Mailbag: Is It Weird To Rush As A Sophomore?

Jared Borislow8 years ago

A journalism degree, a Spanish degree, a resting body temperature of 98.6 degrees, Degree for men deodorant, the list goes on. Not trying to steal Freddy Mercury’s thunder here, but I have 200 degrees — that’s why they call me Mr. Fahrenheit. It’s also why it doesn’t surprise me when randos like this guy email me asking for advice.

Need some advice:

Going to be a sophomore transfer student transferring to a big state school this fall, have no idea what to expect. I’ve always wanted to join a fraternity, but the school I went to freshman year didn’t rush till spring, so I didn’t rush because I knew I was going to transfer beforehand anyway. Basically, anyone on the TFM staff have experience dealing with sophomore transfer student pledges? Are they treated differently from the other freshman pledges? Any advice?

P.S. R.I.P. Harambe

Okay, so maybe he was addressing the entire TFM staff and not just me, but I’m the one he emailed. What I’m getting at here is fuck you, Dan.

(UPDATE: I just saw that he sent this email to me, Dan, Harrison, and Dillon. Luckily one of my degrees is in email responding, so naturally I was the first to jump on it.)

Anyways, arguably the largest misconception when it comes to fraternity rush is that if you don’t rush the first time the opportunity is presented to you (either freshman fall, freshman spring, or sophomore fall depending on how shitty of a school you attend), then you missed the boat harder than the gang in season 10, episode 6 of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. This is simply not the case. Luckily for you, future fraternity member in GDIsguise, you don’t need to stand there with your dick in your hand as you try and fail to sell the “amphibious exploring vehicle” that is your Greek allegiance, because rushing as a sophomore is completely acceptable.

I know you were asking specifically about rushing as a sophomore transfer student, but the fact that you transferred in is extraneous. There’s no difference between rushing as a normal sophomore and rushing as a transfer sophomore — unless you have a friend in a chapter, you’re just another sophomore rushee as far as the fraternity is concerned. If anything, your status as a transfer student will serve to bolster your image in the fraternity’s eyes, as your story about not wanting to rush a fraternity because you knew you were transferring will quell any of the “if he didn’t want to be in a fraternity before, why should we let him in now?”-spouting, overly-entitled JI morons who want to flex their newly-initiated dicks.

If you’re a cool dude, any fraternity that doesn’t want you solely because you’re one year older than the other rushees and might “fuck with the dynamic of the pledge class” is not a fraternity you want to join anyways. A fraternity choosing youth over experience is like being at the bar and picking a soft 6 freshman over a bombshell MILF. Sure, you got laid, but you’ll never forgive yourself for passing up on what all that extra experience could’ve afforded you.

Do we have someone in the office who rushed as a sophomore? Yes. His name is Dan Regester, and he missed out on his first two recruitment chances at UCF because he “had really bad Crohn’s freshman year,” “was shitting 50 times a day,” and “didn’t have time for Greek life.” Dan wound up with a bid, and I’d take a transfer student sophomore over a non-transfer, diseased, poop machine sophomore with bad time management skills any day.

Enjoy rush, kiddo..