PNM Registration -- How does it go at your school?

[33girl]

Originally Posted by AnonAlumna

I couldn't believe it. At my school, we were given the registration form (which was pretty detailed) as well as a color picture of every girl. This allows the girls to pair with someone who might have a common interest for the first parties, and on down. It seems this system is wasting a lot of time by not giving these GLO's any information prior.

Yes, they certainly are wasting time by getting to know the girl on her own merits, rather than memorizing a list of her activities and who her parents are and pigeonholing her because she was on (example) model legislature in high school. (Maybe she hated model leg and did it only as a extracurricular requirement and never wants to talk about it ever again. I'm sure she'll be jazzed to get stuck with the sister who LOOOOVED it and can't talk about anything else.)

Stick around and watch the system in action for a while before you suggest making changes. We do manage to keep a couple of chapters open in the North, even though we do operate in complete chaos.

[ForeverRoses]

I went to a school in "the north" and all we would recieve was a copy of their registration sheet- which was very basic- name, dorm, legacies (if they chose to list it), hometown. It didn't list interests, extra curriculars or anything.

We did have the PNMs come into the house is alphabetical order, but that was it. And we still managed to have a great rush with pledge classes that averaged 40 women (unfortunately greek life is on a downturn and quota now is around 25 - with 2 less sororities on campus).

I agree to see what rush is actually like at the school before you suggest changes. What worked at your school won't necessarily work at another.

[LoggerTheta]

Let me first say that we have Deferred Recruitment. There are registration forms involved with our recruitment process, however, PNMs can show up to the first day of recruitment not having filled one out too, so really it's all just a surprise for us. We go to a small school though (~3000 undergrads with about 60% of those being women), so chances are that we already know something about these ladies before they go through recruitment just from being in classes together and such. Our situation is much different from a lot of other schools, and every school is different, so I agree with what the other ladies have said: Go with the flow. I hope recruitment is sucessful for you!

[AnonAlumna]

Geez...excuse the heck out of me. I guess I should have given more details. I've been involved with the chapter for a couple of years. I've just now taken on an advisor roll, as I had the time to commit. I have assited with rush, and chapter preparations. I'm not trying to overthrow the government and make it 'like my chapter'...they are VERY different schools. THUS, why I asked how others do it.

We've all been through recruitment processes at different schools, and the chapter itself and the long-time advisors have been trying to get the school to take pictures at least of all the PNM's so that there is ANYTHING to go by for the GLO's. All they MIGHT get in advance is a sponsorship form. The fewer the surprises during rush the better, right?

33girl: I wasn't trying to imply anything any of the 'heaven forbid' actions that you suggest. When we are talking about women trying to get to know someone in 15 minutes does it not help to perhaps have something to start talking about? Couldn't these help those ridiculous: What's your major? Where are you from? questions. Haven't we all been talking for years about making the process easier for everyone involved.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by AnonAlumna

Geez...excuse the heck out of me. I guess I should have given more details. I've been involved with the chapter for a couple of years.

Well then, perhaps you could have avoided sounding like you were watching animals eat their young.

Lots of women here (of course, this depends on the school) don't sign up for rush until the last minute and don't have recs or anything like that and would balk at a request to fill out something that from your description sounds like the equivalent of a resume. "For a SORORITY? You gotta be kidding."

Where are you from and what's your major take a big 30 seconds to ask. You should follow up with something like "so what movie have you seen lately? (and the rushee answers...)"American Gangster." "OMG, our sister Susie is the biggest Russell Crowe fan. Let me introduce you to her." Now you've got an opening for the rushee to meet more sisters, and so on, rather than being stuck with the same sister (who she may not click with at all) for the whole party. I just don't like the sound of "pairing" up people. If I had been "paired" with someone from my high school, my rush would have probably been a disaster. I had no idea when people talked about it all these years that they actually matched you on interests - I thought it was random.

If your chapter wants to take photos at the parties go for it, or if you want to bring it up to Panhel, but if it's something new to the school it could be perceived by administrators or the campus as picking who you want on appearance only (everyone's seen the photo scene from Animal House). I know that's not what it's for, but it can come across that way.

I mean, are several chapters (other than yours) complaining that MS takes too long or something? Are they not getting the pledges they want? Is this really an issue?

[KSUViolet06]

At my school, we use ICS Recruiter so all we had was the basic registration form with name, hometown, GPA info, legacies, extracurriculars, etc. We didn't ask for photos or resumes. All we had was the info on the sheet.

On the first day of parties, the PNMs entered the rooms in alphabetical order so there was no strategic pairing of PNMs with sisters. You got whomever was in the doorway when your turn came. Now for the later rounds like Pref, we would put sisters with certain girls that they had rushed before, just so that they didn't end up with someone they'd never met preffing them.

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by 33girl

Well then, perhaps you could have avoided sounding like you were watching animals eat their young.

Lots of women here (of course, this depends on the school) don't sign up for rush until the last minute and don't have recs or anything like that and would balk at a request to fill out something that from your description sounds like the equivalent of a resume. "For a SORORITY? You gotta be kidding."

Where are you from and what's your major take a big 30 seconds to ask. You should follow up with something like "so what movie have you seen lately? (and the rushee answers...)"American Gangster." "OMG, our sister Susie is the biggest Russell Crowe fan. Let me introduce you to her." Now you've got an opening for the rushee to meet more sisters, and so on, rather than being stuck with the same sister (who she may not click with at all) for the whole party. I just don't like the sound of "pairing" up people. If I had been "paired" with someone from my high school, my rush would have probably been a disaster. I had no idea when people talked about it all these years that they actually matched you on interests - I thought it was random.

If your chapter wants to take photos at the parties go for it, or if you want to bring it up to Panhel, but if it's something new to the school it could be perceived by administrators or the campus as picking who you want on appearance only (everyone's seen the photo scene from Animal House). I know that's not what it's for, but it can come across that way.

I mean, are several chapters (other than yours) complaining that MS takes too long or something? Are they not getting the pledges they want? Is this really an issue?

33girl, your tone and aire of superiority on this topic is offensive. Implying that chapters that do use pictures and women's biographical information are shallow and care only about what the parent's professions are is offensive in the extreme. Maybe since you didn't experience recruitment with these aides you just don't understand how helpful they are. Last time I participated in rush, we didn't have any rushers talk only about something a girl had indicated on her recruitment info form. In the old days when you had unlimited time to do MS, the pictures and info weren't as important, but from what I have witnessed at my current advisee chapter, MS is limited to two hours after the party. Since we don't get pictures for these girls, the majority of this two hour period is spent describing the PNM being discussed because otherwise no one knows who the girl is! At some schools, you have recruitments with more than 100 women going through so this actually does help. Don't be so quick to assign malignant intentions to everyone that posts on this site! Anon is clearly interested in helping her sisters streamline the process...not weed out the "undersireables" before they ever get to recruitment.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by AOII Angel

Implying that chapters that do use pictures and women's biographical information are shallow and care only about what the parent's professions are is offensive in the extreme.

Please reread my post that you quoted. I didn't say I thought that about pictures, rather that it might be perceived that way by administrators or other people that weren't familiar with it. I even said "I know that's not what it's for."

If these chapters at the OP's school are doing fine without detailed forms and pictures - why change it? Why make it harder for women who might be on the fence anyway to participate in the rush process?

Perhaps I came off a little bitchy, but when there's an implication in someone's post that everyone north of the Mason Dixon is an uncouth bumpkin who will never know how to run a proper rush, trust me, I ain't the only one thinking what I said.

[PeppyGPhiB]

Originally Posted by AnonAlumna

When we are talking about women trying to get to know someone in 15 minutes does it not help to perhaps have something to start talking about? Couldn't these help those ridiculous: What's your major? Where are you from? questions. Haven't we all been talking for years about making the process easier for everyone involved.

Call me crazy, but I don't see how asking all members to memorize information on PNMs, after matching them up carefully, "makes the process easier for everyone involved." If the only questions members think to ask are "What is your major?" and "Where are you from?" it seems they need some help in conversation. The best rushers are those that can have a conversation with anyone; AND it's one of those life-long skills we often brag that our members learn while in a sorority.

Actually, I would have been creeped out if every woman I talked to during rush was like me.

At my school (and when I was there), the sororities received the registration form and a photo supplied by the PNM. But, I know that the members of my chapter did not get to study that information prior to rush. Everything on each day (except preference) was a complete surprise, since the PNMs entered in random order and we often did not know who was returning to our chapter until the couple of minutes before each party.