U of Iowa: New Recruitment Schedule Setup for Fall 2010
 

The U of Iowa will have a significantly different schedule for recruitment this fall (2010), according to the report below:

http://www.dailyiowan.com/2010/04/29/Metro/17041.html

Excerpts:
BY ARIANA WITT | APRIL 29, 2010 7:30 AM

Sorority officials will change their recruitment practices this fall in an effort to increase the number of students pledging.

The sororities will move away from their current weeklong event to a setup that spans the first two weekends of the fall semester, said UI junior Taylor Fuerst, the vice president of recruitment for the UI Panhellenic Council.

. . . In 2009, the Panhellenic Council saw nearly 50 percent of potential recruits withdraw from the greek program during recruitment.

Fuerst said the withdrawal rate has been steadily increasing for years, but a sharp spike last year prompted them to rethink their process.

The National Panhellenic Conference reports that the number of students interested in joining a sorority has been decreasing in recent years, though retention of pledges continues to increase.

. . . UI’s sororities have seen somewhat of an opposite effect, with more than 500 students typically registered for rush week and around 300 actually pledging.

Officials will split the one-day meet-and-greet with the UI’s 14 chapters into two days. Recruits will also have an informal day to socialize with chapter members.

“We want to find ways to showcase the unity of our chapters,” Shaub said. “Letting women know about our strong sisterhood is a big part of our community.”
. . . UI fraternity members have also explored changes to their recruitment process, though Fuerst said no decisions have been made.

Sorority recruitment will begin Aug. 27.

I'm pretty sure they were discussing moving to this format a few years ago. It'll be interesting. I think there are definitely other factors that come in to play with the high withdrawal rate that may or may not be solved with a move to a slightly deferred recruitment. Hopefully after they adjust it will work better for the Community there.

Been there, done that. Having rush spread over two weekends was tough at the U of Arkansas and they only did it once. Arkansas' was mid semester, though, so that probably made a big difference.
I don't know anything about Iowa, but instinct tells me that there must be some other factors at play here besides the recruitment dates that are adversely affecting things.

Is that normal for a big campus? for so many to drop DURING recruitment seems strange to the small 3 sorority school that I go to. I can't imagine that much interest then all of a sudden dropping.

As a student at a school that has a system very similar to this... the wait in between the weekends was pure hell. It was awful not knowing for that time where you got called back to.

OR the girls will go to parties the first few nights of school, meet various sorority women and think "the girls in XYZ are So Cool! I want to be in their house!" Unfortunately, I can definitely see that happening, too.

I don't know the best way to "fix" the system at Iowa. But it's definitely not ideal, and hasn't been for a while.

You mean you didn't know until, say, Friday of weekend #2 where you were going back to? That's pretty harsh.

My rush was spread out over 2 weeks, but we actually had the parties on school nights and received our invites over the connecting weekend. It was nice in that it gave you time to really think about it and get over the shock of "OMG, I love ABC more than anything and they didn't invite me back." I think that too many times when rush is squished into so few days, it really IS "rushing" - girls don't have time to get over the shock and fight-or-flight syndrome kicks in.

I think it would be nice to have that week to think about things before you decide not to give XYZ a chance and drop out of recruitment all because ABC didn't invite you back. They should let them know their invites and not let anyone drop out until the next weekend. That will give everyone a full week to let things sink in. If anyone is afraid of dirty rushing, the risks are already there no matter what.

so has rush at iowa been held the week prior to classes beginning?

Yes.

If girls happen to meet a sorority member prior to rush, that is no different in my opinion as a girl who meets fun girls before informal and knows she at least likes them. I think it will help because even if a girl says "I saw XYZ at this house party they are so cool" she has two full weeks to see if other ones are good as well.

It would be awesome if it really worked out like that, and hopefully it will. I still have my reservations, but maybe all the campus needs is time.