formal recruitment held during summer or when school starts? pros and cons
 

My school has always held formal recruitment about 2 weeks before school started, but this year they decided to hold it the first week of school... I really don't understand this.

When recruitment was held during the summer the PNM's stayed in a dorm room with a PNM roommate and their gamma chi's lived on the floor as well. The girls quickly bonded, and when bids were recieved, it was exciting to already have friends in your sorority. The gamma chi's were there 24/7 and were open to talk at any time about anything. We walked to sorority row together for parties, we walked back together. We had nightly slumber parties, we ate lunch and dinner together. The only drawback to this was that the recruitment fee was $270. (if you didn't get a bid, no refunds)

This year it will be held during the fall. The PNM's will stay in their assigned rooms for the year with their assigned roommate: maybe a greek, maybe a PNM, maybe neither. The gamma chi's stay in their rooms. The women are basically scattered. The first day for parties is 4:30pm-10:20pm. Girls will be in class, have to do homework, get prepared for the semester. The only positive I can think of doing it during school is that there will not be housing fees, maybe just a fee for the "meet the greeks" day t shirt.

Since it's less money, maybe more girls will participate? But, my school does not hold a "small" recruitment.. there is already a good number of girls going through. What are some potential reasons why they changed it?

Girls were withdrawing if they didn't get a bid to the sorority they wanted and school was losing $$$.

Partying going on with no worry of classes. Someone's daughter got too drunk or too naked and parents are pitching a bitch with the school.

Other things are going on (an athletic camp maybe) and the housing is not available.

Those are just a few possibilities.

A lot of schools do it this way (during classes), so to me, it doesn't sound any different. I imagine that 33girl's reasoning had a lot to do with it. I agree with you, it costs extra money to house girls for those few days or two weeks before classes start, and this is an easy place to save some money.

Some schools changed schedules this way so women wouldn't drop out of school if they didn't get the results they wanted then enroll in a school with "desirable" sororities with a less competitive recruitment. The goal of course being transferring to the original school after initiation and affiliating with a "desirable" group that originally rejected them.

I can also see these potential reasons:

a) having people who are interested in Greek life living with those who may not know about it could have women become interested/aware and sign up
b) having members of GLOs living with non members can foster less animosity and better campus relations (and increase membership), additionally if someone does get a bid and drops they have friends outside Greek life, or if no bid they can still make friends
c) the school wants their housing filled and if the campus has new members move in on bid day (my school used to) it keeps the residence halls filled
d) risk management, RAs and other people would be aware of any issues or see something (hazing, alcohol issues) and it can be stopped before it goes too far
e) being away from home is stressful, starting college is a big deal, and going through rush before class even starts could be overwhelming and this gives people a chance to adjust

Why don't you ask the school/Panhellenic Council/Greek Advisor?

:)

I like recruitment better when colllege is already in session...
 

I've been through formal recruitment once. That Formal recruitment was 2 weeks before school started and was a lot of money. I had a lot of problems with how it was done. I felt like you never for time alone to think about decisions you wanted because someone was always talking about it. Be it your roommate, gamma chi, or other PMNs.

Also, I felt like because it was my freshman year at a new school I didn't know anyone well enough to form friendships with them. Now that I've had a semester to get "the lay of the land" so to speak. I can see what all the girls are like in informal settings and not recruitment and it gives me a better idea of who I could potentially join and be good friends with.

Also, they had all 7 sororities information on walls in the hallway and they kept changing everything. The fees, housing requirements, GPA requirements. It was hard to get an idea as to what house you would be able to pledge because all the requirements kept being changed.

I'm going through formal recruitment a 2nd time this upcoming September ONLY because I found out the process WILL be different than the first time.
1) It originally cost you $260 and you had to leave earlier for school in the Summer. The 2nd formal recruitment is occurring during September 2-7th. So, you'll have some chill time rather than doing everything the 1st week of school.
2) This time each house is going to give out information cards with set fees, GPA standards, housing requirements etc.
3) When each event is over you get to go back to your room and really think about what you want. Not what your roommate wants. But, what you yourself want. I like the element of being able to get away from it all and being able to think about it yourself. I don't like being with a bunch of strange girls crying at all hours of the night about parties or how they got dropped. It's awkward for me. If I want to be emotional then I'd rather be by myself.

For those reasons, I'd much rather go through recruitment when school is already in session.

I'm excited about USM recruitment!

Yes. Information had been posted in the hall. But, over the course of the week it was changed 3 or 4 times. My mom kept getting mad at me cause every time I would tell her the costs it was different! But, this upcoming formal recruitment they're doing it differently to get rid of all the confusion! Thank you Jesus! This is one of the main reasons I'm doing it a 2nd time. They're giving me reliable information.

Just a word of caution, I know costs are a big deciding factor for you from what I've read on your other topic but just realize that there probably aren't HUGE discrepancies between chapters like the numbers they give you might suggest. As was mentioned previously, the more expensive chapter may just be more inclusive with tshirts, your pin, etc while the other chapters leave you to buy those required things individually. I really wish you the best of luck going through formal again but the cost of each chapter should not be something that causes you to completely rule it out if you still like it without keeping some of those things in mind!

My campus did recruitment this way back in the day. It may simply be that the university won't let them use the dorm anymore. I like recruitment like this, too. I found it funny being an AOII before I even started college. It was fun, but like others have pointed out, it did have its draw backs for the people who didn't get bids. Every style of recruitment has it's positives and negatives. I think any method that decreases the cost to PNMs, however, is good.

Agreed!

So agree on this. I can't imagine if I would have had to go through recruitment and come back to a room with, say, my freshman orientation roommates. They were nice girls and all but I'd met them all of 24 hours beforehand. You're worried enough when you first get to campus about how you're coming off to the other freshmen you're meeting, let ALONE the sororities.