The Best Strategy for a "Weak Recruiting" Chapter
So I was thinking about the thread on mutual selection, and who gets to do the selecting, and I said that weak recruiting chapters (hereafter "WRC") don't get to do much selecting. Under RFM, they are heavily recommended not to release too many women.
But then I thought about whether this is really the best strategy, and decided to take a break from my real math work to ponder this. Let's say that there are 4 chapters, and 100 PNM's, and we can rank both, i.e. the PNM's rank in desirability from 100(best) to 1(worst), and the chapters likewise from 4 to 1. What we'd expect to happen is that PNM's 100-76 end up in chapter 4, 75-51 end up in 3, 50-26 end up in 2, and 25-1 end up in 1. Now, let's say chapter 1 is sick of getting the very worst of the PNM's, and they say "forget RFM, we're only going to invite PNM's 100 - 21 back". Now, there are only 80 PNM's left instead of 100, so PNM's 100-81 end up in chapter 4, 80-61 end up in 3, 60-41 end up in 2, and 40-20 end up in 1. Chapter 1 gets a smaller pledge class, but they have gotten far more desirable PNM's than they would have if they had followed their RFM and invited all 100 PNM's back. Of course, I have seriously over-simplified the model; assuming there is one round and everyone attends one pref, and then signs a bid card, but it got me thinking about how a WRC could be best off not following the RFM, by under-inviting. I know this ignores retention and everything else, but the basic thing I am getting at is this: If a WRC under-invites, it may be the difference between PNM's having one chapter and no chapters, and therefore being dropped from recruitment altogether. Dropping PNM's obviously decreases quota, but lowering quota usually helps a WRC. So, there is incentive for a WRC to work against what is best for the system. |
What you wrote makes sense, but it seems IRL when quota is low, the WRC also ends up with a lower number. Say quota is 15 or 20-WRC ends up with less than 10. We could probably look at some of Irishpipes fabulous recruitment schedule/results threads to see examples.
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I can think of several things that you are overlooking to start with. One: even in the bottom 20, there may be some the other groups want. And two, you are assuming that none of those 20 meet the WRC's standards - some might be at the low end but still meet the requirements. And the WRC might do a bang up job of COB that gets them to total. Stranger things have happened. And with 4 groups, there will be more than one round of invitationals - if the are doing standard recruitment and not minimumly structured. So the top chapters are going to release according to RFM the first time around. If the WRC just simply chooses based on merit, they'll get their fair share - as quota will take care of itself.
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My chapter faced a similar situation when I was our chapter president back eight or so years ago. We had historically been a weak recruiting chapter, but our recruitment chair had been an absolute rockstar that year and we were ready to improve our chapter recruiting strength. Our problem was that we had an unusually high number of sisters who were on study abroad/internships so our recruiting number was lower. Increased recruiting strength + lower numbers = total double rushing disaster. I was the chapter president and I wound up having to double rush women. What a mess. This was at a large competitive school in the south where each party can involve bringing eighty PNMs through your house.
Our school was implementing RFM that year and there was strong pressure on us to offer invitations to second and third round for women that we did not think were a match and who we could not reasonably handle coming through our doors. We felt that inviting back fewer would mean smaller parties for us than for other houses but that we'd have a better chance of retaining them if we weren't double and triple rushing them, and if the other women under the tent with them were more of our "preferred" PNMs. (We also knew PNMs talked, the "well that chapter invites back EVERYONE" awful tent talk, etc. etc.) At any rate, we were in agreement with DeltaBetaBaby's argument. Now, with a few years behind me and some perspective, I understand why our HQ and Panhellenic were so adamant that we stick to the RFM figures. (I think we were a pilot school for RFM, so if our chapter went "rogue" it would have messed with things.) I do think there's an argument to be made that releasing more women than RFM recommends is risky but has potential upside. |
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How did this thread get stickied?
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I stickied it.
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I think there are a couple of flaws in your logic.
It assumes that those women will accept a bid if given one by the WRC.We know from experience that so many PNMs will sign a bid card that ranks a choice they won't consider because they believe it will give them a better chance at their first choice. (Whether Panhellenic gives them that impression is a whole other discussion.) It assumes that a much larger percentage of PNMs are especially strong and especially weak. My experience has been that perhaps 10% on either end at the maximum. Almost all the PNMs will be somewhere in that 80%, although a good number of them will believe they are in the top 10%. :) It assumes that all similarly ranked PNMs have the same strengths, weaknesses and interests and the chapters (with the exception of the WRC) are homogeneous. In actuality many PNMs will naturally gravitate to chapters with familiar feels (eg: the extra studious chapter, the sporty chapter etc.) That said, I have no idea what an effective strategy would be. I have to think that it would vary significantly with the campus culture and the attitudes of the incoming PNMs. |
On many campuses, if the WRC does not keep within a competitive number of the next lowest chapter, they run the risk of being closed. Even if there is no tent talk(and we know that doesn't happen), the PNMs can tell that the chapter has less members when the members all have to take more than one PNM to rush. I would venture to say the perception would be smaller=troubled=less desirable, whether that is true or not.
The year I was a rush counselor was the last rush for a couple of the sororities on campus. All the chapters still did the Busby Berkley front yard song and dance routines, and it was very apparent how many members each chapter had. The struggling chapters had a look of desperation about them-it was really sad, and I imagine that it was very stressful for their members. Three of the 4 (out of 18) WRC chapters closed that year, and the 4th one the following year. Would RFM have helped? I can't say, but I wonder if RFM will help prevent chapters from getting to the point of no return. I hope so. I think the point of RFM is to help the struggling become (or stay) viable, and it seems to me that the only way to do that is to grow, so that they are nearer to the average chapter size. |
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My line of thinking is more along the lines of what the WRC should do when women come through who really don't fit well, for one reason or another. The conventional wisdom, I think, is that the WRC should be maxing out their RFM with anyone who meets their minimum criteria, and I'm saying that mathematically, that may or may not be true. |
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I think this is a fascinating idea.
I disagree with some of the comments on how impossible it is to judge all PNMs on a universal scale. Of course some PNMs will fit/gravitate/be loved by some chapters more than others, but this is about averages. The main problem I see is whether the RFM specialist will allow carry figures to adjust according to the forced release of 20% of the PNM population by one chapter. Since Panhellenic groups have very little real ability to enforce adherence to RFM, I would think that this would be one area they could use to punish a chapter for not abiding. If you don't adjust the carry figures to account for a Q=20 instead of a Q=25, you screw Chapter 1 into a pledge class of 5 new members when everyone else has 25. The second issue is whether one chapter has the ability to skew the PNM population like that - if there's another WRC, they might be encouraged to carry most of those PNMs, thus keeping all of the original quota figures intact. There's another interesting question in here: do the WRCs in a Greek system benefit when there is some selectivity of the WHOLE Greek system? I'm thinking of an Indiana vs. the rest of the world kind of scenario. Are the WRCs better off on campuses where being any kind of Greek is prestigious? Some schools consider being independent better than being in a WRC, so where is the incentive for PNMs to stick it out when that's all they have left? |
I'm so glad you started this thread, DBB. I have long thought about this as a strategy that in my mind would definitely benefit the WRC, but I never put in the work to really think through an example.
The way I have always thought about it, you would take this gamble only on day one and remove the PNMs that no one else wants and that give you the reputation of taking "anyone". After that, you would go back to maximizing your list for the rest of the days of RFM. The risk is you are now competing with stronger recruiting chapters for the same PNMs, so you will have to convince them to stick with your chapter rather than drop out. As an added bonus, I think it starts to counter some of that argument that you take everyone and builds your chapter's morale while it makes the Greek community stronger (caveat: I do not believe that there is a place for everyone in the Greek community). ETA: One thing that has to be factored in is the group of PNMs that drop out when they don't get invited back to their favorites. I would hazard to say the biggest drop outs occur at the 40 - 60 range in your example, not 1 - 20. That's the one thing I can't figure out. Will this large cut and them dropping lead to a total pool of only 60 PNMs instead of 100? If so, Chapter 4 would get 100-85, Chapter 3 85-71, Chapter 2 70-61 and 40-36 and Chapter 1 35-20. |
I want to be clear that, when I say not-so-great PNM's (WRPNM's?), I'm not talking about women who are fashion-challenged or terribly shy or whatever. Obviously, those women can be great sisters if you take a chance on them, just as much as a WRC can have a great sisterhood if a PNM takes a chance on it.
I'm talking more about the women who come through rush, but you get the distinct impression they won't be able to handle the finances, or their grades are *just* high enough but they are CC transfers, etc. |
..or they pulled a train at a fraternity house over the summer or slapped their boss at camp or have a notable police record (a few true examples).
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I think this scenario only works if there is only 1 WRC, because if WRC cuts those PNMs then they are cut out of Formal. If there are 2 then the ones that WRC#1 drops just go to WRC#2.
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^^^ It depends on the size of the school. In the example with only five chapters it is easier to see how changing quota will work.
I have often argued that for the all but the lowest recruiting chapters, you want quota to be as high as possible. The top chapter gets their top girls. The middle chapters may not get all of their top girls, but they will only need a couple of girls to catch up at COB. They also don't get as many girls "cried" by the top chapter wandering around pissed off on bid day. The problem is when there is a big disparity between the chapters and then the lowest chapters have to do a lot of catching up in COB. Making quota lower so everyone gets quota doesn't really help if it means one or two chapters wind up with a TON of QAs. (more than 4 or 5). They might not have to have COB, but they will have to work really hard to keep those girls (some of whom may not be all that happy bid day). In the example with 15 schools - you also run into problems like this skit night. Suzi Q ranks her top 6, and gets them, but then finds out that her friends are all excited about her number 7 which is their number 2 or 3).:eek: Number 7 is better off focusing on the girls that ranked them higher than to try to get more girls to their parties. |
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^^^^ this !!!! Especially if the WRC is double rushing for preference.
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To Mevara: The way it worked out was that we had to stick to RFM. Our national org was adamant that we stick to the figures (I think someone from our GLO was involved in the system's development and it would have been controversial for us in particular to break? That was what we were told at the time, anyhow.) We were in a total panic, because we were only allowed to release a handful of women out of a pool of nearly a thousand, and we knew Round 2 would be a total mess. As we expected, our invitation acceptance rate had spiked that year because our rush chair had done such a fabulous job prepping our ladies to recruit well, and we were then left with the entire house double rushing. I think that after the advisors all saw how Round 2 went, they relented and allowed us to release more, but the "damage" had been done, and we still were double rushing into Round 3 and pref.
Looking back, I can understand why our HQ and Panhellenic said "stick to the figures." I'm sure every exec board at a WRC thinks they are the special snowflakes that are going to "turn the house around" and so our protests of "no, but really, I think our return rates are going to be much higher this year, our girls are vastly more prepared to successfully recruit" were probably not taken seriously. To OneHeartOneWay and AZ-AlphaXi: You're right, I think the double rushing was brutal. We were able to spin it into a plus for morale for our women ("look how many are back! Our return rates are breaking chapter records!") but I'm sure the message it sent PNMs harmed us. We were not the weakest recruiting chapter on our campus, but I'd say we were maybe the third or fourth weakest out of a competitive system of sixteen. However, I'm not sure how I feel about adding extra parties, either. Our campus did this as well, and it was a really obvious signal for which chapters were and weren't strong recruiting chapters. About ten chapters out of sixteen got to have one party "off" and it was a little rough on morale for our women to see the houses next door with an empty tent for a party because they didn't need to have one. |
To Mevara (again!): One more note on how things turned out. We did make quota, and we actually got a number of our "rush crushes" which was pretty astonishing. However, I still think we achieved this in spite of our release figures, not because of our release figures. And I do think that the system helped our chapter the next year, because it adjusted to our increased strength, yet still required the stronger chapters to release more women, leaving us with fuller (but manageable!) parties.
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I think most of us would agree that RFM has been successful in that it forces stronger recruiting chapters to release women they were not really planning to pledge early in the process. Many of these women are great PNMs who are a better fit for other groups (but can't see that initially). The WRCs benefit by having more of these PNMs in their next round of parties. Thus their chance of pledging these women goes from 0% to maybe 25%. Over time, that adds up.
I also agree that WRCs need to have the flexibility to release some women who do not meet the scholarship and/or leadership standards of their chapters. Sometimes letting a WRC "over-release" by just a few numbers does wonders for the morale of a chapter. I have seen this personally! |
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One of the additional challenges with RFM is that the strong chapters will often have fewer total PNMs attending their invitational rounds, and the WRC will have even more PNMs attending than they would have under the old system. This particular issue exacerbates the problem, and stronger chapters can chose to use only their best recruiters on the floor. I'm a huge HUGE fan of these buffer parties, and I think a Panhellenic that doesn't utilize them is doing everyone a disservice. There are ways to work out a system that is helpful to the WRCs without being overly demanding to the larger chapters, it just requires some creativity and planning. |
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http://www.4hhouse.com/about-4-h-house http://www.illinoisphc.com/#_p.Chapt...er%20Directory |
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There is an inherent unfairness in RFM that rarely gets talked about and that's the added financial burden it places on WRCs. Let's say RFM allows a strong chapter to invite back 700, but a WRC has to invite 1000. The WRC has to pay for those extra chair/table rentals, drinks, glasses, napkins, philanthropy project supplies, etc. Plus there are (typically) fewer members in a WRC to share the cost through their dues compared to a stronger chapter.
Something else to think about. Max recruitment budgets are typically set by the Panhellenic and are the same amount for all chapters. That gives a strong chapter more money to spend per invited PNM than a WRC. * Granted if the campus in question has a totally no-frills recruitment, then this isn't nearly such an issue. * |
There are different styles of conversation during recruitment. A lot of it depends on the campus and/or the chapter. It is difficult to take 2 or more women at the door and have quality conversations with them. If you are used to a certain style of recruitment (bring them in, sit them down and chat while a few people rotate by and introduce themselves) then that's going to be tough - esp at pref where you are trying to have a "meaningful" personal conversation. It can be done but it certainly isn't easy. There are other methods of moving PNMs about the room. Without telling all our secrets so the PNMs know "how" we do it, chapters need to investigate these different methods. It often will make a difference.
Also, it's been known to happen that the CPH has allowed members from other chapters - or young alums - to be on the floor helping recruit at some WRC's. It's worked beautifully for us at a couple of places that I know about. |
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If you MUST use members of other chapters, unless the two chapters have somewhat of a relationship with each other and these will be women the PNMs will encounter again, I would confine them to back room duties or to initally greeting PNMs, and be very clear on their nametags who they are. It's easy for a PNM to feel misled otherwise. Young alums (young = under 25) who are going to be still visiting the chapter a lot are another story. :) |
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