What Would You Change About Recruitment?

[TxGirl]

I think with the new release figure method (RFM) we will get closer to getting all PNM's their first choice. We used it last year and I think of the almost 185 +/- who received bids, only 9 got their second choice. I thought this was great.

As for the chapter side, the RFM is supposed to do the same thing. It won't be such a big deal to get your first list b/c your entire bid list will be shorter overall. My understanding is that it will be the norm for more chapters to go further down on their bid lists than before.

Hopefully all of this with the new RFM will make for less crying on each side of the recruitment fence. I know you couldn't have paid me to be a Rho Chi and have to break that many hearts.

[PinkRose1098]

Some of the things that I would love to be able to change about Recrutiment would be:

1) Can we please call it what it feels like - RUSH?! I swear for those two weeks everyday was one hurdle after another. We had a WEEK of planning and practice and then the actual week of rush. Plus the "old" terminology makes more sense to me but this is because it's what I'm used to hearing and traing my tounge to be PC is nearly impossible.
2) This request is totally geared toward my school - I'd love to be able to move rush to later in the fall. I love the fact that rush is one of the first things that incoming freshman girls experience. Hopefully they are able to get to know the chapters they are meeting for themselves without too much gossips from their momma, older friends, etc. But really! August in Alabama is not very fun for a girl in heels and a dress. I hated the fact that no matter how smart you tried to be as a PNM, something went wrong involving the weather. You sweat, your make-up doesn't look as good, and then you get those wonderful afternoon showers; you name it - it happens.
3) Ice Water Teas - this is my least favorite round of rush. It's easy to decorate the room for IWTs. I don't like the fact that no matter how hard you work people still get nervious and fall back on what they know - not using their brain. We ideally try to match sisters up with girls who have a common interest so there is something to talk about and they can skip the really tired into question - Why did you choose this school? What's your major? What did you do this summer? Do you like football? I'd rather see round that has a theme like a Sisterhood Day. We already have Philanthropy Day, Skit Day and Pref. Let me openly talk about the reason we're hear - not fluffy bs.

On another note I wish that guys rush was structured a little more like ours. It would be great to see the rushees visit every chapter/ house at least once during that week of rush. Shoot, it'd be great to see them have rounds where the choice is more of an open process than a covert mission. Being the organizational person I am, I hate preparing a bunch of food for rush only to have very few rushee come by and then having the brothers scarf it down during their meeting. Plus, I hated seeing the disapointment in my boys eyes when so very few people came to the house.

[doves95]

Originally posted by PinkRose1098
Some of the things that I would love to be able to change about Recrutiment would be:
On another note I wish that guys rush was structured a little more like ours. It would be great to see the rushees visit every chapter/ house at least once during that week of rush. Shoot, it'd be great to see them have rounds where the choice is more of an open process than a covert mission. Being the organizational person I am, I hate preparing a bunch of food for rush only to have very few rushee come by and then having the brothers scarf it down during their meeting. Plus, I hated seeing the disapointment in my boys eyes when so very few people came to the house.

This was done at one of my chapters's universities... fraternities had "rush week" basically. Each chapter can host X amount of parties for 1 hour each and there were rules about what can be served and done (IE no alcohol, girls etc...) and each rushee had a card that was stamped enter and exit time and had to stay at the house for at least 30 minutes and meet each chapter between day 1 and 2 (could not go to the same house). then the guys can start on day 3 and 4 going only where they wanted and after day 4 picked their fraternity and the frternity compliled their bid list based on who came (each rushee had a small info card with their name to give to the house)...... it was so awesome~!

[KSUViolet06]

Originally posted by carnation
Well, I wouldn't call it sulking. Every case I've seen involved nonstop, brokenhearted crying and the former rushee questioning her worth.

I'm sorry, I certainly didn't mean to demean their feelings, I'm sure it feels awful. I couldn't think of any other word at the time.

[SouthernXO]

While I do like the idea of moving rush later into the year for weather issues (south carolina gets hot too!), I think rush is way too stressful to put it any later. I don't know how they would do rush once school started, or how I would balance doing hwk, going to class, and the stress of rush. I also don't like the fact that we can't even say "See you tommorrow!" as a goodbye. They say it promises a bid. In some ways, I see it, in some ways I think we should give the girls a bit more credit. However, I guess I'd rather have too strict rules that everyone fudges a little bit rather than none and have rampant lying and persuasion. Also, we have a greek "village", basically a street with alot of the houses on it, and it really was... intimidating and... unnerving to have all the fraternities out "playing frisbee" or "sitting in the rocking chairs enjoying the day" and watching us walk by. We were nervous enough without having to feel like we're being watched by our potential new social group. I rarely saw those rocking chairs ever sat in again that year, by the way.

[STL Kappa]

Originally posted by aephi alum
Another thing I'd change: Make the parties longer, especially where there are fewer sororities. I've seen round 1 parties as short as twenty minutes. That means sororities are making decisions about PNMs based on maybe 10-15 minutes of conversation, maybe a resume, maybe a rec, and maybe the opinions of a sister or two who already know the PNM. And PNMs are making decisions about which sororities to return to based on maybe 10-15 minutes of conversation with maybe 2-3 sisters out of possibly 100+. Longer parties means more exhaustion, but they give the actives and PNMs a better chance to figure out if the match might be there before any cuts are made. (Note that I come from a campus with 5 NPC sororities, so longer parties are not unreasonable.)

There are 13 chapters on my campus, and on the first day of recruitment (I feel like I'm breaking a rule by using that word since apparently so many people hate it!) our parties are only 20 minutes long. (And it goes just like you described it... 10-15 minutes of conversation with 2-3 sisters out of 100-150+...) Since we have a good amount of chapters, we can't really afford to lengthen parties anyway, but in my opinion I don't think it's really necessary...

I know many people would love it if cuts could be made after having several real (not "where'd you go to high school?!") conversations with PNMs that are not rushed by time constraints, but in many recruitment situations it is just not realistic. Regardless of whether you have four sororities on campus or fourteen, there are almost always more PNMs than bids to be extended and cuts must be made somehow. Even if every girl that goes through recruitment is absolutely wonderful and a perfect match, you simply can't take them all.

I feel like it's dismissive to say "sororities are making decisions about PNMs based on maybe 10-15 minutes of conversation, maybe a resume, maybe a rec, and maybe the opinions of a sister or two who already know the PNM." What else should cuts be based on in the first round? If a resume shows that a PNMs GPA does not meet the chapter's requirement, she'll be cut. If a rec or a sister raises concerns about a PNM, she'll likely be cut.

Not trying to be super harsh here... but you have the following rounds to get to know PNMs better and determine if they'd be a good fit for your chapter. (And as our rounds progress, parties get longer, so we have more time as well.) Taking more time to get to know the PNMs in round one is just going to make it harder on both sides when cuts ultimately have to be made. Undoubtedly getting to know PNMs is very important but resumes and recs are an important part of recruitment, too... if they weren't, they wouldn't be required...



Edited to say there aren't ALWAYS more PNMs than bids.

[33girl]

Originally posted by STL Kappa
I feel like it's dismissive to say "sororities are making decisions about PNMs based on maybe 10-15 minutes of conversation, maybe a resume, maybe a rec, and maybe the opinions of a sister or two who already know the PNM." What else should cuts be based on in the first round? If a resume shows that a PNMs GPA does not meet the chapter's requirement, she'll be cut. If a rec or a sister raises concerns about a PNM, she'll likely be cut.

I don't think grades or concerns about PNMs are on the same level. After all, if your grades aren't up to par as a sister, you're on probation or out. If there is bad behavior as a sister, you're on probation or out. What I think aephialum is saying is - what if a rushee is matched with the one sister out of 100 she doesn't click with and she would have been great for the chapter? I'm sorry, but that really sucks. Not only that, if you don't care for the sister and she recommends a rushee, are you really going to be that high on the rushee? I just think the objective of rush should be for as many rushees to meet as many sisters as humanly possible. If it makes the parties a little longer, oh well.

And no, there aren't always more PNMs than bids...a lot of us would LOVE it if our schools just had enough PNMs to fill all the sororities to total.

[aephi alum]

Originally posted by 33girl
What I think aephialum is saying is - what if a rushee is matched with the one sister out of 100 she doesn't click with and she would have been great for the chapter? I'm sorry, but that really sucks.

Exactly. Where first-round parties are very short, chapters often don't have a lot to go on when making first-round decisions - especially where rush is not deferred. Sometimes just cutting the PNMs who don't have the grades isn't enough to meet release figures.

Not only that, but PNMs don't have a lot to go on if they have to decline one or more invitations. Here's an example from my school. When I was there, rush was held first thing in the fall. Round 1 consisted of "tours", where PNMs were taken around to each sorority's rush room, followed by a total of 8 hours of "open house" where each PNM could go back to any sorority she chose and stay as long as she liked. Tours lasted ten minutes per sorority. That's all. Each sorority had ten minutes, which translated to one short conversation and a skit, to impress the PNMs into returning during open houses. Sororities generally cut any PNM who did not return during open houses - so PNMs could effectively "cut" sororities right after tours. Many did - I've seen many PNMs choose to go back to only one sorority during open houses, effectively "suiciding" right from the start - and some of them ended up bidless because they didn't give a second chance to a sorority that could have been a good fit.

[twhrider13]

One thing I'd change about rush at my school is a kind of not-so-important thing, but it's a big deal to PNMs. We don't have sorority houses, so each chapter has a different room to conduct rush out of. This is not a bad idea in and of itself, but the problem is, all these rooms are spread all over campus. Incidentally, our campus is perched on the side of a mountain, so no matter which way you're going, you're walking uphill. The poor PNMs have to walk back and forth across campus in 100 degree heat, up and down killer hills in killer heels! Usually, it rains at least once during the week, too.

So if I could change anything, I would give each sorority a room in the same building, so PNMs would only have to walk between rooms rather than hike a good 2 or 3 miles back and forth between parties. I think I actually heard a sister we picked up during recruitment last year say she seriously considered cutting XYZ because she had to walk soooooo far to get to the place where they were! It's a big pain in the booty, and it needs to go!

[BabyPiNK_FL]

I'd make rush BEFORE school starts. Why should I worry about scheduling my classes around rush or possibly missing a class? It wouldn't be that hard because almost everybody lives nearby anyways. I'm still excited, but it would ease some of the pent up anxiety and give me one less thing to worry about. It'd just make it a li'l more pleasant.

[doves95]

I have been with both the during and before school recruitments. While before school recruitment does not interfer with the education of the students you can be pushing many students out of the process because they are unable to get to campus early. And what about those who get cut.. what are they to do now? sit around campus with no friends and nothing to do?!

Yes its a challenge but you are going to pledge and be a member while classes are going on so you can make the balance and time management then too.. so why not with recruitment.

[amanda6035]

Originally posted by JocelynC

*INFORM girls better about the process itself. Let them know about the rules prior to the start (not always done). Make sure they understand that their sorority affiliation is an important lifetime choice and that choosing to join means alot of responsibilites.

Man.....I had to deal with this last night on instant messenger. I'm a member of AITP (Association of Information Technology Professionals) and our current Treasurer is an AWESOME girl. She's also on SGA and she and I have been friends for a while, but she really, never seemed interested. Last year I invited her to CORs and stuff and she just played it off...

Last night, we were talking on IM about SGA and she said she was going to be the new webmaster of the SGA website, but that she was having a hard time getting access to it, with the password for the account and everything. I told her "Oh thats easy, I just recently created our sorority's website...just contact this person to get it set up..."

AND THEN....she asked for our website URL...so I gave it to her, and she started asking A MILLION questions...like suddenly the lightbulb had come on, and how did it work, what was the process, what WAS formal recruitment, etc etc etc...and I explained everything that I could without overstepping any boundaries. We dont have an "official" panhellenic set up at my school, but we try to follow the basic rules as much as possible. I told her that formal recruitment was a chance for her to meet both sororities, and see which group she most identified with, etc etc. And she asked "well how do I know I'll be invited?" and I freaked out..."Oh god, how do I answer"...so i just told her it was a mutual selection process. That if she had a good vibe about ABC sorority, and ABC sorority had a good vibe about her, there isnt much to worry about. I know that's not necessarily true at ALOT of schools, but that's the way it is at mine.

The conversation kinda shocked me in a way, made me realize that i dont REALLY know how to answer those questions, I HATE that we're told to "change the subject - step around it, talk about something else..." if the girl's asking me a question, she wants an answer, and that's what i wanted when I went through recruitment. I felt so bad, cause she had the same "tough" questions i had when I joined "How do i know I'll be invited and am not wasting my time doing this whole recruitment thing?" <sigh>

But, hopefully the answers I gave her were calming enough for her to show up. She said she was thinking about it, so I'm hoping she'll be at formal recruitment. <crosses fingers>

[CelticGal]

Originally posted by doves95
OR contact the local NPC alum group... like the area officers. They may be able to help out as well by at least meeting with all the PNM;s like a forum for them to share the information etc... with all the PNM's like on the rush orientation day most schools have that is manditory to attend.... this way they are not there the whole time, its hard to really push your chapter, and they are the "know it alls" on this stuff.

I think this is a great idea - we alums could serve as "Super RhoChis" to help during rush (hey, we called it that back in the 80s) AND to help on Bid Night with those who don't get bids.

[LionTamer]

High heels

That's what I would change about rush. I'm dating myself, but I rushed the first time Candies were popular, and we visited 16 different suites in 8 different buildings (now it's up to 20, and they're even more spread out). We all ended up barefoot and blistered, carrying our shoes from suite to suite, climbing flight after flight of outdoor stairs (our dorms are also perched on the side of a steep hill). I've seen some of the shoes out for Fall this year, and they bring back some horrifying memories



The only good thing is that September in central Pennsylvania is not crisp and cool yet, but it's not August in Alabama, either