SPRING RECRUITMENT AT UGA

carnation · #1 12-29-2008, 02:02 PM

Well, it was certainly a shock to hear that UGa was doing a formal spring recruitment and the rumors are flying as to why. A lot of people feel like maybe some really prominent alums want their kids to get a "fair" shot at recruitment. I wonder if the PNMs will mostly be ones who dropped in the fall, new transfers, or women who have never rushed.

My only concern would be that if there are 2 formal recruitments every year, fall PNMs who don't like their returns will simply drop out and wait for spring, which could affect quota and such.

honeychile · #2 12-29-2008, 02:13 PM

FWIW, and I don't pretend to have any inside information at UGA, we used to have a "formal" spring recruitment. It was formal in that every group presented, and held a first round. From there, any of the GLOs who had already made quota/total dropped out, and the others kept going recruiting. We considered quota/total a reward for getting it down the first time, and not having to repeat recruitment!

UGAalum94 · #3 12-29-2008, 02:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by carnation

Well, it was certainly a shock to hear that UGa was doing a formal spring recruitment and the rumors are flying as to why. A lot of people feel like maybe some really prominent alums want their kids to get a "fair" shot at recruitment. I wonder if the PNMs will mostly be ones who dropped in the fall, new transfers, or women who have never rushed.

My only concern would be that if there are 2 formal recruitments every year, fall PNMs who don't like their returns will simply drop out and wait for spring, which could affect quota and such.

Yep, but it seems that there'd be ways to keep it from getting out of control. If the spring quota is always relatively small, and I'm guessing it would be, PNMs will probably realize the best time to pledge is in the fall.

This might sound kind of nutty, but I don't think the groups themselves want to get too much bigger than they are. I would think that most of them would want to perpetuate a system that got about 50 PNMs in the fall and allowed them to pick up 5-10 in the spring to compensate for anyone who didn't come back, etc.

I can't imagine what interest XYZ with close to 100% return rates in recruitment really has in being a chapter of 250 or 300 even if they could be.

violetpretty · #4 01-05-2009, 07:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by carnation

My only concern would be that if there are 2 formal recruitments every year, fall PNMs who don't like their returns will simply drop out and wait for spring, which could affect quota and such.

Ding ding ding ding ding! Welcome to Maryland. We don't have 2 formal recruitments per se, but I think because everyone participates (and PNMs know it) and each chapter has anywhere from 4-25+ spots to fill in the fall (most around 10 give or take), most PNMs who don't like their options come pref (spring FMR) would rather drop out than be bound to a chapter for a year and therefore ineligible for fall informal.

Quota has been slowly but steadily increasing, which means that fall pledge classes are shrinking. I believe all chapters participated still this fall, but I think across the board everyone took fewer. Hopefully this trend will continue.

ETA: I can't imagine why UGA thinks it's a good idea to have two quota based recruitments (assuming they are planning to use quota this spring instead of everyone bid what they need to reach total). There needs to be balance, because if every chapter is allowed to take whatever quota is every semester, the small chapters will get smaller. A Campus Panhellenic needs a semester to give the smaller chapters a chance to "catch up".

Smile_Awhile · #5 01-05-2009, 07:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by violetpretty

ETA: I can't imagine why UGA thinks it's a good idea to have two quota based recruitments (assuming they are planning to use quota this spring instead of everyone bid what they need to reach total). There needs to be balance, because if every chapter is allowed to take whatever quota is every semester, the small chapters will get smaller. A Campus Panhellenic needs a semester to give the smaller chapters a chance to "catch up".

I think, if it's due to extenuating circumstances, then it's probably okay if it's only for one semester. But if this happens in the next few years- well, there'll be trouble.

violetpretty · #6 01-05-2009, 10:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Smile_Awhile

I think, if it's due to extenuating circumstances, then it's probably okay if it's only for one semester. But if this happens in the next few years- well, there'll be trouble.

But the thing is, if UGA keeps admitting more students in the spring due to winter graduations, they'll be in the same boat next year.

FSUZeta · #7 01-06-2009, 06:36 PM

does anyone know what total is at uga? the chapters at georgia are huge, and i cannot imagine that all the sororities have openings, when so many have been way above total.

someone had mentioned that they heard that uga total was raised. does anyone know that for sure, and if so, what the new total figure is?

OleMissGlitter · #8 01-06-2009, 06:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FSUZeta

does anyone know what total is at uga? the chapters at georgia are huge, and i cannot imagine that all the sororities have openings, when so many have been way above total.

someone had mentioned that they heard that uga total was raised. does anyone know that for sure, and if so, what the new total figure is?

I believe the campus total from this past recruitment 2008 was 170...

UGAalum94 · #9 01-06-2009, 08:44 PM

The 170 figure is the last one I heard. And FSUZeta is right in her assessment of most chapter size, according to the last numbers released. Unless there's been an unprecedented loss of membership from fall to spring, most groups won't drop below total in the spring.

I'm also, as I said before, really curious about this spring recruitment because it's hard to figure out "why now?"

Sure, the January admits might be new, but if the linked article was accurate, the numbers for students starting in January this year are nowhere near big enough to justify a whole new policy. If we assume that these new students want to go Greek at the same rate as is typical at UGA, which I kind of doubt, we'd be talking about between 25-50 PNMs depending on how many of the 200 students are women.

There were that number of openings in just the two groups below total at 170 in the fall. (Sure, I know that all PNMs don't necessarily want to go where the openings are, but it's hard to see a need for a whole new recruitment instead of just letting groups below total participate, like has been the case for a long time at UGA)

Trying to get rid of the stigma of COB/COR is a great idea, but if it works against the opportunities of groups below total to catch up, and there's no reason to think there's an unprecedented demand for more placements, what's up, UGA?

UGAalum94 · #10 01-06-2009, 08:59 PM

Sorry for the double post, especially when the last one was so long, but. . .

I think I mentioned this before someplace but it might play in here: some of the groups that are smaller today in relative size, but still above total, at UGA are groups that are regarded as being pretty desirable in terms of traditionally being popular in formal recruitment. (At least I think: I'm not privy to actual return rates, of course, but in terms of PNM/rushee hype from current students that I know telling me about how recruitment went, these aren't "struggling" chapters.)

So, if they are raising total or allowing groups to give bids above total, but in some method that looked at chapter size rather than just a straight quota, rather than a "bait and switch" the PNMS might be pleasantly surprised at where some of the openings turn out to be.