The “Rush” of Joining Greek Life

Photo credit to The Fraternity Advisor

http://thefraternityadvisor.com/

Alpha Phi, Chi Omega, Kappa Alpha Theta, these are sorority and fraternity names. In this post, I am going to explore the process of getting into a fraternity/sorority. Looking at University of Michigan's article on Joining the Panhellenic Association article and The Sorority Life website I will uncover every step of the rushing process. The rushing process can be seen as unfair since not everyone gets into a greek association, so I want to look at the process and find out in the end “How does the culture of Greek Life influence people to decide to join them?”

First students have to look at their universities website to see the Greek Life options. Once they do this, students narrow down a list of associations they are willing to rush and potentially join. Earlier in the school year, some universities provide a Mass Meeting which “provides important details about the rush process. More information is available at the Sorority Forum, which presents the opportunity to meet members of each sorority and ask any questions.” Then, formal recruitment starts.

Formal recruitment is four sets of parties. There are Mixers where students take the time to look at each chapter (sorority of fraternity) form a first impression of our sorority community as a whole. The dress attire is casual meaning clothes you would wear to class. Second Set events will include tours of the sorority house, again this would be casual dress. The third set of parties focus on philanthropy, a fundamental value of sorority life. For the third set of parties, students are required to wear nicer clothing such as casual dresses or skirts. Finally, the preference parties which are formal events at which members express personal feelings about the meaning of their sisterhood. At these parties students wear cocktail attire. Finally, the bids start.

Bid day is “the last day of recruitment" when potential new members receive bids to join chapters and become new members. Each chapter will usually host a Bid Day activity to help the new members get to know each other and the rest of the chapter,” said The Sorority Life. From there students will make a list of chapters they would like to join, if a sorority on the student's list wants them to join then they are in the chapter.

The rushing process creates social events, which new students view as exciting and another activity to get involved on a new campus. Also, lots of students participate so people tend to follow the masses. The selection process seems to be what really draws people to rush greek life, it creates an exclusive club and it’s human nature to want to be with the elite and exclusive.

In my next post I am going to look into how community involvement and greek life work together.