It really amazes me sometimes at how different some of the schools Panhell systems can be. At my school, the way the numbers were set up, as long as you didn't "suicide" and didn't drop out of recruitment, you more than likely would get a bid (over 95%). When I see that 15-20% of the PNMs who go through PREFS do not get a bid, I think that maybe too many girls are being invited back to prefs to begin with. I know some larger schools are very competative and have large numbers going through, but this should not be allowed to happen.

It sounds like the panhells at USC and UGA both need to investigate other ways of running numbers OR seriously look into inviting another organization to colonize.

I ditto what was said about it being the Rho Chi's/Gamma Chi's job to investigate all PNMs who were totally dropped. Mistakes do happen, houses sometimes feel that a girl is uninterested in their house when she is painfully shy, etc. When I went through, one of the first things that my Rho Chi told us was that if we were dropped by a house and felt that there was a huge mistake, she could approach the house to double check.

~Melissa

I agree with what FloridaGirl said about how rushees who go to the maximum number of parties should get a bid--with one caveat. Somebody in PH should monitor the sororities to make sure that the sororities haven't asked back more than they should have. Without that, we all know of some groups on our individual campuses who would cheat by saying, "Oh, whoops, we asked back 10 more girls than we should have and whoops! I guess we'll have to take 10 more than quota!"

Betcha that all you ladies can name the exact groups that would try to pull that on your campus.:rolleyes:

I am glad that lots of you think we need to re-evaluate the rush and bid situation. Under my scenario the cut fiqures would still be established by panhell for each sorority. And panhell would be the group to use discretion when calling houses to get re-invites for girls. Of course the emphasis would be on trying to fill the smaller houses. But if a rushee had two large houses on pref, and assuming these houses had stayed with the cut numbers required by panhell, then the rushee should get one of these houses on bid day even if that house goes over quota. My scenario does not guarantee a girl any house of her chosing. If after calling around, panhell might only get reinvites to houses the girl has dropped earlier in the week. But at least the girl has something to be reinvited to. Then it is her decision to drop out because of the selection of reinvites that she has. She may drop out, but at least she can do it with dignity. It should be the goal of every panhell to be sure that every girl has something to be invited to everyday. Remember, most of these girls who rush tend to be the better looking, more involved, more social women on campus. Surely there is a place for them in the greek system.

How do y'all know that women are up for snap bids/open bids?

For us bid matching ended around 3...pickup was not till 6...that gave us several hours to decide whether to open bid the women who had not found a place. We received a list when bid matching was over, that's how we knew was still on the market (for lack of a better phrase). I know we were a small school but isn't this basically how everyone does it, just with more names?

You have to be very very careful about saying "everyone gets a bid" and things like that, because the women interpret it as "I will get a place I want" instead of possibly getting a bid, but a bid to someplace they don't want to go. Also some groups have clauses that say if they are forced to take people for parity, everyone getting bids etc they will pull out.

For us, all women who attended at least one party are elligable for snap bids. We actually make 3 lists after Pref: first list is alphabetical above quota line, second list is ranked below quota line, and third list is ranked and consists of women who did not attend our Pref but came to at least one other party. That third list is our Snap list.

Our campus's problem is the suicide/COB issue. There should be a rule that if a girl suicided and did not receive a bid through bid matching, she shouldn't be allowed to COB that group. Most of the girls who don't bid via bid matching decline Snaps from other groups because they're sure they'll be picked up in COB.

Grr...

This is why Panhels and sororities need to use release figures!!! I've seen women at my school get strung along and then get cut before pref or fail to match even though they've followed all the rules. :(

Enna, I'm so sorry this happened to you. Don't let it get you down. Definitely look into COB if you're up for it. Take care. :)

COB?
 

Well, I ran into my rho chi this morning on the way to school. (Coincidently, she's a Theta - I guessed it!) She was really sweet, and told me that she thinks that several sororities didn't quite make quota, including ADPi, AXO, and Gamma Phi Beta. She said that she was going to ask around today, but she had my name and number if she found out anything. She honestly seemed really concerned about my welfare, and she was really excited when I still seemed interested in the COB process. She said that she was just heartbroken when I didn't get a bid. Evidently, I was "definitely one of the sweetest girls in our group," which I take as a big compliment. Other than that, I haven't really heard too much. Right now, it's just a waiting game.

I'm really excited for another friend of mine who's now a Gamma Phi Beta, and I'm SOOO thrilled for Chloe, who's an ADPi (as you all know!)! There are definitely a whole lot more success stories than disappointments.

I'll keep you updated on what's going on.

Enna that sounds great! COB is a wonderful way for you to get a bid. I hope it works out for you. :D

Enna,

Any GLO would be thrilled to have such a positive woman such as you in their organization. As I am sure you have hear from all of us, strange things can happen during recruitment. No one ever really knows what goes on during bid matching. I am su impressed with how you have approached this situation, you have kept your head up and didn't let it turn you into a Greek-hater.

We all have our fingers crossed for you!!

Greek love,
Melissa:D

Enna, I hope you find your place!Whether it is greek or not!
-Maggie

Enna - I went through COB, and really enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere (compared to Formal) I hope everything goes well for you and please keep us posted!

Keep us posted, Enna! You'd be an asset to any organization.

Enna, definitely try and go for it with COB!! Sometimes things have a way of working out even if they take a lot of twists & turns on the way... :D

Listen to 33girl-she gives great advice! I'm proud to call her a sister!!!!

I think that it is really interesting that you are all so quick to jump on USC Panhellenic for what you consider unjust treatment of PNM's. While I agree that it would be great if we could place everyone in the system on every campus, it is my understanding that USC usually pledges the highest percentage of registered PNM's in the state each year.

A lot of you have PM'd me asking which chapters made quota. I don't think that it is my place to announce which chapters made quota at USC, but I will tell you that every group on campus had a FABULOUS recruitment. Each and every chapter on campus is doing very well and is a tribute to its national organization.

As for UCLA's policies on inviting back women who are released by all of the chapters, UCLA Panhellenic does not guarantee bids to anyone. There are women who wind up being dropped each year, some years more than others. Panhellenic cannot require chapters to invite women to Preference b/c everyone who attends Preference has to be on your bid list. I know that when I went through recruitment at UCLA the rho chis told us that if you went to all of your parties and didn't suicide it was virtually certain that you would receive a bid, but my best friend was dropped by all of the houses during recruitment. She just didn't rush well. She went through COB though and was invited to join several different groups. Some women don't do well in a formal rush setting but shine in COB. Enna, I think this is important for you to remember, especially b/c you have friends in several different chapters. COB is so much more casual and comfortable. Try it out, have a blast.

I am really thrilled with the discussion that is going on. It shows our strength that we can critically look at ourselves and see where we can improve. Of course there will never be the perfect rush system. But I propose the following:
1. All panhells establish a courtesy invite system.
2. If a rushees plays by all the rules and does not suicide at pref then she gets a bid even if that house goes over quota. If a rushee goes to the maximum parties she gets invited to and pays the fee to rush then shouldn't she be guaranteed a bid to her pref house at the end? With computers and historical data we can determine the number of women that each house can invite to pref to be sure that houses don't go over quota by more than a couple.

Of course, some girls will drop out because they don't like their house selection. Also, unfortunately, some will get cut out. But I think the above 2 ideas are valid and fair.

Again, I didn't mean to bash USC. I have lots of friends and my brother who went there.

Good luck to you with COB!
You should have gotten a bid in the first place. I hope they come to their senses and give you one now!
-M

Hmm.. I have one counter point to bring up about all girls getting bids even if a house goes over quota.
Although I would love to see all girls get a bid, I do believe that quota exists for a reason, especially where there are big size differences in chapters. There are many chapters that by going over quota a little bit every year would crush the other, smaller chapters in numbers. You could try and even this out by not letting those chapters give extra bids if they are too large, but these rules already exist: chapters can COB until they are at campus total.
If you try and solve the numbers problem by requiring the smaller chapters give out extra bids, you take away their autonomy in choosing their members. I suppose you could let (not require) smaller chapters extend bids to girls who are not formally extended a bid after the lists have been compiled, but this is Snap Bidding and already exists as well.

Any thoughts?
-M

I agree that allowing groups to go over quota will create a huge problem. As a smaller chapter, we rely on the other groups only taking quota to at least keep the size somewhat in check. Also, I agree that we shouldn't be required to take girls on just because we're a smaller chapter. The system is imperfect, but with snap bidding and COB, chapters and PNMs retain some choice over where they want to go/who they want as members without letting numbers get out of control.

Laura,
I agree I know nothing about the different panhell rules at different campuses.

What am proposing is that all panhells nationally set invite fiqures for pref on every campus for every sorority using historical data so that 1) the larger houses only take maybe 1 or 2 over quota and 2) when a rushee goes to a pref party and is exposed to the sentimentality of that event she gets a bid. I guess we can agree to disagree.

FYI: I was a rush advisor and colonized for my national.

lauradav,

I feel you are just as quick to defend the system at USC.... When I do not think it is just the USC system that people are discussing. In the last two fall rushes, we have seen traditionally strong Greek systems have less then half their houses make quota. Fall 2002 Recruitment at UGA is one example... Another is FSU, last year Pi Phi did not make quota and this year Theta did not make quota; both of these houses have a strong history of being above campus ceiling and making quota during formal rush. At USM this fall recruitment four chapters out of eight did not make quota, all the chapters came within one or two NMs of making quota; but these are chapters who have made quota every year for the last 20 plus years. And now you are saying that only four houses at USC made quota... A school that according to the Daily Trojan did not had Spring recruitment for two years in the late 90’s, because all the houses made quota during Fall rush, putting them at or above campus total and only had three houses participate in Spring rush in 2000,. Then there are other schools like TX A&M, where people have posted that everyone made quota (for the first time in X years).

I think people are just curious, opening up discussions on how or what is being done at schools like A&M... and what went wrong at schools like UGA.

I have my theories in some instances... I think one problem is that chapters that traditionally held on to girls then dropped them before pref, leaving many PNMs without a pref party... Now are releasing too many too quickly with the release figures being followed... a balance needs to be found. In systems like UGA many houses are competing for the same 150-200 girls, with quota at 50+/-, and five houses competing, someone’s not going to make it. I am sure there are many theories, for which people wish to discuss; which, is one reason we post on GC. There is probably not a right answer, but maybe there is a “best out of the choices” answer. I can wager a guess that what works at Ole Miss, is not going to work at U of Maine.

Also, I understand not wanting to list those chapters that made quota or not... but out of defense of other GC and myself who PM’d you… It is not that we want to know who didn’t make quota, but rather did our GLO make quota. Yes, there are ways for us to find out, but since you seem to know, I am sure that people thought you would be the quickest contact.

In the Greek Bond,
A&As

FloridaGirl,

I didn't say that you didn't know anything about the rules on other campuses, I said that you can't understand what happened on an individual campus until you've participated in their rules creation process. No one can.

I agree that we are having an open discussion about the problems with the system but I am being defensive of USC b/c they are being undeservedly bashed in the process. These problems exist at all large campuses.

Laura

PS: If you PM'd me about your chapter and didn't get a response please PM me again b/c I accidentally deleted several PM's last night before I had a chance to respond.

There's a lot of talk about guaranteeing bids. That is RIDICULOUS. What if a girl didn't have grades? What if a girl was rude at every house? If you want to guarantee bids, she can be in your chapter, not mine.

I don't agree that bids should be guaranteed either, but what I think they were saying, DeltaBaby, was that bids should be guaranteed to girls who made it through the preference round. If she didn't have grades or was rude to everyone, she ought to be cut long before preference (and the house crazy enough to invite her to pref probably deserves her!).

Fuzzyalum, You are exactly right. Basically the houses shouldn't invite anyone to preference that they don't want to bid. It might be a different way of thinking for some panhells. Pref would not be simply another party round. It would be an invitation to join subject to bid matching.

Any woman that a house finds not a match would have to be cut earlier in the rush process. HOUSES WOULD NOT HAVE TO INVITE OR BID ANYONE THEY DON'T WANT.

This is my feeling anyway. I don't know how rejected I would have felt if, after being told by 2 sororities at pref how much they liked me, I had not received a bid from one.

We need to consider the negative public relations that this kind of situation can cause on campus. These women are on campus among the very pnms that we want. How insincere is it be told how wonderful you are at pref and then get no bid?

Does anyone else think this is a problem?

Then clearly what we need is National Panhellenic to take up this discussion about getting all campus panhells to agree to use release figures for the pref round. If all of the NPC groups agree at the national level then each campus panhell will do it. No one wants the big houses to be successful at the expense of the smaller ones.

Ok, I was thinking about this...and if you look at this mathematically gaurenting a bid to any girl who even goes to pref. doesn't work for larger greek system schools.

and this is just from my experience:

Say suzie is going through recruitment. there are 499 other girls going through recruitment with 6 NPC sororities. her GPA is a 2.8, she has minimal extra-curricular activities, no recs, and is not a legacy to anywhere. she has not gotten to meet any sorority women prior to recruitment.

first round, she attends all 6 parties. ABC, DEF, HIJ cut her based on grades/ extra-currics, no recs, and she doesn't know anyone who will go to bat for her to keep her because their are sooo many girls going through. KLM, NOP, QRS invite her back. She must go back to 4 parties, but only can go to 3. so she is forced to go to all 3 even though she did not like QRS at all.

During this time, 50 rushees drop out. leaving a total of 425.

Suzy goes to second round she goes back to KLM, NOP, and QRS. KLM cuts her because she was low coming back on their invite list to second round, KLM has lots of legacy's that they CAN NOT cut yet, and all the reasons that are listed above. She can only go back to 3 for 3rd round, but only has 2 to go to, and she still does not like QRS.

After second round, another 100 PNM's drop out, leaving 325. Qouta is set to the number of girls invited to third round divided by 6. Qouta is set at 54 new members, plus a possibilty of qouta addition, which would be a total of 56. You would think that this would gaurantee most girls going through to 3rd round that they would recieve a bid, but then this happens....

suzy goes to third round at NOP and QRS. She is trying really hard at NOP bc she likes them, and gets a long with them pretty well. She still isn't crazy about QRS and thinks she is wasting her time. her attitude is starting to show a bit, but because QRS is under chapter total, they have to invite her back to pref. so that their numbers won't drop dramatically. Suzy is invited back to Pref at NOP and QRS.

However, another 100 girls drop out of rush going into pref. leaving 215. Qouta is set at 34 + the option of qouta addition.

Suzy goes to pref.. Suzy ranks NOP first, and QRS second. She believes that because she has made it through this far, she will most likely get a bid from somewhere.

NOP ranks suzy at the end of bid list B, they fill qouta +2 before getting to her on Bid list B. Because of Suzy;s attitude during Round 3 at QRS, they rank her low on their Bid list B bc they figure she would prefer being elsewhere, and most likely get a bid from that org.. Suzy then becomes that 6% of girls who did not recieve a bid or were cross-cut that year.

suzy is a nice girl, she's cute, has ok grades...so how do we combat this....add more NPC sororities? change the legacy policies? change the way we do insane sorority math?

as someone from a smaller chapter I just want to say that I do know sororities are sometimes forced to do this, by either the national or panhel, and it is bull...I don't care if you have 3 members, if a girl shows up to your parties and is rude, inconsiderate and disinterested, you should be allowed to cut her loose. I can't think of anything that would be more wearing on the self esteem of a sorority that's already worried than having to put up with jerks at your parties where neither of you wants to be there.

OK, I just had to vent on that. :p

What's the solution? Well if I knew that I would get a big gold medal, but one thing I can say from reading these "big school rush" threads is, a good start would be to destigmatize informal rush and/or COB. It seems like at some schools if you have to open bid everybody acts like you are wearing your underwear on your head. Let's face it, some chapters suck at formal, but they can pull in big numbers in COB. Plus I think the focus should be on member RETENTION, not member gathering. Who gives a crap if you get quota every time if half those girls aren't active by their senior year?

*

**snap*snap*snap***

Here is something that has been driving me nuts when I think about it. A&A, I'm not sure if you mentioned this same topic somewhere else -- I know I've heard of it before. I'm talking about houses competing for the same 150 or so girls. Why is this? Who are the 150 girls that everyone wants? Why are there some people who are so appealing that they are the ones everybody wants? I know that it's true -- I'm not questioning the observation at all because I agree with it. I just want to understand it. What is it about those highly desirable rushees that everyone thinks they would make better sisters when there are plenty of women outside that 150 who would be just as good if not better?

I know we're getting off track of Enna's recruitment, so Enna, I'm sorry about that. I also wanted to tell you that I think you are just the coolest person, and I have been impressed by your attitude and your posts from the start. I hope that COB goes well for you, and whatever happens, I hope you'll keep posting because you are awesome!!! :D

My $.02
 

My chapter has ALWAYS done much better with COB. We felt more comfortable, and our new members always said that is what made them accept their bid. . we were comfortable and they didn't have to pretend to be anyone else with us. COB was great for us, formal rush usually wasn't. I too know what it feels like to be the chapter that always COB's, when another one is at/above total. But it worked for us. We just kept plugging along.

I've not been involved with bid matching, but I don't think our campus has been too consistent with using release figures(if we used them at all!). I wonder what recruitment would be like if we adhered to all the formulas. I do remember the largest 2 sororities inviting back like 75% or better of the rushees to pref EACH, when they could only give bids to 25% (We had 4 sororities on campus). That was definately not fair, because the PMN's could only go to 2 prefs. . .guess which ones they DIDNT go to, and DIDNT put on their bid list.:rolleyes: (and guess how many went bidless, until the invention of snap bids). This is my impression, I have no idea of the actual numbers.

This is the same campus that has way less than 100 girls signed up for rush this year. Lord, help us.

Enna. . .go do COB. I've personally seen it work for many girls over...and over...and over... and over again.

That is what I am afraid of. Women going bidless after being at pref parties will result eventually in less women being interested in rush. The large houses shouldn't use pref as just another party round after which they cut people. They need to cut these rushees before this round. Again, if the houses use release fiqures for pref invites this would be for the maximum number that each house could invite. Houses could always invite less. This way no house would ever have to invite anyone who has been rude etc. to them.I have seen situations at Florida schools that when the rushees begin to get heavily dropped they leave rush. Its not that they don't like the houses at all that they have invites to, they think that by the end of the week they may not have any invites or even after pref they may not get a bid. They don't want to go to the rest of the week to maybe be left with nothing at all. This hurts the small houses the most. So how do we keep these women in rush longer? I think by making sure that if they stick it out through pref they will get a bid. The rushees need to know that there is a reasonable chance they will get a bid to somewhere, NOT A PROMISE, BUT A REASONABLE CHANCE.

Yes, yes, yes! I totally agree with you! Because of the lack of utilizing recruitment figures, Bethany's Panhell is all screwed up. We do not have very many women going through recruitment every year, so all 4 of the houses were competing for the same, oh, 25 women. When quota is usually around 13, this is v. v. bad. The big houses will not cut until after pref, leaving a huge number of PNMs whose hopes are up, suicide, then don't match *or* who figure they aren't going to get their first choice (they see that everyone and their mother was also invited to the same prefs) so they just drop out.

In the past few years, we have seen more and more women with the attitude of "If I don't get XYZ, I'm not pledging" and houses acting on "Oh well, we'll string them along and pick them up in COB, they'll wait." The result is less and less women are going through formal recruitment and less women are showing even less interest in Greek Life.

I do not think that every woman needs a bid for the reasons stated in other posts, but if you make it to a pref....you should be somewhere good on someone's bid list. I do think that the quota+ thing should be based on recruitment figures. Otherwise, big houses will just keep on getting bigger while the others die.

i've also wondered about legacy policies. As grandmothers become great grandmother's the legacy line grows longer and longer. Requiring chapters to take most, if not all legacies, lessens the number of bids to be given out to women who are not legacies, but may be great greek assets. my family is a perfect example of this:

my grandmother is a KKG, a founder at a college in New Jersey in the 1930's. She had 4 daughters, 2 end up KKG. Those 4 daughters have a total of 7 female children, all legacies to KKG- still, some double legacies. Even though none of the grandchildren (well, we have one more to still go through recruitment) have went KKG. Now, my one cousin just had a baby, does that mean now that the baby is a KKG legacy?

Yes. If that baby's mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, or sister is a Kappa, then she is a Kappa legacy.

Kappa still has a very narrow description of legacy. In this age of "nontraditional" families, I'd like to see step-mothers and sisters, as well as aunts and cousins, count as legacies. That's on the one hand. On the other hand is that some chapters of Kappa have more legacies come through Recruitment than they have total spots in the house. So do we need to add even more legacies to that number?

I don't know of any NPC groups that require their chapters to take legacies. So many get cut. I am o.k. with that as long it is before pref.
I also want to say that I think a colony has a different pref situation and if they want to cut after pref then it is appropriate. A colonization pref party is more like a typical rush party in that it is not as initimate as an established house's pref.It is more like a formal rush party with some traditions. Also a rushee's expectations are different. They know that they have one shot. It is either this house or no house. There is usually no fee to rush a colony either. A colony must be allowed to ask as many as it wants to pref because they have no idea how many will show up the next day to pick up a bid. It is a more iffy situation for them.

Sorry Enna for hijacking your thread. Pm me if you would like me to see if my group got quota, and if not, if they are snab/cobing. As you can see from the number of hits on this thread, your story has started a debate.

Moxiegirl, the smaller campuses feel the bad rep thing first because they are in a smaller environment. The larger houses on every campus should be required to use release numbers going into pref. Even if the smaller houses use the release numbers, their numbers will be much more liberal than the large houses.
On a small campus here in Florida only 8, yes I said 8, girls showed up for formal rush. Last year it was 40. Now both houses are going to have to do cob. What a hassle!
UF, which is a huge campus with 15 NPCs and 1200 rushees had a fabulous rush. All but two houses got quota. And those two just missed it. I hear that there is a very active snap situation at one so I am sure they will have quota this week. What did UF do right? I don't completely know. But I do know that they have a very active Rho CHi outreach program to encourage rushees to stay in rush after they get cut by their fav house. Also I don't of any rushees who went to pref and didn't get a bid. The greeks' rep on that campus is so good that DZ will have their pick of several hundred women. I have seen some of these women. They are good looking, smart, active and would be an assest to any greek org. This is what a good rep will do for a campus.

why do we hold rush this way? i mean, why do we have qouta? does IFC have qouta? why is there rush period set up so differently?

the more i think about it, why can't the PNM's go to the houses they are intereseted in, not forced to go to the ones they don't like. And why can't the sorority just take the girls that they like. One house may take 35 girls while another house may take 10...as long as they are above campus total, i don't see why we all have to have equal numbers of members.

The reason sororities are all fighting for the same 150 girls is the same reason the rushees are all fighting for the same few houses! We pick on them a little for being poor, gullible freshmen, blinded by the glamour of the "top" houses, but we turn around and do the same thing right back to them.

I think part of the problem is that because we do formal rush en masse it leads to a herd mentality ... "all the girls in my group like Psi, so I should, too." "They say Mu Mu sucks .... what do they know that I don't?"

That's one place where the men have an edge (or informal rush does, too). Yeah, there are other people rushing with you, but the peer-to-peer pressure and competition is lessened. And spreading rush out over a couple of weeks gives you more time to think about your choices. The one advantage formal rush has is that is forces women to look at all their choices. I mean, our campus had 17 fraternities, and no man went to more than a couple of houses during rush. The upperclassmen had the excuse of knowing guys in most of the houses, but not the freshman.

So if Panhel let me redesign rush (when pigs have wings!), I'd start off rush with something similar to first party. Girls are required to go to all houses for tours or something similar. But after that, they go back to where they want to over a period of two weeks. The houses have events, not "parties." (When you have a choice of going to turkey bowling vs. rock climbing, the personality of the house shows a lot more than in a "Grease" vs. a "TRL" skit!) Let them have an invite-only event at the end where they do preference. Go to as many as you want, but naturally time will put a limit on how many you go to. And then, let houses give out bids to whomever they want. So yes, you can get multiple bids, like in informal. No one gets cross-cut, and if you didn't get a bid, it really means something - it's not a problem in the system. (Either Greek life isn't for you, or you had no idea where you really fit in.)

The immediate objection is that everyone will go Pi Pi and no one will join Du Du. One could put a cap on the number of bids given out, I suppose. But the guys seem to manage fine with houses of varying sizes. And because of that, the stigma of being *slightly* smaller disappears. Sure, being a house of 12 when the others have 50 is noticed, but having 40, who cares?

The biggest thing I can say to recommend this is - at almost every campus I know of, except women's colleges, there are more fraternities than sororities, and more Greek men than women. How many women do you know who hated formal rush and took their chances on COB? Or who don't go Greek at all because the thought of formal terrifies them? So - what is it they are doing better than us, especially given that there are slightly more college women then men?

Fuzzie,

I think your idea of redesigning rush could work on the smaller campuses that just seem to struggle with formal. I've had no experience with larger campuses so I can't speak to that. However, I can see how the system would almost fall apart the first year or two after the switch. It would take changing current member's attitudes towards rush and membership, and also the campus as a whole. If ALL the groups stuck with it, even if they have only 5 members returning to school, it has the great potential to work. (I'm thinking of my campus with only 4 sororities and 5 fraternities).

It seems like on my campus, there are girls who are all about going into a sorority, and are prepared for rush, know all about it, etc. and love every minute of it. Then there are others who come to campus not knowing what they want to do, take their time looking around, and see that "those sororities are cool, and they do lots of things I like". Then they decide to rush, usually after formal is over. What's left is COB, which works out well for those girls.