Why is Rush so Cut-throat on the Sororities' End at Big Greek Schools?

[James]

This needed to be quoted and I added the emphasis.

Originally posted by pinkyphimu

my biggest pet peeve during this time of recruitment threads occurs when suzie pnm writes that she didn't get asked back to any houses she wanted, so she dropped out. we all are trying to be supportive and say, "oh honey, give cob a try" when realistically, the chapters that invited her back....are the ones who will be cobing....and are the ones she felt like it would be better to drop out of recruitment than to even go to their parties. do you think she is really going to go to cob? no...i hate that we pretend she will! (sorry this just makes me aggravated)

[Lindz928]

I'm not sure exactly why you wanted to emphasize that James, but it is absolutely true.

Most of the people who drop out of rush do it because they were cut from the "top" houses. No one goes through rush wanting the bottom tier chapter. Everyone wants to be in the top houses, that's one of the reasons they are known as the best. So naturally, if everyone wants to be in the top house, that house will not have to worry about making quota... They will get all of their top choice PNM's. They are never going to have to COB. So, the girls who drop out because they were cut from their top choice has almost no chance of getting COBed by that chapter.

The reason that I think we try to talk these poor PNMs into COB is because once they get past the "I have to be in the top house" idea, they are VERY likely to find a sorority that they will be more at home in than they could have thought possible.

I have said before that when I went through, I did not get my top choice house... BUT I decided that being GREEK was the most important thing to me. And in the end, I ended up in a sorority that I have been SO much happier with than I think I would have been had I gotten a bid from XYZ. I LOVE my sorority, and I would not change it for anything.

So, I think we encourage COB because we want these girls to be open-minded and take a look at what they might not have paid any attention to at first glance.

If anyone thinks I am wrong with any of this, please feel free to let me know.

[Munchkin03]

Why is Rush so cut-throat at Big Greek Schools?

Because so many of them know that this is the One Big Thing in their lives.

[James]

But Lindz928, your bottom tier chapter was 120 girls lol, twice the size of total for many chapters in the NE.

Puts things in perspectives.

[Lindz928]

Alot of those schools might not have 45,000 students and more than 800 PNM's each year.

Also, I realize that 120 seems like a large chapter. But, when all but one other chapter has at least 175, and the majority of chapters have 200+, you must see how it can look differently.

ETA: I do see what you are trying to say though.

[pinkyphimu]

Originally posted by Lindz928
No one goes through rush wanting the bottom tier chapter.

i wouldn't agree with that...mainly because i only went through rush in order to become a member of the house that was considered the "bottom chapter." why? because the other three houses on my campus had very, very, very open hazing practices....and still do. i never really thought that getting food thrown at me in the middle of the street next to the president's house was a part of sisterhood. my chapter was considered the "bottom" because we didn't haze...and because we were younger than the other chapters. i am not saying that this reasoning works at most campus....or any other campus for that matter.

eta: cob is great for women who never really considered going through formal recruitment...but in my experience, very few of the women who dropped out of, or were dropped from formal recruitment end up going through cob.

[33girl]

Originally posted by Firehouse
Here's a simple question: in a sorority formal rush, if quota is 35 and total is, say 100, why can't the small 30-member sorority pledge 50 or 60 girls in formal rush if they can get them to join?

THEY CAN!!! They can open bid until they get 65 girls, and they don't have to do it all on bid night...they can take all semester to do it if they want to, they can take a second pledge class if they want to. If there's a Panhellenic out there preventing this, they are violating Green Book regulations. The only time this wouldn't be allowed is if there is a colony on campus. (Although if there's a chapter this far under total there shouldn't be a colony on campus.)

We SUCKED at formal rush...I would say at least half of our sisters came through COB. And guess what, when they printed our pledge classes in the paper it didn't have asterisks beside the girls we got through COB instead of formal and bid-matching. We never had a problem with it - but I know there are chapters who when they have to do it, become just sort of paralyzed and end up shooting themselves in the foot.

[Lindz928]

Originally posted by pinkyphimu
i wouldn't agree with that...mainly because i only went through rush in order to become a member of the house that was considered the "bottom chapter." why? because the other three houses on my campus had very, very, very open hazing practices....and still do. i never really thought that getting food thrown at me in the middle of the street next to the president's house was a part of sisterhood. my chapter was considered the "bottom" because we didn't haze...and because we were younger than the other chapters. i am not saying that this reasoning works at most campus....or any other campus for that matter.

Wow, Pinky. I can't beleive that that stuff still happens at schools. I'm glad that you took the high road and pledged somewhere that you knew would make you happy. It makes me sad that so many others would let themselves be put through that. I know my sisters would never have done that to me.

[carnation]

bump!

[bekibug]

Originally posted by AnchorAlumna
Wow! These are the most intelligent analyses of recruitment (AKA rush) that I have ever seen!

I believe Auburn is trying out this way of setting quota this year. Any comments here from Auburn Tigers? AEPhi alum, does this system work better?

What we did last fall was revamp the release figures. Basically, if "top-tier" chapters (and/or chapters closest to campus total) had girls they knew they probably weren't going to extend bids to, they had to go on and release them earlier. It meant that girls weren't thinking that they just might be an ABC when that group knew she just didn't have that "ABC sparkle" that they wanted from everyone they pledged. That way PNM's weren't going to XYZ, ABC, and LMN for pref, ranking them in that order because XYZ and ABC were top-tier and LMN wasn't, but getting a bid from LMN.

The way I summed it up for my mom when she asked about it was "We're not going to be catching XYZ's leftovers." Meaning that we weren't going to be preffing girls that had wanted another sorority so badly she'd have suicided them pref night if they hadn't cut her. We were going to be preffing girls who had been cut from XYZ and ABC, but had still gone to other group's parties and decided she still wanted to find another home.

Which is not to say that we don't cross-pref with top chapters. It's just easier on us when we know a girl's not coming to us with her heart set on something else.

[AchtungBaby80]

I'm finding this discussion really interesting. Even though my school wasn't vicious, it was still competitive and lots of girls dropped out rather than get invited back to houses they didn't want. I'm sure there was tons of stuff going on behind the scenes that I never picked up on. I mean, when I rushed, I was totally clueless, so this is eye-opening for me.

[ADPi Conniebama]

I have heard about a new panhellenic formal recruitment proceedure where . . . .

"Quota" sororities or "top" sororities HAVE to cut more girls on the 2nd day then say a middle or low sororities, that way the "top" sororities cant string along some poor girl who is a great pnm but "wants" only one specific sorority. That way she is forced to give other sororities another look or not go greek.

I would say (I went to a university with 4 sororities) that out of 120 girls going through recruitment, EVERY SORORITY wants the same 75 girls, and another 25 are still great girls (but, maybe aren't quite good at playing the recruitment game) and 20 are maybe questionable or unknown (i.e. no rec or seniors or questionable ethics or grades or whatever)

I have found that with all of the sororites looking and recruiting different girls, meaning . .

Alpha - wants 50 - grades-involvement-personallity-community etc
Beta - wants the same 50 cause of grades-apperance-involvement etc
Gamma - wants 50 cause of campus involvement-financial stability
Delta - wants 50 to make quota

with quota being 25 (for example) and

alpha and beta going for the same girls and having to cut the others that gives

delta and gamma a better recruiting chance and still the "top" sororities get the girls they want anyway.

I have heard that has already started at a few large SEC schools and it was a success for everyone involved but especially helped the middle sororities who don't necessarily compete with "top" sororities but are strong sororities in their own right.

I don't know if that answered any questions but I found that interesting and I am looking forward to seeing how it works at smaller greek universities.

[bekibug]

Originally posted by Angels&Arrows

This was actually a question on my recruitment registration form in the early 90's. Your father's name and occupation, your mother's name and occupation.

I helped my little proud Miss State KD cousin fill out her recruitment registration form about this time last year for Fall '02 Formal Rush at State and it was there too... As the question is on many of the recs I obtained for her!

Of course this could be just a question only asked in the south and by certain GLOs!

Last time I checked (which was when I signed up), Auburn's recruitment registration form asked your parents' occupations. My mom and I joked that maybe some chapter here wouldn't have cut me so quickly had I listed my dad as an "independent cattle rancher" instead of a "mill worker." I find it kind of funny that some chapters really do seem to care--I can think of a couple right of the top of my head that seem to have tons of girls whose dads have their own businesses or are higher-ups in some company in like Birmingham or Atlanta and such.

[ADPi Conniebama]

Originally posted by bekibug
That's what we do now. It works wonders!

yea I heard that AUBURN and ALABAMA started it what last year or 2003 or 2004 and Both ADPI at BAMA and AU said it worked great for them.

I am sure it is easier for the bid matchers in the end because the lists are more streamlined. I don't know I guess I will find out this year as recruitiment advisor I might understand it a little better then I did as a delta member.

[carnation]

bump for 2006!