What’s most important for good rush

Resume and grades get you past the first round, but your personality and conversations are going to be the most important thing! While chapters are wanting to recruit new members that will be involved and get good grades, they are most importantly looking for someone they can see themselves or their sisters being friends with. I won't lie, recruitment is going to be very overwhelming for someone who is shy. HOWEVER, it is worth the discomfort and is a great opportunity to grow and build confidence. I recommend doing some research on the recruitment process so you know exactly what to expect, this will help with your nerves and help you prepare for conversations. I am also on the shy side, but I have a different, more outgoing, mindset that I can get myself into for recruitment. I also use this for job interviews, sometimes it needs to be done to get what you want. Recruitment is great practice.

The top houses require a minimum GPA, lots of AP classes and/or a high ACT score. Recs help a lot at top houses, too, because they offer more information than the basic rush form and can provide details about areas in which you excel, such as leadership or athletics or musical ability. But once you have a foot in the door, it's all about personality. I'm not talking about fake gushing, I'm talking about sincere interest and the ability to have a good conversation. Oh, and don't believe people who tell you it's all about who you know. You can't get into the best houses because of where you went to high school or because you have a friend in the house. That might help you in lower tier houses, but the good houses are expecting more.

I, too, was from out of state and didn't know exactly what to expect when I went through recruitment. The good news is that just about every other state in the Midwest has higher academic standards than schools in Missouri so unless you are from the rural deep South, you probably will do just fine. I also am much more an introvert than an extrovert, so I had to try harder than some other PNMS to be chatty and outgoing, but it's good practice for the rest of college and for job interviews. Also, I had many excellent choices after each round and wound up in a great house, so I really think not knowing anyone when I went through recruitment was actually an advantage. If you are attending Mizzou for the J-School the way so many out-of-state students are, that will give you a bond with some of the OOS women you will meet, and will likely lead to some great friendships. That was true for me.