2015 Indiana Recruitment

[DubaiSis]

As an outsider to the process, having your daughter go through rush at IU is kind of like graduating high school and going straight to PhD work, with no understanding of the course work.

There are about 1600 girls going through rush this year. For each chapter there are probably not 100 girls who don't meet their objective criteria. After that they have to go from 1500 to about 55 in 4 rounds of parties and about an hour and a half of total talk time. Objectively you can't take this process seriously, but in real life it feels an awful like being judged and found unworthy.

Let me see if I can explain the process a bit. The girls they want to cut are easy - the ones who were rude, the ones who are seriously weird, the no shows - so that eliminates 100 girls. (Making up numbers here since each house will be different AND I'm not privy to this information) The chapter hasto cut to 700 girls. So let's go back and cut the girls who someone had heard something bad about, had a rude post on Facebook, seemed like she might be too quiet for us. Ok, that's another 100 girls. They're now at 1400, every girl left is worthy of an invitation. But they are still required to cut to 700. They have to invite back all of their legacies (many sororities have this rule for after round 1) and there are 200 legacies going through, so that uses up nearly 1/3 of their spots. So they start cutting based on goals they have for the chapter. Need to work on our chapter GPA? Cut anyone below a 2.9. Whatever. Then they finally get to the 700 plus whatever number gets to be on their "flex list," let's say another 100 girls. They have their 700 plus 100 girls who will be added in if anyone of the top 700 don't accept their invitation. Your daughter is number 710. She made it past 590 girls! And really, when you factor out the legacies, she made it past 790 girls! And the flex list made it to 709 before the list was full. That is going to feel like they hated her but it simply isn't the case. And that could happen for every single chapter. It's not likely to; the vast majority of girls find a sorority home but there are perfectly nice perfectly qualified girls every year who just simply had bad luck.

Does that help or make it worse?

[TriDeltaSallie]

That's a good explanation.

I'm not an IU expert, but in all sorority recruitments there is always the element of having friends on the inside pulling for you as well. That's not going to show up in a quantifiable way, but it's a factor.

Originally Posted by DubaiSis

As an outsider to the process, having your daughter go through rush at IU is kind of like graduating high school and going straight to PhD work, with no understanding of the course work.

There are about 1600 girls going through rush this year. For each chapter there are probably not 100 girls who don't meet their objective criteria. After that they have to go from 1500 to about 55 in 4 rounds of parties and about an hour and a half of total talk time. Objectively you can't take this process seriously, but in real life it feels an awful like being judged and found unworthy.

Let me see if I can explain the process a bit. The girls they want to cut are easy - the ones who were rude, the ones who are seriously weird, the no shows - so that eliminates 100 girls. (Making up numbers here since each house will be different AND I'm not privy to this information) The chapter hasto cut to 700 girls. So let's go back and cut the girls who someone had heard something bad about, had a rude post on Facebook, seemed like she might be too quiet for us. Ok, that's another 100 girls. They're now at 1400, every girl left is worthy of an invitation. But they are still required to cut to 700. They have to invite back all of their legacies (many sororities have this rule for after round 1) and there are 200 legacies going through, so that uses up nearly 1/3 of their spots. So they start cutting based on goals they have for the chapter. Need to work on our chapter GPA? Cut anyone below a 2.9. Whatever. Then they finally get to the 700 plus whatever number gets to be on their "flex list," let's say another 100 girls. They have their 700 plus 100 girls who will be added in if anyone of the top 700 don't accept their invitation. Your daughter is number 710. She made it past 590 girls! And really, when you factor out the legacies, she made it past 790 girls! And the flex list made it to 709 before the list was full. That is going to feel like they hated her but it simply isn't the case. And that could happen for every single chapter. It's not likely to; the vast majority of girls find a sorority home but there are perfectly nice perfectly qualified girls every year who just simply had bad luck.

Does that help or make it worse?

[ItsGreekTooMe]

Let me try and see if I can get it right this time.


First, I sincerely apologize for the post that gave offense. To repeat, my issue was with the rush process, not any individual. FWIW, yesterday I felt physically lousy as well as stressed by several difficult situations in my life. I'm sure all of that contributed to my poor choice of words. I hope you will forgive that lapse.

Second, I freely admit to ignorance about everything connected with sorority life. I thank those who explained the "criteria" issue; I'm now better informed.

Third, I of course recognize that the numbers at IU are overwhelming. Similar to college admissions, many wonderful candidates must be eliminated, and they won't know why they didn't make the cut.

Finally, my daughter (whose general m.o. is to keep a positive attitude) is handling the process extremely well. After feeling tense the first day, she decided to "chill" and enjoy the experience. She was fortunate to receive a large number of second round invitations and is in no way dwelling on "favorites" that weren't on the list. I've encouraged her to keep an open mind about all of the houses, and I have complete faith in her ability to intuit the best places for her – recognizing the decision is ultimately out of her hands.

[33girl]

Also, as far as the grade issue, please be aware that the minimum GPA required to go through formal rush is often if not usually lower than that of individual chapters.

[DubaiSis]

And we DO understand what you're getting at - grades are an important factor so therefore there must be a line of demarkation. There really isn't. At the headquarters level there is a number below which the chapter cannot cross. But that is usually WELL lower than their functional minimum GPA. For instance, I believe my sorority's national minimum is a 2.5. At IU I think you have to have a 2.8 to even participate, and the chapters who are really making grade cuts are probably cutting above to well above that number. But if there's that perfect girl, many girls in the chapter know and love her, she's a legacy, her resume is 9 miles long, and she has a 2.8? Yeah, they might let that one slip through. It depends on chapter and inter/national rules of the sorority, the needs of a particular chapter, etc. and is not consistent across all sororities. This is a very confusing business. Keep your head up, keep the wine corked and ready, and try to stay positive and chapter-neutral with your daughter as the process progresses.

[ForeverRoses]

Just as a FYI, an ice storm is predicted for this afternoon and into tomorrow. Bloomington is on the southern edge, so hopefully will be spared. But this does mean I might be spending an extra day in Bloomington if I can't get home to Indy tonight/ tomorrow morning.

[cinder1965]

Originally Posted by ForeverRoses

Just as a FYI, an ice storm is predicted for this afternoon and into tomorrow. Bloomington is on the southern edge, so hopefully will be spared. But this does mean I might be spending an extra day in Bloomington if I can't get home to Indy tonight/ tomorrow morning.

I have been watching the storm. I was at our chapter house at Purdue all day checking in girls to move in and left early to get home before the ice storm comes.

Safe travels!!!!

[DeltaBetaBaby]

Originally Posted by cinder1965

I have been watching the storm. I was at our chapter house at Purdue all day checking in girls to move in and left early to get home before the ice storm comes.

Safe travels!!!!

I just scraped the ice off of my windshield so I can leave bright and early tomorrow. Ugggghhhhh.

[suzy88]

I have two daughters at IU, a sophomore active and a senior who had little success with the process and never joined a sorority. So, I have gone through this as a mom with a PNM daughter in 2012, 2013 and 2014. In our experience, the info that DubaiSis is giving is very realistic and accurate. Having wine on hand for mom is also a very good idea.

[Just interested]

I am so glad I live in Texas.(At least from October-June) We think cold is 40 degrees and a week of 32 degrees is all over the news. Y'all stay warm up there.

Just wondering why some on the list don't have numbers posted from last year... Kappa, Chi O, AGD... and speaking of Chi O I've heard that they only asked 400 girls back for the "16" Party.. is that possible? How can they be that harsh after what is basically an Open House?

[IndianaSigKap]

Originally Posted by Life is good

Just wondering why some on the list don't have numbers posted from last year... Kappa, Chi O, AGD... and speaking of Chi O I've heard that they only asked 400 girls back for the "16" Party.. is that possible? How can they be that harsh after what is basically an Open House?

The number of women a chapter is allowed to invite is calculated using RFM, which uses the acceptance rates from the previous years to predict how many women the chapter will need to invite back to make quota. For example if a chapter has a 90% return rate that means that 90% of the women they invited to the same round last year ranked them in their top group (accepting the invitation). So if a chapter's quota is 45 and they have a 90% return rate, they will only be allowed to extend a small number of invitations to preference.

[navane]

Originally Posted by IndianaSigKap

The number of women a chapter is allowed to invite is calculated using RFM, which uses the acceptance rates from the previous years to predict how many women the chapter will need to invite back to make quota. For example if a chapter has a 90% return rate that means that 90% of the women they invited to the same round last year ranked them in their top group (accepting the invitation). So if a chapter's quota is 45 and they have a 90% return rate, they will only be allowed to extend a small number of invitations to preference.

I apologize for the double-post; but, I wanted to separate this out.

So....for those readers still trying to work this out. Here's how I interpret what IndianaSigKap said:

Sorority ABC is a strong recruiting chapter and Sorority XYZ is a weaker recruiting chapter. Quota is set at 45.

ABC historically has a 90% return rate. Therefore, 45 x 100 = 4,500. 4,500/90 = 50. ABC can only invite 50 girls to preference round.

XYZ historically has a 70% return rate. Therefore, 45 x 100 = 4,500. 4,500/70 = 65. XYZ can invite 65 girls to preference round.

Some people might look at this and say, "OMG! ABC is sooo mean! How can they be so harsh?!" When, really, the system is trying to give the PNMs a statistically higher chance of getting a bid.

Thanks for the explanations... it makes sense. Just trying to understand the process. I don't do helicopters.

[IndianaSigKap]

Originally Posted by navane

Sorority ABC is a strong recruiting chapter and Sorority XYZ is a weaker recruiting chapter. Quota is set at 45.

ABC historically has a 90% return rate. Therefore, 45 x 100 = 4,500. 4,500/90 = 50. ABC can only invite 50 girls to preference round.

XYZ historically has a 70% return rate. Therefore, 45 x 100 = 4,500. 4,500/70 = 65. XYZ can invite 65 girls to preference round.

Close, but not that literal. It's not a direct correlation between return rate and number of invitations issued. There are some other factors that are used as well.