PRUSH
 

This past recruitment our campus switched from SoRush to Prush, but it also used another method to try to prevent "stringing" along.

During the fall semester the MRC's were asked to vote to install this into recruitment. Panhel told us that a member of XYZ at MIT had come up with a mathematical system that used a chapters #'s of their past invites and return rates and would determine how many PNM's a chapter should cut. The numbers would be of the last three recruitment years. We were told that this would increase return rates, the chances of chapters attaining Quota and decrease the number of PNM's who might drop because they received a blow after second round because of stringing along.

This made PRush so much better because it made chapters that dont cut during the first round except for grades, have to cut a certain #. Each night before cuts we received a call from panhel suggesting how many PNM's to cut. And when PNM's received their invites they had a more realistic invite list that might continue on through the recruitment process....

I thought National Panhel was going to adopt the new Prush process for this upcoming recruitment year...what have you heard?

Re: PRUSH
 

This is the NPC Recommended Release Figures calculation, many campuses use it. It's been around for several years.

I don't really see it as "cutting" in Prush, because lets say in a system with 12 chapters the PNM ranks the first 9 as number one, the 10th as second and the 11th as 3rd and the 12 as forth. She isn't really cutting those last three unless she gets invited to all of her top nine choices...if one of those nine isn't on that list number 10 moves up and so forth. And If one of those number 1's weren't on her list by the Prush system they wouldn't be on her list on the Sorush system.

From my view of it, what Prush does that SoRush didn't is help the houses that PNM tend to drop during Sorush after one round get a second chance at impressing the PNM.

BTW, what does cross cutting mean? I'm not familiar with the term.

I am loving the new way of mutual selection where larger chapters have to "cut" a larger percentage, because, the truth is they know who they are going to "cut" anyway (for grades or standards or whatever) why should a pm be strung along in a sorority that they are never going to get.

The university that I work with is going to implement that next year. This year we are doing the same percentages as in the past. Larger sororities don't seem to like it until they see that they still end up with quota and all of the girls that they wanted anyway and this help the pm's give the other sororities a chance.

HAVE FUN IN RECRUITMENT THIS YEAR FOR EVERYONE ON THIS SIDE.

Our Panhellenic discussed implementing this system at roundtables. I think it works well for all chapters, large or small. It evens out the return rates for everyone.

Today, I was talking to my brother about sorority recrutment (Background: He was a KA from B'ham southern 20 or so years ago and I am an ADPi from UNA 10 or so years ago)

He told me he thought it was rediculous (sp?) the way sororities recruit. As I listened to him I realized it is kind of crazy, I mean why is fraternity recruitment so much more relaxed then sorority recruitment? Is it the women doing this to ourselves? I know it is to late to change the way it is done. . . but, man the recruits are petrified they won't get into the "right" house and the sisters are scared they won't get the "right" girls. (and quota and total why do we do this to ourselves?)

I just wish formal recruitment was set up a friendlier then it is. I mean fraternities have all of the guys, that are interested, "come by" the house and see if they fit in, after the first night if the brothers like the guy they basically offer him a bid then and there. Yea, I know the "Pledge" doesnt actually get a "BID" until the end of the recruitment period but they know where they are going the day the brothers tell them. Also, there is no "dirty rushing," they can invite a guy over any time they want. But, with sororities "GOD FORBID" there is any contact with a pm before or during recruitment.

Just a little complaint from an alumnae. Sorry to lay all of that on yall. I do love recruitment I just wish it was a little bit easier on all involved.

I would guess that SoRush stands for Sorority Rush. I think the company that makes the software is called Compu-Rush (I remember seeing this on the bottom of some of my lists). Using PRush is an option in the program. It's not a different program all together. SoRush may be a different program that Compu-Rush, but I would still say that the option of doing PRush is in both.

Ariesrising - I think your ranking was similar to what I did when going through recruitment. This was given to the chapters so they could see how the PNM's felt about them before they made their invite list. We would then get our invites back and had to cut. So, you had to go in twice for each round. Once to rank and once to accept/regret.

If they were doing it they were using it for something - probably like UT did above.

so, this is the thread my advisor and i were talking about yesterday...

we chose sorush. we chose it because we didn't want them to write down their preferences and get disappointed if they don't get invited back.

of course, they will still be disappointed when they see the list if they are not on it, but i think it would be less of an embarassment.

Very, very true. Most girls the end up joining were severely cut, after all; not everyone is that popular.

When I went through, I only had 3 houses out of 11 to go back to on the second day. It was rough for me to know that other girls got invited back to all the houses, but it was not made public at all. The accept/decline was pretty private, and no one really would know how many parties I was going to if I didn't tell them.

ETA:

I don't really think it's such a good diea for PNMs to rank the chapters. Especially after only one day, the girls don't really know enough about the chapter to know how well they will fit in there. I think way too many girls will just list the well-known "popular" chapters first even though they might not fit there at all.

And we all know that since those "best" chapters are in the most demand, they have the most choice over WHO they give bids to.

I would hate to see so many girls just list the big houses first, and then get cut from them and be very disappointed.

My question:
Do the chapters SEE these rankings before they make their cut choices? Because if they do, then some chapters might cut girls who put them near the bottom, and it could cause more girls getting cross-cut because they have listed those same "big" chapters first.

I'm SO sorry if this doesn't make sense. If it doesn't, I will try to clarify.

The new release figure method (RFM) should make a difference with how many women get invitations back to all chapters. It seems like the norm will be that more women get a few more than they can go to (so if 15 chapters and you can go to 8 then most will get 9-11) rather than a bunch getting close to the most (13-15) and a bunch getting just a few (2-5). That's my understanding anyway.

I don't know anything about the new RFM (sorry I've been slacking on my information-getting:) ) but if it does what you say it does, than that seems like a GREAT thing!!!

I know it would have made a big difference on my campus.

I agree, but it still hurts when the other PNM's ask how many invites bacl you got back, you tell them and then they laugh at you because they got every invite back.

I was severely cut the first day, but, in the end, I am happy where I am and could not imagine carrying a different banner-even if I do wonder what it would have been like had I become a DZ (my first choice).

My understanding of PRush is that the chapters do not get to see how they were ranked. But, this could also be something determined by the College PH. When ranking the PNM's would rank as follows for a school with 7 chapters where they could go to 5 the following day:

ABC 1
DEF 1
GHI 1
JKL 1
MNO 1
PQR 2
STU 3

So the 5 would be in no preference just that those are the five the PNM most wants to go back to. Those left would be done in preference - if the PNM can't go back to one of her top 5 then she wants to go to PQR next. If she doesn't get invited back to 2 of her top 5 or if PQR doesn't invite her then she wants to go to STU next.

If not explained to everyone involved (PNM's, PH Exec, Rho Gams) then there could be misunderstandings concerning how it works. What is most important for the PNM's to realize is that no matter how they rank them, if the chapter doesn't invite them back then they won't be going there.

Co-sign. I love ADPi SO much, but rush was still one of the worst experiences I have ever been through. I guess I just see rankings by PNMs to be one more problem rather than a benefit.

I realize that pretty much all the PNMs will rank the chapters in their heads (I know I did), but I think seeing it down on paper will cause more distress when they are cut from a house that they ranked highly. And lets face it- almost every PNM will get cut from at least ONE house that was at or near the top of her list.

I consider myself one of the lucky ones to have had a terrible rush experience, but still be able to find my home.:)

I just received word that my school will be implementing SORUSH this year, after the PRUSH issues that occured at formal recruitment last year that left 2 of 6 chapters way under quota. As I understand it, SORUSH goes right in line with the new release figures methodology that requires larger chapters to release more women earlier on.

From what I have heard, it does help smaller chapters get to quota, while letting larger groups still end up reaching it too. THe only downside I can see is some heavy cutting by the larger groups early on, but from the looks of things, everyone goes home happy. :)

Not to be heartless, but if a girl is that sensitive, she may not be the right person to voluntarily participate in a process that is meant to be selective. The whole point of recruitment is to make choices. The PNMs are cutting, the chapters are cutting. If a girl can't handle cuts, formal recruitment isn't for her. I know that sounds harsh, but that is how life is. Hopefully the PNMs are in a process of maturing and can take lemons and make lemonade rather than just tasting sour grapes.

This is interesting, and not exactly part of MY understanding of the new RFM. Chapters with higher return rates will be cutting more heavily early on. But how will this affect the distribution of WHO gets cut and who doesn't? I'm not saying you're wrong, I just find it intriguing and would like to know more.

We are using the new RFM this year for our Recruitment, and I think it will require some training by our recruitment counselors, because their rush will not have been similar to the rush in which these girls are participating. Being dropped by at least one chapter, and possibly two, will be much more commonplace- girls who are top quality PNMs will still possibly not have a "perfect" recruitment with all invites.

We are also switching from SORUSH to PRUSH, which is also interesting, since it seems like most schools on GC are doing the opposite.

Can an 18 year old girl who is looking to be happy in her new Greek home after years of being groomed for rush and hearing how happy Mom was an an XYZ, or expecting to be made happy after sitting in a recruitment info session where it is made to sound as if everything is her choice, be expected to go in with eyes wide open to the fact that she may be cut? That part was completely glossed over when I went through, and although I knew it was likely that I would be, some girls had no clue. Either way, it still hurts when they are cut by a chapter filled with women that the night before seemed so happy to see you. Telling the devastated ones to just get over it doesn't exactly erase that hurt - it only compounds it.

I understand what you're saying, but I think that irishpipes made a valid point. Unless you are completely unaware of the concept of rush you know that it is a "mutual selection process" which would include the possibility of not being invited back to a house. I don't think she was saying "just get over it". She was saying that if you can't handle the possibility of being cut from a house or multiple houses you should NOT go through formal recruitment.

I don't think it really pays to sugar coat the situation anyway. In life there are no guarantees for anything. You could interview for 20 jobs and not get any of them...it would suck, but it happens. You could also go out on 20 dates and have each of the guys/girls tell you that they're not interested...again, it would suck but it could happen. Recruitment is not a perfect system, we all know that...but it's the best idea we've come up with so far! Just my 2 cents

It really doesn't affect the first round of invites, only later rounds. Let me see if I can explain why...

Let's say we can rank all PNM's on a campus from 1 - 10, with an equal number of girls in each group. Let's also say that we can clearly rank the ten chapters on her campus from 1 - 10.

(note that these are terrible assumptions, because different chapters offer different things, and look for different things in PNM's, but I do math for a living so I like to put everything into numbers)

Suzie PNM is a 6, so 50% of PNM's are more desireable, 10% are the same, and 40% are less desireable. After round 1, Suzie gets invited to all ten houses, because even the biggest chapters are allowed to invite 70% of the PNM's back. She picks chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, dropping 6 through 10. So does every other girl in the top 70%.

Now, in the view of houses 1 through 5, Suzie is more desireable than only 14% of the PNM's left in their pool, equal to 14%, and less desireable than 72%. If they are again allowed to invite back 70% of the PNM's, OOPS, Suzie has no invites.

Let's replay this with top chapters only being able to invite back 50% of girls, and smaller chapters being able to invite back 100%. Suzie gets invites to 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10, and goes back to each of them. The same goes for all the girls in the lower 50% of the PNM pool.

Now, in the view of houses 6 through 10, Suzie is in the top 20% of PNM's. She will get five invites back to the next round.

The girls in the top 50% are unaffected by this change, as are the girls in the bottom 30%, but the 20% that would have been invited to chapters 1-5 in the first scenario but not the second are much more likely to find a home.

Maskes sense, OtterXO.

Hurts my brain, DeltaBetaBaby.

MTSUGURL - I understand and it still maked my head hurt!

It boils down to the chapters with high recruiting strength being able to invite fewer women and therefore releasing earlier those that don't really meet their "standards".

Maybe they require a 3.0 to be initiated. So for first invite, in the past they would keep women that were below that (say maybe 2.75-2.99) just because the COULD to meet their release figure. They would have released them for second invite.

Say there are 9 chapters the PNM's can go to 6 and this happens with the three chapters with the highest recruiting strength. "Old" release figures she would have been invited back to all 9 chapters. So, knowing how PNM's are she probably would have kept all 3 of these chapters. With the "old" method for second invites she would have only had a max of 3 chapters b/c the other 3 would have automatically released her b/c of grades this round.

With the "new" method the 3 that would have released her after first invites now have to release her after the initial round (open house/welcome night/IceWaterTeas whatever the school calls it). So instead of having 9 she probably have a max of 6 chapters for the first invitational round. This gives her a better chance of having more invites for the second invitational. Instead of the max 3 she would have had with the first scenario, she now has a real chance to be invited to 6 chapters for second invites.

Let me think of wording here. The ideas is that she is closer to having the max number she can go to each round, than that she have invites from all chapters. So with a 9 chapter campus if they have three invite rounds and women can go to 6 for 1st invites, 4 for second invites and 2 for pref. She would not necessarily have 9 invites to 1st round but 4-7, for 2nd invites she would have 2-6 and for pref she would have 1-3. We want the PNM's to be able to make their "cuts" but we also don't want the chapters stringing them along only to release them on pref.

Edited to add: I think the new RFM will also help women getting released out of the process - meaning getting no invites and being out of recruitment.

SORUSH and PRUSH or ICS for that matter don't have anything to do with the release figure method used. The first two utilize the old method for figuring release figures. Basically the formula in the Green Book is put into the programing and based on past data figures out the release figure for each chapter. I don't know that ICS does this part. But, all three are basically databases for the recruitment process. They all assign id#, allow for input of invite list, accpet/regrets or priority (depending on if using SORUSH or PRUSH), keep lists of legacies, withdrawals and any other info put into them. ICS will do PNM choices either with accept/regret or prioritizing as well.

The new RFM (Release Figure Method) is not published by NPC and must be figured by an NPC representative. This person works with the College Panhellenic and Greek Advisor each day of recruitment to determine the number each chapter can invite back to each round. From there it's all the same as before. All school will be required in the next year or two to switch to using the new RFM. Additionally, each College Panhellenic will also need to determine their recruitment type - Fully Structured, Partial Structured, Minimally Structured or Continuous Recruitment (I think those are all the correct names). As you can tell from the names not all will need to use the RFM b/c they will not all be doing a "formal" recruitment as we all know and love!

COSIGN!!!

So there is no specific formula anymore? Has it become totally subjective? This sounds pretty dangerous to me.

Yes, there is a formula, but they are keeping it private b/c they don't want a company to take it, make a program and sell it to college campuses.

You are my math hero :D Thanks for that!