Changes in Recruitment Rounds
 

The trend on some campuses is to take the frills out of recruitment. What changes are you seeing in recruitment?

The University of Arkansas PC just voted to eliminate Skit Round and has changed Round One to strictly conversation - no skit, no singing, no frills.

It looks like this:
Round One - Conversation Round
Round Two - Philanthropy
Round Three - House Tour
Round Four = Pref

Also, U of A went to deferred rush last fall (Mid Sept) but bumped it BACK to the first week of school - over Labor Day weekend- for this next fall.

Its hard for me to imagine formal recruitment without singing!!! :)

At my school there was always three rounds since we didn't have houses at the time.

Round 1: Icebreakers

Round 2: Philantrophy

Round 3: Pref Night

:tap: Starts Clock

Waiting for Carnation or PenguinTrak to pop in and remind us that the NPC agreed to make Formal recruitment no frills about a million years ago. :)

I can believe it was adopted some time ago as I have seen many of the changes take place slowly but surely; however, doing away with skits on this campus is a big deal and a big move, so it feels sudden and drastic.

Oh, and for clarification, there is singing - just not on the first round. :)

KSUViolet - U of A recruitment also moved from a two weekend process to a Wed - Mon process. This will mean LATE nights for the actives since rush parties will not start until 4:30 and end around 10:30. THEN, they vote into the wee hours... then, go to class the next morning.

I feel really bad for the girls with recruitment being deferred now. It's rough on them I know.

Hopefully they'll switch it back.

I cannot express my LOVE for "no frills" recruitment. Of course I think chapters should be able to decorate a little and look their best, but how much money/time/stress is put into making sure the decorations are PERFECT or everyone's outfit matches EXACTLY? I know this isn't a unique opinion, just needed to share. Also, when the women have to actually have conversations with their potential sisters it changes the whole dynamic of what type of member you are looking for. Ahhh, thank you NPC (and campuses who are actually moving in this direction)!

Also... "deferred" recruitment is used to describe a campus that does not have Fall Formal Recruitment but instead holds it in January or February (sometimes later), not whether it is in August compared to September. Or is it not?

I think EW is referring to "deferred" recruitment being held when classes are in session instead of before classes start, not fall vs spring.

When I hear "deferred", I automatically think spring semester.

Deferred recruitment is the term our PC used to describe the change in recruitment from August (before school starts) to later in the semester. I don't know if that is the official terminology though. I believe that is what Ole Miss calls it as well, and there recruitment time is similar to Arkansas...

Anyone else had skits eliminated from formal recruitment? Pros? Cons?

Yes, I suppose there are two types of "deferred." Deferred from before school to the Fall and from the Fall to the spring. Regardless I'm talking about Arkansas rush.

Oh SoCalGirl, give them a break with the clock thing. Sure, they can recall what happened "about a million years ago," but that probably means they aren't quite as fast on their feet as they used to be. :)

Then again, who is?

Having experienced rush pre- and post- removal of frills, I think you'll be surprised at how nice the process runs without those expensive frills. When you don't waste half your party singing songs and doing a stupid skit that no one likes anyway (unless they are in love with musicals or something!) sisters actually have time to have real conversations with PNMs. I personally hated the skits and stuff when I went through...it's not like we go around all year singing to each other. The no frills method gives a more realistic picture of sorority life.

I have experienced both types of recruitment (w/ and w/out the frills) since my short time out of college, and I must say that I really have seen the benefit of the girls being able to have more time to really talk to the sorority members rather than be entertained w/ the frills. Esp at larger schools where recruitment is very competetive, I think this streamlining of recruitment can be a great thing.

Next fall my school is moving from a two party pref night to three. They're trying to lower the number of girls that drop out of rush or suicide.

How would more pref parties help with that? :confused: