Summer Rush Begins!!! - Page 3

justamom · #31 06-02-2003, 01:18 PM

Gee, this sounds so great! I love how you are "reasoning" things out for people like me. For instance, your comment about the guys living in the dorm as a recruitment aid and looking at someone as a pull for others. It has to be a part of your success, the way you are being very logical and turning what some could perceive as a weakness into a strength! Good going!

edited 'cause I don't know which was worse, my keyboard, typing or spelling!

Betarulz! · #32 06-03-2003, 10:41 AM

Got word today that one of the guys we were really hoping to get will sign with us on the 14th at Parent's Day.

Obviously we're happy b/c this kid is a stud, but it's also great b/c the guy's older sister is engaged to a guy in Farmhouse and we still got him. I haven't met this kid but I've heard a ton of great things about him.

AZpinkkittie · #33 06-03-2003, 11:16 AM

Congrats!! Hope he's all you hope for!

Betarulz! · #34 06-05-2003, 01:41 PM

Big weekend coming up for us.

Tonight as always is a barbeque. Seven guys are probables for showing up and if they do they are all likely to get bid cards tonight, unless a bunch of people have a qualms with them.

Most of these guys are ones that the rush chairs have all met with, either by taking them out to dinner, or meeting with them at their homes, or taking them out bowling/golfing/something, but they have yet to meet a lot of guys from the house, so it's kind of their final "test".

3 of the guys are from Omaha (3 different HS), one from Lincoln (He's come to one barbeque already. He's from a different HS than the other Lincoln guy we've signed), and the other 3 are from various towns in NE (Beatrice, Plattsmouth, Grand Island). I'm still looking for some out of state guys to get signed (since I'm a native Kansas who made the right choice to head north.)

This weekend we have a lake event in central NE, near Broken Bow, and this will be important to get those guys from places like Kearney, Grand Island, Lexington, and Hastings out to be seen, as well as other places that guys might think the drive to Lincoln is too far.

Also next week is the start of New Student Enrollment, where the incoming freshmen get their tour of campus, sit through very corny skits, and enroll for classes for the fall. After all the events of the day end, all the fraternity houses are open for tours, and this is a chance for a lot of guys who haven't turned in their rush app to get a look at the greek system. This is when I started my rush process two summers ago. It'll be interesting to see the new apps that come in.

Anyways big weekend that could see our pledge class really grow.

Betarulz! · #35 06-10-2003, 12:48 AM

Okay, not much news to report after this weekend yet. Our chapter has an internal message board which is the main way that I get my info when I'm not in Lincoln. Unfortunately, this board went down over the weekend and just within the past couple of hours got reset, no posts from the rush chairs yet.

The biggest news for our chapter is that our housemother of four years resigned last Wednesday. She was formerly the housemother at the Oklahoma State Chapter of Beta Theta Pi, until they were closed for various reasons. With their re-colonization in the last two years, (they'll probably become a full chapter this summer at Convention), they are moving back in to their house and she is returning to her post there. This news has been met with mixed emotions. We don't think this will have an effect on rush at all, however one little brother going through rush actually said that she was a selling point for us in comparison to Farmhouse. Most of us feel that the change is going to be insignificant and if someone is to base their decision on that, then we don't really want them anyway b/c apparently we haven't made that great of impression on them.

Anyways, this weekend is going to be big with our Parent's Day rush event. I think we are one of the few houses that has a rush event specifically designed to get guys to bring their parents. I think it really is a good idea and can make the difference for someone whose parent's aren't sure about the whole fraternity thing. As always BBQ on Thursday, and this week is also the beginning of New Student Enrollment.

Betarulz! · #36 06-11-2003, 10:24 AM

Okay, update from last weekend, finally.

Apparently the weather wasn't so great up in NE (it was awesome here in KS), and a lot of houses cancelled their events, but ours was held. 3 guys came out, which was considered a success b/c of the weather. 2 of the guys have bid cards already. One of the guys has had a bid card for a while but is being rushed hard by a lot of houses and I guess is trying to make sure he makes the right decision.

The third guy is a friend of some guys in the house and might be turning into a rush crush, and might do the male version of suiciding. He's probably going to get his bid card soon though, lucky for him. I've become more and more leary of rush crushes lately, particularly when they have friends already in the house. With all the time available to check out other houses I kinda want them to make sure that we are what they want, and not just join b/c one of their friends is already in the house. I'm not saying that it's not great to have brothers pull in their friends, just bad when those guys end up saying "Beta or Bust".

psuAGR · #37 06-11-2003, 06:40 PM

Betarulz the info that you are giving on rushing is so helpful! It sounds like you guys have got it perfect, you must be pretty successful at it. Its really interesting to read about you summer rushing, because we aren't able to do it at PSU. Keep the updates coming!

mmcat · #38 06-11-2003, 07:05 PM

super rush thread...
you guys work hard and deserve the success. it shows what you can do with good organization.

LeslieAGD · #39 06-11-2003, 07:44 PM

Best of Luck to the Summer PNMs and to the hardworking GLOs!

Betarulz! · #40 06-12-2003, 03:43 PM

First off, I'm surprised by all the praise for our summer rush. Thank you. I realize that for most of you guys out there it isn't what youre used to, and something that some houses try, but you have to remember that this is just how we do it here. I guess what I'm saying is I don't find it too amazing b/c it is all that I know and it's the way in which probably 99.2% of fraternity men at Nebraska joined their organization. I personally find fraternity formal rush during the school year hard to understand and think that you guys must do a great job to find "your" types of guys in a much shorter period and all. Plus the time commitments that must take during the beginning of your school year, when everything else is starting up...football, new parties, new classes, etc.

Anyways, we right now have about 10 bid cards out, 5 guys who will be getting bids sometime in the next week, and 1 kid that may get a bid card but is somewhat of a sketchy situation. This situation has been a topic of major discussion on our chapter message board over the past two weeks, mainly because the kid didnt' have too hot of a rush app, but is a great guy in person. The discussion has focused on risks, and what exactly constitutes a Beta. One of the things that is an expectation of the chapter is that the guys we sign have always been Betas, they just never knew it/been called that by name. In other words we don't take boys and make them Betas, we take untapped Betas and mature them in to full fledged, productive members. So there has been a lot of discussion of just how much emphasis should be placed on HS grades and the rush application versus opinions from meeting with the kid.

Anyways, another Rush BBQ tonight. I head up to Lincoln tommorow afternoon for a big party and then Saturday is Parent's Day...I'll post on Sunday!

justamom · #41 06-12-2003, 04:41 PM

One of the things that is an expectation of the chapter is that the guys we sign have always been Betas, they just never knew it/been called that by name. In other words we don't take boys and make them Betas, we take untapped Betas and mature them in to full fledged, productive members.

I like that! I bet you have great retention!

mmcat · #42 06-12-2003, 10:24 PM

i echo jam...i bet you have a strong staying power. my dad is a beta so i am a little bit fond all aready. congrats...all sounds wonderful.'

AZpinkkittie · #43 06-13-2003, 11:00 AM

I think it's great that you guys see your rushees like that ("untapped Betas"). Maybe this guy that you like so much in person is just sooo untapped that even his rush app is deceiving. Maybe, being that he's such a great guy in person, joining the house is all he needs to realize his own full potential. I believe that who you are is very dependent on your enviornment while growing up. If he didn't have a Beta-esque nurturing enviornment, he wouldn't have been encouraged to "be all that he could be" so to speak. But I'm sure you guys will make the right decision, whatever it is. Just thought I'd add my 2 cents

Betarulz! · #44 06-15-2003, 11:08 PM

Okay, just back from Lincoln this afternoon, and had an awesome weekend!

It was a great for me just to be back with all my bros for some partying and having fun, as well as see some other people that I've missed.

The rush event on Saturday was a huge success, and was extremely well attended. I think that we probably had 15-20 guys come through along with their parents.

The big news was that after this rush event we went from having 1 guy signed to having 4! The kid I mentioned ealier whose older sister (a Gamma Phi) is engaged to a guy in Farmhouse turned in his bid card on Friday. We signed another Lincoln guy (from the same HS as the first) and a guy from Aberdeen SD.

I'm really excited by the kid from SD. I met him at the Sioux Falls rush event (he was the quiet one), and talked to him a bit there. Saturday, I ate lunch with him and his mom. Myself and our former president's mom talked with them and it was fun to see the pledge's mom get excited about the house. She is an Alpha Phi and so you could tell she had her expectations from her own experience, but as the conversation kept going she just started smiling more and more.

In addition to the 2 guys signed, we also got verbal commits from 3 others. I didn't talk to any of those guys but it wasn't really necessary.

We also handed out bid cards to a couple more guys. One guy I really got to see how important having a Parent's day can be.
This rushee is down to deciding between us and one other house, he, his mom and his 9 year-old sister came to our event, and I think that it probably secured him as a member of our house. I was so impressed by our rush chairs as well, because of the way they talked to his mom and his little sister. I think that the rushee and his sister are very close, and our rush chairs could have easily ignored her, but they talked to her almost as much as they talked to the rushee (who we've seen for a while now). It was great seeing them talk to her about school and fourth grade and homework and stuff like that. Really, I'm just proud to be brothers with the guys we picked as rush chairs for being such great, friendly guys. The rushee's mother was also really impressed with how clean our house was and the fact that we invited the parent's over to see it, as well as having our own parents come and help with rush. I really think that if this rushee signs with us it will be because we won over the people that are important to him, by doing so it probably was the thing that made us different.

Other news: The rushee with the not so hot rush app was discussed at length during our Summer Chapter meeting and we've decided to extend him a bid.
We also discussed a lot of other rushees and decided not to give bids out for certain guys for various reasons. Some are unfortunate, some simply because we don't think that we're right for the rushee due to circumstance or situations. One rushee is a victim of being from the same HS as a lot of other stud rushees that are all very interested in us, and unfortunately this kid while he has a solid app is not as good as those other guys. Another guy is a sophomore and would be a live out, which is something that makes everyone leary. It's compounded by the fact that he's in the most intensive program on campus and we don't feel that he'll be around enough, so we're going to reccomend that he look into Pike b/c they don't have a house and he would be better able to meet their expectations. Honestly, we have no qualms in giving reccomendations to other houses when it's certain that it would be a better fit for everyone.

Finally, the best part of the weekend was getting to party with two of our new pledges (the Lincoln guys). Now that they've signed they can come party with us all summer. Had a great time with them last night and had the hangover this morning to prove it!

That's all for now, we're starting to reap what we've sown, and this maybe by the end of this week we'll have 10 signees or more if we're lucky!

psuAGR · #45 06-16-2003, 06:40 AM

Sounds like you guys are doing great! From the way you describe everything I can't see why every guy won't accept his bid! Good Luck