Good description, Titchou.

Yes, you certainly have a better perspective than I; from where I'm sitting up here North of the Mason-Dixon line, it seems like recs are portents of much larger differences when it comes to how Greek life fits into the culture.

I wonder if another measure could be that there is a percentage of PNMs who will transfer to a different school if they don't get one of their choice sororities?

That, too, AA....unfortunately!

Thank y'all for the input. Really this thread was started to help PNMs avoid having to start dozens of unnecessary threads when their questions are most likely already answered in an existing thread.

Especially since a particular few schools are regularly at the top of the "I don't know anything about Greek like but I'm going to a LargeSuperCompetitiveSouthernSchool HELP" style of threads.

The premise wasn't just to separate certain schools from the rest because of the 'competitive' title, but really to give a starting point for PNMs and hopefully avoid all the repetitive questions threads that they start! If it was just about competitive schools I'd most definitely have put Southern Cal on the list, but I've noticed very little interest exists for SC in recent years so, thus not on the list (at least yet!)

But I'll take Irishpipes advice and adjust this thread's title

ps So if you think your school is Super Competitive and/or large and deserves to be on the list but isn't. Its probably just a matter of time before it does as we get closer to the start of Recruitment.

I can't seem to figure out how to change the thread title?

I don't think you can change a title - but your could change the premise in your initial post. And I'm not criticizing your thread - it just seems from what you've written that you intend to be a helpful source to PNMs, and there are many very large recruitments that your thread could point to.

If the point is to help prepare PNMs to have the best recruitment experience, whether the school is highly competitive or just moderately competitive doesn't really matter. A little inside knowledge can open more doors to the PNM and broaden her choices. (For example, Oklahoma State - with no recs you might get a bid, but you would probably get cut from 8-9 chapters on day 1. Not exactly the array of options a PNM would like.)

"Competitive" is such a loaded word. You don't need recs at Penn State, but I can hardly think that it wouldn't be called "competitive." The fact is - even if it's the sorority on the "lowest tier", if there is someone getting a spot instead of you, you would still say rush is "competitive."

The only truly "non competitive" rush would be one where all the PNMs always get the sorority they want.

I totally agree with everything you've said. Yes technically all recruitments are competitive; and from a mathematical standpoint only bed rushes are truly 'super competitive'.

But I really only titled this thread because I feel that PNMs have some idea in their heads of which campuses are 'super competitive' (ie. most SEC schools; will the term 'SEC' rush be used less now with the addition of Mizzou and A&M?)

And these schools tend to be the focus of a lot of unnecessary question threads started that can easily be answered from existing discussion.

Whether that sort of thinking that leads to some Panhellenics being 'more competitive' than others is problematic and should be changed is beyond the scope of the intention of this thread!

Well, the assumption would be that they all "get the sorority they want" since they put that group on their bid card. z

Awww, come on, you know better than that. :) I mean, I may not want McDonald's for lunch, but I need to eat something and it's fast & quick. So I go there and get it.

I've said it before and I'll say it again; if it's you getting cut, It's COMPETITIVE.

Not if you hated it. Not if you were vegan. You wouldn't go there. If you went there, you were fed with something acceptable. And you made the best of it and maybe even liked it when you were done...or found something there you didn't think you liked or wanted but you did...in the end....

Pickety pickety pick. :) Let me rephrase: the only non-competitive recruitment would be one where PNMs do ALL the cutting with NO input on the sororities' part. And then, of course, the sororities would be the ones competing.

I guess for those who live in the places that are considered competitive and who went to these schools, we see the difference. I live in Alabama. I went to Alabama. I advise at a school that is NOT Alabama. Every woman at this school who meets the GPA requirement and is not a "no" rec can get a bid and will get a bid if she stays till the end.
She need not secure recs either. So I consider this school non competitive....unlike Alabama just a few miles down the road.