A Different Kind of Live Recruitment Story

[ASTalumna06]

So last night I showed up at the recruitment event a half hour early to help the Recruitment Director set up. We talked as we worked, and she told me that she had a random girl email her earlier that day, asking questions about the sorority. So she gave the girl some information and invited her to come to the event that night. She did. And she brought a friend!

There were a lot of girls there that night. Some familiar faces, some new ones. And one girl had to work a half hour after the party started, so she just stopped in to say hi, and then left. I thought it was nice, and showed that she cared enough to make an appearance. Even if it was only for 30 seconds.

So it was game night, but we kind of left it up to the girls as to what they wanted to do, as we probably had at least 10 PNMs who attended, and everyone already seemed to be involved in conversations from the very beginning. We received the names and semester standing from the new girls that showed up.

As the Recruitment Director and I looked down our list, we counted. We realized that we now have… 22 names!!! And all but 4 of those girls attended at least 2 recruitment parties. Those 4 were the new ones who showed up last night for the first time.

Now… of those 22 PNMs, 8 of them are second semester freshmen or older, so because of deferred recruitment, those 8 are the ones who would be eligible to receive a bid. It’s kind of frustrating, because for the rest, they will have to stick it out until next semester to see if they can receive one. But at the same time, there won’t be so many new members this semester that the sisters can’t handle it, and that’s 14 people who could potentially become new sisters in the spring. Not a bad place to start.

The sisters are still trying to get a few more PNMs to come to an event, as they have said they would, but some people you literally have to drag to a recruitment party before they realize they want to get involved. I know that was my experience. Before I joined, one of the sisters, after I said, “yea, I’ll be there,” called me and said she’d be at my dorm to pick me up. Sometimes, that’s just what you have to do.

So they’re trying, and the hope (if they can get these few more girls to come) is to have between 8 and 10 new members for this semester. And if you read my first post with all of our stats, the most new members we’ve had for a Fall semester in the past 5 years is 4. So things are definitely looking up.

I’ll be back to update you on Thursday’s recruitment event.

(Bid day is in 1 week!)

[tangelo212]

Sounds like things are going really well so far! Good luck to your chapter!

Originally Posted by ASTalumna06

Now… of those 22 PNMs, 8 of them are second semester freshmen or older, so because of deferred recruitment, those 8 are the ones who would be eligible to receive a bid. It’s kind of frustrating, because for the rest, they will have to stick it out until next semester to see if they can receive one

Then that means 8 pledges would double your usual class of 4 which is awesome!

But also, I'm a little confused... first semester freshmen can attend informal fall recruitment parties before deferred formal recruitment (obviously before they have gone through any recruitment at all)? How is this possible--is there a special rule about specific freshmen women who can go or is it just a really lax recruitment in general?

[33girl]

Originally Posted by tangelo212

is it just a really lax recruitment in general?

This.

We had the same setup - rush was deferred but 1st sem freshmen women could attend parties. There was no fee so it really wasn't a big deal. I think that Panhel in general believed it helped kindle women's interest (and maybe kept them from pledging little sister groups, but that's a long-ago no longer relevant issue).

[ASTalumna06]

Right. We have COB year-round. Anyone can come to any event they like, just as long as they're not business meetings or ritual ceremonies. There's talk that deferred recruitment might be going away within the next year, because it really is confusing for the first semester freshmen. It's one thing when no one can be bid one semester, and it's a completely different thing when just the freshmen can't. They're able to attend recruitment events, but then you have to tell them, "It's a school rule that you're not eligible to receive a bid until next semester." Panhellenic is basically waiting on IFC to get their act together regarding this so that they can collectively present the idea to the school.

At the same time, the Greek advisor is trying to (slowly) implement a more formal recruitment structure, but I don't think it will really materialize very soon. Unless of course all of the chapters are coming close to total, in which case total could be raised and then they'd have to re-evaluate the entire situation.

But hey, hopefully after next semester the chapter will be close to that :-D

[Benzgirl]

Is it considered dirty rushing to keep inviting the girls who are ineligible to events to keep them interested? I'm not familiar with the type of set up you have, so I'm unsure of the rules.

[gee_ess]

^^^I would imagine these early events are not illegal for ineligible girls similar to the way a hs junior can hang out with 14 members of XYZ but a hs senior cannot...

But I am just guessing...

ASTAlumna- this has been a truly interesting point of view to read, and not being familiar with this type of recruitment, I am learning tons! Thank you for sharing!

[OPhiAGinger]

Actually, this long-term COB system makes sense to me, as long as the potential new members use the time to get to know all the sororities. That way when they go through formal recruitment, they can base their decisions on their own long-term observations and experiences rather than tent talk.

[ASTalumna06]

Again, we have COB all year long, with no formal recruitment. Quite frankly, I read and learn A LOT about formal from coming on here, and I find it extremely interesting. Both systems have their ups and downs.

Like I've said, Panhellenic makes its best attempts to make sure that all of the sororities have their recruitment parties at different times. All of them are in the same 3 conference rooms in the same part of the student union, so it makes it easy for girls to find them. As to whether or not PNMs visit all three, that's up to them.

The only thing that we have right now that is considered a "formal" type of recruitment party is our kick-off recruitment party in the spring. It is the first event, and all of the PNMs are required to attend all three sororities' parties, almost like a first round in formal.

The Greek advisor is pushing toward a more formal recruitment system, but like I said, it probably won't happen very soon. There is still generally a small interest in Greek life on campus, and until all of the chapters start gaining larger numbers, the system will most likely stay the same.

Now... PNMs can attend ANY events that they like (besides meetings and ritual), even if they aren't eligible to receive a bid. This makes things difficult with dirty rushing. I know that my chapter personally doesn't do it, and it's kind of hard to tell if the others do. When you can talk to PNMs, even as first semester freshmen in the halls, at parties, on Facebook, and invite them to recruitment parties, how can you tell if someone is saying to them in secret, "stick around until next semester and we'll give you a bid." That's where it gets confusing.

My girls even had a retreat this past summer and went camping. It was their second time doing this, so it wasn't anything too formal or involved. But they did a bunch of sorority stuff during the day, and then they invited one or two PNMs to join them that night for a cook-out that night. A couple of the sisters posted pictures on Facebook, and they had the PNMs in them. One of the albums was called "AST retreat", a few sisters from the other two chapters saw this, and then started questioning whether my girls were dirty rushing, because it looked like they had PNMs at an official (or secret?) AST event. So the situation can get sticky, but most of the time the suspicions are just sisters being paranoid. But it's usually hard for any chapter to get a large number of girls, so we do anything we can to keep them around when we find them.

[agzg]

It's my experience that year-round COB makes it REALLY hard to tell who's a little less than pristine when it comes to what they are and are not saying to PNMs. Dirty rushing pretty much only exists when chapters are guaranteeing bids. But, by generating interest in sororities in general, and saying "stick around for next semester when you're eligible and check out all the houses" they're not guaranteeing bids.

I'm surprised that your campus is thinking of getting rid of deferred recruitment. IMHO, that might hurt you guys, given chapter size.

Hear me out on this. The real reason for deferred recruitment (my campus had it too and I'm sure investigative work on your part would reveal that your campus and mine are really close to one another) is to give incoming freshmen a classic college experience before going greek, allow them to get their schedules and time management sorted out, and allow them to be a little more mature when they join (no offense, first semester freshmen).

By getting rid of deferred recruitment, your chapter could be taking relatively huge pledge classes, of first semester freshmen. Really large classes, especially of younger women with less experience in life in general, tend to take chapters in a 180 direction. On my campus when I was an active there was a chapter that took one class through formal recruitment and one class through COB in the same semester, and the chapter changed drastically in the time of that one semester. So much so, in fact, that almost all of the former exec board members ended up feeling ostracized by their own chapter, and by the girls that they had worked so hard to recruit. One of my best friends was in that situation and she doesn't even talk to her chapter anymore - nor does she like to even talk about her senior year in the chapter because it was so uncomfortable for her.

I would say what you're looking at right now with 8 in the fall, more in the spring, is a great way to do it. You're probably going to want to prorate your class sizes so that no single class can completely take over the chapter and take it in a direction that doesn't work for ALL the members. By the time you guys get to total (there was a chapter who had 7 members when I joined my chapter and now they're at total consistently, 5 years later), that problem will go away.

[ASTalumna06]

I agree with you... except for the fact that up until this year, there was little to no interest in Greek life at all (and this success by our chapter could taper off next year). And even the girls that have come to the events this semester, for the most part, were already acquainted with at least one of the sisters.

So, when freshmen, who know nothing about Greek life, and don't know any of the sisters show up, come to all of our events, and then hear, "Sorry, but you can't join this semester," it completely turns them off. Following that, trying to get them to come to anything is a challenge. They generally turn toward other organizations on campus... because they're hard-working, motivated girls who want to get involved. And that's what they've heard all through high school. At least I know I did. When I was graduating, all I heard was "get involved in college".

The thing is, the reason that the campus always gives for having deferred recruitment is that the freshmen don't yet have a college GPA. I understand this, but at the same time, they don't have a GPA to join any other organization, and other organizations don't have a minimum GPA to join. If we hold our members to a higher standard (and AST on the national level just changed their minimum from 2.3 to 2.5), why is it that freshmen can join other organizations but not ours?

And the same goes for them being new to college. It's a new environment, and yes, time management is something that needs to be worked on. But again, if they can't join a Greek organization, why can they join any other organizations? Especially when we offer programs that teach time management (my chapter is actually having an event based on that in a couple of weeks, where the sisters will bring their class and work schedules, a syllabus for each class, and analyze how and when their work should be done).

Let's be honest... Greek organizations, for the most part, offer more scholarship, leadership, and philanthropic opportunities than the entertainment board, the basketball team, and the multicultural club. So why can freshmen join any of those, but not a Greek organization?

And I don't necessarily agree with the "classic college experience" argument. It's not as if these freshmen are being forced into Greek life. It's a choice. If someone chooses to have a semester or two without being involved in Greek life, then that's fine. But if they get to school, meet a bunch of girls that they have fun with, and want to be involved on campus, why are they not allowed?

[33girl]

I know I said this in your other thread, but blaming deferred rush for girls not getting involved in Greek life is a copout. Ask Bucknell or any of the schools in the eastern half of the state...they have deferred rush and no problems getting large pledge classes. If those are too rich for your blood, the last I looked West Chester had quota of around 15 and I think they have deferred.

It almost seems like you're saying the girls get mad at YOU - the Greek orgs - because of a college imposed rule. If they are that dense, do you really want them to join? If they lose interest that quickly, do you really want them to join? If they think they have to choose between Greek life and something else, do you really want them to join? Most Greeks are involved in other extracurriculars.

Why can they join the newspaper staff, university events board, you name the extracurricular but not Greek life? The newspaper staff et al is not a lifetime commitment. If someone flunks out her first semester and leaves the newspaper staff it's not like she's taking their rituals with her.

We don't have larger numbers so we won't change the form of rush, but once we get larger numbers we will? This is crazy. It's not working now, but once it works, we will change it.

Oh and I agree w/ alphagamzetagam's whole post.

I'm sorry if this sounds like yelling, but it's just frustrating to me to read stuff like this.

[agzg]

I would agree with you ASTalumna06 that the trick with deferred recruitment is generating interest and then keeping it until second semester when they can join. The nice thing, however, is you know you like those girls that stick around the whole time because they're already committed to greek life in general, even if they are hanging out with several chapters (which I would actually prefer anyway).


Also, as far as the not having interest in the greek system there - that's just part of campus culture. Some years you'll have it and some years you won't. Don't bank on the fact that you won't have the interest next year, though. I'd rather have little interest and smaller chapters than chapters that have been fundamentally changed by one or two pledge classes. I'd say, yes, numbers are important, but chapters that are operationally sound and can find ways to keep going will.

ETA: As far as keeping interest - sometimes you generate new interest. I joined when I was a sophomore, and in fact, almost half of the members of my chapter joined in the fall through informal or COB recruitment, as sophomores. The size of our fall classes often rivaled and sometimes eclipsed the size of our spring classes which were brought in through formal recruitment. Most of those girls had no interest in joining a sorority their first year of college.

[MaggieXi]

Originally Posted by 33girl

I know I said this in your other thread, but blaming deferred rush for girls not getting involved in Greek life is a copout. Ask Bucknell or any of the schools in the eastern half of the state...they have deferred rush and no problems getting large pledge classes. If those are too rich for your blood, the last I looked West Chester had quota of around 15 and I think they have deferred.

West Chester's formal recruitment qouta was around 25 last year. Only 2 chapters made qouta, but others caught up via COB. They have fall formal, spring informal.

[ASTalumna06]

But these schools that you're using as examples also have formal recruitment. We don't. There's no signing up, there's no "i have a general interest in going Greek." How can you have a formal recruitment when, for the most part, the only people who are going Greek are those people who already know sisters?

And the one event that we have resembling formal recruitment has generated, at the most, 10 names (obviously to be split among 3 different chapters)

Alphagam said that there was one chapter on her campus that she knew of that only had 7 members. But all three sorority chapters on my campus have pretty much been close to that in the past 5 years. We're not one chapter struggling... we're all struggling.

33girl, you give Bucknell as an example. How many GLOs does that school have? Compared to our 3 sororities and 3 fraternities (one of which doesn't really participate in anything, and another one that's rebuilding itself with 6 members)?

And we can't just change from informal recruitment straight to formal overnight. It's not going to happen.

As for having deferred recruitment... it sucks. It just plain sucks. I'm not going to explain it any further than that. Some schools have it, some schools don't. And we'd probably be better if we didn't. Now.. if we did away with deferred recruitment for a little while, I think we'd be able to gain more members, and in turn, maybe make a change over to formal recruitment when we're more prominent on campus. At that time, we might consider re-instating deferred again if it seems to be beneficial.

But I just talked to our chapter advisor the other night, and she said that they used to have formal recruitment. But as the chapters got smaller, and interest in Greek life dwindled, they switched to informal because no one was signing up for recruitment.

Besides all of that, the girls know the importance of not taking pledge classes that they can't handle. With 12 current members, and a possible 8 coming in this semester, that would be 20 (more than I've ever seen the chapter at). So even if they took in 10 more the next semester (which is a likely possibility as long as they keep girls around), then they'll be in VERY good shape next year, with only 2 girls graduating in the spring.

But either way, I'm not going to attempt to argue this point, because I've been on my campus for too long to not know how things work. Deferred recruitment might work on some campuses, but I don't think it's working here right now, and neither does anyone else.

[agzg]

I didn't say it was the only chapter I knew of that only had 7 members - it was the one I brought up because they were the chapter that took two classes in 1 semester and had a whole mess of problems because of that. There are others that have been that low in the "numbers game," even in the 4 years I was in undergrad alone.

My post wasn't to be snarky about anything - just to express surprise at the fact that your campus was thinking of getting rid of deferred recruitment. I know a little about your campus - it was just surprise, really. Sorry if I offended you.