A Fall 2011 Fraternity Rush Story

Hermana · #1 08-20-2011, 02:56 PM

My brother is rushing, so I have decided to write a story sharing his experience!

I'm a pretty regular GC poster, but I have created this account to help keep my brother as anonymous as possible. I'm sure some of you regulars may figure out who I am and I'm okay with that, but I'm hoping that if any actives from his school stumble upon this, they will have a tough time linking this account to my real account. Also, to help keep things anonymous, I am going to delay the story and post a few days after events have happened. Please be aware that rush goes on for a few weeks, so this thread will take some time to finish.

On with the story!

I am naming the code after different guitar brands, as my brother is an excellent guitar player. Here's the code for the chapters that are in the story so far:

Ibanez
Gibson
Hofner
Rickenbacker
Fender
Epiphone
Yamaha
Alvarez - added to the story on 8/21
Gretsch - added to the story on 8/21
Vox – added to the story on 9/1
Martin – added to the story on 9/1
Takamine – added to the story on 9/1

I'm sure there will be more chapters added, but at the time I am writing this, these are the chapters that have a role in the story. If I add anymore, I will edit this post and make a note of any new ones that I have added.

I'm just going to refer to my brother as “Joe”. Joe moved into school earlier this week. He goes to a state school with a large, thriving Greek community. It also just so happens to be my alma mater!

There are no Greek relatives in any of the generations before ours, so Joe does not have any legacy status. However, we have one cousin and LOTS of second cousins who went Greek—although most of them are women. My brother's exposure to Greek life was mainly from stories he has heard from myself, my fiancé (I'm glad there’s a lot of engaged GCers on here…or else this would be too easy!!) and one of our cousins.

More to come!

Hermana · #2 08-21-2011, 12:56 PM

As you can see, I have edited my first post since two more chapters have come in to play! Now mind you, you may not see these chapters pop up for a while, as I am planning on delaying this story and posting a few days after events actually occurred…but you’ll see them eventually!

The summer before college started, Joe said he was interested in joining a fraternity. Being Greek myself, I was super excited to hear this! Before he left, my fiancé and I both suggested a few chapters that he should look into when he got there. My fiancé obviously plugged Rickenbacker but also told him to “go for a ‘top house’ since they have ‘the best parties’”.

The chapters he suggested included Ibanez, Gibson, and Hofner. I would have been annoyed with his comment if it wasn’t for the fact that deep down I knew he wanted my brother to join Rickenbacker (he mentioned to me numerous times “how cool it would be if his pledge son or grandson got to be Joe’s pledge dad!”) So I know where his priorities really are!

Me on the other hand…well I could see Joe liking Fender, Epiphone and of course, Rickenbacker. I had nothing but good experiences with the guys I met in these chapters and I could see him fitting in there.

But, in the end, it’s not like our suggestions mattered. As an outsider looking in, it seems like fraternity rush (especially those first few days where there are just open parties at literally every house on campus) is a free-for-all. Lots of walking around and checking out places at random. Plus I remember being in his shoes—all those Greek letters would get jumbled in his head anyways!

DubaiSis · #3 08-21-2011, 02:34 PM

In honor of Buddy Holly, I'll root for Fender.

Hermana · #4 08-22-2011, 10:15 PM

As rush began, Joe set out to some open rush parties with some high school classmates. On the first night, he checked out Yamaha and Epiphone.

They went to Epiphone first. This is one of the chapters that I thought he would like. He said he had a pretty good time there. He talked with some brothers and said they were cool and he'd probably try to stop by again.

Next was Yamaha. He said it was an okay time, but that he always he got a weird vibe from them and probably wouldn't come back.

Then he tried to visit Rickenbacker, but they were not letting anyone come in because there were already too many people there. This chapter is in the middle of everything, location wise, so for during those first few weeks of rush they get a LOT of traffic. He told me he understood that it was not just their group that got turned away—they saw other groups have the same luck. He said he'd try and visit another night.

And that's it for day one!

At this point in time, I'd just like to say, fraternity rush moves SO SLOW compared to sorority recruitment. Sorry these are lame updates :P

Hermana · #5 08-25-2011, 10:21 PM

I spoke with Joe over the weekend for the first time since he moved down. Man, oh man did he have a lot to say! I could really tell he was loving college so far. He seemed to be meeting lots of people, signed up for a lot of clubs…things just sounded like they were going super well for him and I was so happy to hear it!

I got the low down of his second day rushing during our phone conversation. On day two, he went out with a good friend who lives on Joe’s campus, but goes to a nearby college instead. Over the course of the night, Joe visited Epiphone (again), Rickenbacker (I was excited to hear this!), Gretsch and Alvarez.

Joe said Epiphone is now definitely the front runner (I knew he’d like it!!) He also said that they took his phone number and that he had gotten texts from one of the actives the next day. He planned on coming back to some more events at Epiphone over the next few weeks.

He also visited Gretsch. Now, even though this was my campus too, I know nothing about Gretsch except for the fact that they are small (probably about half the size of the average chapter size) so it was interesting to hear about them. He said he had a really good time there and that they were a close runner up to Epiphone. Gretsch also asked for Joe’s number and gave him a flyer of events for that week.

Rickenbacker was unfortunately a “disappointment”. It was a number of things: the place was overcrowded, he didn’t get a chance to talk to many actives and one of the actives kind of gave him a “you’re bothering me, kid” kind of attitude when he asked if knew my fiancé, even though the active wasn’t in the middle of doing anything. I think he had really high expectations because he knew my fiancé was a member and because of the stories he heard from him, so having just an okay experience was probably a let down. After this experience, Joe was probably not going to check out Rickenbacker again.

Finally, he visited Alvarez. He had a good time there, but didn’t talk to many actives. He’d go back again if the opportunity came up, but he wasn’t making it a priority to go back.

So at this point of time here’s where the chapters stand

Really likes, plans on going back:
Epiphone
Gretsch

Not ruled out, but not a priority:
Alvarez

Likely to be out:
Rickenbacker

Definitely out:
Yamaha

What’s interesting is that he has not visited the “top houses” (Ibanez, Gibson and Hofner) that my fiancé told him to go to “for the parties”. He has also not visited Fender, which is one I suggested.

While he seems to really like with Epiphone and Gretsch, he mentioned that he planned on checking out a few more of the open parties the following weekend (from my understanding, this is the last weekend of open parties...by next weekend, the chapters know who they are looking at and just have a few more invitational events. I *think* this is how it works, but I could be wrong.)

Gusteau · #6 08-25-2011, 11:19 PM

Woo hoo for fraternity recruitment! I wish chapters could hear the feedback and see the way they come off to rush guests sometimes.

Also, I'm looking forward to the reveal because I'm certain I know the poster's identity. I won't give it away of course. I'm curious to see if Delta Chi is in the running (though I don't think it is), or if my friend's chapter in the running (and I think they might be).

Anyway, good luck to your brother, I'm glad he's enjoying his first few weeks!

Hermana · #7 08-27-2011, 03:58 PM

Teensy update:

During the week, Joe was invited to events at Gretsch and Epiphone…on the same night and same time. Dun dun dun. He was learning towards Epiphone and his decision was swayed when they followed up with a call to invite him again on the day of the event. Again, he had a great time with the Epiphones. That night he sent me a text asking when chapters give out bids! (Like I would know??)

wareagle93 · #8 08-27-2011, 07:38 PM

Good luck to your brother. I'm definitely pulling for him!

DubaiSis · #9 08-28-2011, 02:08 AM

So does that mean Gretsch is out of the running? Maybe a couple of the guys can jump in on this one, since most of us gals are completely perplexed at this process!

Gusteau · #10 08-28-2011, 03:09 PM

DubaiSis, Gretsch being in or out right now could be a yes/no/maybe. Joe may choose to go to other events there, or not - it's really up to him. I would guess that Gretsch is out because he seems pretty set on Epiphone, but who knows?

Psi U MC Vito · #11 08-29-2011, 07:21 PM

It's also possible that they like him enough to give him a bid anyway, though we don't know enough to say how likely that is. Remember ladies, fraternity rush you can be given multiple bids.

Hermana · #12 08-29-2011, 11:53 PM

Just wanted to update on where we are in the story...

1) I'm a little too close to real time than I would like to be so updates are going to be a little more spread out from here on out. I mean, they're still pretty delayed...but I'd rather be safe than sorry.
2) Joe is truly enjoying college...so much so that I have not heard from him like I did those first few days

So I'll need to wait to have a longer conversation with him to get a few days worth of updates.

Apologies if you are/were following this closely. Stay tuned!

Hermana · #13 09-01-2011, 07:22 AM

Note: new chapters added, see my original post for a revised complete list!

Weekend came and Joe was glad to have made it through the first week of class. His first week of classes went well and he said he now understands how big of a different college classes are from high school classes. He did say, however, that by the end of the week, he felt as though he was starting to get the hang of things.

That weekend, Joe visited Gretsch, Yamaha and two new chapters, Vox and Martin. He also visited an office campus house where a bunch of seniors from yet another chapter, Takamine, lived.

Gretsch was a good time once again…He didn’t elaborate beyond that.

I was surprised hear that he went back to Yamaha. Apparently his friends wanted to check out this chapter again. Joe didn’t mind since there was a live band, which was right up his alley. He said this visit was a better experience…but he still wasn’t interested.

Joe decided to visit Vox because he had received a letter from the chapter on behalf of a current brother who was an alum from his high school. Not sure how common this is (I’m sure it’s very common but being in NPC land, I wouldn’t know), but I think this is a very good strategy! I’m excited that he checked it out because I wanted to hear about the house (the actual building). During my last few years at school, there were actually several chapters on campus that were going through MAJOR renovations. This was one of them. I saw the complete building when I came back for homecoming, and it looked great! He said the house was VERY nice inside and he did have a good time with the Vox brothers. He said he’d like to come back again.

Martin wasn’t a great experience. Nothing went wrong, but it just wasn’t as good of an experience as the other chapters.

Joe had a good time with the Takamines although they were not at the Takamine house. Before he left, one of the actives invited him to the Takamine house later on in the week for another rush event. Joe was excited to see the house (and I was excited to hear about the house, as this was another one that had recently had major renovations!)

After tonight Epiphone and Gretsch were still the front runners. However, Vox left a great impression and Joe was interested in learning more. And who knows how he would feel after meeting the Takamines later that week?

Also, I'm hoping that more chapters don't get added just as much as you are. I'm running out of guitars brands that I have heard of!!!

AlphaFrog · #14 09-01-2011, 09:26 AM

Buena suerta a tu hermano!

On another note (ha!), one of the kids at church always has their Indiana guitar laying around. I Googled them, and they seem to be pretty solid. Amazing graphic design guitars.

Hermana · #15 09-04-2011, 04:12 PM

Gracias AlphaFrog!

I'm hearing from Joe less and less now that school has started so no more play by play...but here's an update on the three favorites. Apparently there's another 1-2 weeks left of rush (depending on the chapter) so things are beginning to wind down.

Gretsch - The events on rush flyer he had are now all over and he hasn't heard much from these guys. He's OK with it--he liked them but definitely wasn't dead set on them. It looks like the end of the road for Gretsch unless they start to contact him again.

Epiphone- Joe's close friend was given a bid. Joe has not yet been offered a bid. He really likes the Epiphones a lot. However, if he doesn't get a bid, I think he'll get over it soon since there's a new favorite...

Takamine- This is the new favorite. He's had a few events with them over the past week and they have now moved into his top spot. We'll see what happens over the next week or so!