Well, in my very general, layman's understanding of it - and I know someone will do it better than me -

I understand that there is a computer program that is able to compute factors such as number of pnms, chapter total, number pledged in recent years, etc that comes up with a release formula that is tailored to each sorority. Some sororities must cut more in the early rounds while others cut less. All of it is designed to give the sororities AND the pnms a maximum number of choices for placement.

Someone else?

That is exaggerating the situation quite a bit! PHA tells you more that you have to drop a certain number. They can not tell you that you have to keep a certain number. The likelihood that you will really have to keep undesirables through to pref by following the RFM is low. RFM makes chapters cut women earlier and in larger numbers than they did in the past. If you, however, are in the group with the lowest return rates, PHA is GIVING you the chance to invite back the maximum number of women so that you have a chance to meet quota. If you know you don't want someone, cut them. You may not make quota, but you won't have quota's worth of girls you don't want. No...you won't suddenly be getting those top girls that everyone else wants, but you will be able to keep more of those middle girls that would have cut you earlier to stay with a top chapter that never had any intention of giving them bids. RFM levels the playing field...it doesn't flip it upside down.

You don't *have* to invite anyone back you don't want to. Chapters can decide to release more than they're told from the release figures. But, in doing so, can hurt their chances of making quota, etc... It's generally thought best to release no more than what your release figures suggest, but the GA or whomever isn't going to stand at your door telling you to invite back Nasty Nancy PNM if you don't want to.

Exactly! I would also like to point out that chapters who are asking people to give them a chance should do the same thing for the PNMs. Maybe an extra day will give a PNM a chance to show your chapter that she has something to contribute to your sisterhood. Chapters are often as bad as PNMs at making "top tier" decisions during recruitment. I personally believe that there are very few women in recruitment that would not be good members if given the chance. This, of course, excludes the women with obvious personality disorders.

What about grade issues? If the smallest chapter just so happens to be the one that requires a 3.0 GPA, and 50 of the 100 rushees have a GPA under that, there isn't anything they can do about it.

And if rush is deferred, it's often not a matter of "I heard that Rhoda Rushee was a hobag in high school" - sometimes it's having seen, with your own eyes, Rhoda Rushee having a threesome in the middle of a party. I know that isn't the case here and rush isn't deferred, but it's something I think has to be taken into consideration.

I seem to remember someone on here before talking about having to ask people back they didn't want to ask back because of release figures - maybe not the poster, but a chapter at their school. I don't know if that was coming from the Panhel or from their HQ though.

I'm pretty sure the NPC New Release Policy has nothing to do with requiring a certain number to be invited back - that would come from the GLO's HQ or advisors.

If it's coming from PHA, then they need an adviser who can stand up to them. As for GPA, are there any NPC's with a national requirement of a 3.0 GPA? If the chapter has decided to require a 3.0 in a school with much lower average GPAs, then they have made that decision to limit their choices. If they don't make quota, then it's their own ( I don't want to say fault, because it's what they want) fault! If they want to meet quota in that situation, they need to be more realistic with their expectations.

I was using 3.0 as an example (not necessarily a realistic one). Coming from a small school, believe me, there were years when it seemed like rush signups and the "just barely above academic probation list" were the same thing. It happens.

And yeah, I totally agree with you about the advisor telling PHA what's what. :) "Intersorority goodwill" only goes so far.

I think we are very much on the same page, 33girl! Sometimes, things don't work out all peachy keen! RFM helps, but it doesn't deliver the best PNMs on a silver platter. The only other thing PHA can do is determine the most desirable PNMs and divvy them up evenly between all groups. I don't think we'd like all the cookie- cutter sororities that would result, though!

Totally agree with this.

Also something that should probably be clarified is that release numbers are usually based on past history of a chapter's return rates. For example, chapter A with a 3-year average return rate of 98% will have to release more PNMs than chapter B with a 3-year average return rate of 72%. This method required chapter A to release PNMs earlier so that chapter B has a better opportunity to get to know and fall in love with more PNMs (and so the PNMs can have more time to fall in love with chapter B instead of getting caught up with chapter A).

Yeah ... Release figures set how many to release, not how many to invite back. A chapter can make a steeper cut earlier in the week if they decide to but it could end up hurting them later if their historical return rates are low. Back to my example above, based on return rates at Pref, chapter A might have to invite 2x quota to Pref in order to make quota while chapter B might have to invite 5x quota in order to make same quota. If chapter B releases too many PNMs early in the week they run the risk, based on their past return rate, of not achieving quota.

You're right, Kansas City. RFM just takes advantage of statistics. If a previously strong chapter suddenly takes a nose dive one year, their previous return rates will work against them, and similarly, a chapter with middling return rates could suddenly become very popular and get to string along tons of girls because they usually need to keep higher numbers of invites to make quota. RFM can't take those situations into account. It just adjusts to even things out based on history.

Which is where Flex Lists can be very effective. Let's say ABC has a disasterous return rate this year when in years past it was amazing. Flex List + gives a pre-approved list of PNMs that the chapter is willing to invite back, i.e. more than the number Panhellenic originally said could be invted. Or vice versa, XYZ historically has low(er) return rates and this year has dramatically improved. Flex List - is a pre-approved list of PNMs the chapter is willing to cut, i.e less that the number Panhellenic originally said.

But it is only possible to use Flex Lists with Preferential Rankings, not traditional accept/regret. PNMs finish a round and immediately go rank the chapters they attended. Panhellenic can see if a chapter has been ranked higher/lower by more/less PNMs than in past years. They can then adjust the invitation numbers accordingly using the Flex Lists before invitations are actually extended.

At my school, pref night is the first night that PNMs have to chose which sorority they return to. 50% of the PNMs invited to our pref decided to come back. In the report that the school sent to nationals about recruitment, they said that our downfall was that we didn't invite enough PNMs back to pref.

I'm a bit confused as to your timeline but I would guess that based on a 50% return rate that your chapter should have invited almost twice as many PMNs to pref in order to make quota? Did your campus use release figures to determine the amount you should invite or perhaps it was something your HQ mandated?