IFC vs Panhell recruitment: Which is better?

As Panhellenic recruitment (aka rush) drew to a close last week, many sophomore girls on campus are breathing sighs of relief. Perhaps this is because they ended up in the house they wanted, or maybe it’s simply because they are just happy to be finished with the process.

On the other hand, guys seem to have more energy than ever as they go about their first weeks as new brothers of their fraternities. They are eager for their first term in their new house to get underway after a very short and transparent rush period.

Are these different post-rush reactions because sororities are less exciting than fraternities? Absolutely not. It has more to do with the fact that the system is designed to make it easier for guys to have their rush desires instantly gratified.

Girls’ rush is conducted in a “traditional rush” format, while boys participate in “shake-outs”. The methods are very different, and while some girls wish they had the simple one or two nights of shake outs like boys’ rush, it is important to consider each process’ benefits as well as disadvantages.

KDE Sorority

For girls, the week of rush started on a Monday and finished with bids the following Monday. The week consisted of two rounds of call-backs, pref night, and then eventually a bid. After each round, the PNM’s (potential new members…the ‘18s) ranked their bottom choices and designated their top ones, then waited to hear if their top choices chose them, too.

This process is designed to let girls see all the houses during rush and make “educated” decisions, which is generally a popular procedure. Girls were not asked to rush only one house at the beginning of the process, giving them a chance to really get a feel for each of the different houses.

SAE Fraternity

Despite being able to see all the houses though, what goes on behind the scenes of the rush process is complex and confusing even to those who have gone through it. At the end of the day, even if a girl has seemingly done everything she can to get her pref, ultimately the final decision can feel like something she has no control over.

Conversely, the Fraternity “shake-out” system is the antithesis of girls’ rush. After several pre-rush events and establishing connections at houses, the rush process boils down to one night on which a bid is either received, or isn’t. If a bid is not received, boys can shake out at a different house on the second night, or even at a later term.

Beta Fraternity

This process does not give the boys the same chance as girls to survey all the houses equally, and asks them to do prior research and networking in order to make a choice up front. That said, shake-outs make the rush process rather quick and painless; it’s all over within two days. No marinating in stress waiting to hear about call-backs, and no fancy computer algorithm sifting through everyone’s house rankings.

The shake-out rush process also allows guys to have a bit more control over where they end up. They have the ability to hone in on a house, make connections, secure a bid, and even potentially rush with a group of their friends (definitely not a luxury that girls have).

This allows guys to begin to bond and have fun immediately following rush (even prior to it). So, even though they may miss out on seeing a spectrum of houses and fail to consider multiple options, in most cases, guys at Dartmouth enjoy the luxury of being able to get into a first or second choice fraternity as long as they go about the process intelligently.

Interestingly, last year EKT became the first sorority to adopt the shake-out process, providing the option of, as they described in a blitz to campus last spring, a “simpler, more relaxed, and non-binding alternative to formal recruitment” for girls.

EKT Sorority

The two rush processes are both elaborate in their own ways, but the discrepancies between them begs the question, why can’t all boys and girls just go through rush the same way?

Perhaps it is because the social scene at Dartmouth is centered around fraternities, so boys have a better idea of what they want going into rush. This is not the same for girls, as most ‘18s have not spent much time in any particular sorority by their sophomore year.  Ironically, their time was mostly spent in the fraternities.

Or, perhaps these discrepancies are due to the fact that many sororities have a certain image that they want to portray, specifically in order to maintain pre-established connections with certain fraternities. As a result, girls are being selected by the sisters to fit into a house, where as boys have more power to select the house that they personally want to fit into. The system is set up where the control and self-selection lies with the boys, not the girls.

Regardless though, it is comforting that at Dartmouth nearly all people who rush will end up in a house, and after bid night and all the initial bonding activities, it is truly hard not to love the house you are in. Traditions are rich within each house, and the students in them are passionate, welcoming and supportive, and these smaller communities within the already close-knit Dartmouth community provide an exciting opportunity for students to find their place here at the Big Green.