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Which is the lesser of 2 evils?
This question is for alums, actives, rushees, everyone!!
Reading thru the rush stories, I see phrases like - "There were women here from another chapter talking to us, it was very uncomfortable." and "My daughter didn't like that the conversations were 2 & 3 rushees to one sister." So - which do you think is preferable for a smaller chapter to do - bring in sisters from another chapter (not necessarily a chapter you are close to or with) so every rushee has someone individual to talk to, or just deal w/ the double/triple rushing problem? |
From my own experience, I was more uncomfortable with the 2 - 1 ratio than I was speaking with a girl from another campus. At least you can have a normal conversation without being ping-ponged around.
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At my alma mater, we came up with a way to avoid this problem in the first round. They do round 1 in suites in the student union, even though we have chapter houses. For every chapter to meet every PNM, it takes literally 24 hours, split into 2 days, 8am-8pm, but no one was there the entire time (except for PHA recruitment team).
They had 7 chapters in the Union on Saturday and 7 on Sunday. Although we had 35 groups of about 10-15 PNMs, there were 3 "super groups" for round 1, split into 3 shifts. Shift A PNM groups would come both days from 8am-12pm, shift B PNM groups would come both days from 12pm-4pm, and shift C groups would come both days from 4pm-8pm. All PNMs see the same 7 chapters on Saturday and the rest on Sunday. A chapter is only allowed to have a fixed number of women in the room (like 25 maybe?), but they can rotate their members throughout the day, lessening the burden on individual members. The president, recruitment chair, and recruitment advisor are there all day though. This way, a PNM won't see if a chapter is smaller, and if any chapter has to double rush for the first round, they all have to double rush that group for the first round because each chapter has a fixed number of members in the room. Plus, PNMs won't have the chapter house clouding their judgement. Also, logistically, things go smoother and faster because there is not much walking between chapters. There's not a HUGE discrepancy between the largest (95 before FMR) and smallest chapters (80ish before FMR), though there used to be a much bigger gap, 95 being the largest and the smallest being 40-50. If a chapter is way smaller than the largest, the dilemna between double/triple rushing and having sisters from other chapters help will still be present in subsequent rounds, and the members may have to stay more than one shift in the first round. But it is a way to level the playing field a bit more in the first round. |
The best solution I saw during rush was when it was 2 rushees to 2 rushers. One of the rushers was from that chapter and the other was from a different chapter. It was more of a group conversation but at least you were able to speak with someone from your school (most of the chapters had group conversations for the first round).
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I'd prefer double rushing to having sisters from other chapters rushing PNMs. Our Panhellenic didn't allow alumnae to "rush" PNMs anyway, so we had to work with the # of actives we had. When we had to double rush when we were smaller, we did it 2:2 as opposed to 2:1. Oddly enough, the year we had to do the most double rushing was the year we made quota and went on to double our chapter size.
M reasoning is, yes the chapter is small, but at least those woman can actually speak to the experience of being a member of that chapter. I've always thought it would be really awkward if a PNM was being rushed by a sister from another chapter and the PNM asked something like "What makes your chapter unique?" As much as the sister from another chapter wants to help, she can't really answer that question the way a sister from that particular chapter really can. I also think that having women from another chapter rushing PNMs actually does the chapter a disservice because those women aren't going to be around anyway. A PNM might really connect with some sisters, but they're from another chapter and won't be there once they get bids. It creates a "bait and switch" situation. |
When I went through rush there was a chapter on my campus that was considerably smaller than the others (80-100 pre-Rush for most chapters, compared to about 25 for this one). They brought in actives from a nearby campus, but we as Rushees felt very weird about that. It was almost a "bait and switch" type thing... you got to know some women through Rush, and then "poof" they were gone back to their own school and you were left with women that you did not talk to during Rush. The PNMs were not impressed at all... in fact I don't know of a single PNM who chose to go back to that house for any round... all return visits were because they had to go. They did not have a good rush that year and sadly closed down later in the semester.
You could tell they were *really* trying, but none of the PNMs were impressed with being rushed by people who would not be around 5 days later. Violetpretty's idea, while giving me extreme tired-head over the logistics, does seem like a nice way to level the playing field. KSUViolet's idea of 2:2 is also a good one. |
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I wonder, based on especially KSUViolet's comment, does the situation become better if the PNMs are being rushed by recent alums (graduated within 10 years) of that chapter (instead of actives of another chapter)? Or is it still awkward, but for other reasons?
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At our school, we had the alums in the room to make our chapter appear larger but our school's panhel stated they weren't allowed to rush any of the PNMs so they mainly helped with setting up, refreshments, etc. and just looked busy when the PNMs were in the room. Also, their nametags specified they were alums and oftentimes they would be dressed differently than the collegiates in the chapter to further signify they were not actives. That was the best my chapter could do since we were on the smaller side.
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IMO, it's better to have sisters from another chapter - but they have to change tactics. The sisters should emphasize the (inter)national appeal of the sorority in question, how they're there to help out because XYZ had more PNMs than they had expected, the national philanthropy, etc etc.
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I think double rushing is better. The chapter just has to train better for it because, ideally, the conversation should be just as natural as one on one would be.
We would have a handful of alum and sisters from another chapter in the room but they never spoke to a rushee. |
I would say it depends on the campus. Neither would work on my campus. If you are double rushing or have to bring in girls from another chapter I would say chances are you will be closing your doors soon. When I went through rush both of the small chapters double rushed us (and still did very poorly). The next year one of the chapters brought in girls from their Auburn chapter (they still pledged way under quota)-it did not matter their fate was set unfortunately. Both closed within a few years. One tried to reorganize the year after it closed but was not successful.
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Maybe these groups need to think outside the box (I know...I hate that phrase too but it fits!) If double rushing makes girls immediately not want to give a chapter a chance, maybe small chapters should dump the one on one idea for the early rounds when PNMs outnumber sisters. A GROUP activity may be a better idea. Some of the recruitment threads talk about games at their parties to help sisters get to know the PNMs and vice versa. Not many girls start out at the first party asking "What is so great about your sisterhood?" The chapter could instead focus on answering the common first party questions like "What's your philanthropy?", "What do y'all do for fun?", "What groups are your members involved in on campus?" etc. If done right, they'd seem innovative and fun not desperate.
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This happened to a friend of mine that rushed at another school. She got a bid from a chapter who had one of their chapters from not far away come to help them with recruitment.When the girls from the other chapter left and my friend found out several of the girls she liked during recruitment were not in this chapter she depledged and went through recruitment again the following year. |
There just isn't an easy answer. Once a chapter gets noticeably smaller than the other chapters, they immediately have an obstacle to overcome. PNMs think something must be "wrong" with the chapter, even if it is filled with wonderful women. It's hard to avoid the death spiral - the chapter is small, takes in fewer members through formal recruitment, is unable to cob to get the numbers up . . . I've lived through it, and it's the pits. I was able to help another chapter as an alumna adviser avoid it - but it took a lot of work on the part of the actives, and massive cobbing.
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We're actually facing this situation this year. We had a tough graduation (the sophomores and a few of the freshmen, now seniors, from the original colony) and the largest group of PNMs that have ever gone through recruitment thus far in school history. We're planning on having our best conversationalists pick up two girls at the door, and then having group conversations from there (i.e. 5:4 instead of 2:1).
As for the size issue, for the first two parties we're having recent alumnae attend the parties so the room doesn't appear empty. As the parties go on, we've been assigned smaller rooms (our recruitment is held in the student union since we don't have houses) so it's not really an issue after the first two parties. |
on no! dont ever do the 1 on 2 situation!! one chapter on my campus always brought girls from another chapter nearby because they were good on that campus. they tricked me during rush and i told everyone because it was so fake!!:mad:
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I'd think that having recent alumnae from the chapter help recruit would probably be the BEST option - these women are representative of the chapter, know the chapter intimately, and because they're recent alumnae are not necessarily going to be too noticeable as an 'outsider', if you know what I mean.
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When I was going through recruitment, I experienced being double rushed, rushed by members of other chapters and being rushed by an alumna on Pref night, even though I'd never met her. (I did not join her chapter). The one thing that always sticks out in my mind about being rushed by someone from another chapter was that one of the chapters that was doing it my freshman year, the woman rushing me was rude. I asked a question and she said, "I don't know anything about that, I'm not a member of this chapter." She looked at me as if I was supposed to know she went to another school. My chapter also used members from another chapter that year for the first two days, but I don't recall meeting them, doesn't mean that I didn't, just was handled differently I guess. I would say that I'd prefer the doubling up to anything else. I know one year when we had to do it, we did it more in a group setting, i.e. three PNMs with two actives. And we tried to make it a group conversation. You can always have alumnae float around the room if you want. The problem that you might also find with recent alumnae is that even though they just graduated, they're going to have less to talk about with someone who's just starting college than someone who's still in school. |
Yeah, I'll also say stay away from incorporating other chapters. This fall, we had our first formal recruitment with the other NPC on campus. They had about 3 times as many members as us, so we had some help from another chapter. We have heard from the NM class we took in fall that they didn't like this set-up. They can talk about the national org and our principles just fine, but I think it's harder (ok, impossible) for them to give concrete examples of what makes our chapter special.
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I think the group conversation is the best option, it reminds me a lot of COB, and would make conversation flow much better. I also think that group convo is easier for most people, rather than 1-on-1, which is much more intense than many women this age are used to. If you don't have to bump a rotation because of a group convo, that also saves the extra active you always have out of conversation. If your chapter does house tours, this is a good opportunity (in my opinion) to do a 1:2 or 1:3 rush, because the active usually spends more time explaining or showing than talking, plus it's not very conspicuous at all.
When I was a freshman, I was taken on a house tour with 2 other PNMs and the president at another chapter in the first round. I wound up really liking the house, in part because I got to spend time with the president, and never thought it was weird that other women were with me. I have no idea if they were smaller that year (they were a well-respected chapter), but it seems they hid it effectively. |
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