2008-09 SEC Recruitment Thread

[UARK GO HOGS]

What's the word on Univ of Ark rush? i know it starts 8/22 and bid day on Labor Day, any idea how many registered for rush?

[AXiDTrish]

Thanks so much for the info everyone! I feel like my girl has a healthy respect for the process. I am still active with my chapter @ UGA (I'll be helping at the house for prefs on Sunday) and her sister was at AU -not my sorority-so she knows to keep and open mind and not to zero in on one or two groups of girls. I suppose my source of anxiety is just the unknown. I am used to the hard hitting rush before classes begin and not the delayed rush-even though they do have a few events next week. By the way...what are those all about anyway? Is it to introduce everyone? Do the sororities use the opportunity to sort of "pre-select" ?

AXOAlum, I have a lunch meeting with advisors from UWG chapters tomorrow. I will find out about the pre-events and PM you. Those may be new additions as we always had strict closed contact when I was there.

[Lightning Bug!]

2008 UGA rush photos:

http://spotted.onlineathens.com/gall....php?id=403803

Those girls have put A LOT of effort into their appearances! They look fabulous!

[ugagreekgrad]

Originally Posted by Lightning Bug!

2008 UGA rush photos:

http://spotted.onlineathens.com/gall....php?id=403803

Those girls have put A LOT of effort into their appearances! They look fabulous!

great pictures....thanks for sending...I have an out of state PNM that I am helping. I am a little nervous for her, especially as it gets down a few choices.

[UGAalum94]

I'm just laughing to myself about the photos. How creepy was just standing outside Tate and Memorial Hall and taking a bunch of photos of girls waiting at the bus stop? (I enjoyed the ones outside of Chi Omega and Delta Gamma a little more because they reveal to me how completely funny we probably used to look when we would run out and sing on front lawns to rushees. Those girls are just standing or sitting right on the Milledge curb in some cases.)

It's really cute to see the couple of girls who seem to know they are having their photo taken, looking and the camera and smiling.

[FSUZeta]

Originally Posted by UGAalum94

It's really cute to see the couple of girls who seem to know they are having their photo taken, looking and the camera and smiling.

practicing for all those sorority photos to come! thanks for id'ing the places the photos were taken, for us non-georgia folks. good luck to all the georgia pnms!

[irishpipes]

Auburn bid lists are ready and quota was 59. They'll be distributed at 5:00 and posted on the AU website at 7:00.

[baci]

Lots of questions. I think you should take a deep breath and just hang on to faith. I don't want to sound like I don't care, but it will work out. It really will and anything we talk about here will never be the true answers to what you are wanting to know about the specific house in question. Be strong and relish in this exciting time. I am crossing my fingers for you. Big hugs.

[UGAMOMof4]

You're right! It doesn't make it any less difficult.

One of my DD's friends dropped out this morning because she was dropped by her top sorority, even though she was invited back to four others. I've been trying to gather info for her and my daughter to show them that they shouldn't be so discouraged. It seems that just about every sorority at UGA has something to offer and could be a pretty good place to land!

[irishpipes]

Last year, quota at Georgia was 52 and 15 of 17 chapters took quota (in fact, all of those 15 took more than quota.) Campus total is 170. So, chapters who reach total (or above) during formal recruitment can't take anyone else. I don't have data on the current total chapter size for the UGA sororities.

A couple of years ago (when the RFM was first put in place) several strong chapters at UGA snapped to quota and a lot of people were dumbfounded at the snap bidding (the RFM is what you were referring to about larger sororities cutting a large amount off the top). That told me that it was a pretty rare occurrence. But, that was a couple of years ago. Every recruitment is different.

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by UGAMOMof4

Third round just wrapped up a couple of hours ago. DD and I are on pins and needles. I've been looking over this site and getting lots of information. Can anyone help me with a few questions:

1. While I realize there isn't an blanket policy regarding legacy cuts, how common are they (at UGA) after 3rd rounds? Worried that DD will be very disappointed if she doesn't get a invited back for prefs tomorrow!

2. Is it true that most UGA sororities are seeing between 50 and 100 legacies come through?

3. Is it really more difficult for out-of-state pnms?

4. Do the larger sororities have to cut 75% after round 1? That means they go down from 1300 to 325?

5 .Also, what have been the dynamics of snap bidding and COB? How common is it? Can you actually get a bid from someone who cut you?

6. Have all the sororities made quota in the recent past? Does anyone have any insight into this years' recruitment?

Thanks for any answers!

I'm NOT an expert in any way. This info. is just one alumna's speculation.

1. Legacy cuts are pretty common and cuts after third round are too, but I don't know the real answer to your question. Some groups' legacies policies and courtesies involve invitations to at least one invitational round, so one could hope that if a group kept a girl from two invitational rounds that they really were interested. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you!

2. Yes, some UGA groups really do have that many legacies each year. It's one of the reasons why it's so important to keep an open mind and to let your legacy know it's okay if if it doesn't work out between your group and her.

3. It depends a lot on the group and the connections that any individual PNM has. I wouldn't say that any of the groups are closed to out of staters, especially ones with great accomplishments and recs.

4. I've wondered about that myself. If it's true it probably doesn't apply to very many of the groups. UGA does use the release figure stuff which does require the groups with the highest percentage of girls who accept their invitations to issue fewer of them, but I find the kind of drops you describe as improbable. There are too many groups at each desirability "tier" for me to think that any one could have return rates that good for that level of risk. 50% after first round at some places wouldn't surprise me though.

5 and 6. I think the number of girls placed through snap bids is minuscule compared to the number of girls rushing or even the number of girls who drop out. But if a girl maximizes her options after prefs, the chances of her "mismatching" or not matching to any of the three are pretty minuscule as well. There are no guaranteed bids, but it seems like the data we saw last year pointed to very few girls who attended prefs and didn't match through regular bid matching.

I think four groups (openly, anyway) participated in COB this spring; two of the four had made quota in the fall but were below total after December graduations (or whatever) and one of the remaining two is kind of a niche chapter as they have a Jewish identity on campus so I don't know that they worry too much about quota or total. The remaining one, I think, is building up their numbers very selectively after several years of being smaller. The word I hear is that they got great pledge classes the last few years and are pretty well thought of, but just haven't been pulling down the big numbers yet. This year may be the year!

I think it is very rare to get picked up through snap bids or COB from a group that cut you, particularly at the end of formal. I might happen occasionally that a girl COBs a group in the spring that didn't get far enough down the bid list to offer her a bid in the fall, but even that I suspect is rare since most of the groups who make quota won't be COBing.

In my opinion, a PNM's best chance to pledge a group is during her first formal recruitment (or of course if she is sought out by friends in a particular group for their COB). I have never personally known a girl who dropped out of rush with groups remaining who pledged a group that had dropped her. If they ever joined, they joined groups still on the invite list at the time of the drop. (But I'll admit that my sample size here is REALLY small.)

Good luck!

[FSUZeta]

#53 Today, 08:13 PM
UGAMOMof4
Registered User Join Date: Aug 2008
Posts: 2

UGA Recruitment 2008...lots of questions

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Third round just wrapped up a couple of hours ago. DD and I are on pins and needles. I've been looking over this site and getting lots of information. Can anyone help me with a few questions:

While I realize there isn't an blanket policy regarding legacy cuts, how common are they (at UGA) after 3rd rounds? Worried that DD will be very disappointed if she doesn't get a invited back for prefs tomorrow! i think that it would depend on each chapters national policy on legacies and the courtesies extended them, and then whatever leeway the local chapter has within that policy.

Is it true that most UGA sororities are seeing between 50 and 100 legacies come through? can't say for sure, but i would say it is possible

Is it really more difficult for out-of-state pnms?i don't know

Do the larger sororities have to cut 75% after round 1? That means they go down from 1300 to 325? it is not how large the chapter size is, but the return rate of each chapter(how many invitations to the next round are extended and of those, the percentage that are accepted). a chapter with a near perfect return rate will have to cut more women initially, while a chapter with a lower return percentage will be able to invite more women back. those of us not working with the UGA chapters are not privy to those figures.

Also, what have been the dynamics of snap bidding and COB? How common is it? Can you actually get a bid from someone who cut you? theoretically you should be able to receive a bid from a chapter even if they had previously cut you. i have heard that some chapters(not necessarily at UGA) follow a cut once, always cut philosophy, but a lot of wonderful girls would fall thru the cracks if everyone adopted that code

Have all the sororities made quota in the recent past? Does anyone have any insight into this years' recruitment?most of the sororities at UGA pledge quota during formal recruitment.

Thanks for any answers!

[UGAMOMof4]

Thank you for some great info UGAalum94 and FSUZeta!

[dgdramadawg]

Originally Posted by UGAMOMof4

Third round just wrapped up a couple of hours ago. DD and I are on pins and needles. I've been looking over this site and getting lots of information. Can anyone help me with a few questions:

While I realize there isn't an blanket policy regarding legacy cuts, how common are they (at UGA) after 3rd rounds? Worried that DD will be very disappointed if she doesn't get a invited back for prefs tomorrow!

Is it true that most UGA sororities are seeing between 50 and 100 legacies come through?

Is it really more difficult for out-of-state pnms?

Do the larger sororities have to cut 75% after round 1? That means they go down from 1300 to 325?

Also, what have been the dynamics of snap bidding and COB? How common is it? Can you actually get a bid from someone who cut you?

Have all the sororities made quota in the recent past? Does anyone have any insight into this years' recruitment?

Thanks for any answers!

I'm not trying to make you nervous, but I know that what you want is honesty.

Regarding legacies: I knew a lot of girls who were cut by their legacy houses after rounds 2 and 3. I was cut by my legacy house after round 3 at UGA. Different houses see different numbers of legacies and cuts really depend on the house and the PNM, so there is really no blanket answer to how common a cut after round 3 is.

Yes, it is more difficult for out-of-staters at houses that consider themselves "Georgia" houses, which tend to pledge mostly in-state girls. However, not all houses are like this.

FSUZeta's description of how the cuts work is a great one and UGAalum94 had a good handle on the info about COBs. Snap bids vary from year to year... some years practically no one needs to snap, but my senior year all but one house had to snap bid at least one girl!

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by UGAMOMof4

You're right! It doesn't make it any less difficult.

One of my DD's friends dropped out this morning because she was dropped by her top sorority, even though she was invited back to four others. I've been trying to gather info for her and my daughter to show them that they shouldn't be so discouraged. It seems that just about every sorority at UGA has something to offer and could be a pretty good place to land!

It's really a shame, but there are a significant number of girls who make the same decision each year. It makes me sad because they probably would have been great members at one of the groups they had left.

I don't know if the recruitment counselors don't stress the low probability of getting pick up by a "better" group later or if the girls just don't want to hear it. I can't remember what I was personally thinking about it at the time I dropped out of formal, other than that the boy I liked at the time wouldn't be impressed by the groups I had left.

(One of the groups I had left WAS the right group after all; it was the wrong boy, duh.)