ok, i have to speak in the vaguest, vaguest terms, since i go to a school with a very competitive rush.
i have a friend in my class (i'm a sophomore) who rushed last year and was not invited back to pref night. she really, really, really wanted my house. this year she's rushing again. last year she had some problems. she was insecure and needy and put-on. but after pledgeship several friends talked with her about it, in a way that was not "you have problems" but "we are worried about you". this summer, she worked through a lot of the issues in various ways i can't go into here. she has really improved her behaviour and is a lot of fun now, going to parties, meeting lots of freshmen, being active on campus, etc. so i think that there is always room for reconsideration. some people do change, and could become benefits to a chapter.
also, some stereotypes just aren't justified. there have been some big issues on our campus this year. i'm not going to go into them here, but if you read our campus newspapers online, you could probably figure it out, if you're that nosy. there have been situations with certain sorority women telling a freshmen she's "balled" TO HER FACE.
that's completely unclassy and uncalled for. they're judging her on a overblown stereotype. (not that some reputations aren't justified; there are some girls i can't stand in the freshmen class, yet, i am polite to them, if not super-friendly and available. i certainly don't seek them out to say negative things!)
in other news, my school's panhellenic decided to grant two free
sophomores to each chapter this year in rush. there are 8 sophomores rushing, and 5 houses! hopefully, this will mean that upperclass rush will become more appealing on our campus (although we are not supposed to advertise the fact that it is being instituted). there are no juniors or seniors rushing, although i am sure this rule would apply to them too.
