Oklahoma State 2016
 

A friend's daughter went through OSU recruitment but dropped out the morning of pref. The mom is telling me that only 625 of the 925 PNM's made it to Pref Night and that of the girls who attended pref, only 77% accepted bids.

I don't know much about OSU but this is a Panhellenic failure of epic proportions if true. I am guessing the mom does not have all the facts straight - certainly don't want to correct her especially since her daughter is hurting but can anyone confirm what % of registered PNM's withdrew and what % accepted bids?? Just curious.

I will see what I can find out from alums. I think the numbers you got must be off, though, as OSU has had RFM in place for a long time. I know that quota must have been around 52-54, as KD and DDD had 54 new members and GPhiB welcomed 55. PNMs who drop out with invitations are not the failure of Panhellenic. Did your friends daughter just not like her invites to pref, or did she receive no invitations? Two different scenarios.

Just saw a bid list and it looks like 697 bids issued. At least by my rudimentary count.

Thanks for the info. Do you know how many registered? 697 / 925 = 75% placement rate. That's pretty low for a RFM campus, if true. My sorority is not on campus so even though it's in my region, I know nothing about Ok State.

Her daughter had 1 house left and withdrew the morning of Pref. Not what I would have recommended, but I think we all know how hard it can be for an emotional, heartbroken 18-year-old to put on a "Panhellenic" hat and think rationally.

I had one rec girl withdraw this week and "will be doing COB"...... I didn't hear anything specific, but did hear that Miss State tried a variable quota with RFM and the girls were really complaining and blaming the new sorority on campus.

is the 925 Registration number a fact or a PNMs report? The other numbers are not correct, as I saw a bid list with roughly 700 bids listed, so the rumor that only 77% of 625 at pref were placed is incorrect. I'll see what I can find out.

pmdal, do you mean Miss State or ok state for variable RFM?

Katmandu - I meant Mississippi State.....

925 came from the mom. It could be (and probably is) totally incorrect!

And the daughter said that only 77% of girls who got bids accepted them. Again- most likely totally wrong info.

There are lots of (odd) rumors going on about recruitment at Oklahoma State. A PNM told me on Saturday that OSU did not use their actual GPAs but used their own personal formula of selecting classes to use and omitting grades from other classes to make their own calculations. Sounded crazy to me, but I didn't argue with her because she is 18 years old!

Does this sound like there is a morsel of truth in there? Or did someone just have a lower GPA than they wanted to admit?

Typically PH uses their "core" subjects GPA- not including cheerleading, etc. It's usually the GPA the U uses during the admissions process also.

I think what is happening is that recruitment at Oklahoma State, for years gently competitive in a low key way, is now highly competitive in a OU, SEC way, and girls that dominated their high school social circles, find that at Cowboy U, they are no longer the unassailable queen bees they fancy themselves to be. It's easier to blame the system and say "only 77% of women at pref were placed" ( which is an amazingly abysmal percentage even pre RFM) and to say, "they took random GPAs generated using a formula that included eye of newt and blue moons" than to say, ...."I didn't get the invites I thought I deserved"

I know nothing about Oklahoma State, but I can say that at the University of Michigan, they drop all +'s and -'s and only take unweighted GPAs. They also drop non-core classes so only academic courses count to the GPA they use to determine admission. Most colleges don't use weighted GPAs from high school so this could be what happened. I'll hear someone say they didn't get into the University of Michigan with a 4.0 and find out that it's their weighted GPA. Their real GPA is more like a 3.6 or 3.7, which isn't high enough to get in there anymore.

Katmandu, I think you are right.

I also think AGDEE is right. That completely makes sense and the combination is probably true. I had another girl going through tell me OSU was "super chill" and she didn't need recs. She would not listen to reason from me or her friends who kept trying to tell her to get some recs!

OSU chapters have always had far higher GPA minimums for pledging than their national organizations. I had a true 4.0 unweighted back in the Stone Age and was not unique, not by a long shot, in my pledge class. And we weren't the "smart sorority" lol.

At Mississippi State, ADPi recolonized there a few years ago...is that the "new" sorority you are talking about?

And reminding our readers. Not finishing and getting cut are not the same thing. With a new and smaller chapter, some girls may have not have been willing to accept the invitation they were offered. Maybe with a little perspective they will be more willing to rethink their options. The chapter is definitely on a growth trajectory; they just need to have a little faith.

The parents of PNMs who participated in OSU recruitment received this info in an email from Panhellenic on Bid Day:

* 906 women attended events during the first event round
* 696 bids were extended, which equates to a 77% retention rate
* Quota was set at 54

Thanks so much for sharing! That explains where the mom's numbers were coming from, and how she got confused.

77% is a pretty low retention rate for a RFM campus. Is that that typical of OSU, or was this year an outlier?

What I heard from a chapter sister who serves on the House Corporation Board is that many girls dropped after the first day, which is before they would even have seen all of the chapter houses. RFM does not help retention numbers when girls drop out early in the game because they decided not to rush after all, just wanted to move in early and be on campus, or in later rounds because they don't like their invitations or because they registered with sketchy grades and were cut heavily and decided to drop.

One chapter did not reach quota, the rest of the chapters were at or above quota with quota additions.

+1 (actually more like + a million) to everything Katmandu has written in this thread. Nailed it. My thoughts exactly.

Retention rate =/= placement rate.. After first round, cuts for grades. Later in the week, PNM drops due to factors such as "not getting the houses I liked/think I deserve/are the perceived top houses/only here to party early/blah blah blah" etc.

How many PNMs attended Pref parties, and were issued bids - that's the data I'm interested in.

If the quota was 54, the majority of houses did not reach that number according to the bid list that is on line.

I only know of one group that did not bid 54. Most bid more with quota additions.

I was seeing 55-57 pretty commonly.

Oklahoma State ADPi took 55.

Actually, if you look at the PNMs who attended preference, 97% were matched to a group. That is pretty remarkable because they have a three party preference and it is hard to match quota additions with a three party pref. In order to be eligible to be a quota addition, if the PNM went to three parties, she has to list three on her bid card or she isn't eligible to be a quota addition. Almost all groups received quota additions. They did not have many PNMs dropping after the first round. The PNM did drop in large numbers in the last two rounds... and at that point it is due to them not getting the houses they wanted. :-(