Quite honestly there are some chapters that cannot keep their houses full and they NEED to.

There is somewhat of an old row/new row feel - the older houses are literally older and smaller, the newer are mansions and on the outskirts of campus. No one has ever outright mentioned it to me but that's the only thing I can think of.

I think if IU did go to quota/total it will help the smaller chapters - they might actually even out. It seems like women are more likely to go heavy for the strongest chapters if they get cut they are out - and maybe a lot of other women with them (tent talk). If they increase quota, women will stay longer and have a chance for a bid.

Who knows though, if it's already socially stratified so much, it could be the same problem but now with a quota/total.

And to 33girl - the NPC HQs may not have thought it was a problem b/c their chapters are 120+ and they are excelling in every area of their own standards. Plus I think every national would want to be on IU's campus so why rock a boat?

There are a few I know that I think are going to put up quite a fight.

i am a freshman at IU and I cannot wait for rush either!! every girl i talk to is in love with rush and said its the best time of their life! im really nervous though because it seems super competitive! Does anyone know if recs play an important role here? i know they are not mandatory, but I am still getting them. and also, i was told the 1700 girls that start out in the rush process cuts down by almost half by the end of recruitment.

That's true - even if they're in the toilet in IU land, they may be the queens of everything in Nu Mu land. I would hope the sororities would take the overall environment into account when handing out awards, etc. Then you have the other side of the coin - the chapters that excel on a campus where the competition isn't very fierce (i.e. there are only 2-3 sororities) receiving tons of accolades and national awards, and chapters at huge schools like IU who are probably doing 10 times the work getting shafted for those things because they are below quota at their school (never mind their quota is the size of small school chapter's whole Greek system).

I'm not sure which is worse. DZ I think has different "tiers" of national awards, i.e. there's a small system award for best programming and a big system award. Then again, they can do that because they've got a gazillion chapters.

But I don't think there's much drama--most people who want to get into a sorority do, even if it's not their first choice. Disclaimer here--I was totally a slacker sorority sister, never an officer, more concerned with the drama in my personal life, etc., so I can't say anything with authority, mainly because I don't remember that much:o--but I know we also had some flexibility because we also could take Lincoln girls who didn't count against your house size. ("house" meaning the building, not the chapter).

I asked about quota/total when my daughter went to Red Letter Day last winter and the greek life rep said they have no intention of going to that system. So unless somebody comes in and forces them to do it, I don't see it changing at Nebraska. It seems to work there.

Come back abelle06! I'd love to read your story.:)

Well, sure, the system is doing fine. The problem is experienced by the open-minded PNMs who are excluded for no reason except campus tradition. If you're in the system, then you aren't one of those PNMs. But the campus panhellenic ought to be concerned about them.

Nationally, it seems that NPC has moved away from the model where the sorority system is meant to be an elite echelon for a certain slice of the college population (a concept the NPHC seems to have retained), and toward a model where participation is accessible to all interested women. I'm not saying one philosophy is better than the other, but I see NPC moving along that spectrum, and IU seemingly isn't coming along on the ride.
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Toree cam

i will for sure be back! i'm incredibly excited for rush. so far i have had invites to check out houses from a few girls that i know and it's been great seeing the houses and getting to meet some of the sisters. next week is the first meeting of the recruitment process and I CAN'T WAIT!!! i will definitely let you guys know what happens to me : ) THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR HELP!!

yay!! good luck hun!

I don't know, IMPO, the system sounds like it has flaws. To only take enough girls to "fill the beds" is going to leave alot of awesome PNM's out in the dust. I mean seriously if you have 1700 PNM's (or more) going through recruitment, there is still only 19 houses.

If the campus doesn't do a quota system, do they have a total?

does anyone know if UW Oshkosh uses the quota system?

Unless things have changed this year, UW - Oshkosh does use a quota system. Their recruitment is quickly approaching! :)

yes, it starts tomorrow!!!