What is "dirty rushing"?

[HeidiHo]

I've heard a lot about different groups "dirty rushing". What does that mean? The one thing I know about is being promised a bid. Why would a group do that with no intention of offering that person a bid in the first place? Is it just mind games? What are some other ways to "rush dirty"? Just wondering.
Thanks
Heidi

[33girl]

Ahh, dirty rushing.... One of my best buds lost out on being in a sorority cause of dirty rushing, so the whole subject really @#$%s me off.

Promising someone a bid is the most common type of dirty rushing. Other things are:
-spreading rumours about other sororities
-cornering a rushee and pressuring her to join
-socializing with rushees outside of rush (if you didn't know them previous to rush)
-buying things for rushees

Why would a group do this? The only reason I can think of is to try to cut their losses. They may not be sure if they want her, but they don't want her to go elsewhere in case they need her to fill quota/total. 75% of the time they don't need her and she gets dumped on her head.

Also, I think sometimes newer members may not be totally informed and dirty rush without knowing it. In my friend's case, she was promised a bid by our RA (!) who had only been a sister for a semester. She might have really thought she could get my friend in, I don't know. But obviously, ignorance is NO excuse.

[HeidiHo]

Wowza! I guess I'm lucky, because:
a)I wouldn't have known something bad was going on if it had &
b) none of that happened to me
I'm sorry for your friend. It's too bad that goes on
Thanks
Heidi

[twinstars]

at my college we are forbidden to say anything to/in front of freshman girls bashing any of the sororities. i've actually had a couple of (pretty bold) rushees ask me to list the various reputations of the sororities on campus... we just basically aren't allowed to say much of anything. of course, the girls just hear it from the guys anyway.

it's kind of hard to explain what defines your sorority without comparing it to other groups, though... i mean, i'm sure each of the houses thinks its girls are genuine, fun, etc.

[Corbin Dallas]

There are eight social fraternities here at Rose-Hulman. We encourage you to rush all of them. That's the only thing we can say in regards to any fraternities here during the long-ass 7 week rush. Sure dirty rushing goes on, in all houses I'm sure, but it's not that bad. For the most part, people don't get too uptight about it. The thing that sucks though is that if a guy is dirty rushed, and he wanted to get that house in trouble, he wouldn't be allowed to join a fraternity for a year. That's almost like blaming a rape victim for the crime, on a much smaller scale of course.

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Steve Corbin
Lambda Chi Alpha
Theta Kappa Chapter
Rose-Hulman Inst. of Tech.

[HeidiHo]

Does having a lot of girls pick your sorority 1st on their prefs actually DO anything for the group, or is it just an ego boost for girls already in the house?
Thanks for the answers!
Heidi

[twinstars]

i don't think we actually find out whether the rushees listed our house first or second... we just turn in our bid lists, and then 'grown ups' do the bid matching and give us a list of our pledge class. we do know, however, where a particular girl was on our bid list, so we know if we got our top choices or if we were scraping from the bottom of the barrel. i guess it hurts if most of the top of our list ends up somewhere else, because it means that they put another house first.

[AXO Alum]

My biggest pet peeve:
"You know we're going to give you a bid"

UUURRRGGGHHHHH - I have heard so many rushees sit in parties and say that they aren't really interested in our group (or any other) since they know ABC is going to give them a bid. It really ticks me off because the girl gets dropped by us first thing - I mean come on --- with that attitude who needs her?! But also because she has closed the door on her options - she doesn't know if she'll be a better fit with another group because she's been led to believe that ABC is going to give her a bid. It is done to cut their losses - this way at least they'll have a couple of pages filled with names for bid matching!

One of our new girls said that we were dogged by other groups on campus (except Tri-Sig) during rush. They can't handle us getting quota 3 years straight. Guess they need to get over it too because we are still going strong!

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"Alpha Chi Omega - If you only had 2 wishes, what would your second one be?"

[PenguinTrax]

The way the bid lists work is as follows:

1. Quota is determined by taking the number of returning rushees (Preference Party, preferably) and dividing it by the number of houses on campus.

2. A chapter's first bid list will have all the names in alphabetical order. There is no ranking.

3. A chapter's second list (or second and third) will have the members ranked in order of preference based on whatever standard of selection that chapter uses.

4. Advisors and Greek Life office officials conduct the bid matching, either by hand or by computer.

5. The lists are kept on-hand for a few weeks in case of any disputes and most are destroyed, to the best of my knowledge.

I've posted some lenghty messages regarding the ins and outs of bid matching itself. They can be found using the search feature.

Barbara
Rush Forum Moderator

[AXO Alum]

Originally posted by HeidiHo:
Does having a lot of girls pick your sorority 1st on their prefs actually DO anything for the group, or is it just an ego boost for girls already in the house?
Thanks for the answers!
Heidi

No - the point of promising bids is to try and ensure that the most girls will put XYZ as their first choice. No one knows the placement on bid lists - just the advisors. But what happens is that if 100 girls all put XYZ as 1st, then XYZ pretty much knows it can make quota. The problem with this is - Susie Q. puts XYZ as her first choice (and sometimes as the only choice) thinking she has a bid, and then XYZ doesn't pick her because she if further down on their bid list, and they've already got their 50 girls (or whatever is quota - I'm just making these numbers up). Its very confusing to explain - but Barbara always does a good job. Check out her other threads about bid list placement too.

[Texas Alum]

Hi HeidiHo!
Here's the MAIN thing to remember when you are trying to assess whether someone else might be dirty rushing you:

No ONE sister has the right to speak on behalf of the entire sorority. Period! The slightest exception might be made for the president and rush captain - if they indicate that they like you it's usually a VERY good sign - but those are the two people in the chapter who would never be so careless as to commit a rush violation.

One girl can't promise you a bid, because she has no idea how her sisters will vote/decide. One girl can't tell you how everyone feels, because she doesn't know for sure.

Good luck!

[This message has been edited by Texas Alum (edited December 29, 2000).]

[KarenC725]

Dirty rush can make you really not want to be a part of the system. Now, to understand my experience you need a timeline. I was at A school for my freshman year and went through informal rush second semester. The Rho Chi's were a joke, they only showed up when we all had to, they were not available for questions and I saw mine twice, the first and last days. I loved 3 houses but knew that one would only be able to COB me in the fall due to "promised" bids. The next house (2) dirty rushed like there was no tomorrow. I was promised so much, told who wanted me as a little by pref. Needless to say, no bid.

I then took a semseter off before transferring to B school. In the spring I tried informal rush again. I loved 3 houses again (two of the same from A school). Once again, I was promised a bid and the numbers seemed to fit for me. Guess what, no bid. The intersesting thing is that the sorority that did this was the same on both campuses.
So in the fall, I went through formal rush as a sophmore with my roommate. We were dirty rushed from the beginning. They wanted us so bad that we almost had to avoid them on campus. I still liked two other houses but was told some weird things about them by XYZ. We both got pretty scared and I ended up doing something stupid: I suicided pref night. Yep, I was dumb. So, I became a member of XYZ because I was scared. Don't get me wrong, I love my house but if they hadn't pursued me in the way they did, who knows. I may have gone the two other pref parties.

[TriSigmaChic]

Hey AXOAlum -- I'm glad to hear my girls weren't dogging your sorority during rush and I'm sorry it happens at all. But congrats on being such a strong chapter!

[ilovemyglo]

You all will love this... my campus is ridiculous. I know of many incidents of dirty rushing. Rho Chi's will "accidentally tell you what sorority they are in. THe girls in other chapters dog each other hard (trust me, I remember rush and what they said about each other). One group actually snuck in on another's bid session and got caught, but since we dont have a rule against it they didn't get in trouble. One group I remember even invited me to their house after rush was done for the night (I wasn't the only girl). Some groups have their rho chi's call them from a cell or on a cell and tell them what the girls think, which girls are really cool and should be rushed hardest, etc (my best friend since high school was a rho chi and busted one of them doing this so she was immediately dismissed and a HUGE fine incurred). These are just a few things!! Well thought you might want to know what can really happen!

[Tom Earp]

There is only one True way to found out about the Group you want to be with for the rest of your lives. Rush them all and find out who you feel most comfortable with, and the same ideals.
While they may be number # 1 on campus, they may be one of the better known Greek Org. You must go with what you indivdually feel the best with, you have to live with them, play with them and be with them.

While I know it is not easy, your first choice may not be the right one! We are all different but we are all the same!

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Tom Earp LX Z#1
Pittsburg State U. (Kansas)