Quota Additions

[KSUViolet06]

^^^Truth. Many times bigger chapters over-cut and miss the mark.

And anytime I've seen QAs, I've seen it as you've said it (middle and smaller groups get the most.)

I don't have an issue with it. It actually REWARDS PNMs who maximize. Girls who don't rank EVERY pref they attend aren't eligible for one (as far as I know.)

And really, PNMs don't go into pref knowing that they're going to get matched with #1 as a QA because the average PNM doesn't even know that that's a possibility.

[violetpretty]

Originally Posted by KSUViolet06

It actually REWARDS PNMs who maximize.

Exactly. An incentive not to suicide.

[sherrybaby]

I also really disagree except in the cases of huge (more along the lines of what 33girl said) chapters. in my (admittedly limited) experience, very few people, chapters or rushees, benefit from shoehorning girls in where they don't fit. yes, a few girls might give a "middle" sorority a second shot and find that's where they belong, but lots of girls would rather rerush or not be greek than belong to certain chapters, and not just because of tiers. there's a chapter on my campus with a very distinct identity - quirky, girls who probably wouldn't be Greek and wouldn't want to be on a bigger campus. but they love it - it's a strong, close-knit sisterhood who are active on campus and who do almost everything together, and their sisters wouldn't trade it for any of the "top" sororities. honestly, they would be miserable at some of the other sororities on campus, and some of the members of other sororities would be miserable there. they made quota this year, but barely. they do much better at COB. the reason why? when pnms feel forced to go somewhere where they react poorly. girls complain about "having" to go back to places where they have had forced, awkward, shallow conversations with girls they have nothing in common with. whereas in COB, only girls who want to go do, and so they only get the really interested girls who will be committed members.

the girls who get bids during formal who don't feel they fit mostly don't even go to bid day, and either rerush next year, or become very anti-greek. maybe there are a few, but i've never heard of a girl who went bidless COBing this group because they feel they have had enough experience with them to realize that they don't fit in. I don't think it's fair to say to them, "Yes, you played by the rules but this chapter needs numbers so you should go there or else not be Greek." That makes girls feel like numbers, and like the whole process of rush is pointless if in the end how you felt about chapters is irrelevant. Yes, they are 18-year-old girls who sometimes are silly or tier-focused or full of themselves, but lots are not, and it's unfair to completely disregard their feelings and how well they get along with sisters with the assumption that they all must be pig-headed or wrong if they don't feel comfortable with certain sororities that happen to have smaller numbers.

if those girl who get bids who don't want to be in the quirky chapter do give it a shot, the sorority has to put up with sullen, tearful girls on bid day who drop out shortly afterward. then there's disappointment because they technically receive quota or close to it but initiate far less and have much worse retention rates. I think it's doing the chapter a disservice and being condescending, even, to think they need numbers so badly they should take such miserable members.

another point, there are two chapters considered "lower" on my campus, but only this chapter really has struggled for numbers in the past. the other chapter is seen as much more desirable simply because they are more selective. the other chapter only asks girls back that they think would be a good fit and that they think they have a chance of getting. girls getting asked back here think the sorority thinks they are a good fit, whereas girls asked back to the first chapter assume it's because they ask almost everyone back (which they do). girls who get asked back are much more willing to consider this chapter simply because there is a reason they get asked back.

I think sometimes we make recruitment too much of a numbers game. While totally unequal numbers isn't a good thing, I think some chapters benefit from being smaller instead of having girls pushed in that they don't want and who don't want them. These girls rarely make good members, they trash-talk being forced to go here, and the sorority's reputation falls. I feel that a smaller group (within reason, drastically smaller presents more of a problem) with more dedicated girls who love each other and their sisterhood is infinitely happier than girls who don't fit and don't want to fit. This year, the group I'm talking about did well with recruitment, both formal and informal, with no one dropping out, and I really believe it's because they were a little more selective.

In the end, I think we rush to assume that girl who don't feel comfortable in smaller chapters just think they're better than them and need to be forced to reconsider them by being made bidless. Sometimes there are just girls that you don't get along with. I personally felt that way about the "top" and "bottom" sororities at my school, and I still feel that I would have been miserable and dropped from either of them had I shown up there on bid day. We can recognize how superficial some 18-year-olds are and take some precautions, like stressing the maximization of options, without totally disregarding the feelings and preferences of all of them, actives and rushees alike.

[carnation]

For your "limited experience", you have made some great points! Thank you!

[sherrybaby]

sorry that turned out to be such a letter, haha. that was a bit more obnoxiously long then I intended!

[violetpretty]

I'll be blunt here. I get the idea that someone is upset that a certain chapter closed and is trying to point the finger at "the system" instead of considering the possibility that the chapter gave up/weren't motivated/didn't understand the importance of recruitment while working within a system that actually does help struggling chapters. It's easier to blame something that seems to be our of her control. You can't look at every QA a chapter gets as a woman who could have been in said small struggling chapter. It's delusional to think such a plan would work and unfair to the women who play by the rules. You also can't look at formal recruitment as the only solution to a struggling chapter's low membership numbers.

BTW, I say this coming from a chapter that had to and still has to work hard to achieve quota and total, which we usually do. Last spring we were reminded what can happen if we get caught napping.

RFM allows struggling chapters to max invite to pref. They are set up to succeed. If they don't make quota, it's because the women who preffed there only ranked their other choice(s) and left that chapter off their MRABA. It has nothing to do with Perfect Polly preffing at Popular Pi, Super Sigma and Top Tier Tau, being too low on all three to match during regular quota, and being rewarded by matching as a QA because she played by the rules and maximized her options.

[Drolefille]

Originally Posted by violetpretty

I'll be blunt here. I get the idea that someone is upset that a certain chapter closed and is trying to point the finger at "the system" instead of considering the possibility that the chapter gave up/weren't motivated/didn't understand the importance of recruitment while working within a system that actually does help struggling chapters. It's easier to blame something that seems to be our of her control. You can't look at every QA a chapter gets as a woman who could have been in small struggling chapter chapter. It's delusional to think such a plan would work and unfair to the women who play by the rules. You also can't look at formal recruitment as the only solution to a struggling chapter's low membership numbers.

BTW, I say this coming from a chapter that had to and still has to work hard to achieve quota and total, which we usually do. Last spring we were reminded what can happen if we get caught napping.

RFM allows struggling chapters to max invite to pref. They are set up to succeed. If they don't make quota, it's because the women who preffed there only ranked their other choice(s) and left that chapter off their MRABA. It has nothing to do with Perfect Polly preffing at Popular Pi, Super Sigma and Top Tier Tau, being too low on all three to match during regular quota, and being rewarded by matching as a QA because she played by the rules and maximized her options.

[DeltaBetaBaby]

Originally Posted by violetpretty

I'll be blunt here. I get the idea that someone is upset that a certain chapter closed and is trying to point the finger at "the system" instead of considering the possibility that the chapter gave up/weren't motivated/didn't understand the importance of recruitment while working within a system that actually does help struggling chapters. It's easier to blame something that seems to be our of her control. You can't look at every QA a chapter gets as a woman who could have been in said small struggling chapter. It's delusional to think such a plan would work and unfair to the women who play by the rules. You also can't look at formal recruitment as the only solution to a struggling chapter's low membership numbers.

You don't agree with some of the things I've said in the thread, so you insult the women in the collegiate chapter from which I'm almost a decade removed? Uh, stay classy; I'm out of here.

[Drolefille]

Originally Posted by DeltaBetaBaby

You don't agree with some of the things I've said in the thread, so you insult the women in the collegiate chapter from which I'm almost a decade removed? Uh, stay classy; I'm out of here.

Where the hell was the insult there? Your reading comprehension skills need serious work.

[carnation]

BREAK TIME!!!!

[AnchorAlumna]

Originally Posted by violetpretty

I get the idea that someone is upset that a certain chapter closed and is trying to point the finger at "the system" instead of considering the possibility that the chapter gave up/weren't motivated/didn't understand the importance of recruitment while working within a system that actually does help struggling chapters.

I don't think that.
I know chapters that have, yes, benefitted greatly from the system. Yet they still have NMs who don't show up on bid day, or drop after the first meeting.
It's very discouraging.