Iowa Recruitment

[cinder1965]

Originally Posted by IndianaSigKap

Wow...that might have been a serious deal breaker for me at 18. I am a huge sports fan. I hope it doesn't impact the chapters too greatly.

Hahahahahahha, so laughing out loud at you !!!!

[DubaiSis]

The Iowa/Iowa State game pretty much shuts down the state, even in years when neither team is worth squat. My sister has a mixed marriage. She is (correctly) a Hawkeye and her husband is a cyclone. The result is a HUGE weekend.

One thing, if you don't already have season tickets at ISU, you really aren't getting tickets to the game, so it really is just about the tailgating. And if they have round 3 over 2 days, they're not having that many parties each day. So I still contend they can get all the rush events done plenty early, at least for the girls to get their party on in Iowa City, without any trouble. For the cheerleaders, poms, etc., there probably aren't enough of them in any given chapter to negatively impact them, and I'm not sure that freshmen would be traveling with those teams. Does anyone know if freshmen cheerleaders would already be going to away games? When do they make the team? But marching band is a different story.

I concur that the timing is bad at best and potentially deadly for several girls, where rush applies anyway. I think the slightly delayed rush is working at Iowa, but they have to be more in tune with the school schedule!

[ISUKappa]

The ISU/Iowa game is always the second weekend in September (or maybe the second Saturday after Labor Day, I'm not sure which). I thought that recruitment started earlier in previous years and was completed by the rivalry game. If they keep the current schedule, they will always run into issues. I know they can almost guarantee there will be football games on the first 3-4 weekends after school starts, and at least half, if not more, will be home games for Iowa. Tailgating -- I mean football () -- is a pretty big deal, why alienate part of your student body from attending?

[DubaiSis]

Iowa seems to be one big petri dish of sorority rush experimentation. They'll try something else next year! If they want to split up rush, they may have to start rush a few days before school starts and then do the rest over Labor Day weekend. That would at least keep them away from football weekends.

[scrapcat]

School did start later this year. I know when my kid had her bid day it was on Labor Day ( I think that's really good planning!). I did see on the rush schedule that pic is planning a group game viewing. I also like to think that girls who are invested in the process will make smart choices and continue. The numbers will show the effects of the game.

[GolfersLady]

Originally Posted by DubaiSis

One thing, if you don't already have season tickets at ISU, you really aren't getting tickets to the game, so it really is just about the tailgating. And if they have round 3 over 2 days, they're not having that many parties each day. So I still contend they can get all the rush events done plenty early, at least for the girls to get their party on in Iowa City, without any trouble.

But, with a dry recruitment, the fun of tailgating or going to bars even in Iowa City is diminished. Any sorority woman or PNM could be penalized/fined if seen or caught drinking during the recruitment period.

[colordogs]

My daughter going through recruitment echoed the harsh cutting stories. It was far more than I expected!! I know grades were a factor in her case (3.08 Official HS GPA but Iowa rescaled to 2.98...grrrr...) but not for most in her group. I have a relatively good understanding of quota/release and the cuts still seem steep.

[DubaiSis]

I'm wondering if the RFM specialist is a little sharp with the pencil. If they loosened up on the cuts, could quota be a bit larger? I mean we don't want the Polly Perfects inviting another 50 girls to round 2 if the result is they still don't get to invite more girls to pledge but it seems like EVERYONE is having to make oddly large cuts.
RFM experts out there, is there a line beyond which the proscribed numbers are too harsh? How can you tell and how do you resolve it?

[Titchou]

I know just enough about Iowa recruitment to be dangerous...that being said, keep in mind that it's really hard to know which women were released and which dropped out. Not everyone is up front about which category they fall into. And there are always groups which pretty much can invite whomever they want - due to their stats from previous years. It's not a matter of the RFM specialist lightening up. The stats drive the numbers. But it's possible for every woman to be invited back. Some get released from groups A and B and some from only C. But grade releases are usually the first cut.
And the U's vetted GPA is gospel.

[colordogs]

I know the reality of the numbers is ugly...I am from Indianas greek system. I do think, and this is only my opinion, that when you have such harsh cuts after the first round girls who might otherwise stick out future rounds become so discouraged they just drop and this is a detriment to the whole system. The strong well established houses continue to flourish, others miss out on great girls and the system as a whole doesn't grow.

In my perfect world I'd love to see a delayed recruitment where grade evaluation is potentially a more fair comparison..Iowa collegiate work compared to Iowa collegiate work. It also is far more reflective of which students are able to transition to work at a collegiate level. My daughter came from an extremely rigorous independent college prep school and had a great education. However, my heart was breaking for her and i certainly felt a great deal of frustration as my daughter is crying saying she wishes she hadn't done honors and ap so she would have had an easier course load and therefore better GPA.

No easy answers here

[Titchou]

One of the places that is talked about as being most competitive is Alabama. And every year during recruitment women come here complaining about the deep cuts and all the women released from recruitment. But in the final analysis, Bama usually places about 89-91% of the women who register for recruitment. That's a stellar stat when looking at 2000 PNMs...and the vast majority of the 200 or so who are released are the grade risks and along a handful of QRs and those you drop out because they don't like the invites they got.

[Low D Flat]

No easy answers here

The sororities should see what the college sees: the HS TRANSCRIPT (not just GPA) and test scores. The GPA is meaningless on its own when you're trying to compare young women who were in AP classes at New Trier and those who were one of 6 graduates at Teenytown Nebraska-Border Agricultural High.

[GolfersLady]

Originally Posted by Low D Flat

The sororities should see what the college sees: the HS TRANSCRIPT (not just GPA) and test scores. The GPA is meaningless on its own when you're trying to compare young women who were in AP classes at New Trier and those who were one of 6 graduates at Teenytown Nebraska-Border Agricultural High.

I understand it is frustrating but as a chapter advisor and professional in college admissions, there just has to be an equalizer. A formula to be able to look through thousands of transcripts and test scores through the same scope. At Iowa, it's their recalculated GPA.

Chapters don't have the capacity to individually review each PNM's transcripts and test scores. Nor should that private student information be available for any and all to see (http://www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/f...rpa/index.html).

[pearlalum]

Any thoughts on what quota will be?

[Titchou]

Many schools vet the PNMs GPA and pass that information on to the chapters. And it's the GPA the college accepts for admissions purposes. So it puts everyone on equal footing with admissions and recruitment. I know it's hard to differentiate between high schools but there has to be an equalizer, as GolfersLady said.