Should we change the way PNMs think of Recruitment?

28StGreek · #1 03-03-2012, 04:21 PM

Hey y'all! Sorry for being missing in the wilderness but school/life has been seriously busy for me. The curse of the upperclassman as graduation approaches!

Caveat: Forgive me if this idea has been covered ad nauseaum/is a fire starter, I do not mean to tread on any toes or upset anyone!

I was just watching re-runs of Next Top Model the other day and I had a thought. If you take out the shallow perceptions, the process for entry into both are pretty similar. You have a whole bunch of girls who are very similarly qualified. A few who absolutely stand out and a few who just won't make it for one reason or another.

But at the end of the day even though all the girls want to be part of the top model competition its the Judges that make the decisions as to who gets into the top model house.

The term 'mutual selection' may give the PNMs the impression that their choices are equally important. However the reality is that the GLO chooses you, and if your preferences match then that's the mutual selection part
I know PNMs should be more rational about these things, but we all know
that Recruitment can bring out the most irrational thought processes in some of these young women.

As harsh, and non-egalitarian as it sounds, perhaps there needs to be more emphasis on the fact that dozens to a 100+ girls are the ones choosing the PNM rather than the other way around?

Well thats my rambling, feel free to add your two-cents!

I hope all the GCers are well and especially my Trojan family

Panhellenic Love,
28StGreek

princessamy · #2 03-03-2012, 04:48 PM

What if the PNM doesn't like the house that chooses her? Plus what determines a PNM's qualification?

28StGreek · #3 03-03-2012, 04:57 PM

Well the PNM's preferences would still have to match the bid list etc.

I was just wondering whether PNMs thought they had more of a influencing factor in the whole process that they do in practice.

A PNM's qualifications: GPA, extra-curricular involvement, and lets be honest, their looks, or at least how well put together they are.

That really was getting at the point that while Little Miss High School Star thinks she definitely has all the qualities which make her an obvious candidate for Greek Life, almost every other girl going through recruitment is also a Little Miss High School Star. Nowadays, just like applicants for college itself, so many young women, have enviable resumes.

Hope that answers your questions princessamy

KSUViolet06 · #4 03-03-2012, 05:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 28StGreek

I was just wondering whether PNMs thought they had more of a influencing factor in the whole process that they do in practice.

Yes, they do.

I've been saying forever that selection is a lot less mutual than I think Panhellenics lead PNMs to believe. It tips considerably in the chapter's favor.

This goes along with PNMs consistently saying "I cut XYZ this round" not fully understanding that they aren't cutting anyone.

I think I had to make a thread about that once because I got sick of PNMs thinking that.

That's why there's so much "OMGWTFBBQ" when a chapter shows up on their list that they ranked low or they end up with a bid from their 2nd choice. They aren't aware that selection isn't as mututal as it is portrayed. There'd be a lot less of that if the process were presented realistically.

exlurker · #5 06-30-2014, 07:14 PM

(see quote below; I know, this is one of GC's older threads):

For Fall 2014 Dartmouth's Panhel is reportedly going to give PNMs more information on how recruitment works. A few other changes are supposedly coming, too.

See

http://thedartmouth.com/2014/05/27/n...arency-in-rush

Quote:

Originally Posted by KSUViolet06

Yes, they do.

I've been saying forever that selection is a lot less mutual than I think Panhellenics lead PNMs to believe. It tips considerably in the chapter's favor.

This goes along with PNMs consistently saying "I cut XYZ this round" not fully understanding that they aren't cutting anyone.

I think I had to make a thread about that once because I got sick of PNMs thinking that.

That's why there's so much "OMGWTFBBQ" when a chapter shows up on their list that they ranked low or they end up with a bid from their 2nd choice. They aren't aware that selection isn't as mututal as it is portrayed. There'd be a lot less of that if the process were presented realistically.

33girl · #6 06-30-2014, 09:12 PM

Dartmouth is a weird animal, and I really dislike the every girl will go back to 4 chapters whether they want her or not part. My fear is that the local groups who don't have an HQ to stick up for them regarding the groups' right to MS will get stuck with a bunch of girls the other groups cut. That's not really fair.

carnation · #7 06-30-2014, 09:57 PM

33, that happened at you-know-where one year.

28StGreek · #8 03-03-2012, 05:07 PM

Well I was speaking from the perspective of a school with highly competitive recruitment, they seem to be the ones which produce the most sob stories on GC. I guess its either because of the ultra competitive atmosphere, or rather its the PNMs at those schools that take Greek Life more 'seriously' (not to slight smaller/less competitive schools).

amIblue? · #9 03-03-2012, 06:08 PM

When I went through rush back in the dark ages, I was able to cut invites because I'd received more invites than I had parties to attend. I also was under no illusion where the power was. However, I also believe that I received more invites back then than a woman with similar recs and qualifications would now due to the larger groups having to make larger cuts earlier.

AGDee · #10 03-03-2012, 06:16 PM

It really changed with quota additions, didn't it? If they don't "maximize" their options, they aren't eligible for quota additions but that also means they have to go to some parties that they don't really want to attend. In my day, if you didn't want to go to a party, you just didn't go and there were no repercussions.

KSUViolet06 · #11 03-03-2012, 08:09 PM

^^^We used to do things the way Jen described.

You would see all chapters that invited you back and depending on how many you got back, you would need to drop some. Ex: If you got 5 back, and the max number of parties was 4, you needed to drop 1.

If I recall, you would make your selections and receive your schedule shortly after, so you don't actually leave the area. You would show up, see your invites, make any selections you needed to make (if you were over the max number), get your schedule, then wait in the student center to go to your parties (later in the afternoon.)

Tent talk is probably about the same. There were girls who made the decision of who to drop based on who other PNMs in their group were dropping, but I don't think it was any worse then than it is now.

DeltaBetaBaby · #12 03-03-2012, 09:08 PM

Mathematically, the PRUSH (PNM's make their selections immediately after their parties) makes more sense than SORUSH (PNM's get a list of invites and choose which to accept). In PRUSH with RFM, both the PNM's and the chapters have flexlists, so the right number of women end up at each chapter during each round. If a campus used RFM and SORUSH, they could end up with too few women, and couldn't go back and add via the flexlist.

KSUViolet06 · #13 03-03-2012, 09:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DeltaBetaBaby

Mathematically, the PRUSH (PNM's make their selections immediately after their parties) makes more sense than SORUSH (PNM's get a list of invites and choose which to accept). In PRUSH with RFM, both the PNM's and the chapters have flexlists, so the right number of women end up at each chapter during each round. If a campus used RFM and SORUSH, they could end up with too few women, and couldn't go back and add via the flexlist.

Are there any RFM schools who DO use SORUSH? I think most schools switched to PRUSH when they started implementing RFM.

DeltaBetaBaby · #14 03-04-2012, 02:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KSUViolet06

Are there any RFM schools who DO use SORUSH? I think most schools switched to PRUSH when they started implementing RFM.

Oh, I don't know of any, I was saying that SORUSH wouldn't work with RFM. I went through with SORUSH, and we got the wrong lists one round. Whoops.

28StGreek · #15 03-04-2012, 05:41 AM

Well thank y'all for the discussion!

Just a thought are the opinions of "Blunt, Rational, Transparent recruitment" vs "inclusive, every PNM has an equal chance recruitment" philosophies vary depending on whether a campus' Panhellenic recruitment is considered competitive?

Does the Panhellenic community at very competitive schools feel that PNMs should know how competitive it is and that they really are being chosen from a very similar field with many PNMs having stellar resumes?

This might go in the same box as "All PNMs need recs to every house or they will be cut, but Panhellenic can't explicitly state this"?

Or is this feeling present throughout Panhellenics across the majority of campuses big or small; and its just the PC police that makes the situation misrepresented to the PNMs?

Am I making sense?