"I'm rushing 'for' a certain chapter"

[Old_Row]

Originally Posted by groovypq

I'm a little late to this thread (new baby will do that to you...) but I have noticed this trend in the past year or so. The School Class of 2017 Facebook page is rife with posts about "What sorority are you rushing? I'm rushing XYZ!" or "I know which sorority I want!" and they clearly don't have any idea how recruitment works. And since we're a deferred-recruitment school, they will only be MORE sure of they're "rushing XYZ" by the time recruitment rolls around.

We're a small school (4 NPC orgs) and really, most people are XYZ or bust - and they drop out if XYZ cuts them. Either they go through informal the next fall and try to get in that way or they don't go social Greek (a lot join the service org... and I am NOT knocking service orgs, but at my school there are indeed a lot of people who join it just for letters, unfortunately). I really, really wish there were a way to get PNMs to be more open-minded.

Side note: my chapter's province president is constantly telling them to stop using "rush" and "pledge." However, it seems like no one on campus uses the "proper" terminology. She said once she gets the "campus culture," but still every year there's a lonnnng discourse about proper terminology. I'm not sure how to correct it.

I think it might be a little more understandable at a smaller school maybe? With only four sororities it seems like maybe they would all have pretty distinct personalities and there would be a bigger difference between them especially if they are smaller too? A big difference from a school that has a bunch of houses and maybe 200 or 300 members where you could probably find a place in almost any of them if you gave them a chance?

[angels&angles]

Originally Posted by Old_Row

I think it might be a little more understandable at a smaller school maybe? With only four sororities it seems like maybe they would all have pretty distinct personalities and there would be a bigger difference between them especially if they are smaller too? A big difference from a school that has a bunch of houses and maybe 200 or 300 members where you could probably find a place in almost any of them if you gave them a chance?

Coming from a smaller school with fewer chapters--

In some ways, yes. BUT I still don't think you could possibly know that before you get to the school. At that point it is 100% tent talk which is still mostly gossip and untrue, even at a small school. Over half the members without bids at my school came from PNMs dropping out when they didn't get "their" chapter, and it was crap. Any of those girls would have done well and had a great time at any of the chapters. Even in a smaller school with smaller chapters, I think you can find your place with any group.

And most of the girls who are doing that sort of thing are going off of "XYZ is the most popular. I belong in XYZ."

/soapbox

[I should note, as stated earlier, that I rushed "for" a group. and it wasn't the "best" group like I just generalized. But I didn't do that until I'd been on campus for a few months, and, in retrospect, I do think I would have enjoyed myself in any of the groups on campus. I wouldn't have thought so at the time, and Pi Phi was 100% the best fit for me, but I would have been a-ok and had a great experience anyway]

[ASTalumna06]

Originally Posted by Old_Row

I think it might be a little more understandable at a smaller school maybe? With only four sororities it seems like maybe they would all have pretty distinct personalities and there would be a bigger difference between them especially if they are smaller too? A big difference from a school that has a bunch of houses and maybe 200 or 300 members where you could probably find a place in almost any of them if you gave them a chance?

Interestingly, I think this kind of works against what you're trying to argue. If a PNM could "definitely" fit in with at least a small group of sisters in a chapter of 200-300 girls, then she could hypothetically join any one and it wouldn't matter if she focused on only one group. If, on the other hand, there were only 20 sisters in a chapter, she'd have to truly make sure that she fit in with at least a couple of them, and she'd have less of a chance of that happening than she would in a larger chapter. She'd be better off increasing her chances of meeting people she clicks with by being open to more chapters.

My school had 3 chapters. When I was active, there were between 10 and 30 members in each, and we only held informal recruitment. On numerous occasions, we had PNMs who would go through recruitment set on one chapter. They wouldn't get a bid. We had one girl come out to ONLY our recruitment events for THREE semesters before she finally got the hint, went to recruitment events for a different chapter for one semester, and received a bid. She loved her time with her chapter.

I think it's sometimes misleading to say that "small schools/Greek systems are different" when it comes to having an open mind. And I would say you should definitely keep an open mind if you haven't even arrived at school yet, regardless of which school you attend.