Release figures
 

Is anyone's campus using the new method of determining release figures? If you've used it - how did it work?

I PMed you.

UF has been using them for a couple of years now and had some of the highest % of women placed. FSU started using the new figures last year and every chapter that invited the max allowed had very good return rates. 13 of 15 made quota this year, and quota was up, too.

13 of 15 is pretty good -- what had it been in the past? Were the chapters that fell short of quota significantly below? Or did some chapters not invite the max?

I'm thinking the new RFM is very good. :)

Penguin, what's new about the new release figure system? The old system, at least the way I understood it, seemed excellent. Maybe schools were just awful at enforcement of the figures? :confused:

University of West Georgia is using them for the 1st time this year so I'll let you know next week.;)

Last couple of years, I know we were told a range that we could invite invite back but this year will be more drastic, I'm assuming.

In the past we'd had as few as 10 of 14 or 12 of 15 making quota. The numbers falling short of quota varied to just a few, to 2 dozen. It all depends.

I will say that the smallest chapter on campus doubled their chapter size this year and may COB to quota early in the semester, due in large part to the new RFM. Everyone on campus is ecstatic about this, especially the chapter and the local alumnae.

My opinion is that the new RFM works and works well, when implemented properly.

The new system, while more complicated, takes more into account and allows for more flexibility. For example, some chapters may only invte 1.5 times quota back to preference, others may invite 2x or 3x. The system also helps the PNMs stay realistic, I believe. On a a lot of campuses, chapters would invite everyone back until right before preference, then make a huge cut at that time. The new system asks for larger cuts earlier into the process. I think it gives PNMs and chapters a more realistic outlook of what to expect down the road. I think that everyone can agree that heavy cuts early in the week are much easier to handle than later in the week, after a PNM has built up significant hope at *a* particular house, only to be let go right before preference.

Excellent! I am hoping this will be the answer on our campus as well. :) In the past we've had as many as almost 10% not match.

That sounds like the "old" system that I'm familiar with. So either we were using the old system for quite a while or I'm not understanding. :) Either way, I'm glad it seems to work.

The system is certainly better than what happened back in the day: first, the bigger chapters would invite back girls they knew they'd never pledge just to have full parties and seem desirable. Also, quota was often set the first day of rush so if 400 girls came through recruitment and there were 10 sororities, they'd set quota as 40. Then maybe 320 girls would stay in rush so let's say that 6 of the groups would get quota (240 girls) and the other 80 girls would be divided between 4 sororities. Definitely a way to keep the big groups big.

FSU matched 100% of those that completed Pref cards this year and there were very few quota additions.

They changed the release figures a couple years ago, if I recall correctly. I know it freaked out some chapters (including my own, where I still help with recruitment) to have to release SO many girls early in the process. But overall it's better because it's based on the chapters' prior performance.

As I recall it's pretty complicated, but basically the theory behind it is that (as Penguintrax said) chapters are told the percentage of PNMs that they must release each night. Chapters who "perform" better during rush release a higher percentage and the chapters who may struggle with numbers during rush release a lower percentage. In some ways it reminds me of the tax brackets for our Federal taxation system....LOL.

The old system had a set formula and assumes all chapters are equal:

Quota x number of events / by %return = number to invite

The new system uses algorithms, prior performance, number of women listing you #1 on preference card, etc. This forces higher cuts for more "popular" chapters during recruitment earlier in the process, thus allowing those women, who never really had a chance of making the cut for the "popular" chapter to explore their options a lot earlier in the process. Essentially the number of women receiving their #1 choice remains the same, but more women are matched and fewer drop out due to unmet expectations.

The new system is not mandatory yet, but it is going in that direction, so your campus may have already implemented it.

Thanks for the explanations! I guess I didn't really understand the new system afterall. The old system took into account the three year prior retention average so I guess it just seemed similar to me. :)

I'm debating it. I think I might make cookies for them. :)

I think the way it sometimes hurts larger chapters is that it's not always easy to predict who might cut them. I'm told that at some recruitments, the bigger chapters have to cut 50% the first night and 25% more the second. At some schools with a lot of strong groups, it can be hard to figure out who will cut you--let's say that there are 10 really strong sororities out of 18 and the girls have to cut down to 6 sororities. If a strong sorority messes up in who they decide to cut, they could be waaayyy under the number they need for a strong rush. This is why that recently, several powerful chapters on strong Greek campuses haven't made quota.

I remember nights like those.

I'm sure it's tough, and there is a lot to discuss, but there's probably a more expendient way for you guys to do the cuts. Obviously I don't know (nor do I want to know) details of your membership selection process, but in cases like this someone needs to lay the smack down and make it run as smoothly as possible. That's something that can come with experience, and perhaps a chapter consultant or someone else at your HQ can give you tips on how to make it run more smoothly.

Lord knows I remember when we had to do cuts (at a small school where there were usually only like 200 girls going through rush) and how long it took us... ugh.

Actually, it does. It sounds like the problem was in the communication prior to recruitment concerning strict release figures enforcement? When you do the math (DISCLAIMER--I don't know if any of these figures are correct for Kent State, just going with the info hannahgirl had in her post!)

There are seven sororities listed on the Kent State site. If they are all still participating for 3rd round, then you take 113/7 to get your quota range. Let's say quota range ends up around 14-16 for rounding and such. If you had to cut 56.5 (half of that 113), you'll have 56.5 remaining. That's 3+ times a possible quota of 16. If only 6 sororities are participating, then QR is around 17-19; 19 x 2.5 = 47.5 invited to Pref with 57 = 3x possible quota.

I know I'm probably off with the numbers and the next round may not be Pref, but with the new system you should be inviting 2 to 2.5 times quota for Pref. Go on the high end and you'll get 16 x 2.5 = 40.

When were you told how many you had to drop? Obviously you were going to have to drop girls at some point, when did you think you would have to do it?

Cutting half of 113 girls for 3RD round? That sounds very much on par.

If it took you guys four or five hours to cut 56 or 57 girls, you really need to reexamine the way you do things because it really shouldn't take that long. You've had 2 rounds to get to know these girls before you make the cuts. Grades are easy first cuts, and that should knock out a few. It should also be easy to pick out a number of girls who would not be a good fit at all with your chapter.

Without going into details about my own groups membership selection process, your group undoubtedly has a very defined process as to how things should work that keeps the flow going and keeps things from getting out of hands and dragging on.

Detailed notes, trusting your sisters, and also getting together and discussing things as a group after each round will make things run more smoothly.

I'm guessing from your post that you didn't have to make any cuts after round 1? I hope that you still met and discussed things afterwards. If not, you should think about doing that next year.

If your chapter rushes well, then you should have a fairly good idea of what kinds of girls that you want in your chapter. It should be easier for you to cut those girls who wouldn't fit in with your chapter, and let them have a chance to get to know other chapters since they wouldn't fit in with yours.

Sounds more than fair. On some campuses the larger chapters are cutting 55% after the FIRST round.

I can't speak for it's effectiveness on a large greek campus but I know at my undergraduate campus it worked amazingly well. My senior year we had a horrible recruitment (Panhellenicly) with many girls not even showing up the first day and may dropping right off the bat. Stereotypes were running rampant and some how through what you guys call tent talk only 3 of the six chapters were getting good return rates. They then made massive cuts the night before pref and many many girls dropped out. This past year I helped out as an alum at my chapter and the release figures used helped everyone. All but one chapter made quota and they quickly COBed to it. The best part was a chapter that was struggling and really needed numbers ended up with 18 girls through quota additions. The early release figures helped girls look at other sorororities seriously instaed of the top one or two. USually this struggling chapter was the one girls went to just to have a full pref card but usually SIPed. This time, with a more realistic outlook they gave the chapter a chance and saw what a great group of girls it was!

I am no sure about the exact precentages of those placed who signed a pref card but I do know it was incredibly high and they said they had very very few SIPs!

Needless to say i'm a huge fan of the new release system and I hope it works just as well when I go to help this year!:D

I think that when the release figures method is fully and CORRECTLY implemented, it's absolutely wonderful. In my experience, the problem seems to be that many campus Greek Advisors, or whomever else is involved, are trying to tweak the system to work for their particular campus. Then it gets all screwy.

Well said.

I LOVE IT! One of the chapters on my campus (not mine) was totally getting shafted year after year because of reps and etc. And two other groups were leading people on left and right to their benefit. This year everyone did for the most part, equal and I was so happy for this smaller chapter! It was an amazing experience! They basically like tripled in size with amazing girls who might not have considered them otherwise (for no really good reason). They are going to have an amazing time this year and so will the rest of us. Now I want to see next year's rush when we have a more equal playing field...hmmm.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding things here, but isn't the whole intent of the new release figures to ensure that chapters are appropriately releasing throughout recruitment? As KDMafia said, "The early release figures helped girls look at other sororities seriously instead of the top one or two. USually this struggling chapter was the one girls went to just to have a full pref card but usually SIPed. This time, with a more realistic outlook they gave the chapter a chance and saw what a great group of girls it was!" THAT'S why these new procedures are being implemented. Too many chapters string the PNMs along throughout the week, just to do a global cut late in the process. It's not fair to the PNMs and it's not fair to the other chapters on campus.

hannahgirl, you may want to ask the Greek Adviser after recruitment about the possible breakdown in communication concerning the new release figure implementation on your campus. It's too late to do much now, but you may be able to impact better and more positive communications in the future.

I wsh someone would tell that to Panhel at my school who voted NOT TO USE THEM THIS YEAR :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :eek:

You know, I really wonder if this would work at Otterbein. If we had a set campus total, if we would use release figures and an ACTUAL quota... I wonder if that would even things out. It seems like there is a chronic problem with bidless girls or girls completely released or leaving after novelty round. It would be an interesting experience. We've got a new greek life advisor this year. I don't know what her background is either (NPC or Local or what). And i'm of course in no sort of leadership position in Panhel, but I'd really like to get the quota figures and chapter sizes even across the board. It would greatly benefit our campus panhellenically to have chapters of equal size, if for nothing else, then the panhellenic work could be evenly distributed.

Chances of this actually happening?

Comprable to my winning the Boston Marathon.

But who knows. I'll talk to my panhel reps. I know we have a green book on campus somewhere, if nowhere else, the former GLA has one.

I honestly don't think size/quota/total is as much of an issue for all local campuses or locals in general, unless there's a housing issue (i.e. the groups live on campus and if they can't fill their space they lose it).

If JKLocal's alumnae board is OK with them being 1/4 of the size of the rest of the sororities and the sisters are OK with it, I see no reason to subject them to NPCish rules.

thats wonderful jocelyn!!