Thoughts/Views On Sorority Recruitment Processes

First, lets please be decent with this thread. Pleaaaassseee
Ok, I thought that maybe this topic should get a thread of its own and not invade another persons rush thread, since it seems to be an interesting/heated topic. As before please use discretion if saying and schools or chapters of orgs.

My thoughts as someone who attended U of Mich and its system since UM's rush kind of started this topic.

Even though UM is not necessarily a big Greek school I would say that we have a pretty "cut-throat" rush. I am not familiar with the "new" system but hears my thoughts about the new and old.

Old System Complaints:
Many girl's still didn't get bids to the houses they wanted, and many girls didn't get bids period. Problem with the old system is that generally the same houses ALWAYS made quota (examples are Tri-Delt, Theta, Kappa, DG and Chi-O always being up there) and sometimes over. And left other houses and not even necessarily the weaker ones somewhere near quota or not makng it period. That's 5/15-16 houses. So somethings not necessarily right. I don't fully blame the system cuz lets be honest campus rep plays a part in girls wanting these houses. And honestly these are normally the target houses during recruitment for PMN's.
New System Complaints:
Many girls still not getting bids to houses that they want or not getting one period. It's hurting the houses that always make quota, giving them less members and trying to help other houses catch up. That's the only real complaint I have heard so far about this system.
But both systems have their positives and negatives.

Soapbox for a sec....

The whole point of Recruitment is so that girls can find a place where they feel they belong. This can all be done without competition. Its seems like any Panhellenic spirit goes out the window when it comes to Recruitment. While yes, its great to see numbers, it seems that the whole concept of quality girls has flown ot the window. IMO the complaints of the new system sound egotistical and selfish. Are we really getting upset because people are trying to make it fair for all the houses? And I'm not saying this because I come from one of the smaller houses at UM. Not long ago my chapter was one the top tier houses making quota and over. Just goes to show that, excuse my lang, s@#! happens and it can happen to any chapter at anytime. I just personally prefer quality. I'd be content with a chapter of 15 quality girls that are making the experience worthwhile, then a chapter of 120 not knowing each other and/or not getting along.

Off the soapbox and out of fantasy land.

Anywho, I think the new system could solve a lot of the problems that some of the stronger houses at UM have (Not even saying its the ones I named because others have it too). For instance as I said before generally the same houses always make quota. However, some take it more girls they can handle, which causes a housing problem. Too many girls not enough rooms and many girls de-activate for that reason. You have a lot of house at UM that have nothing but lots of small triples and quads. The new system lowers quota therefore possibly eliminating housing problems and possible high de-actos which many of the stronger houses have in general.
Its also going to be impossible for every house to make quota with the old system when you have 16 houses on campus and XYZ number of girls going through. With the new system every house still might not make quota but it may be evened out a little more.
One person suggested a IFC kind of rush where the girls pick their houses. IMO at smaller schools with fewer houses this works (I have a friend who's schools sorority system does an IFC kind of rush), but I think at larger schools it would be complete chaos. I think that many of the PMN's would all target the same houses and you would have a bigger percentage of chapters at schools going under.

Is it possible for the first two rounds to be one where, like normal, all the girls are required to attend every house for like 25 mins. Just to see all the options and giving every house a chance to show what they can do. Then the next rounds the girl can go back to where THEY want to go, still letting the houses select from these girls. Also make it less formal. Still have the cheering and skits but make it more relaxed. I know that at U of Mich in talking to many friends from other houses we all felt that recruitment was a shallow show. And that no house truely presents themselves because you're so worried about putting on the perfect show.

Please express any suggestions, flaws, add-ons, opinions, views and thoughts. Who knows maybe we can come up with something

Remember the previous was about experiences at my school
ETA: Excuse for the scattered thoughts at 2 am but I didnt want to forget to write this

[kddani]

Originally posted by UMgirl
Is it possible for the first two rounds to be one where, like normal, all the girls are required to attend every house for like 25 mins. Just to see all the options and giving every house a chance to show what they can do. Then the next rounds the girl can go back to where THEY want to go, still letting the houses select from these girls. Also make it less formal. Still have the cheering and skits but make it more relaxed. I know that at U of Mich in talking to many friends from other houses we all felt that recruitment was a shallow show. And that no house truely presents themselves because you're so worried about putting on the perfect show.

I don't have much time to write b/c I have to get ready for school..... but NPC had some sort of pilot program similar to this. Everyone had to go to every house the first round, but then after that the girls got to pick where they wanted to go. Houses had 2 hour parties, some overlapped. A girl could *theoretically* go where she pleased. The only cut was pref invites.

THIS DID NOT WORK. The girls would go to the bigger houses and stay there. Those houses would either get totally overwhelmed or be loving it. Many would make it extremelly uncomfortable for a rushee to get up and leave (they had to leave on their own volition, at least before the party was over). So even if they did want to see some of the less popular houses, they were "detained" at some of the bigger houses.

This is the kind of rush I went through (we were the NPC guinea pig)- and it sucked! Fire1977 can probably tell you more about this system, she was there for it more than I was, as shortly after I joined they switched it back to formal. I can speak firsthand about how hard it was to leave some of the houses, and how many girls didn't give other houses a certain look. IMO it was much worse that formal rush. With formal rush they know earlier on what their chances are at certain houses. With the system I rushed in, they fell in love with the 3 Super Sororities, then were crushed when they didn't get a pref invite, and didn't get pref invites anywhere else b/c they didn't bother to visit anywhere else.
Since we've switched back to formal rush,(and more active COBing but that's another thread), house numbers have begun to even out and there are more houses that are strong.

I know this isn't totally on-point with your post, but forgive me, it's early and I gotta get to school!

[aephi alum]

My school did something that seems not unlike what you're describing.

First, you went to each sorority for 10 minutes. This was followed by open houses, where that evening and the next day, you could go in and out of each sorority's rush room as you pleased. Then sororities would make their first round of cuts, generally cutting anyone who didn't make grades or who didn't stop by during open houses.

Next was "informal rush" - a few hours in the evening and the next day, where you could visit any sorority that had invited you back, pretty much for as long as you pleased (there were caps on time but they were pretty generous). You then attended a theme party with each sorority that had invited you. Sororities would then invite whoever they wanted to pref, which was the following evening.

From the PNM side, you could very easily mess things up. Each sorority only had 10 minutes to make a first impression, so you had one convo, and if you happened to be paired with someone you didn't click with - you might decide not to go back during open houses, and you might miss out on what would have been a good match. You also had to be proactive if you wanted to get to all the sororities during open houses - you had to stand up and say "I want to check out my other options" and worry that you came across as rude or whatever. (It was forbidden for a sorority to prevent you from leaving.) And sometimes PNMs would spend the entire open house period with one sorority, essentially "suiciding" right at the start of rush, then if that sorority didn't invite them back, they were SOL.

From the sorority side, I was a member of the smallest (by far) sorority at my school. When PNMs came through tours, we had to use the time to do a skit rather than convos, because it would have been about 3 PNMs to each sister. PNMs saw the small number of sisters, got worried, and ran scared. It might have been beneficial if the PNMs were "forced" to give us a second chance - often, those who did come back to open houses, and who were otherwise good fits, wound up joining - we were listed first on a lot of pref cards.

[NutBrnHair]

The whole point of Recruitment is so that girls can find a place where they feel they belong.

Actually, it's a MUTUAL selection process. We pick them -- they pick us.

[33girl]

Originally posted by kddani
I don't have much time to write b/c I have to get ready for school..... but NPC had some sort of pilot program similar to this. Everyone had to go to every house the first round, but then after that the girls got to pick where they wanted to go. Houses had 2 hour parties, some overlapped. A girl could *theoretically* go where she pleased. The only cut was pref invites.

This is what my rush was like. However, first round (meet the greeks) was longer - I think 20 minutes - and there was NO overlap with the theme parties. This was done in the fall - at the time first semester freshmen couldn't pledge, so it was mostly sophomores who had a good idea what they wanted. I would not recommend this with first semester freshmen.

Honestly, I think a lot of problems in rush could be solved if we would really practice what we have been preaching and destigmatize COB. Some houses just don't do well with formal rush. I think having pull out all the stops formal one semester and totally unscheduled COB the next semester just aggravates things more. Formal and COB should each be a little more like each other.

p.s. - where is there an explanation of the "new system" at UM? From what I am reading, it sounds like the new system is actually following the Green Book.

[NutBrnHair]

Formal Recruitment (Rush) has always been the most efficient way to get new members. Think about it...the chapter goes all out for 1-2 weeks -- the PNMs line up at our doorstep -- and at the end of the process we have our new member class. The rest of the year we can focus on Sisterhood, community service, academics, social, campus activities, etc. A chapter that is constantly in recruitment mode is not able to focus on the other important aspects of why you wanted to be in a sorority to begin with.

[33girl]

I don't think that monthly open rush parties mean you are always in rush mode - it means you are reaching out to the women for whom formal rush did not work or was not an option. It's more to keep women interested - you don't have to pledge them that minute.

If you are talking 6 pledge classes a year, then yes, I agree with your point.

However, if we limit ourselves to formal rush, we will slowly dwindle away to nothing at less traditional schools.

[NutBrnHair]

I'm not saying we limit ourselves only to formal rush -- I'm just saying let's recognize that it's an efficient system and be careful before we tweak (I had to look up that spelling! LOL) it too much.

Originally posted by NutBrnHair
The whole point of Recruitment is so that girls can find a place where they feel they belong.

Actually, it's a MUTUAL selection process. We pick them -- they pick us.

This I know, my point was about it being about quality.

[NutBrnHair]

I'm all for quality -- a quota new member class of quality women.

[33girl]

At smaller schools with not much interest in Greek life, however, that's not always possible. I would sooner be short a few of quota than take women who are going to be a blight on the whole chapter just to get quota and a pat on the head from my national rush chair.

That is what is wonderful about open rush and COB - it's another way to reach women who might be turned off by the process of formal rush, but like the idea of being in a sorority.

[NutBrnHair]

A quota class of quality women is possible at any size school, since quota is determined by the number of PNMs divided by the number of sororities. Not achieving quota means you went to the bottom of your list. Sure, you can pledge quality women through COB -- that's fine. For me, I'd rather get them in formal rush & spend the rest of the year focusing on sisterhood, academics, social, etc.

[GeekyPenguin]

Originally posted by NutBrnHair
Formal Recruitment (Rush) has always been the most efficient way to get new members. Think about it...the chapter goes all out for 1-2 weeks -- the PNMs line up at our doorstep -- and at the end of the process we have our new member class. The rest of the year we can focus on Sisterhood, community service, academics, social, campus activities, etc. A chapter that is constantly in recruitment mode is not able to focus on the other important aspects of why you wanted to be in a sorority to begin with.

Only at schools where girls know they want to rush. My school had formal rush for about 10 years while there were still two NPCs. Quota was usually TWO. Then after formal each house except for the weaker NPC would COB 8 or 9 more girls. Having now eliminated formal after losing the weaker NPC, houses consistently get 8 girls in fall and 5 girls in spring. Not every school is like Wisconsin or Alabama or UCLA where girls want to rush. I still think you can have a very quality sisterhood experience while COBing throughout the year. That way you know you who has a real sisterhood, and who just fakes it for two weeks to impress freshmen.

[shadokat]

NutBrn, I agree with this point, but maybe you went to a school where 500 women signed up to go through the recruitment process. At smaller, less "greek inclined" schools, we have about 100 women, and 10 sororities. Trust me, I'd like to see fewer sororities and more PNMs but that's besides the point. Women do NOT line up outside our doors, any of the sororities, to join. Even the most popular house COBs and rarely is anyone ever at total.

I believe in the Panhellenic system of recruitment. I think it works for most schools. I also don't think that PNMs should be allowed to skip parties or not see all of the sororities, because hey, let's be fair and such. The rules are, you go to all houses first round, seven second round, 3 for prefs (at my school). If you miss a party, and you're not excused, you're out.

If you don't like the Panhellenic system as a PNM, then don't go through it, and use informal recruitment. Your choices may be limited, but you may enjoy the process and your chances more.

Originally posted by NutBrnHair
The whole point of Recruitment is so that girls can find a place where they feel they belong.

Actually, it's a MUTUAL selection process. We pick them -- they pick us.

[beachgal118]

Is it possible for the first two rounds to be one where, like normal, all the girls are required to attend every house for like 25 mins. Just to see all the options and giving every house a chance to show what they can do. Then the next rounds the girl can go back to where THEY want to go, still letting the houses select from these girls. Also make it less formal. Still have the cheering and skits but make it more relaxed. I know that at U of Mich in talking to many friends from other houses we all felt that recruitment was a shallow show. And that no house truely presents themselves because you're so worried about putting on the perfect show.

Please express any suggestions, flaws, add-ons, opinions, views and thoughts. Who knows maybe we can come up with something

Remember the previous was about experiences at my school
ETA: Excuse for the scattered thoughts at 2 am but I didnt want to forget to write this [/B][/QUOTE]


This is the kind of idea I had in mind! I know when we speak about this topic, we are all coming from different places (big rushes are very diffreent from smaller ones). My school has a big rush, and I just comment based on what I see happening at my school...that said, I think the idea UMGirl suggested could be flexible enough to work in many different systems.