Tips for Formal Recruitment

JoeW — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 04:08:00 GMT

I am writing this because I wish someone had given me a little advice before I went through recruitment.

Take things with a grain of salt- Keep in mind that everyone loves their own house and you should not get caught up in how much they like their house, it is how much you like it. Also, please, please, please be wary of some of the theatrics of Rush week. Keep asking yourself if people are being real with you. If you think people or a certain house are not representing themselves truthfully- do your best to sift through the façade. Don’t allow them to shuffle you around.

Ask good questions- When I was rushing I had new (and difficult) questions prepared each day. You need to do this before you leave, if you don’t think of them beforehand they won’t come to you. As someone on the other side of Rush, I can verify that we love questions. It shows you are really thinking about your decision, and you care. You should also not be afraid to ask difficult or touchy questions. Remember, this is a huge decision and if you don’t ask questions like “Do people in your house do drugs, Do you haze, is there binge drinking” they won’t volunteer the answers. There is no reason to ask difficult questions just to try and stump people. Ask questions that you think will yield good answers or reveal things about the house and please, listen to the answers. (something I forgot to do)

Be Yourself- If you act/dress/talk differently than normal and a house gives you a bid-they gave a bid to the person you were pretending to be. Once rush is over and you stop the act- both you and the house will be disappointed. During rush Greeks are looking for the people who are being fake, if you aren’t genuine you will not get a bid. If a house isn’t crazy about you- that’s fine, you would not be happy there anyway. Remember, you can only get into one house after all.

Think it over- It is tempting to go with the house most of your friends like, the house your family members are in, the house with the prettiest colors, etc. but all of these reasons are not enough. Make sure the houses you are visiting are for you. And again, make sure the house you join is one you will be happy in for a long time, not just rush week. While I do not often hear “I like my house, but I should have gone (insert house)”, it is said more than it should be. We schedule recruitment before classes so that you have all the time you need to make a good, focused decision- use your time.

Keep in mind what you want- Each house has lots of positives, but they are not all for you. If a house offers lots of help with your studies but you don’t need help, don’t view that quality as a plus. If a house helps you get involved but you are already involved, you don’t need their help. Lots of rushees find themselves excited about things they don’t even need.

All of that being said my last tip is to have fun. Rush week is fun. It is. But only if you make it. Going into recruitment may seem daunting, but thousands of less friendly, dumber, more boring, angrier, and lamer people have gone before you. Everything will be ok! I promise.

Good Luck!

I Never Thought I'd Go Greek

JoeW — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 02:52:00 GMT

Many people cannot wrap their heads around why anyone would want to join a fraternity. I can’t say I could either. I grew-up beside ‘big’ Greek Life- the large university scary Greek Life that ends up on the news. Because of this when I came to Butler, I was not only never going to join a Greek House- I wasn’t even going to go inside of one. But I did, however, fill out the recruitment application on the last day it was due; so if, sometime over Winter Break, I decided I did want to rush, I would be able to come back. I came back.

The reason I showed-up to recruitment was so I could go through it and make absolutely sure Greek Life wasn’t for me. The first day of recruitment I was excited but skeptical. We took a tour of each house on campus and after that were left to our own devices. Each day following, students were allowed to visit Greek Houses during two 2 ½ hour appointments. Butler’s recruitment is dry and students aren’t allowed to go to houses outside of these specified windows. It is very structured, very well run and (to my surprise at least) very relaxed and fun.

I was a skeptic. I wasn’t at all sure about this Greek Life thing. So each day I asked good and important questions. Each night I called people who’s opinions I respected and where generally not for Greek Life. I was being won over, so I wanted to make sure that it was completely legitimate. I thought about it all for a long time. But when it came down to the end of the week- I wanted to be a Phi Psi.

Everything that happened after, mounds together in what happens to be the best decision of my college career. I love Phi Psi and it loves me back. I never thought I would ever be Greek, but that is true to many men in my house. Butler’s Greek Life is different. Many people can agree on that. Butler has just 4,000 undergrad students. Because just a little over a third go Greek it leaves a very manageable community for Butler to watch closely- we couldn’t get away with things that large schools could. Additionally, We do 2^nd semester recruitment only. This means all freshmen have an entire semester to get settled into college before they have to make the ‘big Greek decision’. Also, because Greek students spent an entire semester growing close to students that may not have gone through recruitment- everyone has Greek and Non-Greek friends; we don’t have a huge rift in our campus.

I would recommend recruitment to anyone, even if they decide not to go Greek in the end, you meet more friends in those four days than you could anywhere else. Men interested in signing up for Formal Spring Recruitment (rush week) can do so at

http://www.butler.edu/greeklife/?pg=528

The form for has to be completed by Dec. 12. Interested women should have already signed-up.

Joe's Blog : Rush

Tips for Formal Recruitment

I Never Thought I'd Go Greek