Fraternity Rush - Texas school style

[srmom]

Ok, I can write about my son's rush now!

My question - Do ya'll want the "Reader's Digest Condensed Version" or the full story with details?

It has pretty much been going on since last fall

[SWTXBelle]

Details!

[srmom]

Ok, I'm going to be leaving my office and won't be back til Monday but I'll start.

I’ll try to write it as I remember it -

My son really hadn't heard much about fraternities even though both my husband and I were Greek at our respective schools. We never stated a preference as to whether we wanted our sons to pledge and really haven't talked much about it, so he was pretty clueless.

Last fall, before his senior year, he starting hearing about fraternity life at the college that he is attending. The guys that were talking to him were old football buddies or family friends who are now actives in their college fraternities, and they wanted to him to come hang out. He thought it would be fun and I bit the bullet and let him go.

His first trip was in the fall. He stayed at one of the fraternity houses with a guy who showed him around the business school and the campus. It was pretty low key, he met a bunch of the brothers and thought they were cool, there wasn't any crazy partying or anything. The guys talked to him a bit about the fraternity, but he didn't feel like he was being rushed.

The next events were Winter Formals. He had been invited to a couple, one explicitly and one more implied. The first was at the house that he had stayed in the fall. This house has MANY kids from his high school so it is like old home week when he goes there. A bunch of kids from his school, both guys and girls, were going to the party, which was semi-formal - jacket and tie, no tux. My son was planning on staying with the rush captain, along with some other guys that he is good friends with.

The other party was black tie. He didn't really think he would go to that one for a number of reasons: he had been asked to come by some guys, but he kind of felt uncomfortable about it; he knew only a handful of members; and no one else from his high school was going. At the time, I think the herd mentality was still in force.

So, off he went to the college town, with his suit, but no tuxedo. Things didn't turn out as he had planned....

[ClassicBeauty]

Hmm...I can think of a couple of schools where this could be at. Can't wait to read the rest! But I'm confused, is this retro or current?

[Srmom1]

Dang, I just typed all this and have to retype it!!

This is a current thread in that my son will be a freshman this fall. But, rush has been going on for a while. I didn't want to post his story until we were past the scary period. I didn't want to jinx anything

Let me give a little background - at this school there are 21 fraternities registered with IFC and one unregistered one. Rush starts during a guy's senior year. I had been told by moms whose kids go there that my son would be rushing during the spring and summer and that he would have a bid before school starts in the fall. My concern when I heard this was that it is kind of like a "Catch 22," how do you get invited to things when they don't know you, how do they know you if you don't get invited?

Somehow it happens. In my son's case, he knew people there, but they were primarily in 2 fraternities. He didn't really know any other guys, but somehow he ended up getting invited to quite a few fraternity events (not from all 22 groups, but enough that he could really see differences). I think guys in the fraternities must ask around to see who will be coming the next year and who they might want to rush. Also, my son met people at parties and then got on their fraternity's rush list.

However it happens, my son has had a ball and has met a ton of people!

[ufpiphi]

I've always wondered how all the "pre-rush" fraternity events are conducted and how many bid decisions are made before IFC rush officially begins.
Thanks for sharing your son's story with us, looking forward to hearing more!

[KSUViolet06]

I've always thought it was interesting that southern schools have summer rush for freshmen. This should be interesting to see how it actally works.

[minDyG]

Even though I went to a school with a TON of fraternities and was friends with a handful of fraternity men, I literally have never asked about how recruitment works for fraternities and the only insight I have into it is what I have grazed over on GC. Aside from SECDomination's recruitment story, this is the first fraternity recruitment story I have read (the first current one--and so far your sons's story is way different from his) so I'm definitely intrigued! I hope your son gets a bid from a great house.

[ZetaPhi708]

Have you assigned the codes yet, ma'm?

Needless to say, GO LAMBDA CHI!!!

[LaneSig]

http://greekchat.com/gcforums/showthread.php?t=88087

Here is a link to a thread discussing summer rush for fraternities. Some chapters (like mine) did a very low-key, laid back summer rush. Some chapters (check out the info for the FIJI chapter summer rush) go all out.

[Srmom1]

I can’t really name all of the fraternities that are at the school because he hasn’t rushed them all. But, I will assign names as his story progresses. I’m going to use characters from Animal House (one of my favorite movies and in keeping with the theme).

My son and his friends drove up to college town and went straight to the Hoover house, where the formal was going to be held. The party didn’t really get started until late (I think around 11 or so) when the actives and their dates started arriving. The party was full, not only with Hoovers and their dates, but also with high school seniors, both guys and girls (an especially large group of girls from his high school). He said the party was fun but kind of disappointing, due to the fact that, because so many of his friends were there, he was hanging with the same people that he hangs out with at home. He wanted to be doing something different!

At some point in the night, he decided to call one of his friends at Boon, the other fraternity. The guy told him to come to their party, and offered to pick him up at the Hoover house. When my son walked in to the Boon formal, he said that people looked at him like he was an alien (remember - this formal was black tie!), and it was obvious that they didn’t have a bunch of high school seniors in attendance. But, he was in good hands with the guys he knew, they introduced him to many of the actives as they showed him around the house (which was neat, because each of the rooms was decorated in a different theme). The only hitch in the evening was when he was confronted by a few Boons who were wondering who the guy in the coat and tie was! When they found out that he was a senior (aka rushee), it was all good. He ended up having a great time at the Boon formal and stayed until the wee hours, eventually sleeping on a couch at his friend’s apartment.

This was his first real exposure to the social aspects of fraternity life and it confirmed his wish to pledge in the fall.

[LOVEinZTA]

Oh please, PLEASE tell me there's going to be a Bluto.

[sigtau305]

this should be good.

[Srmom1]

Now it is spring semester of my son’s senior year. He has been accepted to the U and is 100% planning on going there.

He periodically gets calls from the rush captain of Hoover inviting him to events that they are having, but due to playing a spring sport, he can’t attend. He started getting emails from a member of Pinto asking him to come to stuff. He had no idea how Pinto got his name, he didn’t know the guy, or anyone else in Pinto, but he said he would try to make an event when he could get to college town. He also ran into the friend he stayed with from Boon and was told that he had a spot on the couch anytime he wanted to come back. So, my son started looking on the calendar for free weekends that he could go visit.

Hoover was planning a big party, an event that they hold annually, and is a big rush event for them, and luckily, my son had no games that weekend, so could attend. Once again, he and a bunch of his friends headed to college town. They were all sleeping on the floor (or a couch if they were lucky) in the rush captain’s place. The party was huge! Tons of people go to this, including kids from other colleges, so my son was able to visit with people who had graduated and gone off to other schools. Unfortunately, because the party was so huge, he really didn’t talk to too many members of Hoover, he was still hanging out with people from home. But, he said that the party was awesome and he had a blast!

A few weekends later, the big, fraternity wide rush weekend was to be held. This is an event that has been going on since before I was in high school (in the dark ages), and I remember going to college town for it. I think it was probably crazier back in the old days, the college has tried to clamp down a bit on the wildness, but all of the fraternities still hold parties – some are open to everyone, some need an invite or your name on the rush list. My son planned to go come heck or high water!

[srmom]

Maybe I'm getting too detaily - I'll speed it up.

The rush weekend was a lot of fun. He went to a number of parties, some he really liked, others – not so much. Although he knew many people at Hoover, he didn’t like the atmosphere at their parties, too crowded, hot and highschooly. And, he had a run in with a drunk active that kind of soured him on them. He much preferred the guys at Boon, and he really liked their parties better. They were by invitation, so the guys were either Boons or rushees, and there were lots of pretty girls in attendance. Also, the Boons really made a point of introducing him around and making him feel welcome.

I don’t really need to go into the other parties he went to because at this point, even though I told him that he needed to keep his options open, he was pretty set on Boon. Yikes!

From a mom’s perspective, this is really scary because as we all know, just because you want them doesn’t mean they want you!

Summer Rush was around the corner and we didn’t know what to expect. It turned out to be pretty awesome!