps a very close eye on things. There are some things that require a physical presence, though.

In any case, I don't personally know of an instance where someone has stepped in as an adviser, but my chapter did AI someone who jumped right onto our house corp. That's obviously different, because the skill set is a whole other thing, but even in that case, she was the mother of a alumna and someone well-known in the community.

[AGDee]

Originally Posted by 33girl

I know this is often given as a reason for AIs, but IMO, a chapter that's that remote (especially if they're just beginning) needs women who have been involved with their sorority for a number of years...not those who have just being initiated without any collegiate Greek experience. Unless, of course, the women who do the real advising are doing so via the net/email and the newly initiated advisor is just a formality to clean the ritual catsuits.

I'm the one who usually gives this as a reason for AIs because of our chapters in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. People who go to college there rarely stay in the area and it is definitely remote. When I first began to oversee these two chapters, one had an AI who was serving as chapter advisor. I don't think she was the CA when she was first initiated as an AI. I think someone else was CA, she was initiated, started helping and eventually ended up the CA. She is also a VP at the University. The current CA there is her daughter, who was initiated into the chapter as a collegian. The current CAs daughter is now a collegian in the chapter! How is that for succession planning? lol. I agree with what you said and think it works best when someone is the chapter advisor and she finds women who want to help and trains them properly so that eventually they could take over.

At our other chapter in the UP, I have an advisor who is advising, as you said, over Skype, email, etc. It has helped them tremendously and is better than nothing but we do need someone local to sign checks and do other things up there. The current advisor gets up there a couple times a year to see family and for work, but it isn't the same and we can't pretend that it is. We're looking at ways to select some women up there to become AIs to be advisors. That said, it wouldn't likely be grad students. We'd like more continuity than that in this case.. women who are settled in that area.. who work at the university, own businesses in the area or who are personal friends of the current advisor.