What's up with fall rush?

murraygrl1 · #1 04-24-2003, 05:25 PM

Alpha Upsilon at Murray State needs some help... We recently decided to hold fall rush (we've only done spring rush in the past). Our last MC class started out at 18 and we had to cut several people because there was going to be more MC's than active sisters... Because of this we decided that we need to rush more than once a year so we can have smaller rush classes, and also to get more freshman girls to think about us before rushing panhellenic sororities. One problem... to join, you have to have a college GPA. We've heard that Tarleton State has a "little sister" program where freshman girls can be associated with the sorority, but they aren't a part of the MC class until spring and can't see any of the MC documents until then. It sounds like a good idea, but is there anything that other chapters do differently. Also, does anyone have any good tips on how to recruit the girls before the panhellenic sororities "get to them." We have, in the past few semesters, heard several ag. majors in social sororities tell us that they would have liked to join us, but they had already comitted to their sororities before they found out about us. WHAT CAN WE DO!!!

In sisterhood,
Amy Leigh

#2 04-24-2003, 05:42 PM

Hi There...

Sorry to intrude on your board, but it sounds as if your sorority faces many of the problems mine does. We are also a "special interest sorority", and we lose a lot of potential new members to the other social sororities on campus because they can rush new freshman, whereas we require our PNMs to have a college GPA.

Unforunately, I don't have much advice for "tricks" for getting around this problem. We also do a Fall and Spring rush, Spring being when we mainly take in freshman (now that they have a college GPA) and fall being for upperclassmen.

One of the things we have done in the past (and actually the way I ended up getting into DO before I knew about the social sororities on campus) is to hold rush early, early, early in the year. Specifically invite freshman girls (as well as the upperclassmen you'd like to bid) and explain to them that while you can't bid on them now, you would like them to come back in Spring. My pledge class was rushed very intensely from the beginning of the school year in fall, and we ended up being one of the biggest pledge classes our group has ever seen. Most of us went to the Fall semester rush, and were told that we could come back in spring, but then after Fall rush the actives called us, went out to lunch with us, etc... really got to know us.

I'm an alumnae now, and my sorority has moved away from doing this, which has just killed us in numbers. In retrospect, I probably would have liked to pledge one of the NPCs on campus, but we had a chapter bylaw that forbid us from being in both DO and an NPC. However, the rushing technique I described above was very effective in keeping me interested in DO while overlooking the NPCs.

Hope this helps...

Ginger

BFulton · #3 04-26-2003, 11:24 AM

Some things I've heard other chapters have used to get the attention of incoming students before they rush other sororities:

-have a booth at the State FFA Convention (also this can work at State 4H events) promoting the sorority, be sure to collect names and e-mail or mailing addresses
-see if there's a way you can get mailing addresses for incoming students in the college of agriculture and mail a letter/brochure to them before school starts (be sure to include ways they can reach you)

Check the recruitment section of the National Chapter Guide, I think there might be some other ideas you could use listed there! Good luck!

Dragon6483 · #4 04-28-2003, 02:46 AM

Our fall rush is always much more successful than our spring. In fact, we're lucky if we get two in our spring. Also, our fall MC class has a lot of freshmen in it. We have yet to have a GPA problem as I've seen it with anyone, but I think we rely on grades as soon as we get them after fall semester...I'll have to look into all of this.
~Bec

murraygrl1 · #5 04-28-2003, 04:25 PM

Okay, I am confused... Do you have that many freshman with college GPAs??? In our chapter, there are only a handful of girls that took classes in high school or community colleges that gave them college credit before coming to Murray State. I was not one of them.

Dragon6483 · #6 04-29-2003, 12:34 AM

No....we just....have freshman MCs....are we doing something wrong? I'm terribly curious now. I know I was an MC as a freshman my fall semester and I only brought 3 transfer credit hours with me...and I wasn't asked about them. I think we kind of do an informal type of GPA check, as in, at the end of the semester you come in (fall for example) you need to have the req. GPA to not go on probation...but I don't know of any MC we've had that's had a major GPA problem that would require action.
~Becca

murraygrl1 · #7 04-29-2003, 01:48 AM

OHHHHH ok, well I thought... well, who knows what I thought, I didn't know that there were a lot of freshman coming into college with college GPAs... It's good to know that there are, so maybe we can rush them...

Sorry, I must have misunderstood something... Brain is mush from impending finals!!!!!

Amy Leigh

AlphaAlum · #8 04-29-2003, 09:12 AM

Ok, I am VERY confused now...can someone from national clear this up. As far back as I have heard of the Alpha chapter has had fall rush. I was initiated in late November and I did not have a GPA.

What is the rule on this? The way I understand it is if you don't meet the min. GPA you can't go through but you can if you have no GPA...

Beth, Rhonda please advise

RRRastani · #9 04-29-2003, 12:46 PM

It's best if freshman have an official GPA before being activated. Some chapters get around this by getting mid-term grades on freshmen prior to activation. However, it's best to wait for the official grades to be received.

I would not turn away interested freshmen though. By all means, allow them to go through the MC education process, but stress that their grades are important as they must meet the minimum GPA requirement. Then, either get mid-term grades from their professors or wait until late January or early Feburary to activate them.

I hope that clarifies the situation.
Sisters,
Robin

murraygrl1 · #10 05-02-2003, 02:27 PM

Sorry if I made something unclear!!!! I have been running around like a chicken with my head cut off... Finals next week, me and my roomie are desperately seeking a house before school lets out, so that I have somewhere to live for summer school... I'm about ready to get a cardboard box and a pack of raman noodles and camp in the quad at murray state.... Love this college life, huh

RushAlphaIota · #11 06-25-2003, 02:51 PM

I am the Rush Chair for the Alpha Iota Chapter at Chico State in California. We particpate in Fall Rush although we dont do our fall rush at the same time that the Pan-Hel does their rush. The way that we check the GPA's of our freshman MC's is we use their high school transcript grades which are made available to use by the girls. Fall rush is a really good idea and it is usually when we get our biggest rush classes. If you have any questions about having a fall rush you can email me at rushchicoea@hotmail.com!
-Jessica Harris