Accepting a bid, but postponing pledging?

[AGDee]

The biggest thing I think a campus panhellenic needs to think about when selecting a recruitment style is whether the effort=the benefit. Some of the campuses with chapters I've worked with where they do COB only now had quotas of 6 or less every year. Is it worth that budget, time and effort for 6 new members? One campus had a quota of 2 one year. All that, for two? It just isn't worth it.

[ASTalumna06]

Originally Posted by AGDee

The biggest thing I think a campus panhellenic needs to think about when selecting a recruitment style is whether the effort=the benefit. Some of the campuses with chapters I've worked with where they do COB only now had quotas of 6 or less every year. Is it worth that budget, time and effort for 6 new members? One campus had a quota of 2 one year. All that, for two? It just isn't worth it.

Exactly. Too much time, money, and effort is spent during formal recruitment to only come out with 6 new members in the end. And it especially doesn't make sense if you're getting 12 new members with informal recruitment, which most likely takes up only a fraction of the time, money, and effort of formal recruitment.

As the old adage says: work smarter, not harder.

[amanda6035]

Ok... Thanks so much for the explanations

So that brings me to another question then. How do you get the necessary data to justify expansion, if that could be a possibility? For example, due to the nature of recruitment, and these girls being the type that "typically wouldn't go greek" the COB only with total could possibility limit greek life interest. It's been a long time coming, but both chapters are alot more stable now. With total where it is right now, it's possible that both chapters will be just at, or maybe slightly over total with formal recruitment and quota. So lets say that total is 35, both chapters have 30 going into formal recruitment and quota is 10. Okay... so I know that some of you are going to say "increase total!" but I don't know if that is the right answer. What if a 3rd chapter could be needed? If we had total at 35, and several years of formal recruitment and both chapters ending up over total after formal recruitment, it may be a good time to discuss expansion. But if you do COB only, you limit the chapters to only picking up enough girls to meet total, and won't necessarily know if there is enough interest to warrant a 3rd chapter, because the girls who didn't join aren't the type to express interest because they didn't know that greek life was really an option, nor do they care.

I'm a money person - I feel ya on the amount of money spent and the effort, and think it's a very valid point, but I think last years quota was artificially low. Quota is typically 9-12, and we're hoping it will be more than that this year. 15 would be AWESOME (fingers crossed).

[33girl]

Originally Posted by AGDee

The biggest thing I think a campus panhellenic needs to think about when selecting a recruitment style is whether the effort=the benefit. Some of the campuses with chapters I've worked with where they do COB only now had quotas of 6 or less every year. Is it worth that budget, time and effort for 6 new members? One campus had a quota of 2 one year. All that, for two? It just isn't worth it.

Well, at schools like this, the $$ and time outlay for rush is considerably smaller than a Big 10/SEC school. For instance, we never had a work week - I don't think any of the groups did. We barely had dress checks and we certainly didn't buy special clothing. The people who were in the skit practiced it a couple times, and that was it. As far as $$? I know this is decades ago, but when I read about chapters spending thousands of $$$....I don't think everyone (7 groups) on our campus spent $1000 combined.

The point is too often - especially if the school allows first semester freshmen to rush - women get in their head which group they want before meeting all or even half of them. They go to that group and only that group's COB events. The group doesn't bid her. This doesn't make her say "well, XYZ didn't want me, I'll check out the other groups." This makes her say "sorority girls are all stuck up bitches and I want nothing to do with the Greek system." She might not have that attitude if she had gotten to meet women in the other chapters and realize that there is more than one group out there.

I know it seems like it isn't worth it, but if it keeps women engaged and interested in the possibility of Greek life, even with a quota of 2, it IS worth it.