School with Lowest Percentage accepted?

[ladybug12]

Why does Indiana want to be the special, perfect snowflake, and rainbow campus? I certainly understand campus traditions, but times change. Compared to other large Greek campuses, their growth is miniscule in comparison. If you try to keep large numbers out of the system with the record freshman numbers, what will happen to the whole system if freshman class numbers start to drop off in a few years?
Do they want to end up like UT Austin and possibly have fewer numbers going through recruitment because potential members don't want the stress and drama of formal recruitment....

[DubaiSis]

Ladybug12, I think that's why they are doing some non-housed expansion. It's a big risk on the part of the sororities who choose to do it because for all the talk about not needing a chapter house and this provides more girls the opportunities and benefits of membership, etc. etc., there has to be actual girls who will sign on the dotted line.

I think back in the day sorority = house so the thought of being in a sorority and not living in just didn't equate. Now of course that is not true, both for schools without chapter houses and for chapter memberships that far exceed the house capacity. But change comes slow. And the chapter houses at IU are huge. I can completely see them thinking their chapter sizes as currently housed are perfectly big enough. So you can expand by adding more housed chapters, with land being a huge road block, or adding non-housed chapters which goes against 100 years of sorority tradition. I think the non-housed option can succeed with some very painful growing pains in the process. And it's not going to be quick. But I guess time will tell!

[Titchou]

And just think what those houses could look like with more members to pay fees!

[carnation]

I can not believe that our nationals can't put an end to it. Think of how many more members we'd all have if IU used a quota system like everyone else does.

My husband's beautiful cousin is a freshman at IU this year. I don't think she's rushing and I'm relieved.

[IndianaSigKap]

Originally Posted by carnation

I can not believe that our nationals can't put an end to it. Think of how many more members we'd all have if IU used a quota system like everyone else does.

My husband's beautiful cousin is a freshman at IU this year. I don't think she's rushing and I'm relieved.

You could get a Pi Phi in the family at Indiana...just sayin'.

Any of the 20 chapters involved could make a difference, but it would take a monumental effort to promote any sort of change there.

[Greek_or_Geek?]

Originally Posted by IndianaSigKap

You could get a Pi Phi in the family at Indiana...just sayin'.

Any of the 20 chapters involved could make a difference, but it would take a monumental effort to promote any sort of change there.

Isn't part of the allure based on how "exclusive" the club is? Do you think there would be as much desire to join if there were spaces for all (provided there was adequate housing otherwise available?)

[IndianaSigKap]

Originally Posted by Greek_or_Geek?

Isn't part of the allure based on how "exclusive" the club is? Do you think there would be as much desire to join if there were spaces for all (provided there was adequate housing otherwise available?)

Yes, to an extent. Each chapter could still add 5 women to their bid lists and place 100 more women overall. Just adding 5 spots would increase the percentage placed by 5%. It would place more women and still have the chapter size the chapters seem to want. The bed quota just makes it odd because the chapters range in size so drastically. Just making a campus total would make the situation better, in my opinion. Even with a uniform total, there would still be stronger and weaker chapters, and I think that it is/was IU thrives on unfortunately. (The previous statement is personal opinion and based on past experience and college women I talk to when on campus in the fall.) I don't think the chapters at IU want to be at 300, which they would be if the placement rate was average. I don't think I would have liked a chapter that large, but who knows? If that's all I knew, I guess it wouldn't make a difference.

[irishpipes]

Originally Posted by Greek_or_Geek?

Isn't part of the allure based on how "exclusive" the club is? Do you think there would be as much desire to join if there were spaces for all (provided there was adequate housing otherwise available?)

If IU moved away from bed rush and used the same system everyone else does, it wouldn't eliminate exclusivity. Except at Tufts, there is no guarantee of a "space for all." A PNM can always be dropped from recruitment entirely. And, the desirable chapters still won't take "just anybody." Even at schools where there is guaranteed placement for PNMs who maximize their options, there are tiers. So, exclusivity is still there, but it is within the system. In other words, the elitism isn't so much in just being greek, but in belonging to a certain chapter.

[AXOrushadvisor]

Indiana was actually a school my daughter was interested in. I flat out said NO. Also UT even though all my husband's family is there AND she attended summer camp in TX. I don't need the heart ache or drama and there are plenty of other schools that she is interested in with nice Greek Systems where there is a better chance she will receive a bid.

[IUHoosiergirl88]

From the chapter end: I think most chapters would love to see the bid rate be higher, but at the same time, IU really equates sorority life with living in the house. In addition, we love knowing almost every girl in the house and being very close with our PC's. I know with my house, our nationals are pushing us to get bigger and bigger and bigger, and it's very frustrating. We obviously are willing to expand, but at the same time, it eventually becomes logistically and physically impossible to get much bigger. When you're limited by the boundaries of the chapter house for things like chapter, you can only fit x number of girls into your dining room/chapter room. How then do you choose which girls get to go to chapter? It feels like herding cats! I think some of the smaller chapters also are more elitist. Delta Delta Delta, for example, is one of (if not THE) smallest chapter, but they're also in most girls' top 5 when they initially form opinions. We're willing to give some, but we don't want to be SEC big.

My own opinion: Something has got to give eventually. The way we do things now is dysfunctional and leads to so many girls hating the greek system. At the same time, adding non-housed chapters isn't the best option either since girls are going "hmmm, 19 houses versus 2 unhoused? I want the real sorority experience...I'm only going to look at the traditional 19." I think a compromise by removing the senior live-in requirement would be a good start...although girls will hate it since housing is so limited. But by senior year, most girls want out of the chapter house.

[DeltaBetaBaby]

Originally Posted by IUHoosiergirl88

From the chapter end: I think most chapters would love to see the bid rate be higher, but at the same time, IU really equates sorority life with living in the house. In addition, we love knowing almost every girl in the house and being very close with our PC's. I know with my house, our nationals are pushing us to get bigger and bigger and bigger, and it's very frustrating. We obviously are willing to expand, but at the same time, it eventually becomes logistically and physically impossible to get much bigger. When you're limited by the boundaries of the chapter house for things like chapter, you can only fit x number of girls into your dining room/chapter room. How then do you choose which girls get to go to chapter? It feels like herding cats! I think some of the smaller chapters also are more elitist. Delta Delta Delta, for example, is one of (if not THE) smallest chapter, but they're also in most girls' top 5 when they initially form opinions. We're willing to give some, but we don't want to be SEC big.

My own opinion: Something has got to give eventually. The way we do things now is dysfunctional and leads to so many girls hating the greek system. At the same time, adding non-housed chapters isn't the best option either since girls are going "hmmm, 19 houses versus 2 unhoused? I want the real sorority experience...I'm only going to look at the traditional 19." I think a compromise by removing the senior live-in requirement would be a good start...although girls will hate it since housing is so limited. But by senior year, most girls want out of the chapter house.

Where do non-Greeks generally live?

[AlphaFrog]

Originally Posted by AXOrushadvisor

Indiana was actually a school my daughter was interested in. I flat out said NO. Also UT even though all my husband's family is there AND she attended summer camp in TX. I don't need the heart ache or drama and there are plenty of other schools that she is interested in with nice Greek Systems where there is a better chance she will receive a bid.

Just clarifying...you said NO to IU and UT because you didn't feel like they'd be a good academic fit for your daughter, or did you seriously tell her she couldn't go to SCHOOL somewhere because of the chance she may not get a SORORITY bid?

[Greek_or_Geek?]

Originally Posted by AXOrushadvisor

Indiana was actually a school my daughter was interested in. I flat out said NO. Also UT even though all my husband's family is there AND she attended summer camp in TX. I don't need the heart ache or drama and there are plenty of other schools that she is interested in with nice Greek Systems where there is a better chance she will receive a bid.

You refused to allow your daughter to consider schools only based on their Greek systems?

[AXOrushadvisor]

Originally Posted by Greek_or_Geek?

You refused to allow your daughter to consider schools only based on their Greek systems?

No. With so many out of state schools with a good program she wants to major in why would I support her going to school with such a rigid quota system. The beauty of going to college in the US is there are thousands of schools to choose from and many that have her major. I choose to put her somewhere that not only allows her to grow and thrive personally, but also prepares her for a career that she can be successful in. Part of that is her desire to join a GLO and I want to give her the best shot of that. In my opinion, IU does not provide that opportunity.

By the way here are my daughters criteria for looking at schools. I don't necessarily agree with them.

1. Good football program
2. Good basketball program
3. Good Greek system

She is 17. I didn't necessarily have different ideas as a 17 year old. The sorority I initially wanted to join at my university I picked because they had the prettiest house. Go figure!~

[IndianaSigKap]

Originally Posted by AXOrushadvisor

No. With so many out of state schools with a good program she wants to major in why would I support her going to school with such a rigid quota system. The beauty of going to college in the US is there are thousands of schools to choose from and many that have her major. I choose to put her somewhere that not only allows her to grow and thrive personally, but also prepares her for a career that she can be successful in. Part of that is her desire to join a GLO and I want to give her the best shot of that. In my opinion, IU does not provide that opportunity.

By the way here are my daughters criteria for looking at schools. I don't necessarily agree with them.

1. Good football program
2. Good basketball program
3. Good Greek system

She is 17. I didn't necessarily have different ideas as a 17 year old. The sorority I initially wanted to join at my university I picked because they had the prettiest house. Go figure!~

Loved her criteria! :-) IU definitely doesn't have number 1! You're so right, I work with 17 year olds and what they look for at 17 is even very different than what they want at 21.