Michigan universities Rush - Page 2

PM_Mama00 · #1 09-28-2003, 06:49 PM

That happened last year. Two of us got quota + 2 and the other struggling org got screwed. But I see it as this... I hate this whole quota shit. Yeah it's good so that chapters don't get screwed, but I think that if it's meant to be that someone be somewhere, then it is. There were 3 girls I think who didn't go somewhere. They were awesome girls, and I can't really say anything cuz I don't know what their choices were, but I was just really surprised on Bid Day that they weren't there. It actually made me very sad that these girls who were well-liked weren't there.

Designergal3 · #2 09-28-2003, 06:52 PM

thats depressing. That is a kick to the ego but most people at Michigan don't care if they're the extra as long as they're at a cool house or a house where they want to be.

I agree with your opinion about guaranteed placement. people should be allowed to rank the 3 housees she prefs at first but also rank the rest of the parties she went to the previous round. coz obviously those other houses wanted her too but if she can only pick 3 of the 6 its not like she had cut the other 3 houses.

Quote:

Originally posted by stargirl725
Actually, any girl who was a quota addition would, under guaranteed placement, have gone to a chapter that made quota and would have just been a quota addition somewhere else.

The purpose of quota plus is to reward those who make it through to Pref at the maximum # of houses. Those rushees are guaranteed a bid. So if Susie Rushee prefs at ABC, DE, and FGH, but isn't high enough on any of their bid lists to match there, she still gets a bid to one of their houses.

Quota plus actually isn't great for the pledge class either. If your university explains quota plus to the rushees the way mine does, all the girls will know exactly what being a quota addition means. Then, if quota is 30 but your pledge class is 34, you wonder "okay, 4 of us were basically shoved down ABC's throat. What if I'm one of them?" Sure, the chapter had to want you there if you preffed there, but most girls don't figure that out until they do rush on the other side.

It just doesn't seem like a fair system. IMO, a Panhellenic that allows most chapters to take quota plus when one or more are really struggling is just kicking those chapters when they're down.

PiPhiERDoc · #3 09-28-2003, 07:48 PM

Two comments, as I have been doing bid matching for the last 6 years as rush advisor --
1. ANY WOMAN WHO IS INVITED TO PREFERENCE SHOULD BE THOUGHT OF AS A POTENTIAL MEMBER BY THE SORORITIY INVITING HER. So it shouldn't matter whether that woman is matched in quota additions or not. The sorority still liked her enough to invite her to their preference party and put her on their bid list. They KNEW that they were potentially extending a bid to her. And NO ONE I know of thinks of quota additions as "wow, we had to take 3 girls we didn't like so much" -- they ALWAYS think "wow, we got to get three more great girls for our pledge class!!!). If they don't think that way, maybe they need to think harder about who they invite to preference. And frankly, after doing this for many years I can tell you that I would rather have a class of girls who really wanted to be in my sorority than a class of girls who we "had to have" who really didn't want to be with us. It is more often that not that the girls who were "top of the list" do NOT go on to be the really strong members. I think this attitude of seeing quota additions as having to take members we "really didn't want" is negative and elitist. With our overall shrinking numbers as greeks we should be jumping for joy for EVERY SINGLE PERSON who wants to join our sororities or fraternities.

2. QUOTA ADDITIONS ARE OFTEN A WAY TO KEEP FROM HAVING TO HAVE SYSTEM DROPS, WHICH SUCK. We have had a struggling chapter on our campus for years. They have a FABULOUS advisor who recognizes that girls who pref the more popular chapters are likely NOT going to take a bid from this chapter if they don't match from their two preferences, and has allowed the other chapters to take quota addditions even though this chapter is usually FAR from quota. Is it entirely fair? No. But is it fair to have girls who participate in rush all week and ARE wanted by chapters (b/c they were invited to their preference -- see comment #1) be dropped because another chapter is struggling? I think it is FAR BETTER to make the more popular chapters cut larger numbers earlier in the week so girls have to consider other chapters than take these women to preference and then not offer them a bid.

TO ANY POTENTIAL NEW MEMBER -- I really really hope that you all believe that EVERY member of a pledge class is considered a valuable and cherished new member. In my experience we are all THRILLED to have a new member except a bid to our fraternity.

aggieAXO · #4 09-28-2003, 07:53 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by stargirl725

It just doesn't seem like a fair system. IMO, a Panhellenic that allows most chapters to take quota plus when one or more are really struggling is just kicking those chapters when they're down.

In my experience at my school many of the rushees would not have gone to those struggling chapters. I had a very good friend in one of the two weak chapters at A&M and there is no way I would have gone to her chapter. Every semester they had to deal with the fact that they may have to close their doors and every rush they did not have enough actives-it was a stress and I did not want to deal with that-I had enough stress with school.
Eventually they did close and re-organized 1.5 years later-which was a huge mistake due to their reputation. They finally closed for good about 2 years after the re-organization.

aggieAXO · #5 09-28-2003, 07:56 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by PiPhiERDoc

2. QUOTA ADDITIONS ARE OFTEN A WAY TO KEEP FROM HAVING TO HAVE SYSTEM DROPS, WHICH SUCK. We have had a struggling chapter on our campus for years. They have a FABULOUS advisor who recognizes that girls who pref the more popular chapters are likely NOT going to take a bid from this chapter if they don't match from their two preferences, and has allowed the other chapters to take quota addditions even though this chapter is usually FAR from quota. Is it entirely fair? No. But is it fair to have girls who participate in rush all week and ARE wanted by chapters (b/c they were invited to their preference -- see comment #1) be dropped because another chapter is struggling? I think it is FAR BETTER to make the more popular chapters cut larger numbers earlier in the week so girls have to consider other chapters than take these women to preference and then not offer them a bid.

Ditto, Ditto, Ditto

If they made it to preference then we would be glad to have them in the chapter no matter how they were placed.

stargirl725 · #6 09-28-2003, 08:19 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by aggieAXO
In my experience at my school many of the rushees would not have gone to those struggling chapters.

Oh, I'm in total agreement with that one! But those two, or three, or four quota additions translate into even more girls who will be around for Recruitment the next year, making the smaller chapters seem even smaller by comparison.

It seems like quota additions can work really well on some campuses, but not well on others. At some universities, they help stabilize the system, while at others, mine included, they overly inflate two or three (or however many) chapters.

And to PiPhiERDoc, I want to make it perfectly clear that is NOT my attitude about new members. I was speaking from the experience of having several of my friends join a sorority (not mine) where their class had a lot of quota additions, and it got them all rather puzzled and paranoid. Not knowing how rush works from the other side (and not having read at GC I presume

) they didn't know what an honor being invited to pref was. And it wasn't like I could give them any insight -- we all rushed the same year and I was just as clueless as they were!

I highly doubt any sorority has that attitude about ANY of their new members, they're thrilled to have all of them at their house.

The more I read at GC, the more convinced I am that my school just has an unusually dysfunctional greek system and maybe I should just not open my mouth again.

AGDee · #7 09-28-2003, 08:24 PM

Here is what I know about some of the Michigan Recruitments:

Wayne State University: 30 women went through recruitment and signed bids. Quota was 8. KD and DZ got quota, AGD and AEPhi both got 6, 2 did not match. None of the chapters are at Chapter Total so they will all be doing COR/COB. Bid Day was 9/21.

Eastern Michigan University: Can't find the details right now, but 3 of 7 chapters made quota (which was 9). Bid Day was 9/14.

I only know AGD stats for the other chapters...

Dee

pinkyphimu · #8 09-28-2003, 08:25 PM

i don't think that the orgional poster meant that the CHAPTER considered additions as a bad thing....she said that the way her school explains it to the pnms it makes it sound like the houses who take additions were forced to take them.

so for instance, if you are a new member and your class has 34 members, but you know quota was 30, you wonder which one of you wasn't wanted. as a new member, you probably aren't going to understand the system that if you were invited to pref that you were wanted by the chapter. honestly, there are tons of current members who don't get that either.

stargirl725 · #9 09-28-2003, 08:36 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by pinkyphimu
i don't think that the orgional poster meant that the CHAPTER considered additions as a bad thing....she said that the way her school explains it to the pnms it makes it sound like the houses who take additions were forced to take them.

so for instance, if you are a new member and your class has 34 members, but you know quota was 30, you wonder which one of you wasn't wanted. as a new member, you probably aren't going to understand the system that if you were invited to pref that you were wanted by the chapter. honestly, there are tons of current members who don't get that either.

Yay! Someone gets me!

tri-d · #10 09-28-2003, 09:41 PM

Quite honestly, I had never heard quota plus described as anything but positive. When you order your bid list, you want ALL the girls. If quota is 30, does it really matter if PNM was #2 or #28 on the list? You are still going to extend that bid. I always thought as quota plus as a bonus to the chapter b/c you are getting more of the girls you wanted. Never would I have thought they were being "forced" upon the chapter.