fresman rushing?

emmilaya · #1 03-10-2008, 11:40 PM

so i'm only a high school junior, but with the quickly approaching choices about my future i have been thinking a lot about greek life. i think i would love sorority life. i have been looking around the site, read some of the old threads, and checked out the web pages of the sororities at my first choice college (OU) and i only have a few questions and please dont jump down my throat if they have been asked but i did my best to try and avoid that. so for starters what are your opinions of pledging freshman year, fall or spring semester? i'm not so much worried about timie management, because i juggle a lot now with no problems, but i wanted to find out your opinions about it. second question, i'm confused as to housing. If you wanna live in the house, how do you go about doing that? because dont you have to sign a contract with the college if your going to stay in the dorm, and you wont know if you are going to get accepted into a sorority until after you have signed the contract? the whole thing confuses me lol. could someone clarify?

nittanyalum · #2 03-10-2008, 11:54 PM

The school you attend will dictate whether you rush in the fall or the spring. Typically, you don't move into sorority housing until sophomore year or later.

All that stuff will work itself out, don't get all wrapped up in these kinds of details now. Just enjoy the end of your junior year in high school.

emmilaya · #3 03-11-2008, 12:06 AM

okay

thanks. anyone have n opinion on whether or not to wait to rush till after freshman year or go for it right away?

KenUDiggit · #4 03-11-2008, 01:01 AM

I say rush as a freshman.

FSUZeta · #5 03-11-2008, 07:43 AM

if you go to OU, you will have the most selection your freshman year. some sororities will only pledge freshmen.

SthrnZeta · #6 03-11-2008, 09:03 AM

I'm not sure if OU is competitive in terms of recruitment (I think it is), but I would work on getting your recommendations next year - letters from aluimnae members of the sororities that vouch for your character and recommend you for membership (they don't have to have graduated from that chapter). Some schools aren't too competitive and you may not need them, but I'm sure they couldn't hurt. As for housing, you'll spend a lot of time at the house but it's not like you move in as soon as you pledge, but you may be required to live in the house for so many years (2-3 depending on the org) but again that wouldn't start until your sophomore year.

33girl · #7 03-11-2008, 10:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by emmilaya

okay

thanks. anyone have n opinion on whether or not to wait to rush till after freshman year or go for it right away?

It depends on where you go to college. No one can give you a good answer unless they know that.

KSUViolet06 · #8 03-11-2008, 01:45 PM

If you're going to OU, they have formal recruitment in the fall. I would say it's best to do it freshman year because your chances of receiving a bid at a school like OU decrease when you try to rush as an upperclassman, simply because most sororities prefer freshmen since they will be around for 4 years.

If you were to receive a bid, you wouldn't move in right away since you have signed a dorm contract. In most cases, you would have the opportunity to live in the house starting sophomore year (some sororities require you to live-in for a year at some point).

Also, if you're going to OU, you should start looking for recommendations during senior year. Recommendations are written by sorority alumnae (women who have graduated) for women going through rush. You can check out the Sorority Recruitment forum for info about how to go about getting them. It's best to have a letter of recommendation for every sorority on campus.

violetpretty · #9 03-11-2008, 02:54 PM

I am assuming that by OU, you mean Oklahoma, not Ohio, since you are from Texas. Oklahoma is pretty competitive, and if you wait till spring, or fall of your sophomore year, you won't have as many choices, since many chapters will automatically cut sophomores. The best thing you can do now as a junior in high school is get the best grades you can and make sure you are participating in activities.

A few schools have what is called a "bed rush", meaning every chapter takes the number of members to fill the available beds in the chapter house. You would then move into the house after bid day instead of university housing. However, at the vast majority of schools, you wouldn't live in until sophomore year (or maybe second semester freshman year if there were space available...girls go abroad, some graduate in December, etc).

LHTforever08 · #10 03-11-2008, 05:38 PM

At my school, formal rush is in the spring and freshman can't rush until then. I liked it because it gave me a chance to learn more about all the sororities on campus before beginning recruitment. However, if it was in the fall, i would've rushed in the fall as well. If you end up not wanting to go greek, its not as though you can't drop out of rush.

Zillini · #11 03-14-2008, 01:32 PM

Most sororities with houses will not allow freshmen to move into the house right away even if the freshmen wanted to. The simple reason is that the house should already be full. We have housing contract sign up in early January for the following fall.