Ole Miss Sorority Recruitment- 2016
 

Since there doesn't seem to be a thread yet on the subject and with sign up just days away thought I would get this thread started. Recruitment is rather late this year a week after mid-terms. Here is the schedule as I know it right now and as posted on website...

October 9 Panhellenic Formal Recruitment Round 1
October 10 Panhellenic Formal Recruitment Round 2, Day 1
October 11 Panhellenic Formal Recruitment Round 2, Day 2
October 13 Panhellenic Formal Recruitment Round 3, Day 1
October 14 Panhellenic Formal Recruitment Round 3, Day 2
October 15 Panhellenic Formal Recruitment Round 4
October 16 Bid Day

I can tell you that my daughter's sorority has been hard at work since like end of February beginning of March planning for this years rush class. Its very exciting and she is very much looking forward to it seeing it from eyes on the other side. They all have been working so hard to make it a success as I am sure all the other sororities are too.

I would suggest if you have not already done so, get in your recommendations as soon as possible. The earlier this is done the better. I can't wait to see how it all shakes out and looking forward to welcoming new members and sisters!!!!

Greek recruitment sign up has officially begun as of 6/1/16- I encourage those interested to sign up as soon as possible and ensure you have all your recs submitted as soon as you can. Orientation for freshman has also started and their should be some tables set up from some of the different sororities to answer any questions you all may have. They will also be doing this the first week of school- during welcome week. Best of luck and let us know if we can help in any way. :D

Just bumping up if anyone has any questions, or wishes to share their excitement, let us know. I for one, am very excited for recruitment this year. I have met several new friends who have daughters rushing at Ole Miss this year and really hoping for the best for each of them, that they find their home.

Don't forget there are area businesses around Oxford that specialize in bid day baskets for the new members- check this out:

https://youtu.be/BVpAxLMORHU


We are moving my daughter into her new house that she will be sharing with 3 of her theta sisters in just a little over 2 weeks. She is so excited and looking forward to seeing things from the other side this year.

Is Ole Miss doing a variable quota this year or is that a rumor?

Variable Quota
 

Okay, I was a recruitment advisor for 3 years but this term tripped me up. What is variable quota? I'm familiar with upperclass quota, and also with the weird bed quota thing at Indiana. But variable quota is new to me.

It's also called a tiered quota. Arkansas has started using it. Different quotas for different chapters based on their size and used where there is great disparity in chapter size so that smaller chapters don't labor under a large quota and larger ones aren't held back by a smaller one.

Thanks, Titchou. How does it work? And what are the implications of tiered quota in our RFM world? The two things seem to being sort of opposite.

According to my daughter, who is a senior at Ole Miss this year, each chapter was asked to vote on whether or not they wanted to do variable quotas this year. My daughters chapter held a vote and the result was passed along to Panhellenic. This occurred last week, but my daughter didn't know what the result of the voting was for her chapter or any of the others. She wasn't sure if they announced the results yet as they didn't hold a chapter meeting this week due to the holiday. It may or may not happen this year depending on how the voting goes.

The way she explained it was that the larger chapters would have smaller quotas (and smaller new pledge classes) and the smaller chapters would have larger quotas (and take more girls) in an effort to even out the chapter totals and give some of the newer chapters the ability to strengthen. At least that is how it was explained to her.

I'm not exactly sure how this fits into RFM.

Exactly how it works. Typically it's just two quotas- one for the smaller chapter/s and one for the larger....not a quota for each group.

Let me preface this by saying I am just a mom, and I have no real knowledge or expertise in this area at all. But I can tell you that I know for a fact that the variable quota was passed and will be in effect for this years recruitment. As stated, all chapters voted and it has passed. In my daughter's chapter, they are expecting large numbers this year.

I wonder then when quota is set or what the actual process is. I totally get the value of a variable quota but not the nuts and bolts of how it happens.

Quotas will be set after pref, no change in that.

The RFM specialist for the campus sets a quota range (say, 75-90)for the campus to start. So in this case she would have two ranges based on what makes sense for the two sets of chapters. And then they just work the formulas based on the history of each chapter just like always. It's like two separate recruitments on the same campus.That's very oversimplified but I think you should get the idea.

Remember that the chapters vote to offer this option.

I think it has worked very well at Arkansas the past 3 years.

Miss State used it this year but I don't think it was as successful...but may take a few years to even the playing field for some chapters.

Questions for the RFM experts (if I can manage to ask these coherently):

Is variable quota in place for some chapters (who voted in favor) but not others (if some did not) during the same recruitment?

From the PNM side -- how does it affect overall placement rate?

Also from the PNM side -- could variable quota hypothetically cause a PNM, who ranks a large chapter first after pref, to be less likely to match with that chapter (due to reduced quota), than under the past system?

I am no expert, but it seems that if they make it to pref, their chances are as good to receive a bid from their # 1 choice as at a non-variable quota campus. I would imagine that the culling of the herd would occur earlier, just like on a non-variable campus, but with tighter numbers. Titchou's analogy of two recruitments at the same time, on the same campus, is a great one.

1) No. It applies to the entire campus.
2) Should not at all.
3) No because they are still inviting back numbers based on their history vis-a-vis quota. Remember, each chapter is inviting a percentage of PNMs that historically gives them quota.They aren't inviting 100 to get quota. They are inviting X% that gives them quota. All the chapters are doing this against that projected quota range for them.

I think it will affect placement rate the first year or two because more PNM's will drop out. In theory, if 1/3 of the chapters are "strong" recruiting houses and 1/3 are "weak", in the past 1/3 of bids went to strong houses and 1/3 to weak. With variable quota, it could turn out that only 20% of the bids go to strong houses and 45% of the bids go to weak houses. I can see a lot of PNM's thinking that "their bid" got taken away from the houses they went into recruitment wanting, and not accept the bid they get or worse, drop out before they even have a chance to get to know the other chapters.

After several years, this system seems to work well for Arkansas because the PNM's who are not being considered by the strong recruiting chapters are cut very early in the week (because RFM is driving to that lowest quota range and their return rates are high = huge early cuts), giving them time to consider all their other options to go Greek.

I hope it works at Ole Miss but knowing the culture there, I do think it will take a year or three to be effective.

Re Arkansas, does it seem to have also improved member retention, not just numbers of bids issued? Are those women who were pledged to the "large quota" chapters 3 years ago still active and happy with their sorority experience?

If I were a mom of a PNM at Ole Miss, here's how I'd probably spend Recruitment Week: https://media.giphy.com/media/xTiTnk...ized-large.gif

Of course I am in no way, shape or form advocating binge drinking or any other form of excessive alcohol consumption, but...LOL!

ChioLu, that is hysterical.

And Will Forte is Greek -- Lambda Chi Alpha!

This may be me. My goddaughter (Chi O Big Sis' daughter) goes thru recruitment this week ...

Ole Miss recruitment Greek convocation is Sunday and recruitment starts following week- finally! So excited for all the girls. There is so much anticipation this year esp. with the variable quota- which I think will be a great thing. I personally know a few girls going thru and I wish them the very best of luck and am really pulling for them and all who are going thru. :)

Have fun girls and please consider all your options!

LOL!

Official Documents you might find interesting: https://uagreeks.uark.edu/greek-life...eport-2014.pdf and http://studentaffairs.uark.edu/_reso...stribution.pdf.

My personal thoughts as an active alumna in the state: Retention is about the same, but with chapter totals as high as they are (most at or around 400), honestly - most chapters are OK with losing members who either aren't participating or pulling their member responsibilities.

My rec girl is an AOII. As are two of her friends from her dorm that I was also keeping up with. Not sure where the four friend ended up. I seriously cried when she called after getting her bid.

Bid day excitement
 

What was quota for each chapter? How many girls found a new home? Please post pics.

Today one of my Delta Gamma sisters' daughter accepted her bid to join the Delta Gamma chapter at Ole Miss!

I do not know the different quotas for all of the groups but Phi Mu's was 120 and they pledged 130.

Our local girls pledged Phi Mu, ChiO, KD, TriDelta, DG, Theta, ADPi, and Kappa (that I know of thus far). Congratulations to all!

KD pledged 107 according to my peeps. (seems low to me) I do know we pledged 12 Texas girls including one of my all time favorite (I've know her since she was a collegian) alumna's daughter, so all is well.

Ole Miss was using a variable quota, so it's possible your numbers are correct.

IIRC your daughter is a Tri Delta active at Ole Miss. Maybe she can help you out with the answers to your first two questions! And for pics, you can always search the webz :D

Lots of chatter about the variable quota, and the way the week went for both sides (actives and PNMs). IMO it will be a few years before we see any changes (if that).

Variable Quota
 

Ole Miss did use variable quota. According to information I heard the quotas ranged from 101-160 depending on the pre-recruitment size of the chapter.

My best friend's daughter, who I unsuccessfully tried to get a couple of recs for, and is from good old Bloomsburg Pennsylvania, is a proud new member of Pi Beta Phi.

Thanks AZthetha. I know that Try Delta had 108 new members but I didn't know the other groups and I didn't think to ask my daughter. She is worn out from a crazy week. You also have a great memory!

University photo has some awesome pictures up - check out the links on their facebook page. I was so happy to go and share in Bid day for my daughter who is a Theta and this was her first rush from the other side. I know they took in an amazing new pledge class and the girls were super excited and came running home. My girl had a rush crush all week and was so happy when she came running home into her arms!! She also BTW I found out is a legacy - her mother, sister and aunt all Theta's - And she wants to be a cardiac pulmonary physician. Quite high aspirations for sure. It was an exciting and absolutely beautiful day!!! 2 of my friends daughters went KKG and DG- they were soooo happy!!! :)

Yes indeed I have a phenomenal memory. It's not eidetic, though (thankfully) but it sure is close to that. My visual memory is super strong, especially for print. It gets tiresome at times, to be truthful. I wish I had a delete key for some of the stuff that pops up out of nowhere!

Good to know you were able to see some of Ole Miss recruitment, stef; you have been a huge cheerleader for your daughter, especially since you weren't in an NPC sorority yourself in college. We don't always see that kind of enthusiasm and level of participation from parents! I imagine your daughter had all kinds of thoughts as she was experiencing recruitment as an active. Would enjoy hearing from her some day: because she went through COB at Ole Miss, she didn't get the full experience of Ole Miss formal recruitment as a PNM (which is not a bad thing at all, just different). Personally, I have no opinion on COB vs. FR. They both have their places in the system. YMMV.

AOII's quota from what I was told was 130 and they pledged 137. Not sure what ADPi's quota was but their facebook page says 177. I heard everyone did very well. I think the variable quota or whatever it's called seemed to work at Ole Miss. I'm afraid having two children now I feel out of the loop. I was out of town for bid day and most of recruitment. Any hoo!

I wrote 8 recs, so far I've heard: 1 DG, 1 Theta, 2 Pi Phi....