I can't speak for it's effectiveness on a large greek campus but I know at my undergraduate campus it worked amazingly well. My senior year we had a horrible recruitment (Panhellenicly) with many girls not even showing up the first day and may dropping right off the bat. Stereotypes were running rampant and some how through what you guys call tent talk only 3 of the six chapters were getting good return rates. They then made massive cuts the night before pref and many many girls dropped out. This past year I helped out as an alum at my chapter and the release figures used helped everyone. All but one chapter made quota and they quickly COBed to it. The best part was a chapter that was struggling and really needed numbers ended up with 18 girls through quota additions. The early release figures helped girls look at other sorororities seriously instaed of the top one or two. USually this struggling chapter was the one girls went to just to have a full pref card but usually SIPed. This time, with a more realistic outlook they gave the chapter a chance and saw what a great group of girls it was!
I am no sure about the exact precentages of those placed who signed a pref card but I do know it was incredibly high and they said they had very very few SIPs!
Needless to say i'm a huge fan of the new release system and I hope it works just as well when I go to help this year!
