Frats open doors for rush

For many freshmen men, the InterFraternity Council's two-week rush period can be quite enjoyable, replete with lavish spreads of food and excursions to nearly any place one can imagine -- all at the fraternities' expense. But beneath all the extravagance of the rush events lies a difficult choice for prospective pledges. For some, the choice is which of the IFC's 32 fraternities to pledge. For others, whether to pledge at all. Since pledges usually remain in their chosen fraternity throughout their years at Penn, there are many important factors -- such as living conditions, social atmosphere, security, and closeness of the brothers -- that rushes should consider. Outgoing IFC President and Alpha Chi Rho brother Matt Baker explained that rushes often pick houses to visit based on descriptions of each fraternity's events. He said, however, that it was the people in his house -- not simply the events and the fall semester parties -- that led to his decision. "Houses can have the best parties, but if you don't feel comfortable and want to hang out with the brothers, then you aren't going to want to join," the College and Engineering senior said. With so many houses and events to choose from, Baker described the rush process as "a crapshoot." But despite the confusing process, Baker and many other current fraternity members said they are quite happy with their choices. Tau Epsilon Phi Chancellor Mike Mulein, a College junior, explained that, "for me, [it was important to] look for the quality of the guys." Another important factor for rushes to consider is "how sincere and honest is the information [they] are receiving from the brothers," Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs Assistant Director Tom Carroll said. "Chapters spend significant amounts of money on the recruitment process, but later on, they may treat [the rushes] like [they're] not worth anything," Carroll explained. He pointed out that many chapters may tell rushes they do not haze during the recruitment process, but may in fact haze them when they become pledges. Rushes should look for consistent and substantial messages from each fraternity's brothers, he added. Baker said, however, that the way he was treated during rush was "pretty consistent" with what took place during pledging. "Rush is obviously different than pledging, but it's not just a bunch of smoke and mirrors," he said. Many rushes are confident they will make a good choice, despite Carroll's warning that the brothers may misrepresent themselves or the fraternity. "Generally, I don't think [the brothers] are being phony," College freshman Josh Cohen said. Cohen added that he chose to rush the houses in which he knew people or those his friends also visited. He added that he will choose the house "where I most liked the guys, but it's tough because we only have two weeks." And College freshman Stephen Shulstein said that it is also important to consider whether the house is appealing and whether he would want to live there, in addition to whether the brothers are nice. The quality of the house is "certainly a factor," particularly because some houses have better locations than others, according to Phi Gamma Delta President John Ward. But the Wharton senior added that the ideals of the fraternity and what it stands for are much more important, adding that "the majority of rushes aren't going to join just because of the house." Above all, rushes should try to visit as many houses as possible to find what is best for them, according to Ward. And Mulein noted that although "every freshman is curious and worried, I don't know if there is much to worry about."