Wow--Has Rush Changed that much?!?
 

I am a greek with NPC experience from my college days in the 80's. My youngest dd just finished up rush at her school and I am shocked by the changes to rush--is this normal--or just a poorly run NPC?

It's an 8 sorority system. They had formal rush in the Fall for upperclassmen and again in the spring opened to all. Rush was 100% on-line in the spring. (no idea they could hold 2 formal rushes in the same school year).

Spring Rush first 2 nights were meet/greet parties with PNM's going to 4 houses per night. All PNM's to all orgs. The Gamma Chi asked the girls to rank the orgs 1-8 after the first round of parties, as they could only pick 4 org's for the next round.

Next round-PNM's pick from their invites to go to 4 parties. When invites for the second round of parties were handed out, so many PNM's got cut from the "best" orgs that 34% of the PNM's dropped before round #2.

Gamma Chi says rank your remaining 4-we match for preference invites. The next day receive your 2 pref match invites with bids the same night.


My dd got her bottom 4 for round 2 and expressed disappointment to her Gamma Chi in not getting an invite from her #1-"Sally Sea Shell Sorority". Gamma Chi-"not surprising-they only take girls from X and Y geographical area and you're not from there."

DD's roomie also went through rush--in a different PNM group-roomie's Gamma Chi was shocked to see that roomie got an invite back to "Alice Allgood Sorority" and "Terry Turtle Sorority" round 2 since their "pref lists" were already set/known before rush officially started. Gamma Chi discouraged her from attending those 2 for round 2 -"don't waste the opportunity to visit orgs you have a chance at receiving bids from" but roomie went any way with high hopes-roomie didn't make it to pref at either and was crushed.

So that's 3 of the 8 org's that have some sort of "pre-set" selection process.

At the end of this, 6 of the 8 orgs pledged full quota, 1 org pledged 50%, with 1 org only pledging 2 girls!! Approximately 19% of the girls that attended pref/invite parties went home without pledging and/or receiving a bid.

Adding that together they placed approximately 52% of the PNM's that started the process in the first round of parties.

Is this normal now? A huge cut from the 1st to 2nd round? Pre-picked pref parties? Selections based on geography? Such a huge loss of PNM's?

Maybe just different than I remember :confused:

Yes, mom, some things have changed tremendously. Some things remain the same. Frankly, girls who quit the process before Pref because they don't get back their #1-wished-for chapter back get little sympathy from most of us. They walked away from opportunities to join an organization. Please take the information from your DD and roomie with a big old bucket of salt.

If 6 of 8 pledged quota, I don't see how that's a 52% pledging rate.

How is it kosher for any Gamma Chi to tell any PNM the actual, possible, imagined or made-up recruitment strategies for any house? How is that being Panhellenic?

52% from the original group that signed up for rush.

81% from the group after Cut #1

Appears to set quota from the # attending the first invite party round.

Yes, the huge drop from Round 1 to Round 2 is part of the Recruitment Figure Methodology used sine the mid-to-late 1990s by the NPC.
The ones that cut their PNM (formerly known as rushee) pool so harshly are the ones that everybody wants and obviously few get.
Truthfully, this releases candidates early in the game, so they can look at the other sororities more closely and find a fit, rather than the biggies stringing them along with a big drop before pref.
IT HAS BEEN A GREAT AND GOOD METHOD!
This has what has been responsible for the huge growth of the Greek system everywhere! As long as the girls don't immediately give up and drop out of recruitment/rush, they are more likely to find a fit with another sorority.
Pledge rates have climbed, making chapters healthier.

There is a history in the school of accusations of improper rush procedures-sisters "outing" their chapters' dirty rushing after they dis-affiliated. I just assumed it was sour grapes--not so sure anymore.

NPC taught us--never speak poorly of another org, build them all up, the NPC is only as strong as its weakest group. Goal is to find a home for everyone who wants to be greek.

My NPC would have looked at our procedures if we lost that many at the first cut---there is a responsibility to educate PNM's that all orgs have special and unique strengths--give them ALL a chance.

Pre-picked pref parties and selections based on geography were definitely a thing 50 years ago, probably longer than that.

I can vouch it was 60 years ago! Depending on the school and the chapter, anything was possible.

College Panhellenics set rules as to how the recruitment will be run. The individually sororities make their own membership criteria/selection process within the parameters set by Panhellenic, NPC, and their national organization. The majority of college panhellenics use the release figure method (RFM).

Each chapter's return rates for a set number of years are evaluated and used to determine how many PNMs that chapter is allowed to ask back. It changes per round. The chapters that "everyone" wants to return to have higher return rates, thus it is safer for them to release more PNMs, because those who do receive an invitation from this chapter will, 9.9/10 times go back to that chapter. Conversely, those chapters who are not in that category are allowed to invite more PNMs back. The object of this method is for as many PNMs to receive bids as possible.

If the PNM attends all the parties she is asked back to, and lists the chapters where she attended pref on her MRABA (bid card), she will receive a bid. She is not guaranteed a bid if she attends two parties, but lists just one choice (Single Intentional Preference-SIP, some people say Intentional Single Preference-ISP). So short story long, if your daughter's Panhellenic used RFM, and the PNMs went with the flow and gave all the chapters a chance to woo them and accepted the bid extended them, the pledge rate would've been much higher.

Did Panhellenic officially release these statistics?

This info came from the Gamma Chi's--through various interactions.

Not sure how you find "official" release numbers--any pointers?

That's all rumors, no doubt. I'm thinking you're talking about SMU and I can't see them letting out the official information, not even to Gamma Chis.

Not SMU.

I did confirm through my sorority's alumni connections that the chapter pledging 2 is correct(Carnation that should give you a big hint what chapter that is).

I doubt this is an "official" release. Just info shared with rushee's during the process. I would hope that Gamma Chi's wouldn't be totally making up figures, don't see the point, but maybe?!?

The math from the new class sizes seems to match up with the info shared by the Gamma Chi's.

Yeah, I heard through Texan connections who pledged 2, although I heard that all the other sororities pledged quota.

First, YES! Rush has changed a ton in the last 40 years - resulting in a larger, more inclusive sorority system with larger pledge classes and many more amazing sorority women joining our orgs!!

When I went through rush right before RFM started on my campus, the most selective houses invited almost everyone back all week so that the PNM’s would drop other houses. Then there would be a bloodbath of cuts on the morning of Pref as the top houses would get their list down to the 50 girls they really wanted….so many girls without bids. Now, PNM’s have a realistic list of chapters who actually ARE interested in them very early so they can really get to know those chapters instead of dreaming of ones where they have no hope getting a bid. Also bids are now guaranteed for girls who “maximize” their options at Pref and don’t suicide - no more cross cutting! My campus had 4 chapters leave due to small numbers in the decade before RFM was implemented. That campus hasn’t lost one chapter since - and has successfully added 3 or 4 more. All are healthy and thriving and the one or two that miss quota are still getting 50-70 new members, not 5. That is proof the current system is a huge improvement!

But also some things are still the same like the reputation some chapters have for “zip coding” or some high schools’ graduates having a “top 3 or transfer” mentality. Prudence MacIntosh wrote the infamous Texas Monthly article about UT rush in the 1970’s…so yeah, those rumors of wanting to pledge their hometown or first semester friends are NOTHING NEW.

Honestly, it sounds like your DD had a bad Gamma Chi, whether she was poorly trained or just didn’t care to act Panhellenic, she was unprofessional and unhelpful in engaging in “tent talk” and rumors with your DD and her friends.

I admit that I never heard of the infamous Texas Monthly article written by Prudence MacIntosh prior to this, and it is fascinating.

You can read it for yourself: Sisterhood Is Powerful

Needless to say, recruitment has gone through many more transitions, including RFM.

Hootie2U, did your daughter and her roommate pledge?

Roomie found a home at one of her top 4 orgs and is happy.

My daughter has a home at an org that was the sixth on her list but isn't sure she is happy/fits in......she's now thinking the whole system isn't for her. The org gave her a deadline and she is just taking that time to let it all sink in. I encouraged her to give that org a full chance and participate this week in anything they ask her to do-people may be different outside of the pressure of rush.

I met another one of her friends last night...great girl...my daughter mentioned that she went through rush also but didn't get an invite back to any of the orgs she ranked for pref. The NPC offered her 2 orgs she had already dropped if she was interested, but she withdrew before pref. Daughter said there were 2 more in her friend group that had the same thing happen--ranked A-B-C-D offered E-F for pref.


It is puzzling to me that these orgs already had their "girls" lined up. Apps for rush didn't open until 3 weeks before rush and closed the day before the first round. I guess the delayed Spring rush allowed for a lot of research in the fall to "scope" out your targets.

I'm sure that if this is a school where you see geographic preferences, they knew the girls they wanted even before college started. They were in school and other activities, like traveling/all-star teams, with these girls.

Some groups are touting their fabulous diversity practices but in reality, sorority members are afraid to pledge unknowns. They could be the girls that do stupid stuff on social media or otherwise hurt the sorority.

First, your misuse of terminology is driving me bananas!!!

1. NPC = National Panhellenic Conference, the umbrella organization for the 26 womens’ sororities

2. NPC is not on your campus. Panhellenic or University Panhellenic is the group on a school’s campus governing those sororities.

3. Panhellenic organizes rush but they aren’t the ones doing the inviting. So when you say “The NPC offered her 2 orgs she had already dropped if she was interested”….that is totally incorrect. The girls your daughter knows got invited to 2 chapters because those are the 2 chapters that invited them back. Panhellenic has nothing to do with which chapters invite which PNM’s and didn’t “offer” those girls anything.

PNM’s rank all chapters they attended in previous round, 1-6. Rankings only come into play if the PNM has more chapters invite her to the next round than there are parties in that round. So if 5 invite her back, the 4 she ranked the highest (of those 5) are where she will go. If only 2 invite her back, those are her 2 invitations no matter how she “ranked” them. PNM’s don’t do any “dropping” unless they have more invitations than the max # of parties.



Second, YES deferred rush is totally different!!! The PNM’s have had a semester to make an impression on the chapters and vice versa. A PNM who has also been on the cheer squad or on the same dorm floor or in the same major classes with sorority actives is going to have a totally different rush in February than a PNM who shows up to college for the first time in August and rushes before school starts. There is no magic “clean slate” when you register for deferred rush because the chapters have been watching you all fall. If you got drunk and hooked up with an active’s ex boyfriend or if you ran naked across the tailgate before a football game or participated in virtually bullying on IG/ TikTok….the sororities all know.

And then layer on feeder high schools and the usual that happens on every campus. I don’t know why this is so surprising to you. Your daughter had a semester to get involved on campus and make connections for herself.

Sorry don't mean to drive you crazy. Not sure what to call it.......this system is no longer affiliated with their University, but you are right it's not the National.

The PNM went to Round 2 parties for Orgs-A-B-C-D, none of them invited her back to Pref. She received an offer to attend pref for orgs E-F, she said no thank you.

Hope you have a great day!

I have heard of this happening several times. For instance, a neighbor's daughter didn't get invited to prefs at any of the 5 sororities whose parties she had attended the day before but her Gamma Chi told her that 2 other sororities wanted her to come to their prefs. (She said no too.)

If I am understanding, the PNM in question had previously dropped (there is really not a better word) chapters E and F, and had attended round 2 parties at A,B,C, and D chapters. She then ranked those 4 chapters (A,B,C,D), but none of them invited her to attend pref, so Panhellenic offered her the chance to attend chapters E and F, despite the fact that she had already dropped them. That is such an unusual situation, it makes me wonder if this campus uses RFM.

I am sorry that things did not work out as your daughter had hoped. I'm with you on giving that chapter a chance.As long as she depledges before initiation happens if she continues to feel this is not her group, she could rush again next year. I'm guessing that her deadline is to accept or decline her bid?

You mention it is an 8 sorority system. Are all 8 groups NPC groups, or are there locals/multiculturals?

Yes her deadline is to accept the bid.

Yes, all 8 groups in the system are national, no locals.

Well, I'd tell her to spend as much time as she could with her current group because the chances of her getting a bid in a competitive second recruitment aren't huge.

I agree-totally, chances are probably slimmer than they were this year.

Unless she wants to join the group that pledged 2 ;).

Help her realize that accepting her bid does not force her to initiate. Should she decide that this is not the group for her, she just needs to let her pledge trainer and the president know that she wants to drop out-there may be some papers she has to sign. I hope that she will spend as much time with this group as she can, and that she falls in love with them. Fingers crossed!

Rush sign up has absolutely nothing to do with it. I've sent recs on girls I didn't even know whether or not they were going to sign up. And that is definitely true for campuses with deferred recruitiment. Very common in many places