Arkansas Recruitment

[irishpipes]

Originally Posted by WCsweet<3

Wowza! That would have replaced my entire chapter...

Yea - quota was higher than total. LOL. Makes it hard to find a place to have a meeting, ya know?

[WCsweet<3]

Originally Posted by irishpipes

Yea - quota was higher than total. LOL. Makes it hard to find a place to have a meeting, ya know?

Can you imagine roll call? An hour later "I call this meeting to order..."

[arksis]

Originally Posted by irishpipes

University of Arkansas
Fayetteville, AR
August 14-20 and 27-28, 2011
Quota=131
Campus Total=130
Quota last year=101
Registered PNMs=1,200
******************
Chi Omega Psi (Founding Chaper) 1895
Zeta Tau Alpha Epsilon 1903-1938/1947 (137)
Pi Beta Phi Arkansas Alpha 1909
Delta Delta Delta Delta Iota 1913 (137)
Phi Mu Alpha Beta 1923-1933/1978-1995 Colony Fall 2012
Kappa Kappa Gamma Gamma Nu 1925 (134)
Delta Gamma Alpha Omega 1930-1992
Alpha Delta Pi Delta Delta 1957 (115)
Alpha Chi Omega Delta Rho 1961-1977 Colony Fall 2012
Kappa Alpha Theta Delta Nu 1966-1989
Kappa Delta Zeta Gamma 1989 (136)
Alpha Omicron Pi Xi Omicron 2007 (137)

As you can see, quota last year was 131. Yes, 131. So, most chapters hover near 300 members. I would think most PNMs should be able to find a niche in any chapter of such a size. Unfortunately, many PNMs get caught up in tent talk and drop out if they don't get invites from certain chapters. However, I believe that the "worst" chapter at Arkansas would stand up well against power chapters at many other schools. Greek life is very big at UA, so hopefully your sister will give all the chapters a good look. She will need recs to every chapter.

I'm new to this chat thing so if I"m not suppose to "quote" everytime I want to reply to something I'm sorry! This was very very helpful! That is huge! I thought my pledge class of 60 was big!! WOW! Thank you so much!!!

[IlliniKAT]

Originally Posted by irishpipes

University of Arkansas
Fayetteville, AR
August 14-20 and 27-28, 2011
Quota=131
Campus Total=130
Quota last year=101
Registered PNMs=1,200
******************
Chi Omega Psi (Founding Chaper) 1895
Zeta Tau Alpha Epsilon 1903-1938/1947 (137)
Pi Beta Phi Arkansas Alpha 1909
Delta Delta Delta Delta Iota 1913 (137)
Phi Mu Alpha Beta 1923-1933/1978-1995 Colony Fall 2012
Kappa Kappa Gamma Gamma Nu 1925 (134)
Delta Gamma Alpha Omega 1930-1992
Alpha Delta Pi Delta Delta 1957 (115)
Alpha Chi Omega Delta Rho 1961-1977 Colony Fall 2012
Kappa Alpha Theta Delta Nu 1966-1989
Kappa Delta Zeta Gamma 1989 (136)
Alpha Omicron Pi Xi Omicron 2007 (137)

As you can see, quota last year was 131. Yes, 131. So, most chapters hover near 300 members. I would think most PNMs should be able to find a niche in any chapter of such a size. Unfortunately, many PNMs get caught up in tent talk and drop out if they don't get invites from certain chapters. However, I believe that the "worst" chapter at Arkansas would stand up well against power chapters at many other schools. Greek life is very big at UA, so hopefully your sister will give all the chapters a good look. She will need recs to every chapter.

If a PNM does not have recs for any of the houses she is invited to for the 3rd round, should she just drop out and write it off as a lost cause? This PNM spent months searching for recs but her small town size, multiple states away didn't have good contacts, and neither of her professionally placed and well off parents were Greek, or had contacts wither.

The rec search became a melt down for her, including contacts with Panhellenic alumnae groups. Many chapters she could secure recommendations from do not have chapters at Arkansas.

Would a parent best advise to quit before watching tragedy? And heartache? Is there simply no way to be Greek at Arkansas without a recommendation?

[TXDG]

Originally Posted by IlliniKAT

If a PNM does not have recs for any of the houses she is invited to for the 3rd round, should she just drop out and write it off as a lost cause? This PNM spent months searching for recs but her small town size, multiple states away didn't have good contacts, and neither of her professionally placed and well off parents were Greek, or had contacts wither.

The rec search became a melt down for her, including contacts with Panhellenic alumnae groups. Many chapters she could secure recommendations from do not have chapters at Arkansas.

Would a parent best advise to quit before watching tragedy? And heartache? Is there simply no way to be Greek at Arkansas without a recommendation?

OMG, no!!! She should NOT drop out now! The majority of houses cut for recs very early in recruitment so she is likely past that hurdle by now. If she is invited back for Round 3, the houses are very interested in your daughter. If she is invited to Pref AND she maximizes her options by listing each house she attends on her pref card, she is guaranteed a bid to one of those houses. Chapters know if they invited a PNM to pref that she will be somewhere on their bid list.

In the event that she does not get a bid, Delta Gamma is colonizing at Arkansas next month so that is a possible second chance to go Greek. She will need to find a rec if she goes through DG's recruitment process.

[Maple St Alum]

Great posts Irishpipes and Wavycutchip. Please keep an open mind at all times and remember that there are two sororities, Alpha Chi Omega and Phi Mu, colonizing after formal recruitment. Being a founding member has many benefits and gives you a chance to be a leader from the start. WPS!

[33girl]

Originally Posted by Maple St Alum

Great posts Irishpipes and Wavycutchip. Please keep an open mind at all times and remember that there are two sororities, Alpha Chi Omega and Phi Mu, colonizing after formal recruitment. Being a founding member has many benefits and gives you a chance to be a leader from the start. WPS!

Just to emphasize, getting into these colonies is going to be very, very, very, very, very, very, VERY competitive. The national volunteers are going to be putting the women who want to join under a microscope. The groups have a lot to lose if these colonies don't go REALLY well and they don't want to make any mistakes.

Sorry if that sounds overdramatic, but I don't want anyone to think for a millisecond that getting into the colonies will be "easier" than going through rush. It will be far harder.

[Maple St Alum]

I did not mean to imply that becoming a pnm of a colony was going to be easy. I agree that recruitment is tough, I just wanted to make it known that there will be colonies to consider also. Any pnm needs to get recommendations for these groups as well.

[irishpipes]

Originally Posted by 33girl

Just to emphasize, getting into these colonies is going to be very, very, very, very, very, very, VERY competitive. The national volunteers are going to be putting the women who want to join under a microscope. The groups have a lot to lose if these colonies don't go REALLY well and they don't want to make any mistakes.

Sorry if that sounds overdramatic, but I don't want anyone to think for a millisecond that getting into the colonies will be "easier" than going through rush. It will be far harder.

Having participated in this aspect of the last colony at Arkansas, I can attest to the truth of this post. AOII chose to initially colonize with fewer than we were allowed in order to make sure we had the right mix. We were careful not to relax any standards just to get numbers. At a campus like Arkansas, maintaining - no, exceeding - standards is crucial. You simply have to get off on the right foot. PNMs should get recs for the colonizing groups as well as the existing chapters. Each PNM will want to have all her bases covered. Even if a PNM is SURE she will be pledging an existing group, she really has no idea how her recruitment will go, so she should be prepared with recs to Phi Mu and Alpha Chi Omega. Those groups will likely participate in round 1, and she may fall in love with one of them. Recs are extremely helpful to the colonizing sororities.

As for the recs v. letters of support debate, if I were the PNM, I wouldn't assume that anyone has written me a rec. Even if someone promises to write one, life happens. Sometimes they don't get mailed in, despite the best of intentions. If I thought I already had a rec for a group, and someone else asked if I wanted one, I would never decline, and would suggest that if she felt comfortable doing so, would she add a personal letter of support.

[gee_ess]

I echo what my friends Irishpipes and Wavycutchip have posted. Arkansas is a great but very competitive system.

Is your sister coming to the university from out of state? If so, that will reinforce the need for recs, recs, recs!

And, like MapleStAlum (love your name, by the way!) says, we are welcoming two groups to campus this year. This is exciting news for the Greek system!

Go Hogs!

[Titchou]

No, no need to quote every time you reply unless you want to stress a particular item within a previous post. Then you can quote and just delete the parts you don't want....

[mellymoo]

My friend is going to Arkansas this fall and I am looking into the school for next year. We were talking about recs and she said I should start thinking of people now for recs and letters of support. She has been working on getting hers for months. Do the Arkansas sororities treat recs and letters of support equally? I know we definitely need recs, but are the letters of support just as important?

[gee_ess]

Originally Posted by mellymoo

My friend is going to Arkansas this fall and I am looking into the school for next year. We were talking about recs and she said I should start thinking of people now for recs and letters of support. She has been working on getting hers for months. Do the Arkansas sororities treat recs and letters of support equally? I know we definitely need recs, but are the letters of support just as important?

Yes, letters and recs are basically treated equally. I suggest you keep a file with names of women and their contact info as you find out who you know that is a member of those groups on UA's campus. Then, next year, you will have this part of the process completed. If your friend is from your same town, she will be a great resource for this info, obviously.

[DeltaBetaBaby]

Originally Posted by gee_ess

Yes, letters and recs are basically treated equally. I suggest you keep a file with names of women and their contact info as you find out who you know that is a member of those groups on UA's campus. Then, next year, you will have this part of the process completed. If your friend is from your same town, she will be a great resource for this info, obviously.

Wait, wait, wait...do you mean "letters of support" as in "letters from active collegians"? Some groups do not treat them the same as all.

[33girl]

I'm confused, I thought you needed recs even if you had a letter of support...it was my understanding that the rec was more the "official" thing that some groups require to pledge a woman. Then again if someone was going to write you a letter of support I don't know why they wouldn't write you a rec.