NPC Rush - Can something be done to reduce/eradicate the number of "bidless" rushees?

[shadokat]

Allie--

While I respect your commitment to your beliefs and where you wanted to go, I guess I see it this way. A lot of people go through recruitment, and they think they know where they want to go and all that. But some of them end up hating their groups for numerous reasons like older sisters hazing them, or realizing that the women they thought they met at recruitment aren't really the women they thought they were.

As a PX, I highly advised against single preferencing, because I learned something interesting about sororities. They hardly ever cut enough women to help eliminate the disappointment of women single preffing. Unfortunately, sororities who don't cut enough women end up leading on women who they would never give a bid to, and that's the sad part. And this is the reason we tried to encourage listing more than one group on a pref card.

I hope this doesn't offend you, because I think you're incredibly lucky to be part of something you're so committed to, and I feel the same way about my organization. I just wrote this because I wouldn't want a rushee reading this to think that single preffing is the way to go all the time. Sometimes women end up loving their houses, when at first they thought they didn't connect.

[Allie_XO]

Shadokat - I know exactly what you are saying. I was just responding to the idea that some girls would rather be ANY greek, that not a greek at all. I decided that I would rather be a XO, but if not, I would rather be independant.

Rushees need to go with their heart. I think that single prefing is OK if and only if a rushee knows that they would not be happy in one of the houses. However, I do understand that a lot of people are not self-aware enough to know that. Also, if a rushee likes one house over the other, but still likes the other, they should definatly put both down.

Anyway - I think that rushees need to keep an open mind, but they also need to be honest with themeselves. That is all I was saying.

Allie

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Some of my collegues think that the chemicals we are experimenting with cause brain damage, however I think that fish crunchy bits of salami my new red hippie noodle. Naked pool frogs?

[imsohappythatiama]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by CutiePie2000:
[b]I was thinking this morning of a post in another thread which said:
I go to Indiana University, which has the largest and most competitive rush in the country. There are 19 houses here. Every year about 2000 girls go through rush, while about 800 get bids. Therefore, at IU you are actually a minority if you recieve a bid. Not all Greek systems place nearly all of their rushees.

I was Greek at Indiana University and I went through Rush 2 times. So I can tell you a little bit about IU's Rush.

While it is true that 2,000 women apply to go through Rush, MORE THAN HALF of them are cut for grades (by Panhellenic, across the board) after the first round of parties (which takes place before first sememster grades come in. Once those 1st semester grades come in, PanHell checks them against the list of registered rushees, and makes cuts accordingly).

So now you've got about 1,000 girls vying for 800 spots, and yes, it is very competitive.
In my first year of Rush, (when there were 21 NPC groups on campus), I NEVER got cut from a single house, and I ended up going to my first 2 choices for pref night (pref night was on a 2-party system then; it is on a 3-party system now), and I STILL didn't get a bid; I got cross-cut, which is a ridiculous thing that can happen, and is a fluke.

Well, I was devastated, but I got over it, and went through Rush again the next year, and ended up pledging the same house I had pref'd the year before. So it all worked out for me, and I really enjoyed my second year through Rush much better--I learned more, and made better decisions in forming my regret lists after each round of parties.

So, from 1,000 women, you have to get down to 800. That leaves 200 women without bids. It is truly a shame. As someone else mentioned, however, IU is missing at least 4 NPC groups that I can think of . . . Just in the time that I was there, we lost Tri-Sigma, Sigma Kappa, and AOPi . . . and at least on the part of the last two, it was NOT because they didn't have big and beautiful houses, because they did! In at least two of those cases, the women were poor recruiters. Their Rush skills were just totally lacking, and that was (perhaps) due to a lack of support from their Advisory Board, I assume. I did think it was a shame when each of them closed, 2 of them in particular, because I felt that they could have been great chapters with the right support from a number of directions.

Well, I don't know if I've shed any more light on this subject, but I thought I would give you my insight. IU's rush is big, but it is a wonderful, fun, supportive greek system. For years, IU's Panhell Council has wrestled with ways to fit 1,000 girls into 800 bids . . . and come up short every time. It is a shame, I know, but at this point there isn't much that can be done about it.

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Oh, Kappa Kappa Kappa Gamma,
I'm so happy that I am a
Kappa Kappa Kappa Gamma,
Nobody knows . . . how
happy I am!

[PenguinTrax]

AOPi has since returned to the IU campus. The current NPC groups on campus are:

Alpha Chi Omega
Alpha Delta Pi
Alpha Epsilon Phi
Alpha Gamma Delta
Alpha Omicron Pi
Alpha Phi
Alpha Xi Delta
Chi Omega
Delta Delta Delta
Delta Gamma
Delta Zeta
Gamma Phi Beta
Kappa Alpha Theta
Kappa Delta
Kappa Kappa Gamma
Pi Beta Phi
Phi Mu
Sigma Delta Tau
Zeta Tau Alpha

Missing are: Tri-Sigma, Sigma Kappa, Alpha Sigma Tau, Theta Phi Alpha, Delta Phi Epsilon, Phi Sigma Sigma,Alpha Sigma Alpha

[Billy Optimist]

800 sorority girls. I've died and gone to college heaven

[carnation]

bump!

[madmax]

Originally posted by Billy Optimist
800 sorority girls. I've died and gone to college heaven

800 was just this semester's pledges. The total number is probably in the thousands. Ill guess 2-4k...

[DWAlphaGam]

*bump* because of all of the questions about bidless pmns.

[sugar and spice]

I think imsohappythatiama made a point that Indiana is a unique situation. Because of the split-rush schedule with Round One in November and the conclusion of rush in January, grades play a much different factor than at most schools. Most of us, while rushing, didn't have college grades yet (fall rush) or knew what our GPA was (spring rush). At IU they don't know what their grades are yet but those unknown grades do play a part. I think the split-rush schedule also gives rushees a lot of time to find other friends and activities, lose interest, or change their mind and decide Greek life is not for them, which could account for a lot of girls dropping out.

Does anybody know why Indiana uses the split-rush schedule? As far as I know, they're the only school that does things that way. Have they always done it that way, or was there a time when they used a more standard approach to rush?

[33girl]

I just saw that another large school is going to start using the split schedule, danged if I can remember who.

Another prob at IU is that the size of your house determines how many women you can have, where at most schools it doesn't matter if house A holds 20, house B holds 50, and house C holds 70 - everyone is held to the same quota/total. I do think that IU is the only school that does this.

[AZ-AlphaXi]

Originally posted by 33girl
I just saw that another large school is going to start using the split schedule, danged if I can remember who.
....

The following from the Purdue Greek Life web site seems to indicate that they are going to a split schedule..

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Women interested in sororities, note these important dates:
- Sept/Oct 2003: Register with Panhellenic and participate in various group meetings with a Greek Counselor
- November 9, 2003: Pre-Recruitment Convocation
- November 15-16, 2003: Open House Rounds
- January 8-10, 2004: Invitational Rounds
- January 11, 2004: Bid Day

[33girl]

God bless you AZ-AlphaXi and all you stand for. That would have made me nuts trying to think of it!!

[momoftwo]

Originally posted by AZ-AlphaXi
The following from the Purdue Greek Life web site seems to indicate that they are going to a split schedule..

------------

Women interested in sororities, note these important dates:
- Sept/Oct 2003: Register with Panhellenic and participate in various group meetings with a Greek Counselor
- November 9, 2003: Pre-Recruitment Convocation
- November 15-16, 2003: Open House Rounds
- January 8-10, 2004: Invitational Rounds
- January 11, 2004: Bid Day

When I went through rush at Purdue in the 70's, the recruitment schedule worked like the schedule outlined above. There also were "coke parties" (I think that's what they were called--it's been a long time) that took place between the open house rounds and the invitational rounds. The PNMs would meet a small group of sisters at the Union for a half hour or so at some mutually convenient time.

There was so much time between the first part of rush and the invitational rounds that I really lost interest in the whole process and didn't feel like coming back early from winter break to finish up. In retrospect, I wish I had, but that's water under the bridge...

[Angels&Arrows]

This might sound harsh... BUT...

Half the problem with rushees going bidless is the rushees themselves, the other half is the system...

First off, PNMs often drop-out or suicide if they do not like thier choices!!! 90% of the time if they stuck-it out through recruitment, then they would end-up with a bid to a house. However, if your choices are limited to a house(s) that you are not interested in or that you can not see yourself at.. then you should not pledge, it is not fair to the you or that chapter!!

Second, if there is a large percentage going bidless.. it is time to bring a new chapter on campus. Someone mentioned last night that VSU will not bring a new chapter on campus, until everyone is at total (5/6 chapters consistently make quota and are at total).... Let me just say, I doubt that one chapter will ever make quota or be at total. So let's just hurt 30%(+/-) PNMs going through recruitment each year? I do not get that... I am not saying it is right or wrong that the PNMs have no interest in the one or two houses on campus that are struggling... however, it is life..

[sugar and spice]

Originally posted by Angels&Arrows
This might sound harsh... BUT...

Half the problem with rushees going bidless is the rushees themselves, the other half is the system...

I agree. In many cases, the schools with "cutthroat rush" are the ones where almost all the rushees going through have quite a bit of experience with Greek life and many of them have an idea of where they're going before rush even begins (i.e., "Even though we have twelve sororities, I will only accept a bid from Pi Phi, Tri Delt and Kappa"). It seems that some schools, for whatever reasons, attract a larger percentage of girls who have their minds made up before rush begins or who will only accept a bid from a couple of the campus's sororities. In that case, I don't feel sorry for the rushees who go bidless -- they put themselves in that situation.

However, if 90 percent of rushees all want the same three sororities, you have to start asking if there's a reason for that. Is it just that freshman superficiality of "I only want to be in the very top tier of sororities," or is it that the rest of the groups are just legitimately that much worse than the top three? If it's the latter, there is something seriously wrong with the Greek system. And ditto for the situations in which 9 out of 10 groups are making quota and the last group never will, yet Panhel refuses to allow expansion until the last group is full -- if you give them a year or two to shape up and they still can't, it's time to bring in another group.