Effects of the New Release Figures

[carnation]

Oh, I know, alphagamuga. You go to those parties and even if there's no way you're getting in, they'll make you feel like the number one woman on their bid list. Then when the invitations come back...

And a lot of those recruitment brochures don't mention that you might not get your first or even eighth choice. Or last. They say, "as a new member, you will get to do this or that" and it never occurs to PNMs that they might not pledge. And then there are those songs, sung even on the first day: "We want you for the red, yellow and blue" and that kind of thing. Each PNM is sure they're singing to her individually.

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by carnation

And a lot of those recruitment brochures don't mention that you might not get your first or even eighth choice. Or last. They say, "as a new member, you will get to do this or that" and it never occurs to PNMs that they might not pledge.

The newest recruitment page at UGA tells women that recommendations are not required for any group* too. It's almost as if PNMs are sabotaged at every turn by the official advice. Sure, it is officially the responsibility of the group to get you one if the group needs it, but I don't think it's a good idea for the girls to count on that on a highly competitive campus.

I think starkly realistic information from all sources would help young women through the process more than the consistently optimistic stuff they get instead.

*Correction added 4/7: This in only in the FAQs section. The actual recruitment guide does in fact do a good job explaining the importance of recs. I want to retract my claims about the fine people in the UGA Greek Life Office.

[honeychile]

Originally Posted by Alphagamuga

The newest recruitment page at UGA tells women that recommendations are not required for any group, too. It's almost as if PNMs are sabotaged at every turn by the official advice. Sure, it is officially the responsibility of the group to get you one if the group needs it, but I don't think it's a good idea for the girls to count on that on a highly competitive campus.

I think starkly realistic information from all sources would help young women through the process more than the consistently optimistic stuff they get instead.

Agreed - statements such as these don't allow those who don't really know the system even the smallest of chances!

[seraphimsprite]

I'm definitely a fan of the new release figures method. I was an adviser at George Washington University in DC for the last three years and we implemented the release figures method in my first year there. (The campus is about 17% greek with quota generally ranging between 25-30.)

The chapter I advised had very high historical return rates so it was definitely a bit of a shock when they realized they had to release over half the women after the first round. But they didn't have a problem making quota with a great group of girls and the chapters on campus who had traditionally done poorly in recruitment did actually have stronger numbers on bid day, although not up to quota. I understand the frustration of the girls who are heavily cut after the first day but I really do think that's far more fair to them than stringing them along for the week only to cut them before pref.

I think the big issue with the new release figures method is that it really does take a couple of years to work out the kinks - both administratively and with the chapter's recruiting. Most of the complaints tend to be in the first year after implementation, but a lot of that seems to be just because its a different system and we're all a little bit resistant to change.

The legacy issue that carnation mentioned is something I've definitely seen as a problem though. The first year it was pretty well known that one sorority on campus had cut all of the women who were legacies to other chapters after the first round. And this isn't a campus where there really are a large number of legacies like you have at the SEC schools. Of course a large part of the problem is that the computer system told us who was a legacy of any chapter that year and the problem was mostly fixed by changing the program so it only displayed each chapter's own legacies.

And there was one case, in the third year, where a chapter who had always made quota fell short by 4 or 5 women. But I don't see that as a flaw in the system. They were able to pick up the extra women through COB anyway. And if ABC getting five short of quota means that XYZ was five members closer to quota than they usually were, then I don't really see the problem there.

[ADqtPiMel]

Originally Posted by seraphimsprite

I'm definitely a fan of the new release figures method. I was an adviser at George Washington University in DC for the last three years and we implemented the release figures method in my first year there. (The campus is about 17% greek with quota generally ranging between 25-30.)

Hey, I'm a GW adviser too.

[UGAalum94]

It's only within the FAQs section of the UGA website that it says recs are not required. If you actually read through the recruitment guide, they do a very good job explain their importance. I apologize, UGA Greek Life Office!

The advice in the guide looks great: http://www.uga.edu/panhellenic/Libra...tmentguide.pdf.