recruitment at large schools
 

okay no need to explain the whole process of rush cause i could prolly explain it to you lol. i've heard about it enough but i had one lingering question.

at schools with a large greek life (9+ sororities), how do you keep track of one PNM? take ole miss for example. 9 sororities. almost a thousand girls going through each house trying to decide on one. how does the chapter know which girls to invite back? i understand that there may be a handful of girls that you can absolutely not live without but what about filling out the bid list? if quota is 90, surely you cant just name 90 girls off the top of your head (out of a thousand) that you want to offer a bid to. and i can understand having their applications and pictures in front of you to look at but what if you get them confused with someone else? it just doesnt seem as personal.

i do understand it at smaller schools though. if you've got 3 sororities and a hundred PNMs, then you can easily remember which ones you really liked.

oh and another question. i've heard about "dirty rushing" and understand it but a question i have is: what about during rush? like at a pref party, for instance, are you allowed at any point to tell the sister rushing you how much you really like the sorority? now it would seem fake to me to say, at the first party, "oh i really love your house, its so great, i just know i want this house" but then again how about at pref can you tell the sister how much you like the house and have enjoyed yourself? or is this considered "dirty" and are you supposed to just keep everything in your head until bid day?

dont get me wrong at all...i think recruitment is awesome. i think its an amazing way to get to know the houses and girls but i worry about it at large schools. its easier for you to remember them because you only have to worry about yourself. they, on the other hand, have to decide on 90 girls.

Every chapter has their own way of keeping track with the pnm's. I wish their was a cut and dry answer, but from what I know about recruitment there's not. Are you a PNM? If so, my suggestion is to just talk to as many of the ladies in each house as possible and to be yourself. I really believe it works out for the best.

As for dirty rush...that is more of a concern for the sorority members. They can never tell pnm's how much they like them or promise (or imply) a bid. No one sister can guarantee a pnm a bid. This just one of the rules...there are tons of them for the active ladies and they are set by each school's panhellenic (though I believe NPC has some guidelines). Your recruitment councilor will be able to explain these better about your campus and will tell you if there are things you shouldn't say to the active sisters.

one advantage a pnm can have for herself is to make sure that she has a recommendation for each sorority on campus. a recommendation gives each group a little more insight into what your interests are than your recruitment application will, and an alumna might be able to fill her sorority in on how you would benefit that particular chapter. so my advice to you, if you have not already done so is, get recs!!good luck with your recruitment and keep us posted!!

i'm not worried about getting a bid. if they like me they'll offer me one. it would just really suck to fall in love with a house and them not remember you or if they did it would also suck for them to confuse you with another girl and offer her the bid and not you.

i've got another question now. if you talk to two girls in the house. (just an example) and one liked you soooooooo much but the other one had her reasons for hating you or just didnt "click" with you. when it was time for voting and the girl that liked you wanted you and the girl that didnt like you didnt want you. would you still get a bid? or would they decide not to offer you a bid?

I can understand your curiosity. However, that is getting into an area not for public discussion. Membership Selection mechanics are for members only. ;)

Well one thing I can say about it that's not part of secret selection processes or anything is something I remember hearing a lot during recruitment (on the sorority side, not the PNM side): trust your sisters. If Girl 1 in a sorority likes a PNM, but the PNM just didn't click with Girl 2, Girl 2 could just trust that Girl 1 saw something in the PNM that she didn't get a chance to see and give her a chance.

Also when you said...
In a large rush like that, a sorority member probably won't have met all of the PNMs that her chapter ends up giving a bid to during recruitment. It's kind of hard to meet 90 women during a few hours in one week anyway! A sorority member trusts her sisters that they're making good judgements on the PNMs they've met and talked to the most, and her sisters trust her that she's also making good judgements.

I understand this might not help that much, coming from the sorority side when you want to know about the PNM side, but that's partly how it works.

i understand somewhat now. thanks. i didnt know i was getting too close to info i shouldnt know sorry bout that.

so i conclude that you just have to trust that the sister will convince them that youre a good asset? then again, i'm still confused lol. it works both ways. but i understand and i trust the system.

As someone stated earlier, 'dirty rushing', the woman you are talking to can't promise or imply that you will get a bid. It also includes hot boxing. Hot Boxing is when you have more than 2 women talking to you, and they are making you uncomfortable or asking you questions that shouldn't be asked. Questions like what happened at another house, or talking bad about another house. They also can't talk to you outside of recruitment. At UNC we can have casual conversations. Things we can discuss like, how they are, or if we have a class with them talk about class. Just general stuff that we can talk to anyone about. This also goes for our dissaffiliates. But, they can't take you out to lunch specifically, and talk to you about their organizations. That isn't considered fair, so it's pretty much a no-no.

Re: recruitment at large schools
 

No one answered this, so I will try. It is not considered "dirty" on the part of the PNM. I would not say anything about liking a house sooo much at anytime, but during Pref it is certainly all right to tell the house you want that you like them - not in a pushy or *psycho* way. This actually can help you get the house you really want. After all the sororities are looking for women who want to be there, as well as for women they want - the best thing that can happen is that both are the same.

I know this sounds incredibly superficial, but wearing a striking piece of jewelry or a scarf, or something that is memorable without being weird can often help during a big-school rush. Even a bright-colored shell or sundress helps.

We didn't use photos or reccs during rush, and it became difficult. I lost two favorite rushees because X number of actives had to remember them, and not enough raised their hands to indicate that they remembered meeting them (one ended up COBing, thank goodness).

My ASA Little Sister wore a Mickey Mouse watch with a head that nodded. This may not have gone over at some of the more sophisticated sororities, but it worked with the us, (we tended to be a little more whimsical). She was not a conventionally attractive girl, but amazingly funny and full of energy. Not everyone remembered "Joann" but the minute someone said "the girl with the Mickey Mouse watch" every hand went up (it also helped that it worked with her personality).

At the U of Al we have 15 sororities and close to 1000 girls going through rush. This coming rush we will have 1200! At my house, before the parties start we each hide a shoe box somewhere in the house that is easily accessible in the short time between parties. We write the name of the girl we had, what she looked like (hair, clothes, etc.), and what we thought about her. We have a list of adjectives we use to help us be more descriptive (you don't want every girl in the house to use the word "nice", that does not really tell you anything about the girl). After all the parties are over that day, we vote on who to invite back. This is were your notes really come in handy. When your deciding on a particular girl you can give everyone a description of her to help jog their memory. If you did not meet a certain girl, you just have to trust your sisters that did.

I think this would be a good idea for all size schools. You would not want to cut a girl because you got her confused with someone else, or worse, you could not remember what she was like. It helps take off some of the stress of keeping up with all the rushees, and lets you enjoy the experience.

Re: Re: recruitment at large schools
 

good cause i was thinking that if the conversation was just about my major and other normal stuff the entire time then they wouldnt know that i really liked them. and of course i dont mean going overboard with it and just throwing myself at them telling them that it is the only place to be but a simple "i really like the house and i think that so and so is really great. i'd love to learn more about so and so." simple, and to the point. cause if it were considered dirty by any means then how would they know i liked them? cause i want them to know that i'm interested enough to invite me back and not think " oh well she's a nice girl but she didnt really show me she wanted to be here"

i think this is a great idea. it'd make me feel a lot better knowing that they were keeping up with me somehow. also the part about something flashy yet classy that they would remember is a great idea on a PNMs part.

are you going through rush in fall? where at?

Re: Re: Re: recruitment at large schools
 

Wow, you sound pretty sharp! I bet you'll do just fine at recruitment! :)


.....Kelly :)

yep. not sure yet. still tryin to decide between a couple of schools.