NPC Rush - Can something be done to reduce/eradicate the number of "bidless" rushees?

[KappaKittyCat]

Originally posted by ilovemyglo
Well- since we don't know how many girls are invited to the bigger houses, or how what their # of returns are- Only our own house figures are given to us- how could we prove that they didn't go by release figures. Our campus just tells each group how many girls to release. They go to XYZ and say- you have to release 200 or whatever. And down the line.

Well, all the invite lists have to go through Panhellenic, right? I don't see how it would be so hard to enforce, especially at the schools that use computers. Of the 300 women who came to first round, ABC can only invite 200 back to second round. They cut 50 based on grades and such, and they're left with 250 women whom they'd like to invite back. Well, they pick their best 200 and rank the remaining fifty in order of preference, like the would on bid lists. Polly PNM finishes round one and ranks the ten houses in order of preference. She can only attend seven parties, so she's automatically matched with the top seven on her list, and the arrangement of invites is similar to bidmatching. That would guarantee that all houses invite the maximum number of PNMs allowed under the release figures, and that the women receive the maximum possible number of invitations.

continued...
The problem at our school is there aren't enough girls during Pref for quota for all the houses, they set quota in the middle of the 2nd rounds. And the bigger houses don't have to do severe cuts till after 2nd rounds, so you get a lot of girls that dropped because they don't get invited back where they want to go.

Perhaps a change should be made in the way quota is set. I know that the Green Book says that quota = (the number of women attending the second invitational round) divided by (the number of chapters). Well, for our campus, with only three rounds of recruitment, the second invitational round is Preference. That way, if 30 women attend Preference and there are 3 sororities on campus, quota is ten and there are enough women for each sorority to take quota. I'm not sure this would work at bigger schools, but it's definitely something to consider.

[AGDLynn]

I am not totally familiar with certain aspects of recruitment parties, but I do have this question to refresh my memory?

At my school, pnms are able to decline a party bid with or without regrets. With regrets means that, for whatever reason, I don't want to/can't come to your next party but I would like to be reconsidered for the next night. That way, if a sorority is able, they can invite back a pnm who regreted them with interest. Without interest means, sorry, I don't want to come to any more of your parties.

Is this NPC standard???

[KappaKittyCat]

Originally posted by AGDLynn
I am not totally familiar with certain aspects of recruitment parties, but I do have this question to refresh my memory?

At my school, pnms are able to decline a party bid with or without regrets. With regrets means that, for whatever reason, I don't want to/can't come to your next party but I would like to be reconsidered for the next night. That way, if a sorority is able, they can invite back a pnm who regreted them with interest. Without interest means, sorry, I don't want to come to any more of your parties.

Is this NPC standard?

AFAIK, it is not an NPC standard (Barbara, our local Green Book expert, may be able to weigh in here). We don't use this at my school. Of course, we don't do a lot of things at my school.

I think that "regret with interest" happens this way: Polly PNM gets invited back to seven houses but can only go to five. She doesn't want to go to one, so that's easy, but she has a hard time choosing between the other six, so she finally chooses five and regrets ABC with interest. If, for some reason, she's cut from all but three houses on a four-party day, ABC can invite her to their party if they want to.

But I don't think there's anything in GB about it.

[DWAlphaGam]

Originally posted by KappaKittyCat
I think that "regret with interest" happens this way: Polly PNM gets invited back to seven houses but can only go to five. She doesn't want to go to one, so that's easy, but she has a hard time choosing between the other six, so she finally chooses five and regrets ABC with interest. If, for some reason, she's cut from all but three houses on a four-party day, ABC can invite her to their party if they want to.

My school uses "regret with interest," and you are correct. I have no idea if this is in the Green Book or not.


Regarding my earlier post, I think I'm going to make a point to not go off on tirades on GC about recruitment and the smaller house when I'm PMSing. shadokat, you made some excellent points in your reply, but it does definitely vary from campus to campus. (At my school, most of the bidless PNMs were ones that wanted the big popular chapter or nothing, even though the smaller houses-mine and one other chapter-have fantastic, welcoming, and close sisterhoods, so it's hard for me to have any sympathy for them, which definitely clouds my opinion.)

[PreppyGirl]

I think that "regret with interest" happens this way: Polly PNM gets invited back to seven houses but can only go to five. She doesn't want to go to one, so that's easy, but she has a hard time choosing between the other six, so she finally chooses five and regrets ABC with interest. If, for some reason, she's cut from all but three houses on a four-party day, ABC can invite her to their party if they want to.[/B]

We also use regret with interest at my school. It works really well and we have invited girls back who cut us early in the week and they have become great sisters!! It also helps to make snap bid lists and do COB stuff because you know who will consider joining and who has absolutely no interest.

[KappaKittyCat]

Originally posted by DWAlphaGam
At my school, most of the bidless PNMs were ones that wanted the big popular chapter or nothing, even though the smaller houses-mine and one other chapter-have fantastic, welcoming, and close sisterhoods, so it's hard for me to have any sympathy for them, which definitely clouds my opinion.

That's exactly my situation, too.

[TxGirl]

Release figures are a recommendation in the green book and cannot be enforced unless in is stated that they will be used in your school Panhellenic Recruitment Rules. If it is in there then you cannot invite back more than whatever you number is. This number is figured by the computer and given out by panhellenic to each chapter.

Release figures are based on an individual chapters return rates for the last three years. I don't remember what the exact formula is, but it figures in what quota would be at that point, the average return rate for the last three years and the number of events a pnm can attend. For the chapters will higher return rates this equals into a higher number of women to release. For those with lower return rates it equals a lower number of women to release.

Unfortunately, this is only a recommendation from NPC - so panhellenics do not have to use it unless they want to. NPC is also piloting a new release figure system this year - supposedly it will have the chapters with higher returns releasing more than the old system. I haven't seen the formula yet so I don't know for sure how it works.

[tunatartare]

Giving this thread a great big BUMP so as not to start a new one on a similar subject. With regard to bidless rushees, when you see girls after recruitment, do you feel guilty? We had a girl go through recruitment when I was a rho chi who didn't get a bid. She friended me on facebook and myspace and is social with some of my friends. Every time I see her and we talk, I tend to feel a little guilty (especially if I'm going to something sorority-related) because she never got that chance. I was talking to one of my pledge sisters about it and she thinks that we have no reason why we should feel guilty when girls go bidless because there are reasons for it. What are people's thoughts on this?

[KSUViolet06]

Originally Posted by KLPDaisy

Giving this thread a great big BUMP so as not to start a new one on a similar subject. With regard to bidless rushees, when you see girls after recruitment, do you feel guilty?

Not usually. I've got no reason to feel guilty because membership selection decisions are up to the whole chapter.

[FSUZeta]

a lot of campuses have large #'s of pnms going thru recruitment,so remembering a pnm who is not invited back, unless you personally rushed them one evening, is low. you have not made any promises to the pnm, she has had as fair a chance as anyone else and the chips fell the way they did. i have felt bad for pnms whom i met and felt would not be asked to join any group.

in that same vein, the pnm should not feel guilty if she receives an invitation to a party and declines the invitation. she needs to find the group that best fits her needs and wants.

[tunatartare]

Originally Posted by FSUZeta

a lot of campuses have large #'s of pnms going thru recruitment,so remembering a pnm who is not invited back, unless you personally rushed them one evening, is low. you have not made any promises to the pnm, she has had as fair a chance as anyone else and the chips fell the way they did. i have felt bad for pnms whom i met and felt would not be asked to join any group.

in that same vein, the pnm should not feel guilty if she receives an invitation to a party and declines the invitation. she needs to find the group that best fits her needs and wants.

At my school we usually have between 8-45 girls rushing and at most 2-3 of them don't get bids. It's a rarity by us to go bidless which is why I tend to feel bad.

[KSUViolet06]

I really don't think much can be done to eliminate/reduce the # of bidless PNMs. If we place EVERY girl without considering the chapter's preferences, then selection is no longer mutual. I'd rather see a girl go without a bid than get bid by a chapter out of a need to place EVERYONE ("i.e. a pity bid").

I think my school makes a very good effort to place everyone. Out of maybe 150 girls, only one or 2 end up unmatched at the end. And let's face it, there are girls who for whatever reason just NOT a good fit for any chapter that's participating. Who knows why? They just aren't matched. But I don't feel like any chapter should be obligated to take them because of that.

Then there are girls who fail to maximize their options, to which I say "cry me a river".