Indiana University Recruitment 2019

[BBH]

Getting 9 back is actually pretty good. I do think Sophomore's have a bit more of a challenge. I do think some chapters have a certain look and feel but I also know there are some who's reputation is for girls with high GPA's and are involved. My D had a 4.0 and was involved as a Freshman and only got 5 invites after round 1. Two of those houses were ones with the reputation of strong GPA and involved and one of those is where she eventually ended up and she absolutely loves it and we know that she wound up in the right place. Sure it hurt at the time especially when all her friends had between 6 to 9 invites but of all her friends who rushed last year and found homes all felt like they wound up in the right places. This crazy process is right more often than not. You just have to stick with it and focus on what you have in front of you.

[FSUZeta]

There really is no point pining over a chapter that is no longer on a PNM' s list. It's history at that point.

It's been said before, but is worth repeating. With every round comes new opportunities to see the chapters that remain in the mix with fresh eyes. Ideally the PNMs will look at their remaining choices and choose new favorites from their lists.

Our jobs as parents is to teach our children to deal with disappointment; to pick themselves up and start all over again. Help them remain positive. Daughter didn't get a full schedule? Focus on the positives. Parent can tell daughter how lucky she is to have been invited back to some of her favorites and what an opportunity to get another chance to see some she wasn't so sure about. How lucky that she will have breaks throughout the day so that she can rest( and rest her voice!)and think deeply(perhaps make notes)about the choices she does have. Don't let your worrying bleed over into your conversations with your daughter. Commiserate with her if she is disappointed and then quickly begin to point out positives. Be upbeat. And drink wine.

[clayton117]

My daughter has really enjoyed this round. She has found a lot of the philanthropies interesting and the approaches to service by a number of houses really spoke to her. She has had at least one great conversation at almost every house. She continues to have many favorites, many more that she likes and would like to know more about than she would like to move on from. So many great sisterhoods here, and they are apparently doing a terrific job showcasing themselves. She still has multiple favorites, no clear top choice (which I think is a very good thing at this point). I think she is going to have a hard time ranking a bottom group. This is a good problem, I guess.

Any advice from the experienced on how to proceed when you have a full list in round two, and maybe only two or three houses you would pass on at the end? How do you pare it down? What questions should she be asking herself? The task is looming and feeling a little overwhelming.

[IUAnon]

My daughter is a senior and was extremely lucky to have a full card the whole way through when she rushed. All along she felt she fit in 9-10 of the houses so she had a really hard time ranking too. I would tell your daughter to talk to her rho gam about this and have her ask some tough questions to help her narrow down her choices and rank them as she moves along. My daughter took HOURS on pref night to decide the order of her final 3 because she loved them all. In the end, it is really a gut feel. She needs to go with her intuition — which girls does she see herself going to with a big problem? Which girls make her feel most like her true self? Which girls would she want to vacation with? Which girls can she laugh most easily with?

[Abm91]

Well the next round is max of 9, so I would recommend she review her notes and start at the bottom with the ones she really doesn’t see herself in, then work up - their Rho Gam is very helpful and will guide them. Honestly after this round there will be large cuts, but getting harsh cuts after this round may be better, to concentrate on the houses that really want you and make the choices from there rather than getting so many back. It all works out!

[navane]

Originally Posted by Abm91

Well the next round is max of 9, so I would recommend she review her notes and start at the bottom with the ones she really doesn’t see herself in, then work up - their Rho Gam is very helpful and will guide them. Honestly after this round there will be large cuts, but getting harsh cuts after this round may be better, to concentrate on the houses that really want you and make the choices from there rather than getting so many back. It all works out!

LOL...if it was me, I would do almost the exact opposite! She has been asked back to 16, likes most all of them except maybe 3 that she knows in her heart she would pass on. She needs to narrow it down to 9.

Ok....I'd start by putting the 3 chapters I know I'm not fitting in with at the bottom. Then, I'd go back to the other 13 and work from the top down. I'd look for my obvious favorites. Come on....there *has* to be some out of 13 that are more favorite than others. All 13 can't be exactly equal. So, let's pretend that there are 5 chapters that are just really winning my heart and my gut is saying that these are my favorites. Those 5 go straight to the top and I only need to work out 4 others to round out my top 9. Of course, it's those "8 in the middle" that will trip her up. Which 4 should get to go with the top 9 group and which 4 should be put below the line? THAT's where young ladies get stuck. I like FSUZeta's suggestion to consider the chapter personality and try to whittle it down from there.

At the end of the day, the chances of her getting her exact top 9 back are low. So, the good news is that some of the ones she liked, but didn't quite make it to the top 9 she submitted, will probably reappear on her list. I hope this makes sense. LOL.....I don't envy these PNMs (or their moms!)

[FSUZeta]

As all chapters are large, she will find girls who share her same interests and girls who appear to be the exact opposite of her. That doesn't mean that she can't have meaningful relationships with those opposite girls-just that she might value them as sisters, but pal around with girls more like herself.

That being said, it might be helpful to assess herself. Evaluating her interests and her personality type might aid her in her decision making. Is she more studious than social? A chapter that has a high GPA and is known as studious might be a more comfortable place for her. Is she involved in several orgs on campus? A chapter with a lot of campus movers and shakers might be her choice. Does she have a soft spot for a particular philanthropy? Does she enjoy competitive sports? Then the chapter with the great IM team might be for her. Is she more reserved? Then a chapter with a boisterous personality might not be for her. Etc.

[clayton117]

this is all great advice. Who you would go to with Love hearing all of your wisdom. I think also weeding out which ones she like due to "the gorgeous house" another thing to consider. These houses are crazy beautiful and so dazzling, especially coming from the moldy crumbling dorms-ha.
Who you feel like you could go to with a big problem- a great suggestion. love that. She is definitely looking at academic vs social vs service balance, and has found a few less appealing due to how those things were valued in a some houses. I am just glad she has found so much to like.

The next round cuts are going to be big, even if she gets the rare full list back again, so I think her tops will become more evident at that point by what remains and who continues to be interested in her.

Thanks to all for the suggestions!

[lyrespearls]

It definitely is hard for 19 year olds to not let the beautiful houses have an impact on their decision. What I told both of my IU PNM's (one who's graduated and one who's there now) that as they progressed through the rounds to certainly base it on how they felt when they were there with the chapter but also to take a look at the other PNM's the chapter was inviting back because those girls are her potential sisters and friends.

That really made a difference for my younger daughter as she really struggled narrowing down her list between several houses. For the house she eventualy preffed, she felt most comfortable with the girls she met who also were being recruited. Certainly, decisions get made for the girls that force them to readjust their perspectives but it's so hard when they're making that list. And hard for us to advise them.

[clayton117]

Thanks again for all of your wisdom and support, folks. I copied some of your wise words into an email to my daughter. Definitely helped her sort her list out. Will also be really helpful after the next round when she will be able to get a better looks at her fellow PNMs and the sisters interacting with each other in the chapters when it is a little less crowded. Her return list likely will be significantly shorter, making the choices much simpler!

She is thankful for the break for a few days. I could hear the exhaustion in her voice and, expect it is universal on both sides of the process. Hope everyone with kids have a great first week of the new semester!

[FSUZeta]

Too often the PNMs think they are being judge on their craft. Poor girls. The craft should go the way of the skit.

[BBH]

The process is exhausting on both sides. Heard from my D and she said they had to cut a lot of girls they really liked simply because of the numbers. Just because you get cut from any of the houses doesn't mean the didn't like you. I know the PNM's can't see that side but having a D going through rush for the first time from the other side of things I think she is gaining a much better appreciation for the process.

[IUMomof2]

Thanks for encouragement and ideas on how to be there for my D during this process. She visited her 9 houses. Some went well, others didn't. She got double rushed at 4 of them and none of them went well (in her mind). She really does have an open mind about the different chapters. But what I'm realizing is that this process is highlighting some other things some other issues she's been having and bringing them to the surface. So we're working through all that. It doesn't help that she's in a group where all but about 4 of the women received full dance cards for round two. I keep telling her that's not the norm, but, you know, she's 19 so she knows more .

I did have some questions about terms if someone would mind answering/explaining?

What is an RFM, QA, bed quota?

Also, are the women given the opportunity to attend three chapters on preference night?

What does it mean to "maximize" your bids?

Does IU still do "snap bidding" and informal/open rush after formal rush is over?

Thanks in advance. It's been awhile since I went through IU rush and it is a very, very different process. I didn't realize how much it had changed. When I went through, we (the PNMs) were given a list of chapters that had invited us back. If we were asked back to more than we could visit we cut them. Very different now.

This will be a very long week. I'm glad she at least has classes to focus on now instead of sitting in her room marinating in everything.

Thanks!

[irishpipes]

Originally Posted by IUMomof2

Thanks for encouragement and ideas on how to be there for my D during this process. She visited her 9 houses. Some went well, others didn't. She got double rushed at 4 of them and none of them went well (in her mind). She really does have an open mind about the different chapters. But what I'm realizing is that this process is highlighting some other things some other issues she's been having and bringing them to the surface. So we're working through all that. It doesn't help that she's in a group where all but about 4 of the women received full dance cards for round two. I keep telling her that's not the norm, but, you know, she's 19 so she knows more .

I did have some questions about terms if someone would mind answering/explaining?

What is an RFM, QA, bed quota?
RFM = Release Figures Methodology. This is the formulaic approach to recruitment which analyzes relative chapter strength and determines how many PNMs a chapter is allowed to invite for the next round of parties. In very simple terms, strong recruiting chapters cannot "string along" PNMs. The stronger the chapter, the heavier cuts they must make early on in the process, thus forcing PNMs to consider chapters where they are more likely to receive a bid. In the old days, popular chapters could invite rushees back only to drop them at the very end, after those rushees had cut more fitting chapters for them.
QA = quota additions. These are PNMs who are matched to a chapter (for a variety of reasons) after quota has already been matched.
Bed quota is an archaic recruitment strategy that did not utilize RFM or quota/total. Chapters pledged the number of PNMs needed to fill the beds in the chapter house.
Also, are the women given the opportunity to attend three chapters on preference night?

What does it mean to "maximize" your bids?
This means that a PNM attends the maximum number of parties each round of recruitment. If a PNM can attend 9 but doesn't like one and only attends 8, she has not maximized and therefore cannot be considered for a quota addition or guaranteed bid match. However, if the maximum is 9 and a PNM only has 7 invitations and attends them all, she has maximized her options.

Does IU still do "snap bidding" and informal/open rush after formal rush is over?
All campuses do these things. (They aren't the same.) A PNM shouldn't count on this however, as the number of spaces may be extremely limited, and many chapters will have no spaces at all. These slots often are offered to women already well-known to the chapter.

Thanks in advance. It's been awhile since I went through IU rush and it is a very, very different process. I didn't realize how much it had changed. When I went through, we (the PNMs) were given a list of chapters that had invited us back. If we were asked back to more than we could visit we cut them. Very different now.

This will be a very long week. I'm glad she at least has classes to focus on now instead of sitting in her room marinating in everything.

Thanks!

Hopefully this helps. There is a lot of info on these topics on Greekchat.

[mkaytay]

Here is a link to a great NPC explainer on RFM:

https://npcwomen.dynamic.omegafi.com...pdate-2017.pdf

Basically, each chapter will invite X PNMs back to each round. X is determined by RFM (Release Figure Methodology), a program that uses each chapter's return rate (the number of PNMs on a chapter's list who want to return to them next round i.e. do not list them in their "drop" chapters) to figure out how many PNMs need to be invited to each round for that chapter to make quota at the end of recruitment.

If a chapter has a 90% return rate they are going to be required to release more PNMs than a chapter that has a 60% return rate because they are, in essence, "assumed" to have a 90% chance of a PNM on their first bid (quota) list accepting so they do not need as many women on their second list (this means fewer PNMs need to be invited to pref for the 90% chapter to make quota). This math is applied to the invites for all rounds.