Ready to Rush: Senior boys at East are already started on the rushing process for KU fraternities

Senior Emerson Bihuniak — along with seniors Luc Prendiville, Will Alexander and Cole Jackson — took his eighth 50-minute drive down to the University of Kansas campus. This time to visit the Phi Delta Theta house for dinner. They’re squeezing in one more fraternity visit before making a decision that’ll impact the next four years of their life before even getting there. 

For most students, the fraternity rushing process doesn’t start until they get to college, but for East students planning to attend KU, the process begins at the start of senior year.

Bihuniak and Pendiville have been visiting Lawrence since October to attend invitational fraternity events. They typically start them off with a dinner with the chairs and a few other seniors from their high school and a house tour. Then they’re invited to events ranging from tailgates to poker nights. All activities have the same goal: getting to know the guys. 

“You just get to meet everyone in the house, and you can just see really where you fit in,” Bihuniak said. 

While the seniors meet new guys at these events, they already know some. Of the 57 guys who graduated from East last year and went to KU, at least 20 of them rushed a fraternity.

The Phi Delt house makes a Google Sheet in the fall for potential recruits to invite to visit campus, according to East alum Tyler Moore. Most come from their old high school, but some seniors will reach out to the fraternity members or rush chairs to get added to the list. 

“There’s a bunch of the senior guys at East right now that I like,” Moore said. “That I think would fit very well [at Phi Delt], so I put them on the list.”

For senior Luc Prendiville, it’s nice to go with friends and see past seniors at the houses because it helps them to feel more comfortable and makes the process more enjoyable.

“Sometimes you’ll go with some of your buddies down there or know some East guys already there,” Prendiville said. “When you do that, it makes it a lot more enjoyable to get to know everyone when you have someone that you already know.”

Out of all the places students go after graduating, 23% of East’s 2022 graduating class went to KU. With Lawrence only 50 minutes away from East, it’s common for students to rush early there.

“Doing rush at KU is a lot different than a lot of other places because it’s not formal at all,” Prendiville said. “You just go up throughout your whole senior year of high school and just get to know people like that.”

After a few visits and parties, if the chairs think they’ll fit the house, the senior will receive a bid — an offer to join the fraternity. This longer time frame than the few weeks given for fall rush allows these seniors a longer deadline to decide which house they’ll commit to. 

Bihuniak has already received three bids since his eight campus visits and is currently deciding which house he thinks he’d fit in with best this fall.

Those who’ve already received bids will most likely choose their houses in February and will be able to move into the fraternity house come fall rather than spending their first year in the dorms. It’s one of the things that drew Prendiville to KU.

“It’s definitely nice to get out ahead and see my options,” Prendiville said. “It’s like doing this early is one less thing you have to worry about once you get on campus and rushing, so that you know where you’re going to live.”

Senior Graham Mosher is still deciding which college to attend and KU’s rushing process is a factor being weighed in. If he were to rush early with KU, he’d be able to automatically live in the house and have a group of guys that he knows.

“It plays a part because I know that if I go to KU and I joined a house, then that’s my group,” Mosher said. “And obviously, I’ll meet a ton more people at parties and stuff like that, but that’s kind of who you’re with, rather than when you live in a dorm. That’s a lot different than just being in a house with all the guys who have the same priorities as you.”

While already starting on the rushing process might seem premature, for the senior boys taking weekend trips to Lawrence, it’s all worth it to find a place to start off in college with.

“You have the automatic brotherhood right when you get in the house and you have 80 new best friends right away,” Prediville said.