Ohio State Recruitment
 

Can anyone give me any insight on how competitive rush is at OSU? And on how much of a presence greek life has on campus? Thanks!:)

Don't go to a Yankee school!

yay OSU! I actually go to Akron, about two hours north and a little east but my boyfriend goes to OSU and is in a fraternity there. I know they have quite a few sororities and I think house total is around 100 but other than that I'm not really sure. They have deferred recruitment so it starts during their winter quarter. I'm not sure how competitive it is. I'm just really excited to see an OSU/ohio related thread! :)

Ohio State, from what I've heard, only allows chapters to take as many members as they need to get to 100, instead of a traditional quota system. This could make for a competitive recruitment if there are more than the usual number of women going through. We have several Buckeyes on GC. I'm sure Benzgirl can add to this.

OSU is not competitive -- Sophomores regularly get bids and Juniors can get bids to most housrs. While recs are nice, they are by no means required. Recruitment is deferred to winter quarter, but most chapters do spring COB. Fall recruitment is limited to upperclassmen, except for the Meet The Greeks and House Tours. The others are correct...chapter total is 100, quota for formal recruitment is 25.

Ohio State is a great school, but don't expect to have a huge Greek presence. Even though there are a bazillion Greek Chapters, with over 50,000 students the presence is less than 5%. There is so much to do in Columbus that you don't need Greek Life to have a fulfilling social and philanthropic life.

My niece is a Junior, and is involved in so many clubs and honoraries. She was never interested in going Greek because it wasn't her thing.

On this board, there are at least one Tri Delt, AGD and AOPi, but they don't post that often. I attended in the early 80s and am remotely connected.

I went to Ohio State and belonged to a sorority. I am happy to share my experience with you and go deeper into the rush process and sorority specifics if you'd like. I graduated a few years ago, but I believe many things are the same. Just send a pm if you want to chat.

Good Luck!

Benzgirl hit the nail on the head with her information. Good luck and have fun!

thanks so much everyone!!

does anyone know the reasoning behind holding the chapters to 100 members only?

Actually, 25/100 is not really true. It just hasn't changed for a long time, so that is what everyone says it is.

Several schools in Ohio have a "campus total" and it was always based on historical data of panhellenic recruitment results, as well as what has been going on in the Greek Community over the past 3 - 5 years. It was originally designed as a way of ensuring no one chapter/ or group of chapters was dominant.

When I was at The OSU, Campus Total was 105 with nearly all but 2 or 3 chapters out of 18 reaching quota and campus total. I can't remember what quota was, but my pledge class was 36. Now, Panhellenic is not having such good luck; less than half of the 14 chapter are reaching the quota and limits.

Clarification on quota. It is, "A pre-determined quota of 25 or the number of vacancies to fill to campus total (whichever is lower shall be allowed during Formal Recruitment)." Quota and Total can be amended by a 3/4 vote by the Panhellenic Association.

There are a lot of things about this system that appeal to me.

Since they are having trouble with the current goals, why do you think they aren't lowering total? Do you think lowering total would encourage more groups to reach total or would fewer girls pledge?

In order for many of the houses to be financially sound, they need to fill the house. For example, when I was in school total was 105 and 56 had to live in the house. Once you backed out the pledges, girls studying abroad or on coops, and in-town girls, if your lowered quota a chapter couldn't fill the house and could go under.

Also, so many girls suicided in the past few years and went bidless. I can't remember how many this happened to last year, but it was unbelievably high. One of the "strongest" chapters (ABC) only took around 14 (gasp!) new members, but then snapped enough for total.

I'm not really involved in the campus panhellenic to know why the suiciding occured. Forever, there were two chapters (ABC and XYZ) that always fought over the same girls (waaay back to when I was in school). From what I was told, last year many of the girls that attended both parties did suicide XYZ, and also preffed ABC. And a only a rumor too, XYZ dirty rushed.

I know of at least one long time chapter that was very strong when I was in school has been struggling for a while because of a Probation. One active in a fraternity told me it was for a "kegger" (I'm sure at least some of it was true because why would he lie to me?)

I always forget about the expenses for houses. How do fraternities do it? They often seem to stay solvent with lower numbers. Maybe their standards for housing are just that much lower.

We have a winner!
ETA: Many of the Fraternities at OSU do not hold very many resisdents, so they don't need to pledge as many.