PNM Ranking Question

[TxGirl]

When I went through at Texas in '89, we went back and ranked 1-14 every night. This was then shown to the chapters prior to them making their invite lists for the next rounds. The next day we went back and got our invites (at the crack of dawn) and then either accepted all (if we did not have more than allowed for that round) or cut enough chapters to get to the correct number. They stopped doing this after NPC came in and made a number or recommendations about changing our recruitment overall.

NPC doesn't (at this time) recommend using PRUSH because they feel it starts the women thinking of chapters in term of rank. I think this attitidue may be changing with implemenations of the new release figure method.

When used PRUSH should only be a cluster ranking as described previously - not an actual 1, 2, 3 for all chapters each round. 1, 2, 3 is only done on the bid card.

The thing with PRUSH is that the Recruitment Councilors and all of PH exec really need to be educated as to how it works and what it means for the PNM's. If they don't understand it could cause incorrect counciling. The PNM's need to understand that what they are doing isn't really picking who they will go back to, but those they would like to go back to most. They need to understand that mutual selection is still a part of the process using PRUSH and they may still be attending an event at the chapter they ranked last.

I think that it works well for several reasons.

First, you PH and/or Recruitment Councilors aren't required to stay up till all hours waiting for invite lists and then getting up at the crack of dawn to meet the PNM's so they can choose who they want to go back to and then hurry back to run the event lists so that the chapters can have them well before the events start.

Second, I do think that it helps some women save face when it comes to which chapters asked them back. If they don't go to XYZ they can always say they ranked them as a 2 b/c they really like ABC, MNO and FFF best.
And as said earlier, they rank in private so they actually rank what they feel and not have as much peer pressure to return to a chapter they didn't like.

[*EtaNu*ADPi*]

When I went through recruitment last year at SLU, the first two days, you went to all sororities (five). After the second night, you had to rank them 1-5. The next day (skit day) you could only go to three parties. You never get to see which of the houses invited you back. If all five invited you back, you only go to your top three that you ranked the previous night. After the third day, you must rank them 1-3. On preference, you can only go to two sororities max. After pref, you can put as many as you want on your bid card ranked in order. I, however, only put the chapter I was invited to pref for. We were highly discouraged against "suicide" ranking, but I just couldn't see myself writing down the name of a chapter that had already cut me. The way I saw it, if they didn't want me, then I didn't want them. I am so happy with ADPi and it all worked out

I don't know if I explained this system very well. I hope my explanation made sense!

[BetteDavisEyes]

They voted last year to change rush but the members of Panhellenic voted against it. It would have made rush not favor the larger houses. The premise was that Rush would be held on campus instead of the houses. Each house would each have a limited # of girls representing her house. They would be set up in individual rooms. That way, girls would not base any decisions based on what the sorority houses look like or how many actual members there are (I know this sound stupid but you've all been there so you know how it can be). The girls would then tour the houses on Day 2. The day after is Pref.

[STL Kappa]

Originally posted by BetteDavisEyes
They voted last year to change rush but the members of Panhellenic voted against it. It would have made rush not favor the larger houses. The premise was that Rush would be held on campus instead of the houses. Each house would each have a limited # of girls representing her house. They would be set up in individual rooms. That way, girls would not base any decisions based on what the sorority houses look like or how many actual members there are (I know this sound stupid but you've all been there so you know how it can be). The girls would then tour the houses on Day 2. The day after is Pref.

This sounds like a good idea in theory but I can understand why members voted against it. Having rush on campus and limiting the number of actives participating would (hopefully) faciliate growth across the board and encourage smaller chapters. (No PNMs choosing a chapter based on the biggest house and cutting groups solely because they were smaller.) But on the other hand, I can see there being a lot of backlash from larger chapters. (Why should they have to change the way they recruit members just because it's not working for other chapters?) And how do you determine which women get to recruit? Do all members vote when only a limited number of members are interacting with the PNMs? Are they not allowed to tell PNMs what their total is?

[33girl]

Originally posted by BetteDavisEyes
They voted last year to change rush but the members of Panhellenic voted against it. It would have made rush not favor the larger houses. The premise was that Rush would be held on campus instead of the houses. Each house would each have a limited # of girls representing her house. They would be set up in individual rooms. That way, girls would not base any decisions based on what the sorority houses look like or how many actual members there are (I know this sound stupid but you've all been there so you know how it can be). The girls would then tour the houses on Day 2. The day after is Pref.

We did formal rush on campus in classrooms for this reason (our houses were all off campus and varied GREATLY in size/accoutrements etc). However, we didn't limit the amount of sisters - everyone was there. This is with 50 person max chapters, however.

[TSteven]

I was talking with a friend of mine - she just got through writing recommendations - and the subject of preference ranking came up. She said that on some campuses (usually small), it is possible for a PNM to list on her preference card a chapter even if she didn't attend their preference party. That this 'extra' ranking shows interest and is often used for determining Snap bids. Is this possible? I would guess that she is rather knowledgeable on the subject since as an alumnae, she has helped with bid matching in the past.

From my understanding, she said there were two situations.

Situation 1: The PNM may - and does - attend up to two preference parties. But on her preference card, she may list a chapter even if she did not attend their preference party. But only as her 3rd choice. I believe she said that the chapter had to invite her to the preference party but she (the PNM) was required to decline (with interest?) one chapter. For example. The PNM receives invitations to the following preference parties: ABC, DEF, GHI. She may only accept two. She attends ABC and DEF. After the preference parties, the PNM lists on her bid card #1 ABC, #2 DEF, *and then* #3 GHI. If the PNM is not placed with ABC or DEF, and she is on GHI's bid list, then the PNM may receive a bid to GHI. Or GHI may Snap bid her.

Note: the PNM is not required to list GHI at all. It is just an option open to her. However, if she does, she must rank ABC and DEF above GHI. Even if after the preference party round, the PNM found that she did not like DEF at all, she would be required to rank DEF above GHI.

Situation 2: The PNM may attend up to three preference parties (could be two). However, she only receives invitations to attend two (or fewer than the total number possible) i.e. ABC and DEF. She attends both ABC's and DEF's preference parties and then ranks them #1 ABC #2 DEF. Since there is an *open* spot on the PNM's bid card, she may rank GHI *in the three slot* even though she was released by them. Again, this would just be an option and not required. And she must rank ABC and DEF above GHI.


Two things were stressed. To my friend's knowledge, she did not think that Situation 2 happens on a campus where there is guarantee placement. The other is that while these do not guarantee placement, they can afford the PNM to show interest. And in the case where the chapter had to cut for numbers, and then they do not reach quota, the chapter knows of the PNM's interest and may extend her a Snap bid if they wish.

[ChaChaCha]

On my campus you can list on your bid card chapters that you did not visit on pref night. We are a smaller campus, with 4 chapters, and total being 35. It is made very clear to girls that they may put down other chapters on their bid card but that it is unlikely they will get a bid from those chapters as they did not visit them on pref night. However, it does happen that a girl could get matched to her 3rd or 4th choice if she lists all the chapters, mainly because...One chapter on campus has a very hard time at formal rec't (for various reasons) and as a result has very low return rates. Last year they either didn't have or had exactly the number of girls needed to make quota coming to pref. They held one party where other chapters held 2. As a result, they don't have enough girls to make a bid list with the two columns full of names. Thus, they usually put girls they may have seen on the 2nd or 3rd night of rec't down on the off chance they're not matched. (The other chapters don't mind, b/c we want them to survive, and they usually end up with quota somehow) Even if the PNM doesn't list them on the bid card, they still get first chance at snap bidding that PNM. Usually the girls who put down more than the houses they went to on pref night are PNMs who either just went to one house, or who just really want to be in a sorority and will end up anywhere...and this did happen last year.

P.S. Yay for first post!

[TxGirl]

Originally posted by TSteven
I was talking with a friend of mine - she just got through writing recommendations - and the subject of preference ranking came up. She said that on some campuses (usually small), it is possible for a PNM to list on her preference card a chapter even if she didn't attend their preference party. That this 'extra' ranking shows interest and is often used for determining Snap bids. Is this possible? I would guess that she is rather knowledgeable on the subject since as an alumnae, she has helped with bid matching in the past.

From my understanding, she said there were two situations.

Situation 1: The PNM may - and does - attend up to two preference parties. But on her preference card, she may list a chapter even if she did not attend their preference party. But only as her 3rd choice. I believe she said that the chapter had to invite her to the preference party but she (the PNM) was required to decline (with interest?) one chapter. For example. The PNM receives invitations to the following preference parties: ABC, DEF, GHI. She may only accept two. She attends ABC and DEF. After the preference parties, the PNM lists on her bid card #1 ABC, #2 DEF, *and then* #3 GHI. If the PNM is not placed with ABC or DEF, and she is on GHI's bid list, then the PNM may receive a bid to GHI. Or GHI may Snap bid her.

Note: the PNM is not required to list GHI at all. It is just an option open to her. However, if she does, she must rank ABC and DEF above GHI. Even if after the preference party round, the PNM found that she did not like DEF at all, she would be required to rank DEF above GHI.

Situation 2: The PNM may attend up to three preference parties (could be two). However, she only receives invitations to attend two (or fewer than the total number possible) i.e. ABC and DEF. She attends both ABC's and DEF's preference parties and then ranks them #1 ABC #2 DEF. Since there is an *open* spot on the PNM's bid card, she may rank GHI *in the three slot* even though she was released by them. Again, this would just be an option and not required. And she must rank ABC and DEF above GHI.


Two things were stressed. To my friend's knowledge, she did not think that Situation 2 happens on a campus where there is guarantee placement. The other is that while these do not guarantee placement, they can afford the PNM to show interest. And in the case where the chapter had to cut for numbers, and then they do not reach quota, the chapter knows of the PNM's interest and may extend her a Snap bid if they wish.

I would think that situation #1 (even with a small campus) would be tough to enforce. If they have 50 women sign pref cards who is going to go through each of them and check that their first two are the chapters they attended? Maybe the computer does it.

But in regards to situation #1, I would think that it wouldn't be very Panhellenic to make them place their groups in a particular order - even if it is just saying that ABC and DEF have to be 1 or 2.

I have worked with several chapters that allow women to place any chapter they wish on their bid card. Of course the women must understand that if they did not attend or were not invited to that chapters pref they probably will not get a bid. And really, even at a large campus, there isn't anything to stop someone from placing any group on their bid card. Think of Bama with over 1000 going through - who's going to make sure that they went to each group on their card. The computer will take the pref into account, but it's doubtful she will get a bid unless she actually went to their pref. In fact, I would think it could hurt her if she listed a chapter first that she had not been or was not inivted to for pref b/c she would be put on hold until her first choice made quota.

As to snap bids, the Green Book says:

". . . If none of the woman's preferences has matched a fraternity's bid list, the Panhellenic Membership Recruitment Committee may contact the woman and ask if she will accept a bid from a fraternity not previously listed among her choices, provided the fraternity has her name on its bid list. . . ."

The bold is how is it is shown in the Green Book. Remember, snap bids are only given out by those chapters that don't reach quota through regular bid matching. The women eligible are those that are no bids. Technically, if ABC doesn't have her on their bid list, she isn't supposed to get a snap bid from that chapter. They would have to wait until after bids were distributed and COB began to offer her a bid - if she had not already accepted one from someone else.

Guaranteed placement basically makes sure that each woman maximizes her options. If she is able to go to 10 events and is invited to 10 she can't choose to just go to 8 b/c there are two chapters she doesn't like. Same goes for pref. If you must go to two but can go to three - to get guaranteed placement you must go to three and list all three (can't just list two) on your pref card. You are then guarnateed a bid from one of those three.

The problem I have with guaranteed placement is that it only helps the groups that are making quota. If you don't make quota then you won't get any other women from guaranteed placement. So the big get bigger, the medium get big and the small stay small. The new release figure method should help this as more chapter should be making quota.