Random: Recruitment

[33girl]

Originally Posted by bruinaphi

No, a PNM should never rank a chapter at Pref if she has no desire to join that group.

Quota additions are a very good way of insuring that women who play by the rules and maximize their options throughout recruitment do not go unmatched on bid day.

But the woman in my example DID play by the rules, and although she won't go "unmatched" she and the sorority will be a bad match.

Say she goes into pref with 2 groups: ABC and XYZ. The max pref parties you can go to is 3.

ABC she loves, they love her, but they always make quota and are at total and to top it off, there are a ton of ABC legacies going through recruitment. She knows they might make quota before they even get to her, so she wants to have the hope of maybe being a quota addition. No hard feelings...that's just the way it is.

XYZ she can't stand, has tried to drop them, but they keep inviting her back and in order to be considered for quota additions, she cannot decline their invites as she must "maximize her options."

She goes to pref, puts down ABC #1 and XYZ #2. ABC has exhausted their quota additions before they even get to her...so she's stuck with XYZ.

Or, she doesn't even want to entertain the thought of XYZ, so she suicides ABC. ABC makes quota from their first bid list, so they won't be COBing or snapping, and cannot add her as a quota addition so she suicided.

It sounds like a crappy deal to me any way around, and a way for the bigger sororities to get bigger.

[bejazd]

Originally Posted by 33girl

ABC makes quota from their first bid list, so they won't be COBing or snapping, and cannot add her as a quota addition so she suicided.

It sounds like a crappy deal to me any way around, and a way for the bigger sororities to get bigger.

Isn't that where the logic/principle behind the new RFM is supposed to step in? A good Panhellenic Rush Coordinator is going to look at ABC's returns before Pref invites are issued, and see the number of legacies they are carrying and look at how many spots ABC might potentially fill with legacies. Looking at ABC's historical stats she's going to have a very good idea of exactly how many women ABC should invite to pref. When it works right, a rushee who has little or no hope of actually receiving a bid from ABC is never invited to Pref in the first place.

But it is an imperfect system, and you are right...some parts of sorority rush just suck.

On an aside, do you really think that the biggest houses get bigger because of quota additions...or because they consistently make quota and retain their members?

[dgdramadawg]

Say a girl has two pref parties and is only interested in one.

Couldn't a girl "get sick" during the party that she is not interested in? Thus, she would only be attending an event for one house and according to the rules ("you can only rank a chapter you visited an event for") she could only rank that house.

Right? Or not right?

I'm thinking "out loud" here, trying to think of a way a girl could cheat the system.

[bruinaphi]

Originally Posted by 33girl

But the woman in my example DID play by the rules, and although she won't go "unmatched" she and the sorority will be a bad match.

Say she goes into pref with 2 groups: ABC and XYZ. The max pref parties you can go to is 3.

ABC she loves, they love her, but they always make quota and are at total and to top it off, there are a ton of ABC legacies going through recruitment. She knows they might make quota before they even get to her, so she wants to have the hope of maybe being a quota addition. No hard feelings...that's just the way it is.

XYZ she can't stand, has tried to drop them, but they keep inviting her back and in order to be considered for quota additions, she cannot decline their invites as she must "maximize her options."

She goes to pref, puts down ABC #1 and XYZ #2. ABC has exhausted their quota additions before they even get to her...so she's stuck with XYZ.

Or, she doesn't even want to entertain the thought of XYZ, so she suicides ABC. ABC makes quota from their first bid list, so they won't be COBing or snapping, and cannot add her as a quota addition so she suicided.

It sounds like a crappy deal to me any way around, and a way for the bigger sororities to get bigger.

While what you describe used to be the case, it is not under the RFM. If she ranks both ABC & XYZ and ABC fills to Quota before they reach her on their bid list she will match to XYZ if she is high enough on their list. If she is not then she will be placed as a quota addition. Where she matches as a quota addition depends on three things: (1) who she ranked first; (2) the relative recruiting strength of ABC & XYZ and (3) where she is on ABC & XYZ's bid lists. The goal of the RFM is to level the playing field, so you will not see the "big chapters" taking all of the quota additions. Actually, the situations where we see extreme quota additions are usually campuses where a chapter that has traditionally struggled in formal recruitment really excels under the RFM and exactly the opposite happens.

[UGAalum94]

33Girl,

I guess you're right, but the thing about your example is that the PNM really doesn't have a shot at the one she wants anyway. If she's sure, she should suicide because she won't get them as an addition. And if the other group usually goes through almost their whole bid list to match to quota, she'll probably match to them anyway in regular big matching, never even getting to QA.

For a girl who is interested in joining a group and is willing to give all the groups a try, then quota additions and guaranteed matching are great things but they don't guarantee a bid at your top choice or the big certainly would get bigger.

It does seem that quota additions could really help some girls who used to "mismatch." Let's say a girl prefs three middle groups all of whom she'd happily take a bid from. In the olden days, her ranking the groups differently than where she was on their bid lists really could have affected her outcome IF all groups matched to quota before going all the way through their lists. Now with quota additions, this girl would still get matched to a group that she wanted and that wanted her. (Right? It's the historic example that I'm not sure of. I'm fascinated by bid matching, but I can never be sure I understand it.)

At so many competitive rushes, PNM have to decide at some point to go with the groups that want them or to drop. There's not much they can do to get picked up by their top choices.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by bruinaphi

While what you describe used to be the case, it is not under the RFM. If she ranks both ABC & XYZ and ABC fills to Quota before they reach her on their bid list she will match to XYZ if she is high enough on their list. If she is not then she will be placed as a quota addition. Where she matches as a quota addition depends on three things: (1) who she ranked first; (2) the relative recruiting strength of ABC & XYZ and (3) where she is on ABC & XYZ's bid lists. The goal of the RFM is to level the playing field, so you will not see the "big chapters" taking all of the quota additions. Actually, the situations where we see extreme quota additions are usually campuses where a chapter that has traditionally struggled in formal recruitment really excels under the RFM and exactly the opposite happens.

So in other words, ABC should be down to the bare bones at pref (i.e just the amount of girls to fill quota, or maybe a few over) and our example rushee should have been released way before pref?

Can you take someone you released before pref as a quota addition or do they have to have attended your pref?

And yes, hating a chapter has nothing to do with it being small or weak a lot of the time. It can have to do with things like the chapter having a rep for hazing.

[PenguinTrax]

Originally Posted by 33girl

So in other words, ABC should be down to the bare bones at pref (i.e just the amount of girls to fill quota, or maybe a few over) and our example rushee should have been released way before pref?

Yes. The usual rule of thumb is for the chapters to invite quota times the number of pref parties (3x quota).

Can you take someone you released before pref as a quota addition or do they have to have attended your pref?

That is probably up to each chapter's internal membership selection procedures.

[bruinaphi]

Originally Posted by PenguinTrax

Yes. The usual rule of thumb is for the chapters to invite quota times the number of pref parties (3x quota).

That is probably up to each chapter's internal membership selection procedures.

So in other words, ABC should be down to the bare bones at pref (i.e just the amount of girls to fill quota, or maybe a few over) and our example rushee should have been released way before pref?

Can you take someone you released before pref as a quota addition or do they have to have attended your pref?

The rule of thumb under the old quota total system was for chapters to have quota times the number of pref parties present for pref. Under the RFM it is much more complicated than that. Under the RFM specialists look at where the chapter has closed on their bid list over three years and their historical number of first choices at preference and then provide a buffer.

With respect to quota additions, the women do have to have attended preference at the chapter to be a quota addition to that chapter.