The Best Strategy for a "Weak Recruiting" Chapter

[OneHeartOneWay]

Originally Posted by redlady2

We felt that inviting back fewer would mean smaller parties for us than for other houses but that we'd have a better chance of retaining them if we weren't double and triple rushing them,

I realize this isn't the topic of the thread per say, but I've often thought that this is a the crux of the problem for WRCs. In my experiences with WRCs, it's the double and yes, sometimes triple, rushing that really hurts them. It's near impossible to do matching so that you get two (three) PNMs who may actually be interested in your chapter together with a strong recruiting sister. More often than not, you get an interested PNM, a bored/rude/mean PNM, and a sister who is frantically trying to hold the three of them together in some semblance of normal conversation, thus losing that connection with the interested PNM. I think the best thing a Panhellenic could do to aid a WRC (or WRCs) is to add additional parties for them- I realize this is a logistical nightmare, especially at larger schools, but I think this combined with RFM is what could REALLY help the WRCs get back on their feet.

[AZ-AlphaXi]

^^^^ this !!!! Especially if the WRC is double rushing for preference.

[redlady2]

To Mevara: The way it worked out was that we had to stick to RFM. Our national org was adamant that we stick to the figures (I think someone from our GLO was involved in the system's development and it would have been controversial for us in particular to break? That was what we were told at the time, anyhow.) We were in a total panic, because we were only allowed to release a handful of women out of a pool of nearly a thousand, and we knew Round 2 would be a total mess. As we expected, our invitation acceptance rate had spiked that year because our rush chair had done such a fabulous job prepping our ladies to recruit well, and we were then left with the entire house double rushing. I think that after the advisors all saw how Round 2 went, they relented and allowed us to release more, but the "damage" had been done, and we still were double rushing into Round 3 and pref.

Looking back, I can understand why our HQ and Panhellenic said "stick to the figures." I'm sure every exec board at a WRC thinks they are the special snowflakes that are going to "turn the house around" and so our protests of "no, but really, I think our return rates are going to be much higher this year, our girls are vastly more prepared to successfully recruit" were probably not taken seriously.

To OneHeartOneWay and AZ-AlphaXi: You're right, I think the double rushing was brutal. We were able to spin it into a plus for morale for our women ("look how many are back! Our return rates are breaking chapter records!") but I'm sure the message it sent PNMs harmed us. We were not the weakest recruiting chapter on our campus, but I'd say we were maybe the third or fourth weakest out of a competitive system of sixteen.

However, I'm not sure how I feel about adding extra parties, either. Our campus did this as well, and it was a really obvious signal for which chapters were and weren't strong recruiting chapters. About ten chapters out of sixteen got to have one party "off" and it was a little rough on morale for our women to see the houses next door with an empty tent for a party because they didn't need to have one.

[DeltaBetaBaby]

Originally Posted by redlady2

However, I'm not sure how I feel about adding extra parties, either. Our campus did this as well, and it was a really obvious signal for which chapters were and weren't strong recruiting chapters. About ten chapters out of sixteen got to have one party "off" and it was a little rough on morale for our women to see the houses next door with an empty tent for a party because they didn't need to have one.

Back in my day at Illinois, the first round had 23 parties. You visited 19 NPC groups and 4H, then spent the other three parties in rooms in the union where the associate CPH members told you about their groups. This was changed to just 20 my junior year. It was bad for the smaller groups, no doubt.

[OPhiAGinger]

Originally Posted by DeltaBetaBaby

Back in my day at Illinois, the first round had 23 parties. You visited 19 NPC groups and 4H, then spent the other three parties in rooms in the union where the associate CPH members told you about their groups.

4H? As in 'head/heart/hands/health"? Is the Indiana 4H club a single-sex org on a par with the NPC sororities? Did 4H continue with later rounds of recruitment or drop after round 1. As you can tell, I'm having trouble reconciling the 4H I experienced in middle school with an NPC recruitment group.

[KDCat]

Originally Posted by OPhiAGinger

4H? As in 'head/heart/hands/health"? Is the Indiana 4H club a single-sex org on a par with the NPC sororities? Did 4H continue with later rounds of recruitment or drop after round 1. As you can tell, I'm having trouble reconciling the 4H I experienced in middle school with an NPC recruitment group.

4H is a member of the Illinois Panhellenic Council. They have a house. I don't think they participate in the later rounds of formal recruitment, though. I think they have two "interview weekends" per year where they meet PNMs and do membership selection.

http://www.4hhouse.com/about-4-h-house

http://www.illinoisphc.com/#_p.Chapt...er%20Directory

[DeltaBetaBaby]

Originally Posted by KDCat

4H is a member of the Illinois Panhellenic Council. They have a house. I don't think they participate in the later rounds of formal recruitment, though. I think they have two "interview weekends" per year where they meet PNMs and do membership selection.

http://www.4hhouse.com/about-4-h-house

http://www.illinoisphc.com/#_p.Chapt...er%20Directory

Correct, on all counts. They are a full voting member of the CPH, which is obviously a privilege that is almost unheard of for groups not in the NPC, on any campus. PNM's visit the house as a sort of informational visit in the first round, but their membership selection takes place when women are still high school seniors.

[LAblondeGPhi]

Originally Posted by OneHeartOneWay

I realize this isn't the topic of the thread per say, but I've often thought that this is a the crux of the problem for WRCs. In my experiences with WRCs, it's the double and yes, sometimes triple, rushing that really hurts them. It's near impossible to do matching so that you get two (three) PNMs who may actually be interested in your chapter together with a strong recruiting sister. More often than not, you get an interested PNM, a bored/rude/mean PNM, and a sister who is frantically trying to hold the three of them together in some semblance of normal conversation, thus losing that connection with the interested PNM. I think the best thing a Panhellenic could do to aid a WRC (or WRCs) is to add additional parties for them- I realize this is a logistical nightmare, especially at larger schools, but I think this combined with RFM is what could REALLY help the WRCs get back on their feet.

YES! I think the single most inhibiting factor for WRCs is the double/triple rushing. There's just no way that you can have the same quality of conversation with a PNM compared to what stronger chapters are doing. Even if the PNM doesn't equate double rushing with "this must be the smaller chapter", it's still a much less positive experience.

One of the additional challenges with RFM is that the strong chapters will often have fewer total PNMs attending their invitational rounds, and the WRC will have even more PNMs attending than they would have under the old system. This particular issue exacerbates the problem, and stronger chapters can chose to use only their best recruiters on the floor.

I'm a huge HUGE fan of these buffer parties, and I think a Panhellenic that doesn't utilize them is doing everyone a disservice. There are ways to work out a system that is helpful to the WRCs without being overly demanding to the larger chapters, it just requires some creativity and planning.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by LAblondeGPhi

YES! I think the single most inhibiting factor for WRCs is the double/triple rushing. There's just no way that you can have the same quality of conversation with a PNM compared to what stronger chapters are doing. Even if the PNM doesn't equate double rushing with "this must be the smaller chapter", it's still a much less positive experience.

Something that's been mentioned on here is having group conversations at all times - i.e. 2 sisters and 4 or 5 PNMs. IMO, this is what EVERYONE should use, including the groups that have enough sisters to go around. How many times have we heard "I didn't click with my rusher today" on here, and it caused a PNM to rank a chapter she had LOVED the day before at the bottom of her list? Maybe on paper, you guys would be BFFs, and maybe under normal circumstances you would love her, but if you walked in on your boyfriend spanking it to goat porn 5 hours previous, it doesn't matter how ideal the rushee is. Not fair to rushees, or rushers.