NPC- informal cancelled.

Originally Posted by Soliloquy

However, I finally found out that it was cancelled due to nearly all houses being at total. Only one is lacking total by 2 members. I think it's pretty dumb that we can't have it because everyone is at total. Because honestly, all of the chapters and panhellenic look pretty silly now. There was a lot of buzz on campus, many girls got excited and now it's cancelled. Our campus culture is so laid back and most girls don't like the formality and rigidness of fall recruitment, which is why winter informal would have been a success. Oh well!

So now my last chance is formal, which is so far away, and that does not make me a happy camper. Blarg. I'm gonna be old and an upperclassman!!

Uhh...you think it's dumb that all houses are at total? What's so silly about it? A house having as many members as they're allowed to have is a great thing for them. A chapter cannot hold recruitment if they're not allowed to take new members. That's black and white.

If chapters are consistantly at total and many girls are still left bidless, then maybe your campus Panhellenic might want to explore the possibility of adding another sorority. But, as you know, that's for them to decide.

And please define success. Do you think that because COR lacks the formality and rigidness of the fall it would have been easier for you to get a bid?

I understand that you're bummed that you won't get a chance to participate in COR, but come on. You don't need to play the poor sport by making comments like you did up there.

[kathykd2005]

Don't give up hope, Soliloquy! You never know who may transfer without telling anyone, and that could put one or more houses under total. I'm still pulling for ya!

[AlphaFrog]

Originally Posted by kathykd2005

Don't give up hope, Soliloquy! You never know who may transfer without telling anyone, and that could put one or more houses under total. I'm still pulling for ya!

She said "nearly all" the houses were at total, which means there are houses that are under, just not enough to make it worth having an actual NPC wide recruitment. A couple unexpected transfers aren't going to change that, so let's not get the poor girl's hopes up...mmkay?

However, I would advise for the OP to keep her eyes open for individual COB parties. Unless there's something in campus guidelines that rules against it, the few houses under total could still recruit up to total, if so inclined.

[kathykd2005]

Originally Posted by AlphaFrog

She said "nearly all" the houses were at total, which means there are houses that are under, just not enough to make it worth having an actual NPC wide recruitment. A couple unexpected transfers aren't going to change that, so let's not get the poor girl's hopes up...mmkay?

However, I would advise for the OP to keep her eyes open for individual COB parties. Unless there's something in campus guidelines that rules against it, the few houses under total could still recruit up to total, if so inclined.

Let's not be so snotty, mmk? You basically just agreed with what I said, so there is no need to be such a nasty person. Maybe you should work on that for your New Year's resolution. Just a thought...

[33girl]

Originally Posted by AlphaFrog

However, I would advise for the OP to keep her eyes open for individual COB parties. Unless there's something in campus guidelines that rules against it, the few houses under total could still recruit up to total, if so inclined.

I agree. Soliloquoy, an organized recruitment (even if it's informal) costs money and time, and it would be ridiculous for a campus to hold it when there are only 2 spots open in one sorority. Total can be raised, but this shouldn't be done until it's gone a few years with numbers being strong - too many times schools raise total and then don't lower it and it hurts the whole system, except for the 1 or 2 strongest groups. Too many groups got burned with this in the 90s and they've learned their lesson.

Maybe girls don't like the rigidity of fall rush, but apparently enough girls put up with it for all the chapters to be at total.

[violetpretty]

Originally Posted by 33girl

I agree. Soliloquoy, an organized recruitment (even if it's informal) costs money and time, and it would be ridiculous for a campus to hold it when there are only 2 spots open in one sorority.

Exactly, it would be really silly to get a bunch of PNMs' hopes up for 2 open spots by having a Panhellenic-wide recruitment, but that doesn't mean that the chapter with spots to fill won't have COB parties.

ETA: And if that chapter doesn't have COB "parties", and they decide that they do indeed want to take 2 women, they may often start with women who went bidless during formal recruitment or women they know .

[kathykd2005]

I agree! What I meant in my post was that if Soliloquy still wants to be in a sorority, she shouldn't get frustrated. A lot of stuff can happen over Christmas break and even the houses that are at or above total may not be after returning from vacation. A campus-wide recruitment would certainly be ridiculous. But COB is always an option for those houses who DO want to fill their "open" spots, so to speak.

[Soliloquy]

Christmas stressing you out OTW?

Here's the clarification you asked for so "nicely"


I think it's silly that a secondary recruitment event cant be held within NPC guidelines, even if a house is at total. There will obviously be less girls, so why not raise total by 15 to accomodate 15 new pledges? Isn't that what pretty much happens during formal? I mean maybe like 20 girls graduate beforehand, but quota may be 35 during formal, meaning that mathematically- they go over by 15. Get my drift? See why I said it was silly?


Also, I meant to imply that they advertised winter informal heavily without having full "permission" to actually hold the events. Now think about that carefully and what it implies about the organization. While I know otherwise, others don't care to find out what happened without making judgement.

And I said success as in how many girls would participate. The last time a winter informal was held, only about 30 girls attended. However, there were many many more than that expressing interest this time. While I'm sure some of it was just talk, I definitely knew more than 30 girls who were planning on attending recruitment solely because they didn't want to be on the PNM side of formal.

Anyway, despite interpretations, I think its great nearly all chapters are a total; and I agree that since the rules are as such, it would be ridiculous to hold an informal for only 2 spots. I'm not a moron to think it would be fiscally responsible to organize a 3 day long event for two spots that can be filled through a COB basis.

OH! I'm definitely not a poor sport. Sh*t happens. Life goes on. I made a lot of great friends from the experience and am pretty stoked about that. I've never been a b*tch on this board or made rude comments regarding my campus or chapters on my campus. I think I've kept it pretty PC, which uh, duh, implies I have a bit of class and am a good sport. If you read my thread and the experience I went through during formal, you'd see that I had it pretty rough and I've kept a good attitude when others would have cracked. I had the normal self-doubts, but then again, who wouldn't?

/novel

[AOII Angel]

Campus total is an artificial number. If your campus has more demand than there are spots, they should open to a new group or...gasp...RAISE total! I agree that advertising recruitment then cancelling it does look bad. PNMs don't understand that campus total is reached by the majority of groups...they just see that their was going to be a recruitment but the sororities changed their mind. That's not great PR, even for a popular system. Hang in their, Soliloquy!

[MaggieXi]

Coming from a campus that held informal only once every couple of years (mostly due to a new sorority added or total being raised) I was always under the impression that the majority of the sororities making qouta, or nearly making qouta during formal is generally a goal of that campus' sororities.

Of all the women who are intereseted in going through informal, what percentage went through formal? and if a large number went through formal, did they choose to drop out or were they released? If this is the case, imo, greeklife may need readjust total or look to expansion.

If the majority of the women who are interested in informal and chose not to participate in formal, they kind of screwed themselves. Had the majority of them went through formal, using proper release figures, qouta would have been set accordingly.

We had a problem at the campus where I advise. During recruitment a rumor spread that it would be easier for the PNMs to get a bid to the sorority they wanted in particular if they went through informal in the spring. Due to this rumor, a majority of PNMs dropped out, even though greek life explained over and over again that this was not necessairly the case. In the end, more than half of the sororities got qouta and remain around total. Insted of having informal, to fill the spaces left by transfers and graduating seniors (which are minimal) the sororities are being urged to COB spring semester.

[Benzgirl]

Originally Posted by Soliloquy

I think it's silly that a secondary recruitment event cant be held within NPC guidelines, even if a house is at total. There will obviously be less girls, so why not raise total by 15 to accomodate 15 new pledges? Isn't that what pretty much happens during formal?

House totals depend on the campus. I know our school is a little odd, but Formal Recruitment has a quota BUT a chapter can't have a house total of over 100. Which means, and this has happened many times, a house "can't" take quota.

Anyways, keep your ears open for the chapters that are doing COBs. From your earlier recruitment you had a pretty good perception of each house.

Relax during the holidays and spend time thinking about things other than school-related. Enjoy your time off!

[violetpretty]

Originally Posted by Soliloquy

I think it's silly that a secondary recruitment event cant be held within NPC guidelines, even if a house is at total. There will obviously be less girls, so why not raise total by 15 to accomodate 15 new pledges? Isn't that what pretty much happens during formal? I mean maybe like 20 girls graduate beforehand, but quota may be 35 during formal, meaning that mathematically- they go over by 15. Get my drift? See why I said it was silly?

Informal recruitment is supposed to "level the playing field" by allowing chapters under total the chance to bid up to total. At pretty much every school (except Ohio State) chapters may take quota during formal even if it puts them over total.

If Panhellenic were to have a "quota" for formal AND informal, smaller chapters would lag behind because they could miss quota both semesters without a chance to catch up while the larger ones get bigger and bigger. Not to mention, it would really encourage suiciding since if you don't get the invites you hoped for, you can just drop out and try next semester without having to wait a year, which would presumably also hurt the smaller chapters.

It's really great that your school has the parity to have 3 of 4 chapters at total and 1 just 2 under total. Has this been the case for a while? If chapters are consistently making quota and reaching or exceeding total, then you would be correct in that there needs to be growth somewhere, either by raising total or by adding a new chapter. However, if this is the first time that this has happened, I can see why a campus Panhellenic would be hesitant to raise total or look to extension, because they want to see success in the form of stability and equality, along with good retention and academic success, for a few years.

[AGDee]

Without some historical recruitment numbers, it's difficult to say whether this campus should expand or raise Total. Ideally, our goal is to have all chapters reach Total through ONE formal recruitment per year. This means, one semester of recruitment, having a new member class, doing Initiation, etc. It's a lot less work for chapters to only have to have one recruitment per year. This might sound harsh, but the goals of NPC groups are to maintain Total, not to ensure that every woman on campus who wants a bid will get one. They may have good reasons for not raising Total just yet. If this is the first time that almost all the chapters are at Total because of an unusually high number of PNMs in the fall, they may want to wait to see if that trend continues. If all the chapters are at Total because, 3 years ago, they had an unusually large recruitment and many members of all chapters are seniors who will graduate in the Spring, it might not be time to raise Total yet.