Rush week for fraternities in the Interfraternity Council begins this Wednesday evening, which means that hundreds of freshmen and other unaffiliated guys will begin joining one of Northwestern’s IFC fraternities. Both fraternity and sorority rush are very much affected by first impression, and one way to make a great first impression is to dress the right way.
Many guys are already familiar with fraternities, through Sunday Night Dinners and other events, and attire obviously is not the most significant factor in rushing a fraternity. In fact, your personal sense of fashion probably will not get you very far in rush, but bad clothing choices could cause you to stick out in the wrong way. Here are a few tips for dropping your bid in style:
Can you wear a t-shirt?: Wearing a t-shirt to a rush event is perfectly acceptable. There’s no real need to dress nicely, although it is not prohibited by any means. But if you do choose to wear a t-shirt, make sure you wear the right one. Obviously, the shirt should fit you properly, as neither oversized nor skin-tight shirts are ideal. Most importantly, however, the shirt should say something about you if it has a design.
Choosing the correct t-shirt: Chances are that whatever message is conveyed on your t-shirt – a band logo, a sports team or some other graphic – will become a topic of conversation between you and a brother of the fraternity. So even if you have an awesome Beatles t-shirt, don’t wear it if you aren’t comfortable talking about the White Album. The same goes for sports. Fraternity men stereotypically enjoy watching sports, which is probably true in general. But that doesn’t mean you have to pretend to like the Dallas Cowboys or some other team in order to join a particular fraternity. If you want to wear a t-shirt, wear something that will allow you to connect with brothers.
That being said, certain t-shirt designs are always better than others, especially for making first impressions. Even if you are a huge Star Wars fan – and I have a fraternity brother who is – you should probably leave the Chewbacca shirt at home. In general, try to avoid t-shirt messages containing obscure pop culture references during rush. No matter how much the Wire fan in you enjoys a shirt with a picture of Omar and his shotgun (I sure do), others might not understand what the shirt means.
Pulling off the button-down: In terms of style, in almost any normal hangout situation you can’t beat a casual button-down shirt. If you don’t regularly wear button-downs, don’t try to wear one for rush, because it will be obvious that you’re trying too hard.
If you really want to try sporting a button-down, it’s best to avoid a few common mistakes. Make sure your shirt is not too baggy – the cardinal sin of button-downs. In other words, keep it slim. Something else to avoid: wearing dress shirts with jeans. Sometimes, you’ll see guys trying to pull off this look, leaving the shirt untucked, and attempting to call it “style.” One word: no. Usually, the perpetrator ends up looking like he is wearing his dad’s shirt, as the dress shirt usually is too long to leave untucked. There are button-downs made for jeans, but typically your standard dress shirt should not be worn untucked with jeans. Try a more casual button-down or a flannel shirt.
Absolutely no sweatpants: Because Northwestern IFC rush occurs in the winter, you’ll be wearing some sort of pants. Go with a pair of jeans, corduroys or even khaki pants. Please just don’t wear sweatpants. I know sweatpants are perhaps the most comfortable warm pants out there, and wearing them on occasion is perfectly fine. Wearing sweatpants conveys that you’re simply too lazy to put on jeans or corduroys. During rush, make the extra effort and put on some better pants. Once you drop your bid (which means to accept your bid), feel free to bum around in sweatpants as much as you'd like.
How formal is too formal?: Fraternities often take pride in wearing suits, and throughout the pledge process a number of fraternities will encourage their new members to dress in formal wear. But what about for rush? Wearing a button-down (slim-fit, of course) and khaki pants, perhaps with a pair of winter Sperrys, would give you the perfect balance of style without standing out too much. Sporting a nice sweater would also be a nice touch, with or without a button-down.
It’s not necessary to wear formal wear, unless a particular fraternity specifies that you should for a specific event. You want to stand out to the fraternity brothers, but not because you wore a hot pink sweater vest to a rush event (and I’m normally a major proponent of sweater vests, though not hot pink ones).
Semi-formal is acceptable, although definitely riskier than a few other options (especially with some houses holding physical activities for rush events). It’s not out of the question, however. But wear a tuxedo at your own risk.
The rules for jerseys: In general, unless there is a game on, I avoid wearing jerseys, simply because they aren’t exactly emblems of style. However, similar to sports t-shirts, they can be a great way to start a conversation during rush events. Plus, there are several significant games occurring during rush week, including college football bowl games and the first weekend of the NFL playoffs.
Of all athletic uniforms, soccer kits are closest to being “stylish.” They fit like t-shirts and are not meant to be worn with pads. Football jerseys don’t work quite as well, but football provides the most opportunity for conversation because of its popularity. The high number of significant football contests this week also provides good opportunity to wear a football uniform. I’d avoid hockey and baseball jerseys, just because they aren’t as wearable in a non-game setting. And please don’t wear a basketball jersey – no one really wants to see the biceps you probably haven’t been working on.
Don’t wear Northwestern clothes: Everyone knows you go to Northwestern. Wearing NU apparel is fantastic, but it tells fraternity brothers absolutely nothing about you except something they already knew. If you really love to show school pride, wear a purple button-down or polo shirt. But wearing a Northwestern shirt makes you too generic. When brothers conduct a postmortem on rush happenings for the night, you don’t want to be known as “the kid in the Northwestern shirt.” Save it for the next Wildcat basketball game.
Though obviously it would not hurt, a good sense of style probably would not put you over the edge when fraternity members consider giving you a bid. Nobody (except possibly me) is going to say "that guy had a great sense of style, and didn't wear a skin-tight Star Trek t-shirt or an oversized Albert Haynesworth jersey, so let's give him a bid." It comes down to whether the fraternity believes that you will be a good fit for their brotherhood, not how you dress for rush. But it's impossible to deny the importance of a first impression and your clothes could help you stand out to guys that will be carefully evaluating you.