recruitment statistics(might put it all in perspective)
 

I was visiting the Auburn University panhellenic website and read the info. that they provided for parents of pnms. it was very informative, and listed some statistics, which i found explained how, even in a competitive recruitment, the majority of pnms can receive bids, as long as they maximize their opportunities. This is the link- https://fp.auburn.edu/greek/parents.htm.

For those who don't have the time to read it all, I will paraphrase the statistical information:

Using 4 years of statistics, Auburn determined that 78.26 % of pnms joined a sorority. 6.62% were released from recruitment. Of that 6.62%, 3.57% were true releases, meaning that at some point in the week, they received no invitations. The remaining 3.05%, which equaled 146 pnms, were released on bid day. These women listed fewer choices on their preference card than they had options. In other words, they did not list every sorority whose preference party they had attended.

That leaves approximately 15.16% of pnms who withdrew from recruitment. Of those pnms who withdrew from recruitment and completed a recruitment survey, almost 95% listed "not receiving an invitation to their favorite chapter" as their reason for dropping out of recruitment, even when they had 5 or more invitations from other chapters.

So, 2009/10 pnms, here it is in black and white. According to these statistics, if you maximize your opportunites during recruitment, you most likely will end up in a sorority. Keep your options and your mind open.

Interesting stuff - thanks for posting. I find it really sad when rushees would rather be in no sorority at all than a sorority that isn't regarded as the best. I wish I could just shake them and say, "At least give it a chance!!" I know so many women who (reluctantly) joined their second, third or fourth-choice sorority and ended up loving their experience, often more than if they had gotten their first choice.

Thank you FSUZTA - nice read.

After you graduate and mature a bit you do realize that those famous words "give it a chance" make a great deal of sense. When you are 17, 18, or 19 and going through the process you just have those blinders on and you think with that tunnel vision. I would love young women to know that college/sorority life is for just four amazing and quick years, but membership is a life experience. If you desire this membership for life, you really should consider maximizing all of you options. You have just once chance to make this decision!

Thanks so much for this info! And yes, it does make the process a little easier to understand. I will be going through recruitment at the Univ. of Kansas this Fall, where as many as 900 girls participate. My parents used to be wary of me joining a sorority because of last year's statistics: only 600 of the 900 pledged. At a Greek Life meeting that we attended together at New Student Orientation, we learned that about 200 girls withdrew! It's good to have these explanations of why girls need to maximize their options and be open-minded! I promised my mom and dad that I would stick with it no matter what happens during the week of recruitment. Now my parents are completely happy that I want to "go Greek." :)

Wow! :eek:
Talk about putting the process into perspective. I can't believe how many people give up on it and withdraw :(.

The thing is, it happens when girls go into recruitment with pre-determined "favorites."

They decide BEFORE recruitment even starts that they only want to be in ___ or ___.

So when they get their lists back and __ or __ aren't on it, they decide they aren't happy and withdraw. They could have a FULL schedule, but they decide they don't want to continue since they didn't get invited back to their faves.

Solution: Try not to get so wrapped up in one or 2 chapters that you refuse to continue if you don't get them back on your lists.

Those statistics are very interesting hear. Especially the amount of girls who withdraw cause they didnt get into their favorite. Chances are if you didnt get into your favorite the first time around you wont get in the second time.
I remember growing up thinking it was an accomplishment to get into a sorority period. I sometimes wish pnms these days would realize it a privilege to be Greek cause some girls werent lucky enough to even get invited back after Open House. I understand not choosing a sorority because you have significant problems with the women in that chapter or their morals or different than yours. Other than that if you go through recruitment with the mind set that you are lucky to come out with a bid, then your chances of being heartbroken on Bid Day are decreased. My sorority wanst my first choice during recruitment, but I was happy that they wanted me and it turned out being the best chapter for me.

That probably depends on the campus you're at. I've known many guys at various campuses who wouldn't be caught dead dating anyone who wasn't in one of the prestigious sororities. Really. If a guy has a hot girlfriend who isn't Greek, his friends wonder what huge thing is wrong with her that she looks so good but isn't Greek.

Yeah, that's bad of course but i'm just reporting it as I've seen it.

agreed, and i have known plenty of girls who did totally drop out of recruitment because they were dropped by their one and only hearts desire, but had plenty of other invitations they could have accepted.

I saw quite a bit of that at my campus, too.

A few friends dropped out of rush after only getting invited back to houses they felt undesirable. They had no intention of re-rushing and knew their chances were blown, but they would rather not be Greek than to join (or at least give a chance to) a house they didn't care for.

To each her own.

Thanks FSUZeta for posting the stats/analysis. I hope it will encourage future PNMs!

I'm thinking that the release figure model may help with this phenomena - since a girl won't be strung along, falling for the chapter to then be released right before preference time. Not sure how long it has been in place at Auburn but the fact that all the sororities made quota plus this fall seems to demonstrate that it is working.

i believe that Auburn was one of the first to use the release figure method, so these statistics should reflect that.

Of course this means that something over 146 pnms were true releases at Auburn during the week. Hurtful if you are one of them. Or was 146 + over the course of 4 years? 36 a year, while still tough for the girls is not as brutal as 146.

i read it as over the 4 years that the statistics were taken. as to the releases, we should remember that some of the releases could be dropping the wrong sororities in the early days of recruitment and putting the wrong sororities down on your card.

I'm pretty sure it's four year's worth as well. The math doesn't work with the percentages for one year.

The link in the OP says over four years.

From the website:
That 3.05% is made of 146 women (over a four year period), who all listed fewer options than those available to them in their final preferences. So, of the 146 women released on Bid Day, all were released because they chose to list only one or two sororities in their preferences and would have been placed in a chapter had they maximized their options for joining. In other words, all of them would have received a bid from a sorority had they simply been more open minded and listed all of their preferences.

So they made their choice; they could have been in a sorority.

Actually it was the 3.57% that were released that I was expressing compassion about. I used the 146+ number because it was easier than doing the math. However it appears that the 3.57% over 4 years is around 170 girls that were released by the houses. Yes, it could have been that they made poor choices early, but it is tough to know at the time that you might have a better chance at XYZ rather than ABC, particularly if you don't listen to the tent talk about which sorority is strong and which is not.

I find this attitude to be sad on the part of the men and women who participate and perpetuate it. I kicked a guy to the curb once because he thought all women who were members of my chapter were (insert stupid, hateful, ridiculous, immature, pathetic, untrue, etc. stereotype here) and I couldn't possibly be a member of my organization, and I had to be from another school. It is bad enough we have to deal with the stereotypes and inaccuracies from people who aren't members and want to bring us down, we shouldn't do it to each other and ourselves.

He is an alumnus and couldn't recall meeting or knowing ONE member of my chapter from his five years in school (that's NINE pledge classes), and my school is not that big.

At Iowa, something like 1/3 of the women dropped out of recruitment this year. It's in year 2 of RFM, and it's having some growing pains. But with all the talk about bottom tier houses, the part that seems to be lost is that if those 200 girls took those bottom tier houses, there would be parity, and thus, no more bottom tier. But that's a big leap of faith for an 18 year old girl who has always been top girl in school.

COB seems to be going well there this year, so maybe parity will be achieved next year or the year after that.

Completely agree. At my second choice, I talked with a girl who didn't originally want her sorority but grew to love it. It's really what you make it.


Yep. I think a lot of it stems from PNMs not truly knowing and understanding the process of recruitment and the true competitiveness of their school, in this case-Auburn. It could also be arrogance (I can make any chapter I want even if I'm a senior with a kid, 1.3/4 GPA, possess no social skills, talk about how much I like to get drunk everyday, etc) but I think ignorance is a kinder excuse than narcissism.



I am so glad my school is not competitive. I can't even imagine going to a school where it's such an important aspect of social life and something that has been tradition for their families. It must be so stressful and upsetting (at some points).

Ehh, I can understand why some of these girls drop out rather than join a sorority that is lower on the totem pole. Getting into top state schools is SO much more difficult and so much more competitive than it was when I went through. Most of these girls are top dogs in high school-they have the brains, accomplishments and awards-they have to be to get admitted to the school. I think it is more unusual not to come in with a set agenda ("I will only join certain sororities because I am a top dog") or listen to tent talk when you are 17-18. Unless they have an older sister/friend who can explain to them the ways of the recruitment world at that school. they might in for a rude shock. What they don't always realize is that everyone else has the same/similar credentials as they have. Since recruitment is in such a compacted time frame, if they get cut by the ones they want, they really don't have much time to get over it and move on. If they are unsure that they want to be in a sorority or are at a school that has an active social scene outside of the Greek system, I can understand how they would decide to bail. Maybe if they had a couple of days to get over their hurt and anger, they would have made a different decision, but unless recruitment is spread over a couple of weeks like some schools have it, that is not going to happen. Which is too bad for everyone, girls and sororities.

"Bottom tier" isn't just about size, but who's in them. I'm sure you could fill every sorority if you took just anyone.

What I find interesting is how at some schools (I think this is a Northeast thing) the fraternity that has the least members is sometimes the "top" group. That's because they are very very selective in whom they pick.