While not as important as the decision to attend Cornell or selecting a major, one of the most important decisions an undergraduate can make is whether to join a fraternity or sorority and then to select a house.
Between 30 and 40 percent of Cornell undergraduates join Greek Life, and most of those members live in the fraternity house for at least one year during their Cornell career. The formal recruitment for first-year students is scheduled to begin on January 15, 2025, for fraternities and January 13 for sororities, so prospective members return to Ithaca a week before classes start.
Rush Process
Both groups require a prospective member to fill out a web-based form to register for the recruitment (“rush”) process. There is no fee to participate, and prospective members receive many free meals and social opportunities throughout the process.
The sorority rush is more regimented than the fraternity rush. The 11 Panhellenic sororities set a common new member quota for each house roughly equal to the number of prospective members who register divided by 11. This keeps the houses at roughly the same total membership, and the rush process is designed to match houses with prospects to achieve the best fit.
After each event, the houses extend invitations to attend the following day’s event. After all of the invitation-only events, the brothers of each house confer and extend a “bid” (invitation to join) to a group of candidates. There is no limit on how many “bids” each house can issue, and there is no limit on how many “bids” a particular student can receive. Fraternity bids are due back to the Office of Sorority and Fraternity Life on January 22.
Not everyone will receive a bid or be willing to join the houses that bid them. So, immediately after the bid acceptance deadline, Greek Life holds “continuous open bidding,” which means that chapters that want additional members and first-year students who are still looking to join a house can socialize informally, perhaps at house dinners, and decide on membership.
Houses conduct a four-week-long new member education process for those prospects who decide to join. (The process is as long as eight weeks at other universities.) Cornell highly regulates this process and requires each chapter to file lesson plans.
For fraternities, sororities, and all other clubs, New York State law prohibits the presence of drugs or alcohol at any recruitment, new member education, or initiation event. This puts chapters in an impossible situation. A major concern for every fraternity is that their new members know how to drink responsibly and treat members of the opposite sex appropriately. Yet, none of the selection process includes either alcohol or the presence of women. As a result, some “bids” are withdrawn after such problems are revealed later.
What to Look For
Cornell has over 30 fraternities, each representing a unique history and character. Prospective brothers and sisters shouldn’t rush assuming that all houses conform to a common stereotype. Some houses focus on athletes, while others emphasize “smooth” social interactions. Some houses focus on engineers, while others focus on CALS students. Everyone can fit in somewhere in the system.
Candidates can prepare for formal rush by reading the “scorecard” on the Office of Sorority and Fraternity Life website. This data is more than a year out-of-date but might raise red flags for topics to discuss with members. Each chapter has its own website either for the undergraduate chapter or for undergraduates and alumni combined. Each chapter is a part of an international or national organization, and they have websites as well. (For example, a number of nationals are officially “dry” and prohibit drugs or alcohol in their houses, but you would never know that from visiting the Cornell chapter house.) Cornell also posts a list of hazing violations by academic year that goes back to 2004.
Most chapters have Instagram accounts, which may give you a more honest view of the chapter’s self-image than the official websites.
In general, ignore gossip websites such as Greekrank.com. Most of those postings are left by people trying to troll each other rather than leave helpful advice.
In terms of the house and yard, ask yourself if it appears well-maintained, and ask the members if any capital improvements are planned. Does the chapter have a group house in Collegetown for brothers who do not live in the main house? How are house chores assigned or allocated?
Ask about the email plan for the spring semester as well as the cost of the meal plan for those who live in-house vs. live in Collegetown.
What amenities come with membership? Is free parking available for both those who live in and those who live in Collegetown? What about laundry machines?
How much are the social dues? Is this the total cost, or are there extra payments required for specific events?
How many chapters does the national have at other Ivy League schools? (Does the group ever organize road trips in conjunction with Cornell team away games?) How many other nearby chapters, and how much interaction with those chapters? Has the chapter won any awards from its national?
Does the house have a scholarship program? How is it financed, by a Cornell-specific endowment or a national endowment?
How active are the alumni and how do they interact with the undergraduates? Are there networking opportunities?
Each house has a live-in advisor. Take the time to meet them and find out about any common academic or career interests.
There are also some facts which are probably not that relevant to your decision. For example, some national fraternities had a historic ethnic focus, such as Italians or Jews. Such a focus may have faded over the years at Cornell. Similarly, whether a house is Cornell-owned or independently owned does not have much relevance today, because Cornell regulates all houses to the same standards regardless of who owns them.
