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  #1  
Old 08-11-2002, 01:55 PM
DWAlphaGam DWAlphaGam is offline
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Sophomore Recruitment

Does anyone else's school have sophomore recruitment? Has it improved or has it impaired your chapter's numbers or your greek system's numbers overall? What are your thoughts on the process?

Here's my take on it:
My school has had sophomore recruitment since (I think) 1996. Since then, we have lost at least 4 fraternities and overall Greek numbers have dropped drastically. It's very rare for anyone to go through recruitment with an open mind because they have a year to form opinions of each of the houses. It's less "I want to go Greek" and more "If I can't be an XYZ, I don't want to be anything". This means that the big houses are getting bigger and the small houses are withering away. It is very hard to recruit women because they tend to want to go wherever their freshman friends go, and if any of their friends want to stay independent (or if one of their friends doesn't get a bid), they all stay independent. (This is the same for fraternities, but I'm speaking in terms of sororities because that's what I'm most familiar with.) We frequently run into situations like this: Say there are 4 women who are really tight and they all want to go XYZ during formal recruitment. On Bid Day, 3 of them get into XYZ and one gets into ABC. The one in ABC will most likely decline her bid, even though she cannot get into XYZ anyway. Ok, enough of my rant on how much I dislike sophomore recruitment. What do you guys think?
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  #2  
Old 08-11-2002, 02:24 PM
carnation carnation is offline
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Boo on sophomore rush. When I rushed the first time, I was at the University of Arkansas and you had to be at least a sophomore. This was probably because actives had to live in the houses and they couldn't accommodate freshmen. Sooo..even though the sororities weren't supposed to rush freshmen, they did so on the sly. The summer before rush, sorority women were allowed to have rush dates with the rising sophomores. That was crummy because if you lived out of state, you got left out.

Also, if you tried to rush again the next year, nobody wanted juniors. It was do-or-die that one rush. I'm glad they don't do it anymore!
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  #3  
Old 08-11-2002, 02:40 PM
phisigsigchic phisigsigchic is offline
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Well, I was a sophomore when I was a new member. So I think it is important to rush sophomores. Its important to rush EVERYONE. Freshman, sophomores, and juniors. If you start only wanting one group, numbers are also going to drop. A lot of sophomores and juniors don't rush I think for the reasons that they believe people aren't going to want them. A lot of times it takes a year of two of college for people to realize they do want to be Greek. I know my freshman year I had tons of friends, my boyfriend, and was always going to parties and such so I thought being independent was great and didn't need to be Greek. But then a lot of my friends moved out of campus, my boyfriend left school, and my best friend went Greek. So second semester sophomore year I realized I needed to be more involved and that I wanted to meet new people. I am glad that Phi Sig didn't turn me away just because I was a sophomore.
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  #4  
Old 08-11-2002, 02:59 PM
AlphaSigLana AlphaSigLana is offline
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I think sophomore rush is a good idea-- at least for my school. Many people go to my school bc they can't afford anywhere else, not bc they want to. So after a semester or a yr they decide to drop out/ transfer thus we lose members this way. If we wait and rush sophomores then we have a better chance of theses girls staying (since we all know the longer you stay in school the harder it is to transfer and keep many of your credits).
i also think this gives Freshmen time to build up their extracurricular activities-- many people come to college w/o any extracurricular activities. bc a) their school didn't off much 2)they were at a 5A school for sports and weren't good enough to be on the team or whatever c) they were shy in high school d)any other reason
College is a great time for them to do stuff they weren't able to.
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  #5  
Old 08-11-2002, 03:11 PM
carnation carnation is offline
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Oh, I believe in rushing everyone--from freshmen to seniors! I just don't believe in barring freshmen because many GLOs will find a way to secretly rush their favorite freshmen anyway.

I like the system several campuses have where you can take several juniors over quota!
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  #6  
Old 08-11-2002, 03:44 PM
DWAlphaGam DWAlphaGam is offline
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Oh, I wasn't talking about whether or not to take sophomores as well as freshman. At my school, you're not allowed to go greek until first semester sophomore year. We are allowed to invite freshmen to COB events to get to know them, but no one is allowed to give people bids until they are sophomores.
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  #7  
Old 08-11-2002, 05:20 PM
nyrdrms nyrdrms is offline
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The key to recruitment with limitations like that is to put your organization's name out on campus throughout the year. Knowing that ladies can't rush until they are sophomores makes it more of a long term rush, so to speak. You don't just have to wow them during their first few weeks at college like you do with the freshman, you have to maintain their interest throughout their freshman year.

By holding events...philanthropic events, co-sponsored events with other organizations to benefit all students, going to class, studying in the library, having "sisterhood" nights to local places like restaurants and bowling alleys....all of these things show those who are interested in going Greek what it is that YOUR organization does. But more importantly, that recruitment isn't the only thing that your organization stresses about. If people see your that your members truly act like sisters to one another and that they are devoted to more than just the social scene, their interest in your organization will hold longer than just their first month or so in college.
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  #8  
Old 08-12-2002, 09:52 AM
shadokat shadokat is offline
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We had sophomore rush when I pledged, and I thought it was a good idea, at the time. But then as an active, I met so many nice freshmen women that I would've loved to have in my chapter, but they had to wait to pledge, and then things get off track and what not. Finally in 1996, we changed from being a sophomore, to having regular deferred recruitment, where the women rush as second semester freshmen. It hasn't really changed things numbers wise, but it gets more girls interested earlier on.
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  #9  
Old 08-12-2002, 10:06 AM
33girl 33girl is offline
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I agree with Lana about transfers and such. I would hate to give a bid to a first semester freshman, have the chapter spend all that time on her and then have her say "I didn't make grades/miss my boyfriend/don't have money/hate the school so I'm not coming back."

I think second semester freshmen might be a better time to do it though - making everybody wait till they are sophs seems a little too long. I didn't go through till I was a sophomore, but I wasn't ready till then. If there is a problem with women only wanting certain houses, either it's a Panhellenic problem, or the sororities have to reach out to more different kinds of women, not just those who want to be in the superbig, superpopular sorority.

I think the "rush first semester or you won't get a bid" ethos is far worse than deferred rush.
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  #10  
Old 08-12-2002, 10:10 AM
PSUSigKap PSUSigKap is offline
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we rush everyone at the same time. though they are in different groups when they come through. anyway, taking too many sophomores can be a problem. this past year there were a large number of sophomores who rushed, compared to the rest. so our pledge class was mostly sophomores. which ordinarily would be ok, but my pledge class the year before was mostly freshman. as a result my sorority has 42 rising juniors. we have 76 members. that presents a problem next year when we all graduate! this year we can afford sophomores, but we need to take like a million freshman!!!!!
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  #11  
Old 08-12-2002, 10:16 AM
EagleChick19 EagleChick19 is offline
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Quote:
Originally posted by 33girl
I agree with Lana about transfers and such. I would hate to give a bid to a first semester freshman, have the chapter spend all that time on her and then have her say "I didn't make grades/miss my boyfriend/don't have money/hate the school so I'm not coming back."

I think second semester freshmen might be a better time to do it though - making everybody wait till they are sophs seems a little too long. I didn't go through till I was a sophomore, but I wasn't ready till then. If there is a problem with women only wanting certain houses, either it's a Panhellenic problem, or the sororities have to reach out to more different kinds of women, not just those who want to be in the superbig, superpopular sorority.

I think the "rush first semester or you won't get a bid" ethos is far worse than deferred rush.
33girl, at Lock Haven, there's a rule that states that first semester freshmen can't get a bid. But, they can go to events to look around at the different organizations. LHU's administration made it so that men/women who want to rush MUST have 12 credits and at least a 2.0. But, as you know, each organization has a different GPA for their NMs.
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  #12  
Old 08-12-2002, 11:22 AM
violets violets is offline
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DWAlphaGam,
This is an interesting question since many schools have at least deferred Rush to Spring semesters and some are prohibiting freshmen from recruitment all together like your school has done. From what I understand schools that do this see drastic drops in recruitment numbers, so you are not alone in this situation.

My suggestion to battle the "I want XYZ and nothing else" problem is to concentrate on Panhellenic events aimed at freshmen who will be pnms the next year. How about a Women's Health Week, where all the chapters plan each day together?
How about a Panhellenic study night where all chapters wear their letters in the library? Concentrate on showing the unity of the Greek system. During Rush I would stress in conversations how you have friends in each of the chapters and how you enjoy working togther at Homecoming and other events.

Good luck with this issue and please let us know what your Panhellenic decides to do.
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  #13  
Old 08-12-2002, 11:23 AM
Kevin Kevin is offline
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Not much has changed actually... Now that most of us spend AT LEAST 5 years in school we can still have 4 years of productivity out of sophomores.

Sometimes it's nice to get more mature people anyhow....
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  #14  
Old 08-12-2002, 11:50 AM
33girl 33girl is offline
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Penna. SSHE schools

Quote:
Originally posted by EagleChick19


33girl, at Lock Haven, there's a rule that states that first semester freshmen can't get a bid. But, they can go to events to look around at the different organizations. LHU's administration made it so that men/women who want to rush MUST have 12 credits and at least a 2.0. But, as you know, each organization has a different GPA for their NMs.
EagleChick -

Clarion also used to have that rule - first semester women could not get a bid - they needed 12 credits and a 2.0. First semester men, however, could pledge right away. (I know. I know. ) A couple years ago they switched it to first semester for everyone.

With all the state system schools going to a common schedule in 2003, maybe the rush schedules/eligibility should be synchronized as well.
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Last edited by 33girl; 08-12-2002 at 11:53 AM.
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  #15  
Old 08-12-2002, 02:13 PM
DWAlphaGam DWAlphaGam is offline
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At my school, I think it's partly a Panhellenic problem and partly that there is a huge anti-greek movement among the administration, faculty, and incoming students. Before sophomore recruitment started, we had recruitment second semester freshman year, which I think is better because you have a semester to settle into college, but it's not enough time to become so set in your ways that you become anti-greek. We have had so many women that we extended bids to that decide not to join because they have friends and activities already and they don't feel the need to add something else to their plates.

I'm hoping that the Panhellenic problem becomes less of a problem with the new Greek advisor. The sororities are all very competitive with each other because of problems we were having with the old advisor and also because everything is so image-based (anyone who goes/went to a small private school can probably back me up on that one). It's hard to find women who genuinely want to join a sorority for the experience and not to become the stereotypical partying "sorority girl,". I'm hoping the new greek advisor will be able to help create better inter-greek relations and in so doing, create better relationships between greeks and the school.

Also, thanks for all the suggestions. Yes, we do have many diverse activities that involve inviting freshman to participate and trying to get greek names out on campus, but by the time sophomore year rolls around, they tend to lose interest or think they have no need for the greek system because they've made it through an entire year without it. Anyway, I should probably stop complaining, but I wanted to see if anyone else had similar experiences with sophomore recruitment.
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