Anonymous recruitment

[psusue]

I was talking to one of my sisters one day about what a neat idea this was. However I think that it would only be possible for a round 1 or "meet the Greeks" type situation, because as others have mentioned the philanthropy, mission, and values plays a lot into sorority recruitment. Nevertheless for the first round I believe that it is a good idea because then girls would focus then more on the conversations they were having versus the "show" part of recruitment (i.e. the outfits, decorations, etc).

If this has ever actually been carried out I would be very interested in hearing about the results.

[DTD Alum]

Originally Posted by psusue

I was talking to one of my sisters one day about what a neat idea this was. However I think that it would only be possible for a round 1 or "meet the Greeks" type situation, because as others have mentioned the philanthropy, mission, and values plays a lot into sorority recruitment. Nevertheless for the first round I believe that it is a good idea because then girls would focus then more on the conversations they were having versus the "show" part of recruitment (i.e. the outfits, decorations, etc).

If this has ever actually been carried out I would be very interested in hearing about the results.

But let's be real here, it wouldn't eliminate any part of the "show". You could still have themes and outfits without disclosing the name of your sorority. I think the only theoretical benefit would be to avoid rumors, but I can't really believe with house decor and people knowing girls in sororities that it would be a secret for more than a couple of seconds. Plus, like I said earlier, I think girls could pretty accurately figure out who was "top" pretty quickly...I doubt any "top" chapter would be cool with people not knowing that fact about them, and would find ways to broadcast it subtly.

At the end of the day, I think that hiding which sorority you are would defeat the purpose of what founders intended because you wouldn't be able to discuss what makes your sorority different than the rest, and what your sorority values. In fact I think it might be a huge detriment to eliminate things like colors, philanthropy, mascots and history because those are things that would stand out in a PNMs mind to differentiate chapters from each other.

[psusue]

Originally Posted by DTD Alum

But let's be real here, it wouldn't eliminate any part of the "show". You could still have themes and outfits without disclosing the name of your sorority. I think the only theoretical benefit would be to avoid rumors, but I can't really believe with house decor and people knowing girls in sororities that it would be a secret for more than a couple of seconds. Plus, like I said earlier, I think girls could pretty accurately figure out who was "top" pretty quickly...I doubt any "top" chapter would be cool with people not knowing that fact about them, and would find ways to broadcast it subtly.

At the end of the day, I think that hiding which sorority you are would defeat the purpose of what founders intended because you wouldn't be able to discuss what makes your sorority different than the rest, and what your sorority values. In fact I think it might be a huge detriment to eliminate things like colors, philanthropy, mascots and history because those are things that would stand out in a PNMs mind to differentiate chapters from each other.

I disagree. I mean the whole point of "no frills" recruitment was to remove a lot of the "show" out of recruitment, and to that end (when it's followed, of course) it has been somewhat successful at removing the performance aspect of sorority recruitment.

And the idea of an anonymous recruitment would be along the same lines as "no frills", just taken up several notches. I mean obviously there would be ways of trying to get across whatever reputation it is that you wanted to portray, but at least girls could know the reputations as the chapters want to be perceived, not how they were 10 years ago that's probably not true anymore but is set in stone because reputations don't change, or at least don't change much.

And I don't know if I agree that it would defeat the point of recruitment as we know it. NPC sororities are really a matter of fit-- and chapter fit trumps all. This is why we always tell PNMs to keep an open mind because reputations are really pointless and in the end you will be joining an amazing sisterhood and fantastic national organization, no matter which specific one you end up in. And I feel that if recruitment were somehow anonymous (which would be nearly impossible in the logistics, but bear with me), it would allow girls to go in somewhat blindly and realize where it is they truly feel at home.