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Originally Posted by jwsteele
I think this video rises two interesting questions: one, if recruitment is so superficial at some chapters, do you think it is the overall house attitude or just certain members? For example, for extremely competitive chapters where it takes very little to release a PNM from membership, do you think that the petty opinions of a very small group of sisters could determine the overall type of girl that pledges the group? Maybe 7 sisters love Susie PNM who has great extracurriculars but is maybe a little shy or has dowdy clothes or is plain looking...then maybe 1 or 2 sisters only want super outgoing, gorgeous debutantes and score her low, causing her to be released.
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I think this will greatly depend on how a chapter conducts its membership selection. If the girls who want debutantes are truly in the minority, and if everyone in the chapter has equal say in choosing the new members, one bad score shouldn't hurt Susie PNM. Even if the sister who gave Susie a bad score wants to put her in the hold pile (like Anonymous described), she won't be very effective in convincing the rest of the chapter to cut Susie if all she has to say is that Susie is plain looking.
How a chapter chooses members will start at the individual level. If the VP Recruitment can't convince individual members of a chapter to look for PNMs that are truly compatible with the chapter, then the chapter will continue to recruit based on superficial characteristics.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jwsteele
Second, at a school like Northwestern where the academic standards to get in are so high, do you think looks and appearances matter more? What I'm getting at is that 99% of the women that are accepted into a school like Northwestern have incredible GPAs, some special talent, loads of extra-curriculars, etc. So maybe there is less to differentiate the member pool...unfortunately I'd like to believe that at such incredible schools the recruitment mentality is more mature but I'm not really sure it makes a lot of difference. In fact, looks might count less at more relaxed schools. Maybe the type of woman who prefers prestige in terms of universities might also prefer prestige in the type of chapter she joins or the type of new members she selects? (Not saying that all women at top universities prefer prestige, but there are definitely many that have "wanted the best" all throughout life).
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Don't forget that Northwestern has a deferred recruitment. Of course every student at Northwestern had a good high school GPA, but they will be looking at their first semester grades, which can provide some differentiation in regards to GPA. Also, with deferred recruitment, chapters may put more weight on college activities that PNMs participated in their first semester, though high school activities may still be important, too. Plus, everyone has a different personality, so those three factors will allow plenty of differentiation other than looks.
Sometimes when I peruse chapter websites from the same campus, it is very easy to tell where each chapter is on the campus "social ladder" simply based on the looks of the members. I've noticed that at schools with a very good academic reputation, there seems to be little difference in looks among chapters. MIT is a good example of this.
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