UF Spring Recruitment!!

[KSUViolet06]

Originally Posted by LaneSig

Do people really get that petty with gossip? "OMG, everyone else has 170, but Beta Chi only has 140."

If we're talking about PNMs and other sorority members: Yes, they can get pretty petty.

I've heard people say things like "Yeah, I think ABC is gonna close, they only have like 80 girls" at a school where everyone is at total of 100. LOL.

In reality, that's NOT a super huge deficit. Your experience as a member in ABC is likely not going to be drastically different from everyone else because they have 20 fewer girls.

But if you were to talk to PNMs or other sorority members, you'd think ABC only had 30 girls and were housed in a cardboard box.

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by LaneSig

If I'm butting in, feel free to tell me (like that wouldn't happen).

Do national offices really get that upset at big schools if a group is 20-30 under total? I'm talking if total is 160 and ABC is at 140 members. I can see nationals getting worried if it's a smaller campus and total is 75 and their local chapter is at 40-50 (where it's more noticeable).

Do people really get that petty with gossip? "OMG, everyone else has 170, but Beta Chi only has 140."

I don't think it's a matter of being upset. There are benchmarks that are used to determine the health of a chapter. Being at total is one of them. Chapters are encouraged to get to total, but unless a chapter is struggling, I don't think there is undue pressure to continue recruiting for minimal differences. You do have to keep in mind that falling 30 below total can quickly snowball if you aren't careful.

[Regina.George]

It's economics too. Running a large house and paying for things like insurance at these big schools is expensive. Twenty fewer members doesn't sound like a lot, but it can make an economic impact, especially because the other members have to pay more. You can't get too complacent about staying under total, especially when almost everyone else is significantly above it. It only takes one or two recruitments of missing quota by only a few to start a chapter in the death spiral. Missing quota seems to work in a geometric progression and pretty soon you can have a half empty house and be that chapter during recruitment.

[DubaiSis]

For housed chapters, and especially the BIG houses, economics is of huge significance. Think of it this way. If it costs $1000 (totally random number) to live in the house for a year and you're 20 down, that's $20,000 you don't have to pay the mortgage (yes, most of these houses have mortgages), electric, water, cook, yard work... it goes on forever. And even though there are members who don't live in, they are still helping support the chapter AND the house through their dues. So yes, in that case, the alums would start getting seriously naggy if you aren't making quota every year. For them, it's not about the parties and the candle passes and movie marathons; it's about risk management, bill collection, and longevity. Eeewwww.

[GatorGirl27]

Originally Posted by 33girl

You mean total not quota.

Thank you for catching that I went off on my angry ramble and didn't notice my mistake, haha.

Yeah, 161 is our campus total, as of the last time I heard. Most chapters are hovering probably within ten below or above. However, we do have several chapters in the 180s. A few years ago, before numbers as a whole dropped, many of those chapters were above 200 (no idea what our total was though, honestly). As far as I know though, the smaller chapters on campus do pretty well maintaining their numbers through things like COB and spring recruitment.

Someone mentioned something about people getting petty with gossip over low numbers. The problem at UF, as it probably is at other schools, (and please believe me when I say I hate myself for writing this) is that most of the houses with lower numbers that typically participate in recruitment are the "less popular" or not "top tier" houses. Thus the whole trying to remove the stigma of spring recruitment, as was discussed earlier. So it's not just, "Oh, ABC has suchhhh low numbers, they only have 149 girls!" It's other things. "OMG, I can't believe ABC is participating in spring rush this year, they've never had to do that before!" The frustrating thing is that most chapter's numbers have dropped from the economy, and more and more chapters are participating in it. And spring recruitment is just another opportunity to get great new members in a much more informal and relaxed environment. Unfortunately, spring recruitment at UF still is very much looked down upon by a lot of people. Sigh.

Note to any potential new members out there: Every single one of UF's 16 chapters has amazing girls and great things to offer, and you should pick your chapter based on how you feel with the women there, not on any of the petty, mean things people say. I have friends in every single house, and they love their chapters and their sisters

[33girl]

Originally Posted by LaneSig

If I'm butting in, feel free to tell me (like that wouldn't happen).

Do national offices really get that upset at big schools if a group is 20-30 under total? I'm talking if total is 160 and ABC is at 140 members. I can see nationals getting worried if it's a smaller campus and total is 75 and their local chapter is at 40-50 (where it's more noticeable).

Do people really get that petty with gossip? "OMG, everyone else has 170, but Beta Chi only has 140."

Like Regina and GG said, it's not just that they're UNDER total, but that the other groups are taking quota every formal rush and are OVER total. It wouldn't be a big deal (and most likely no one would notice per campus gossip) if everyone was straight at 161 members.

It sounds as though total needs rethought. Raise it in November or so, give all the groups that need it a chance to bid up to it, and then everyone can go into next fall's formal rush on an even footing.

Believe me, this is not a bad problem for a school to have. Readjustment issues with total are usually the other way around - i.e. the school has a total that hasn't been filled by the majority of the groups since Reagan was in office and everyone has to open bid constantly, but there are one or two groups refusing to vote to lower it, because they do well, or because their HQ thinks they can click their heels and get twice their membership in a semester and doesn't want to cut their possible revenue stream. NPC has been getting a lot more proactive about checking up on this, though (thank God).

[DeltaBetaBaby]

The other thing about being below total is the number of women you return with in the fall. If total is 160, and you have 140, you may think it's not a big deal, returning with 105 when other chapters return with 120. However, the chapters below total are also the most likely to take upperclassmen, as a general rule of thumb, so they end up with more than a quarter of their women graduating each year. Perhaps they return to campus with 90 when other chapters have 120. That starts to be a more and more noticeable deficit going into recruitment, and they will constantly be trying to catch up.

[UFgatorLove]

I realized I never came back to tell how it went! Ooops!!

I believe five chapters initiated women (ranging from 3 women to 17 women per chapter) this Spring! I was not able to attend the open recruiting event myself, but I heard it went over pretty well. The period to extend bids was longer than I expected, so some women did not hear back insanely quick. I believe COB closed about 2 weeks after. (I'm a bit fuzzy on dates as it was so long ago!)

All together, I believe it was a great success for our Panhellenic Council!!

[redlady2]

Sorry I'm reviving a long passed thread, but has there been any conversation about changing total? I believe in the mid-'00s, there were a handful of chapters significantly below total (in the 120-140 range) while other chapters had 180+. If the smallest chapter this spring had 142, that sounds like there's become much more parity which is great for the system. I wonder if raising total would help or harm those chapters that have grown their numbers up closer to total.

[GatorDG]

Quota was just raised by more than 20 to 185. There are a lot of houses that are in the process of COB to try to reach total asap. Pretty sure there should be a lot of houses participating in spring recruitment.

[FSUZeta]

Total was raised. Total is the maximum number of members a chapter may have. Quota is the maximum number of pnms the chapter can pledge. but whatever we call it, it sounds like good news for UF pnms!

[GatorDG]

Yes, duh, TOTAL not quota was raised. Hopefully, they will open for expansion soon. The pledge classes are getting so large and the houses are not large enough to sleep all that want to live in the houses. Thanks FSUZeta.

[PC11]

how does COB work? I was just released from formal recruitment and I am still extremely interested in joining a sorority at UF. How does someone on the outside hear about COB at each sorority?

[33girl]

Originally Posted by PC11

how does COB work? I was just released from formal recruitment and I am still extremely interested in joining a sorority at UF. How does someone on the outside hear about COB at each sorority?

Contact the Greek Life office at UF. They will be able to let you know if there are any COB opportunities available.

[PC11]

I actually contacted the Greek office immediately after formal recruitment and they just told me that all pnms that did not receive a bid are on the list for COB. So i was just wondering how to make it known that I would be interested in participating in COB when I am just on a list with hundreds of other released pnms.