Quote:
Originally posted by aephi alum
Another thing I'd change: Make the parties longer, especially where there are fewer sororities. I've seen round 1 parties as short as twenty minutes. That means sororities are making decisions about PNMs based on maybe 10-15 minutes of conversation, maybe a resume, maybe a rec, and maybe the opinions of a sister or two who already know the PNM. And PNMs are making decisions about which sororities to return to based on maybe 10-15 minutes of conversation with maybe 2-3 sisters out of possibly 100+. Longer parties means more exhaustion, but they give the actives and PNMs a better chance to figure out if the match might be there before any cuts are made. (Note that I come from a campus with 5 NPC sororities, so longer parties are not unreasonable.)
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There are 13 chapters on my campus, and on the first day of recruitment (I feel like I'm breaking a rule by using that word since apparently so many people hate it!) our parties are only 20 minutes long. (And it goes just like you described it... 10-15 minutes of conversation with 2-3 sisters out of 100-150+...) Since we have a good amount of chapters, we can't really afford to lengthen parties anyway, but in my opinion I don't think it's really necessary...
I know many people would love it if cuts could be made after having several real (not "where'd you go to high school?!") conversations with PNMs that are not rushed by time constraints, but in many recruitment situations it is just not realistic. Regardless of whether you have four sororities on campus or fourteen,
there are almost always more PNMs than bids to be extended and cuts must be made somehow. Even if every girl that goes through recruitment is absolutely wonderful and a perfect match, you simply can't take them all.
I feel like it's dismissive to say "sororities are making decisions about PNMs based on maybe 10-15 minutes of conversation, maybe a resume, maybe a rec, and maybe the opinions of a sister or two who already know the PNM." What else should cuts be based on in the
first round? If a resume shows that a PNMs GPA does not meet the chapter's requirement, she'll be cut. If a rec or a sister raises concerns about a PNM, she'll likely be cut.
Not trying to be super harsh here... but you have the following rounds to get to know PNMs better and determine if they'd be a good fit for your chapter. (And as our rounds progress, parties get longer, so we have more time as well.) Taking more time to get to know the PNMs in round one is just going to make it harder on both sides when cuts ultimately have to be made. Undoubtedly getting to know PNMs is very important but resumes and recs are an important part of recruitment, too... if they weren't, they wouldn't be required...
Edited to say there aren't ALWAYS more PNMs than bids.
