Discrepancies in the way we view rush

[33girl]

Originally posted by PsychTau2
At U of A, you either are attached to a group/organization (whether it be band, Greek, athletic, even the dorm you live in, or something else) or you pretty much "don't exist". It's such a large campus that most students are encouraged to join something in order to give them a "home base" or an anchor. Otherwise you can feel very lost.

Anyway, I visted U of A THREE times before I finally decided that I just didn't fit in. I wasn't comfortable on campus...no one talked to me when I was walking around. I didn't feel comfortable there, it wasn't for me, and I didn't go. Had I gone to U of A, I would not have considered recruitment. I wasn't that "type"...it didn't appeal to me. The smaller school I went to did appeal to me...the recruitment style fit better as well (didn't like all of it, but most of it worked...)

In any case, I think that you could add to the argument that the TYPE of women choosing to attend the SEC schools drive the type of recruitment that happens.

Yay! Yay!! Yay!!!

I agree. I know that when we were discussing Ole Miss and why a new sorority wouldn't succeed there, everyone mentioned tradition. Ergo if you are not big on that sort of steeped in decades tradition, you probably won't be at Ole Miss to begin with.

If you played "Freaky Friday" with the student bodies of say LSU and Harvard - the rushes would probably change as well!

[blueangel]

Here's a perspective from both the north AND the south!

I'm from the north (NY area), but went to a school in the south (University of Florida.) Here's a whole different spin on rush at a SEC school:

Being from the north, I knew literally NOTHING about sororities and fraternities. I knew zero about the so-called prestige and reputations of this house vs. that, I knew nothing about recs, I didn't even know what the heck rush was!

I had a ton of friends in the dorm, and didn't pay much attention to the Greek system. But in my junior year- a friend of mine decided she wanted to go through rush and asked me to go with her. I wasn't really interested, but I finally gave in and said.. "OK, why not?"

I was totally not interested in joining a sorority, I had no recs, I didn't even dress like the southern girls (being a yankee-- we wear a lot of black, not sundresses!) I was so clueless about the greek system, at one lull in the conversation while I was being rushed, I asked a sister what one of the symbols on their shield meant! I couldn't understand why her face went alabaster!

At the parties, I was myself. I put on no airs, and I tried to impress noone. I was there just keeping my buddy company. But I found the parties a lot of fun, and enjoyed meeting new people.

To my surprise, I was invited back by quite a few houses. Here I was, this yankee from the NY area who wasn't a campus queen, but a tom-boy judo athlete skateboarder. Yet, I was totally accepted for being me.

After round one, to my surprise, I found myself VERY impressed with what I saw. I thought the Greek women were super. The more questions I asked them about Greek life, the more interested I became. I was especially impressed with the ZTA house at UF. And sure enough, I got a bid from ZTA!

So... I guess, sometimes ignorance IS bliss! I was totally unprepared for rush, yet look how it turned out! My experience at UF in Zeta was absolutely amazing. Who would of thunk?

I hope that this will put to rest some of the myths related to SEC sororities and rush. No, you don't have to have recs... you don't even have to have a french manicure (you should see my nails from playing judo!!)

And, playing off what someone else said, "Yes, southern rush is glitzy, be we "northerners" wouldn't have it any way!"

[alphaalpha]

Originally posted by adpiucf
I know that if it were an employment situation and I was hiring a large class of analysts, I'd want the ones who looked best on paper to come in and interview, and then I'd select the ones I got along best with and could see working well together the rest of the team.

We are hiring at my work and my boss told me that when someone is turning in an application we, the current employees, are suppose to "evaluate" the applicants on how we feel about the applicant. I asked my boss on what qualifications are we suppose to judge these people on and he said, just your initial feeling about the person. he then went on to say that a lot of these people applying for the job will have similar qualities and to narrow down the job pool he will start interviewing with the people that we (as current employees) feel good about.

I think that rush is similar. I really don't know about southern rush, but evern over here on the west coast we still have to make quick judgements and i feel that the interview/application is a good example.

Bumping to the top so newcomers can read.

[AOII Angel]

Recruitment at these big SEC schools is definitly driven by the culture of the south. I almost attended LSU since I got a scholarship there but ended up (thank GOD!) following my sister to tiny NLU in north Louisiana where Rush (it was rush when I went through!) was much less cut throat. Recs and pictures were all I thought about for a little while. I had friends from high school that didn't make it to the first round of parties because they had no recs (apparently this has changed.) The problem is that the big groups (don't want to name too many names, but Chi O has always been extremely strong and desired at LSU) are drilled into PNMs heads as the only groups worth joining. So...if you have 1000 girls who all want to be a Chi-O and 300 are Chi-O legacies, it's going to be cut-throat. Luckily, plenty wonderful women figure out that the rest of the chapters are really great as well and have no problem finding a home. Until Mamas stop telling their daughters that they HAVE to be an XYZ, you will not change the way recruitment happens in these competitive areas.