What makes a certain university a "competitive" school to rush at?

[33girl]

I would say Arkansas, Texas or Ole Miss simply because the number of sororities is so disproportionate to the number of PNMs and because it's been so hard for a new group to come on. That makes it competitive all around - i.e. it's even competitive for a new sorority to succeed.

[amIblue?]

Originally Posted by 33girl

I would say Arkansas, Texas or Ole Miss simply because the number of sororities is so disproportionate to the number of PNMs and because it's been so hard for a new group to come on. That makes it competitive all around - i.e. it's even competitive for a new sorority to succeed.

That's not really where I was going, but you still haven't picked one, so I guess that's my point.

[ASTalumna06]

I would think Indiana could also take the cake with their "bed quota" system. Putting a limit on the number of bids going out, regardless of how many PNMs go through, in my opinion, makes it more challenging to have a successful recruitment (assuming that "success" means simply getting a bid, and not factoring in how many PNMs got a bid to their "dream" chapter)

[Hartofsec]

Just general speculation, but it seems to me that the schools where recs are more a necessity than a frill are perceived as "more competitive." At these schools, recs increase a PNMs opportunities for party invitations (and the lack thereof will probably limit opportunity). I'm sure the laborious process of securing these probably makes it feel very competitive.

Many of these same schools also have high numbers of well-prepared PNMs and abundant legacies, along with home-state/hometown stronghold chapters. As mentioned earlier in the thread, PNMs who have their hearts set on a few chapters that fall into this category will most certainly encounter competition -- these chapters cannot pledge every sharp PNM from a particular high school or city.

For those recruitments using RFM, the likelihood of a PNM finding a Greek home is very high, regardless of the number of chapters and PNMs. Speaking for my alma mater anyway -- the number of PNMs released from recruitment is not as high as most people might imagine:

http://greekaffairs.ua.edu/documents...r2002-2012.pdf

[magnoliacurious]

Originally Posted by 33girl

I would say Arkansas, Texas or Ole Miss simply because the number of sororities is so disproportionate to the number of PNMs and because it's been so hard for a new group to come on. That makes it competitive all around - i.e. it's even competitive for a new sorority to succeed.

You would certainly be a much more authoritative judge on this matter than I would, but I think it's worth mentioning that for the last two years Ole Miss had a 90%+ rate of girls who signed up for recruitment getting placed in a sorority while Alabama had a mid to upper 80% placement rate. I don't know all the circumstances at both schools, but to me a lower placement rate seems a surface indicator of more competitiveness. I believe it's obvious to most of us here that both schools recruitments are among the most competitive in America.