SPRING RECRUITMENT AT UGA

[33girl]

Originally Posted by shadden

I have also heard that all sororities are participating as a way of taking the supposed stigma out of Spring Recruitment. In recent years some houses that had open slots woudn't participate in the spring because the perception was that only the smaller or struggling houses participated. This is a way of evening the playing field and hopefully allowing some of the smaller houses to build up their numbers.

This sounds more like a second formal rush - as in there will be a set quota across the board. It's to benefit the "latecomer" freshmen, not the sororities. I doubt it will "even the playing field" at all, unless the groups that are smaller COB upperclassmen like crazy while it's going on in hopes that they'll blend into the woodwork, so to speak.

[Bamamom13]

I think that this is great for the new members from the fall. It will give them a chance to see rush from the other side on a smaller scale before formal rush next fall.

[UGAalum94]

The info. on UGA spring recruitment this year is really interesting. Any of the UGA advisement folks/moms of active undergraduates want to let us know how the numbers are supposed to work? Is there a pre-set quota for all groups? Has total been raised? What's the new number? Is everyone simply bidding to it? Are some groups above a certain number only participating in first round?

Of course I'd welcome pms if you don't want to post, but I know we've got some UGA insiders on here.

I have to say that I find the idea that Greek Life and the university were so responsive to the new January admits kind of surprising.

[OleMissGlitter]

Originally Posted by ngg

My understanding of things is as follows - UGA has been experiencing a significant dropoff in enrollment during Spring semester, due to students graduating after 4 1/2 years, dropping out, etc. Last Spring the University offered a group of high school seniors admssion for January 2009 in an effort to "up" their second semester numbers. A friend of mine's daughter, who was wait listed at the time, received this offer and happily accepted. Of course, these girls were unable to participate in Fall recruitment and my friend says UGA is addressing the issue by instating a Spring recruitment. Hope others will be able to add to this information. I would love to know how many students were admitted for second semester and if the sororities intend to increase total to accomodate them.

That is what I heard as well....however I was under the impression that not ALL sororities would be participating...

[OleMissGlitter]

Originally Posted by buddrose

ngg is correct. This is the first time in a very long time that every sorority is participating in Spring Recruitment at UGA. With so many young women entering UGA for the first time this coming January, the concern (from parents) was that the PNM would be "penalized" if they waited and went thru recruitment in the Fall since they might be considered as sophomores. Many sororities are hesitant to recruit sophomores.

Do you know how many PNMs will participate?

Originally Posted by OleMissGlitter

That is what I heard as well....however I was under the impression that not ALL sororities would be participating...

http://www.uga.edu/panhellenic/recruit/index.html

UGA's Panhellenic website says that all 17 chapters are participating.

[carnation]

I'm thrilled that UGa is doing this; how wonderful it is that so many women will get a chance to join sororities! My daughter took part in an architectural project to refurbish one of the houses and she says that excitement is running high for both members and PNMs!

[OleMissGlitter]

Originally Posted by OTW

http://www.uga.edu/panhellenic/recruit/index.html

UGA's Panhellenic website says that all 17 chapters are participating.

Thanks. The last I was told about this (about 3 weeks ago) I guess Panhellenic was still working out the kinks.

Does anyone know if there will be a quota?

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by OTW

http://www.uga.edu/panhellenic/recruit/index.html

UGA's Panhellenic website says that all 17 chapters are participating.

Is it weird to question whether all 17 chapters doing open houses necessarily equals all 17 giving bids?

What does "participating"really mean, unless this recruitment is a second formal with even groups above total getting to give more bids?

That could work out really well if the spring quota is pretty small AND groups below total get to give additional bids up to total plus whatever number quota is.

I think this is probably a really good thing although I doubt the January admits are really the driving force behind it. Has anyone seen a newspaper article about that trend or program? UGA is generally considered over-enrolled in the fall, I think, and while I'm sure the university would be eager to balance numbers between the two big semesters, I think it's really unlikely that they would address the issue by admitting enough new freshmen to have it work out. To me, it would make a lot more sense to offer more upper level classes needed for graduation only in the spring. However, I can totally see the pressure being on UGA to admit more qualified kids who want to go there and so they offer more admissions in January when they seem to have more space.

For whatever my random opinion is worth, I think the spring recruitment thing is much more about the groups and how to get more people to participate in spring recruitment than it is about responsiveness to parental concerns about when the January admits rush. (If it's a big enough number of kids to influence recruitment policy at UGA at the Greek Life level, it's a big enough group of kids for the GLOs to figure out how to handle on their own.)

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by shadden

I have also heard that all sororities are participating as a way of taking the supposed stigma out of Spring Recruitment. In recent years some houses that had open slots woudn't participate in the spring because the perception was that only the smaller or struggling houses participated. This is a way of evening the playing field and hopefully allowing some of the smaller houses to build up their numbers.

This is exactly what I would guess they were responding to, especially as more and more traditionally strong groups aren't necessarily the biggest groups. Almost all groups would benefit from a chance to do spring recruitment.

[Edited to reduce my rambling commentary a little]

So basically, I guess I'm saying Yay, Spring Recruitment; boo pretending it's responsive to something other than GLOs' own interests. We can just 'fess up that we're doing this because it's good for us.

[carnation]

Well, it was certainly a shock to hear that UGa was doing a formal spring recruitment and the rumors are flying as to why. A lot of people feel like maybe some really prominent alums want their kids to get a "fair" shot at recruitment. I wonder if the PNMs will mostly be ones who dropped in the fall, new transfers, or women who have never rushed.

My only concern would be that if there are 2 formal recruitments every year, fall PNMs who don't like their returns will simply drop out and wait for spring, which could affect quota and such.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by UGAalum94

Is it weird to question whether all 17 chapters doing open houses necessarily equals all 17 giving bids?

What does "participating"really mean, unless this recruitment is a second formal with even groups above total getting to give more bids?

That could work out really well if the spring quota is pretty small AND groups below total get to give additional bids up to total plus whatever number quota is.

Like I said above, it honestly sounds like it is a second formal rush with quota just like it would be in the fall.

Groups below total can give bids up to total any old time. They don't need all the groups (or any groups) rushing to do that. If a group was 40 below total after fall rush and 20 women came up to them in October and wanted to pledge, they could take a second class if they wanted.

Oh, and I think it would create quite the PR disaster if PNMs (especially legacies) were told that all groups were participating, signed up w/ that in mind, and at the first event for Big Popular House were basically told "we did this because we had to, but we don't have any open spots so we're dropping out now. Sorry. Go look at the other groups."

[honeychile]

FWIW, and I don't pretend to have any inside information at UGA, we used to have a "formal" spring recruitment. It was formal in that every group presented, and held a first round. From there, any of the GLOs who had already made quota/total dropped out, and the others kept going recruiting. We considered quota/total a reward for getting it down the first time, and not having to repeat recruitment!

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by 33girl

Like I said above, it honestly sounds like it is a second formal rush with quota just like it would be in the fall.

Groups below total can give bids up to total any old time. They don't need all the groups (or any groups) rushing to do that. If a group was 40 below total after fall rush and 20 women came up to them in October and wanted to pledge, they could take a second class if they wanted.

Oh, and I think it would create quite the PR disaster if PNMs (especially legacies) were told that all groups were participating, signed up w/ that in mind, and at the first event for Big Popular House were basically told "we did this because we had to, but we don't have any open spots so we're dropping out now. Sorry. Go look at the other groups."

I understand what you are saying, but even if these big groups do have openings, they are likely to be so many fewer than other groups that for most participants, it's probably going to be a pretty similar message.

The "participation" of these groups will get the total number of PNMs up even if it's just because these group encourage girls to come out to meet them before formal in the fall. And a lot of the PNMs will probably find groups they like enough to pledge in the spring because, as I mentioned earlier, the total number vs. general reputation for popularity isn't running that tight throughout the whole 17 IMO.

I wish we knew how they planned to do it with a quota or whatever. I wonder if they are waiting to really see groups second semester numbers before they make a call.

Oh, I found this http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/...81200167.shtml

Late in the article, we come to this paragraph:

"About 200 more students are expected to enroll for spring semester beginning in January. Most of those names will be drawn from a waiting list of students not admitted for the fall semester, McDuff said."

Unless as Carnation mentioned that among these 200 are parents so influential that they can restructure the system for their kids, I'm guessing spring recruitment 2009 is just a good thing they are finally trying to make work.

[carnation]

LOL! And we know they exist! I was thinking that the kids with the influential parents might come more from the group of PNMs who rushed unsuccessfully in the fall. We know of several families who don't contribute to their alma maters anymore because their children were zapped in fraternity or sorority recruitment. These were good kids too, not wild ones whose parents thought they were angels.