Hey everyone,
Sorry for this blog being so delayed. I’ve been incredibly busy this semester, but it’s definitely looking to be even more fun and active for me than last semester (which is saying a lot). To first explain, rushing is when you go to fraternities (or sororities, but I’m going to talk exclusively about guys' rush in this blog post because they are completely different) events to meet them and find out if you’re interested in joining their organization. Simultaneously, you have to demonstrate that you’re awesome, because you are, so that they’ll invite you to pledge at their organization (this is called receiving a bid). Pledging is the process you must go through to become a full-fledged brother.
I decided to rush this semester, which is the first semester I could, because UR doesn't allow you to rush fall of freshman year. I think it’s better for your social life that they don’t allow you to rush until spring semester because it encourages you to branch out and make friends. If you jumped right into rushing when you got to school, then you’d probably end up being socially dependent on your fraternity.
Rush started the week after winter break. The various fraternities put up posters everywhere to try to pull people to their events. For guys' rush, the events are highly informal. The fraternities buy delicious food, such as pizza, subs, wings, steak, Chipotle/burritos, etc., and invite you to meet them in a designated location to eat it, for FREE! Plus, the brothers aren’t even allowed to eat the food; it’s all for you!
I personally believe that everyone should rush even if you don’t believe that Greek life is for you. I met a ton of people in various fraternities, ate a ton of free food, and had so many interesting conversations! Also, if you do believe you want to pledge and you even know where you want to pledge, I still recommend rushing everywhere just to meet people and really explore the options. There is a lot of diversity between the various fraternities on campus and you won’t know if another group might be a better fit unless you give every organization an opportunity. At one point during rush, I went to six events in one night and the next day, I recognized significantly more people in the tunnels!
I ended up deciding to pledge and I’m sure I’ll tell you more about my fraternity experience, assuming I end up becoming a full brother! To find out more about the various Greek organizations we have here, check out the Fraternity and Sorority Affairs page.