Southeastern Conference 2007 & 2008 Recruitment

[TSteven]

The University of Kentucky Bid Day Events are today at 2:00 p.m. ET.

Best of luck to all the UK Kittens.

[cluelessUGAmom]

Originally Posted by UGATammy

You are correct. My chapter (Psi) has closed and the house did get sold to the University. Thankfully, the University has given us an invitation to come back on campus in a few years. It's sad to see my chapter closed, but I know it's for the best at the time being. I wish the other chapters at UGA the best of luck tomorrow when they get their new members!!!

Where do the girls go if the chapter is disbanding? Do they bid for other sororities?

[dgdramadawg]

Originally Posted by cluelessUGAmom

Where do the girls go if the chapter is disbanding? Do they bid for other sororities?

If one is a member of one NPC group, she cannot pledge another NPC group.

I'm sure that DPhiE has an alumnae group in the Athens area for these women. Is that right, Tammy?

[irishpipes]

Last weekend I was talking to the Vice Chancellor/Dean of Students at Arkansas. This is the first year they are deferring formal recruitment until September (the 2 weekends after Labor Day). He said the change was made because too many girls didn't get the chapters they wanted during recruitment and dropped out of school, so they were losing too many students. We hear about that kind of thing here on GC, but I admit it was strange to hear it coming from an administrator like that. I personally don't like the new schedule, but we'll see how it goes.

[SECMom]

Alabama did this for the first time in 2001, when my oldest went through and I thought it was ridiculous. The reason given was that it would promote racial diversity in the traditionally white sororities. Now that is a valid reason but I never understood how delaying rush would bring it about! They did it again the next year in 2003 a new president came in and put it back to the week before classes started, which, in my then humble opinion, was when rush was SUPPOSED to be anyway.

Well, Ole Miss has a delayed rush, reason being that girls who don't get what they want would drop out otherwise, and for some reason pertaining to the football schedule rush was delayed until the 2nd week of October last year.....after experiencing a TRULY delayed rush I have changed my mind. The 7 weeks she had to get settled, make friends in her dorm, meet some sorority girls, plus living with the notion that she had to be on her very best behavior turned out to be very good for her. We were dissecting Alabama's rush last night (some of our local girls are not very happy, both pnms and actives) and she made the comment that delayed recruitment made so much more sense. This year rush is the end of September and I find myself thinking that waiting another couple of weeks might be a good thing!

Just my 2 cents.

[SoMom]

Originally Posted by SECMom

The 7 weeks she had to get settled, make friends in her dorm, meet some sorority girls, plus living with the notion that she had to be on her very best behavior turned out to be very good for her.

SECMom, I agree! My daughter was disappointed that Rush did not take place before Homecoming last year but I think it was a good thing to experience some of the college experience before pledging. I also wondered if it wasn't better for those (few) girls who arrive at Ole Miss having not sent (m)any recs - those few weeks give them opportunity to learn more about Rush and get 'things' together. (Of course, the hard part was the fact that they have to juggle classes while rushing... but they seem to handle it fine.)
In the long term, those few weeks are minimal.

A Southern Mom

[OleMissGlitter]

I went through rush at Ole Miss the last year it was before school. It was easier because you could focus on classes more after rush was over. However, I think everyone seems to like it 6-8 weeks into the school year. They usually plan it during an away game. Last year was during mid-terms and it was tough for actives and PNMs. This year the schedule is much better! This Sunday is Water Parties, a new round implemented last year.

ETA: The retention rate has improved as well and some girls who might not have been as open minded to all houses, are realizing that all 9 sororities at Ole Miss are very good!

[TSteven]

Originally Posted by SECdomination

IFC Rush is next Sunday and the general consensus is that more young men will be participating than last year, where numbers were down across campus. Did any of the other SEC schools experience this with the fraternity system?

Good luck to all those participating at the SEC schools!

The University of Kentucky's IFC rush started today.

I'm sure numbers are kept regarding how many men signed up formally. And the number of men who receive a bid(s). And of course the number of accepted bids. However, unless or things have changed, it is difficult to get a true feel on the number of men actually rushing at UK. As I understand it, you don't have to sign up before hand to rush. And you can attend events for only one fraternity.

[GtownGirl98]

Hey TSteven... why do the frats think that need to rush out of sorority houses? Or at least the front yards? Just wondering if you knew.

UK AGD's did excellent... 58 NMs with 57 being quota!

[ufpiphi]

Thanks for the compliment SECDomination!

Speaking of numbers and UF . . . we began the week with 1,216 women and before first preferencing last night, were down to 1150. Our numbers over the last three years have been diminishing. I fear that the harder is becomes to get into this school, the smaller our Greek community will be. I hope the remaining girls stay throughout the week, otherwise we're looking at the smallest pledge classes in a long time.

[TSteven]

Originally Posted by GtownGirl98

Hey TSteven... why do the frats think that need to rush out of sorority houses? Or at least the front yards? Just wondering if you knew.

UK AGD's did excellent... 58 NMs with 57 being quota!

Congratulations to Alpha Gamma Delta on an excellent job! Interesting that quota was the same as last year. I had heard that quota would be around the same. But for it to be exact number, well that is kind of eerie.

Regarding IFC Rush. For those who may not know, some of UK's fraternities rush out of the sorority houses during formal rush week. These chapters are either un-housed (no official chapter house, dorm floor), or their house is not near main campus - i.e. freshmen dorms. The particular sorority most often does not help with any of the rushing. While they might attend (and that can be good PR for the fraternity), they aren't hosting the event.

The reason (bottom line) is to help even the playing field - as it were - for those chapters not near campus or un-housed. As such, both location and cost come into play.

Location. There isn't a formal IFC rush structure that requires a rushee to attend an event (open house) at each chapter. Rushees are more likely to attend a party that is "right there" on (near) campus. Thus the chapters on or near campus (i.e. walking distance from the freshman dorms) are the ones that are at an advantage for a more productive rush. Rushing out of a sorority house allows the un-housed or away from campus chapters to have an "on campus" base.

Cost. IFC requires all formal rush events to be held at an approved venue (campus facility or a third party venue) between 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. during rush week. Three or four days at a third party venues is quite expensive thus the chapters opt for something on campus. Rushing out of a sorority house (tent in yard) is better than something at the Student Center. Plus the cost to have an event at a sorority house is minimal. For the most part, there isn't a charge for use of the sorority house. The fraternity pays for clean up and I've heard that some make donations (cash, volunteer hours) to the sorority's philanthropy. Plus the sororities get good PR for helping out too.

And for what it is worth, those chapters that do have an off campus house often hold events at their house later on during the week. And they give tours of the house during the week.

[TSteven]

Originally Posted by SECdomination

UF is the same way. I should have been more specific, but I was asking about the number of accepted bids.
I was just curious because for Fall 2006, we had 21 pledges.
The two largest groups had pledge classes of 29 and 32.

Rewind to Fall 2005
We had a class of 44.
The same two were still the largest and took classes of 40+ and 50+.
It's nothing scientific, just an example of the obvious drop in accepted bids across the board.
I would assume that this means there were fewer gentlemen rushing in general.

From what I've observed, it seems like each fraternity - and the whole IFC system - has some sort of a cycle where pledge numbers (acceptance of bids) are up for a few years. My guess is that the up years can be attributed to more bids being accepted by men who might not normally do so. As such, the issue becomes *why* more bids are accepted in some years and not every year.

My guess it is some sort of combination of the following.

Rushee perspective

Even when they like a chapter or the idea of being Greek, there are always rushees that are uncertain about joining a fraternity. But once they hear or see other men accepting bids, they might decide to do so as well. Thus a kind of snowball affect takes place where uncommitted rushees realize joining is something they really do want to do and do so. Then more rushees see more men joining and they decide to join. Percentage of bid acceptance is up thus numbers are up.

Chapter perspective

Some years, it only takes a few chapters to have a great rush. Or they need to have a good rush number wise. And they do it. In any case, other chapters see how well these chapters are doing and they ramp up their recruitment. Which in turn may translate more men being seriously being rushed (personal invites to more events etc.) which can lead to more men accepting a bid. Ideally, this should be the norm, but not all chapters do this every year. Thus the spike in numbers that year(s).

Originally Posted by SECdomination

Also, how do you feel about the SEC East this year? Should make for a great football season! I might be making the trip up to Kentucky.

Football Saturdays are a blast during Keeneland Race Track's fall (October) racing schedule. World class horse racing during the day with football at night. Going to both is fondly called the "Daily Double". A lot of fraternities tailgate first at the track then later at Commonwealth. So if you come for the UK/UF game (October 20th), try to work in a day or two at the track. And if the football game is moved to Saturday day, then the tailgating takes place on Friday. Actually, as I understand it, every Friday is tailgating at Keeneland.

And yes, the SEC Eastern Division is going to be a tough - again. The irony is that UK should be much better than last season, yet our schedule is a killer. Unless we pull off an upset or two, I feel we will be fortunate if we win six games this season.

GO CATS!

[ztafromuk]

Does anyone have general results? I haven't seen a breakdown listing all the chapters this year. Did the increase in chapter total change things?

Congratulations to all panhellenic and IFC new members!!!

[TSteven]

Originally Posted by SECdomination

That sounds very exciting. I haven't been to a race since I was about twelve. You've made my decision- I'm goin' for the Daily Double!

Kentucky and Vanderbilt will probably pull off some upsets...but hopefully not over us!

The Social Lawn at Kenneland


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[TSteven]

Originally Posted by ztafromuk

Does anyone have general results? I haven't seen a breakdown listing all the chapters this year. Did the increase in chapter total change things?

Congratulations to all panhellenic and IFC new members!!!

How the heck did I miss this?

I heard that quota was either 56 or 57. Listed below are the numbers that have been posted by Greek Chat members in their forums.

I did hear some general comments but have yet to see anything official. As such, I prefer not to post *hearsay*. I have a few friends back in Lexington that are somewhat active with their chapters so I'm hoping to hear from them soon with official numbers. However, it may take a while. One is currently on vacation while the other, well, let's just say she can be as slow as molasses on a frosty winter morning when it comes to replying to emails. There are a few other UK folk here of Greek Chat. Hopefully, they will be able to report something soon.

AGD - 58
ADP
AOP
DG - 62
DDD
DZ - 60
KAQ
KD
KKG
PBF
SK - 45
CW

FYI: IFC bids could be extend starting today at 9 a.m. I am not sure if the rushees have to wait until tomorrow to accept or if they could accept today.