number of pref parties
 

UCF just changed the amount of pref parties pnms can go to from 3 to 4. There are 11 sororities going through rush. Thoughts? How does this affect things or why do you think they did it

I suspect the chapters may be hosting four preference parties, yet the potential number of preference parties a PNM may attend will still be no more than three.

From UCF Recruitment: "Friday you will visit a maximum of three (3) chapters. This is a sentimental day as it will be the final day for chapters and potential new members to select one another."

ucf
 

The page you linked is from before they changed it though. Its also no longer 12 because Chi Omega isnt participating.

Even though the page he linked may be from last year, the point he makes is a good one. Many, many universities have more party slots than what PNMs may attend. This helps to reduce the number of PNMs at each party and also gives you all a much needed break.

While I know scores of schools that have 4 party slots for Pref with PNMs attending a max of 3, I do not know of a single school that would have PNMs attend a max of 4 for Pref. While I am not associated with UCF at all (there's my disclaimer) I am all but positive that TSteven is correct. There are 4 slots but you will only attend a max of 3.

Disclaimer:*also not associated with UCF*

I agree with ComradesTrue and TSteven. There are a number of schools that have more parties per round than PNMs are able to attend, but I am not aware of a campus where PNMs are able to attend more than 3 parties for pref.

Schools that have larger greek systems are the ones that give PNMs more opportunities to return to chapters. For example, Auburn's schedule (of number of parties PNMs can go to) goes from 17 to 12 to 7 to 3. Arkansas's schedule goes from 10 to 7 to 4 to 2. If there were to ever be a school that had PNMs able to attend 4 pref parties, my guess is they would have to have all or nearly all NPC sororities on campus.

I also just did some searching in the 2014 NPC Manual and found plenty of references to 2 or 3 preference parties, but no references to 4 preference parties.

With 11 chapters participating in UCF recruitment, I just can't imagine they'd have a schedule where PNMs can go to 4 pref parties.

ETA - and by larger greek system I mean more chapters, not the total number of students in the greek system.

Ugh, I can't imagine the difficult situations that would result from PNMs going from 4 preference parties to 1 bid. I would image that a lot of PNMs wouldn't even list their fourth choice on their bid cards, and PNMs who did receive their fourth choice would be pretty hard to console.

So
 

Ok so what changed? Does that just mean there are more people rushing?

Maybe. Maybe not. I don't have UCF statistics.

It may be as simple as the parties were super crowded last year, it was hot in the houses with that many people, PNMs were tired, the chapters were overwhelmed by the number of PNMs at each party, or a combo of all of the above. Who knows?

Other campuses have had success with this format. Perhaps UCF has been hearing about the extra party slot option and since other panhellenics have been happy with that format they simply decided to give it a whirl.

Don't overthink it.

Nothing changed. At least not necessarily. Maybe the pref parties were too crowded so Panhellenic decided to spread out PNMs. This is very common and nothing you need to be concerned about.

It is hotter than hell in Tucson in August, so many chapters have three or even four preference parties, although PNMs still attend a maximum of two parties. More parties + fewer attendees per party = more comfortable for everyone. I wouldn't be surprised if Florida does something simliar. It's not as stressful on the air conditioning when you don't have a mess of people crammed in the facilities. We have 12 ton a/c units that get quite a workout and we still get a lot of complaints about how hot it is.

PS "more people rushing" doesn't mean what you (pnm) think it means. I mean, if you think that more people = fewer bids, that is not how it works.

In addition to the bold, with fewer attendees chapters have a greater chance of matching each PNM with someone who is the best fit to pref them. UWashington made this switch just within the last 5 or so years and IMO it has made a difference - both in comfort level and in the ability to make more meaningful pref connections.

But here is a similar, although unrelated, question. Does it change things when a school goes from a max of 3 pref parties to 2? I thought I had read a year or so ago, that it could affect overall matching percentages but I couldn't find it this year. And I'm not familiar enough with RFM to know why it might but one of our schools is going to that format for some reason and I didn't think it was a good move for maximizing your options.

If a PNM attends all the pref. parties she is invited to and places on her bid card the sororities whose pref. parties she just attended, she is maximizing her options. If she is invited to one pref. party, she attends that pref. party, and she writes down that sorority on her pref. card, she is still maximizing her options, because she only had one invitation.

I don't see why going from three prefs. to two prefs. should matter with the bid matching, but I don't have first hand knowledge either. It would seem to me if you have a choice between a red car or a blue car, vs. a red car, a blue car, and a white car, you are still going to end up with a car. Or are you thinking that it might effect the sororities?

I was just sure that I remembered reading somewhere that having the model with a 3 preference party format AND you maximize all your options by listing ALL that you attended then you were almost guaranteed a bid short of something highly unlikely coming up. Yet in the 2 pref party model, I thought it was certainly more probable not to match. Maybe I misunderstood and I couldn't find where I had read it but I thought the schools that had the 3 pref party format had higher match rates. No?

I don't think that's the case if everyone truly maximizes. Hypothetical example: 30 PNM's, 3 chapters...working quota is 30/3 = 10.

ABC has a 100% return rate (every PNM at their party lists them first), DEF has a 50% return rate, and XYZ has a 0% return rate.

If the PNM's could be ordered 1 (most desirable) to 30 (least desirable), ABC can invite 1-10, DEF can invite 1-20, and XYZ can invite all 30.

With three parties:
1-10 attend all three parties and all list ABC, then DEF, then XYZ, bid from ABC
11-20 attend DEF and XYZ and all list DEF than XYZ, bid from DEF
21-30 attend XYZ and list XYZ, bid from XYZ
All 30 PNM's are placed. Viola!

With two parties:
1-10 attend ABC and DEF, list ABC, then DEF, bid from ABC
11-20 attend DEF and XYZ, list DEF then XYZ, bid from DEF
21-30 attend XYZ and list XYZ, bid from XYZ
All 30 PNM's are placed. Viola!

The example breaks down in a lot of places: Neither PNM nor chapter preference is absolute, women don't maximize, etc. However, I would guess the real issue is this: WOMEN WHO DON'T SHOW UP ON BID DAY COUNT AS "PLACED" WHEN WE ALL KNOW THAT'S NOT REALLY THE CASE. If placement rates go down with 2 parties vs. 3, I would bet there are women dropping out before pref who would otherwise drop out on bid day.