My school used to do recruitment before classes started in the fall.
There wasn't enough room in the dorms to accommodate the entire freshman class plus transfers plus the sophs through seniors who lived in the dorms. (At the time, freshmen who pledged fraternities immediately moved into the house.) So every freshman and transfer got a temporary room somewhere in the dormitory system.
Sophs and up had to apply for early returns - permission to move into their dorms before rush. There were a limited number of spots available. You were guaranteed an early return if you were an associate advisor for a group of freshmen or if you were an orientation leader. You could apply for an early return (but you might not get it) if you were on a sports team (because practice started before rush), participating in dorm rush (more on this later), or participating in sorority rush (rho chi's automatically got early returns; affilliated women might or might not).
Fraternity, sorority, and dorm rush happened simultaneously. Dorm rush consisted of visiting each of the dorms, taking tours, meeting residents, etc. before you turned in a rank-ordered list of where you'd like to live.
Once rush ended, all freshmen men who had pledged fraternities moved into their houses. All other freshmen moved to their new dorms and got their room assignments. Then, sophs and up who did not have early returns could start moving in.
There was no extra fee for staying the extra week in the dorms, though of course you were responsible for your meals. (Although, any freshman who has to pay for a meal during rush is doing something wrong.
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