University of Arkansas Pref Night

[gee_ess]

First, I have no idea what diencephalic means!! Wow!

It is my understanding that five were 'capped' at 105. Their bid list numbers ranged from 105 - 109. The rest were in the 130 range.

1360-ish went through recruitment and I believe 1200-ish stayed thru pref to receive bids. First round cuts for the 5 being capped were brutal. As in, they released 900-ish.

For pics of bid day, etc go to University of Arkansas Greek Life on Facebook.

[AOII Angel]

Lol. Autocorrect. Should have said "any evidence." Random.

[irishpipes]

Originally Posted by gee_ess

It is my understanding that * were all 'capped' at 105. Their bid list numbers ranged from 105 - 109. The rest * were in the 130 range.

Ugh. This idea makes my skin crawl.

First of all, for this change to make much difference, a differential of more than 25 would have been needed. Secondly, now we have a Panhellenically-approved tier structure at Arkansas. Why not just use RFM and place the QAs in the smaller chapters? Same result without labeling 5 chapters as recruitment welfare recipients.

[MaryPoppins]

Good intentions pave the road to hell, of this I am certain.

[gee_ess]

Irish - I know what you mean.

One thing I did see happen for the better(?) was on pref, pnms ended up with their bottom two choices (or two that reappeared) vs a first choice AND a last choice.

This allowed the crushing blow of being rejected by your first choice to happen on pref day rather than bid day. If the Gamma Chis did their job, they managed to get these girls propped back up and regrouped in time to attend parties and consider being something other than their first choice.

I would love to know if this really was the norm or something I told myself was happening often simply because I saw it happen to a few. I do know that girls dropped out on pref day (again, before BID day which might be positive) but am not sure what flexibility our two new groups have for COB and coming back around to some of these darling girls that were too overwhelmed and exhausted to think clearly.

[AOII Angel]

I'm surprised NPC was on board with the tiered quotas given the UAs. We have COB to handle this issue and total readjustment.

[CMDelta]

I did have a rec girl at Arkansas and although I have no idea if this "tiered quota" is true, I do know she got her 1st and 4th (out of only 4 on her skit schedule) for pref round. The 1st had a "capped" list and the 4th was in that other group. She got her 1st choice for bid day.

[DubaiSis]

If that 25 or so additional girls actually accepted their bids and are willing to make the commitment, then it will have worked. This is definitely no long term solution, but our special snowflake that is Arkansas might need some creative problem solving. The proof will be in more parity, no change, or tiers made worse. I applaud them for trying to solve the problem, but we'll see if it works or not.

This school still needs more chapters, and I'm sure that's why NPC has stepped in to try to figure out how to fix it. This is definitely NOT the time to add more chapters, but there are things as simple as fire safety restrictions that come into play. And with enrollment seeming to go up up up I'm sure the school is glad to house students in sorority houses instead of having to find alternative housing solutions.

[DeltaBetaBaby]

Wait, wait, do we even know this is true? How do we know it's not just a quota of 105, and TONS of QA's? Wouldn't those chapters have made really heavy cuts in any case?

[AOII Angel]

Well, we know Arkansas asked for permission to do this. Also, to give these chapters 30 more QAs each than the 5 larger chapters, you'd have to adjust RFM numbers to shift more women into their parties so there is a larger pool to draw from for those QAs. If they reach quota along with the larger chapters and exhaust their PNM pool, where do the QAs come from?

[DeltaBetaBaby]

Originally Posted by AOII Angel

Well, we know Arkansas asked for permission to do this.

Thanks, that's the piece I was missing. I forgot about that powerpoint a few months back, and we all know how rumors can happen around here.

[gee_ess]

The two different quotas is definitely fact.

[lagirl13]

Which 5 had the 105 quota?

[lauralaylin]

Were the 5 with the 105 quota the largest groups or the top recruiting ones? Or are they pretty much the same at Arkansas?

[hootyhoo]

I was under the impression there were only four chapters at the 105 range (XO, KKG, PBPhi, DDD), several at the 130 range, and a few at 160. I know many are skeptical about the system, but from the feedback I've heard it seemed to work and was taken well by both chapters/pnms. I was told XO/KKG had to cut 1000 the first day. The atmosphere this year was overwhelmingly more pnms breathed a sigh of relief to be asked back/have a full schedule, rather than only wanting a certain 3 chapters which has always dominated the tent talk. Most girls were just ecstatic to be going to back to any chapter, regardless of it being their "favorite." The reception of Alpha Chi Omega and Phi Mu has been incredible over the past year, so it is possibly to change the culture, despite strong traditions/stereotypes. This type of quota differential was necessary as of last year some chapters had 150+ more members than longstanding chapters. COB just isn't very strong at Arkansas. Traditional recruitment is much more popular, even if that pnm ends up at the same chapter despite which system them go through. There have been talks of further expansion for 2 more chapters this year or next...