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Waaay back in the day, at my west coast school which was purported to have a "laid-back" recruitment (it was anything but that!) many girls dropped out because they were not invited back to their first choices. The well-intentioned response of my alma mater was to add more chapters, one after another. As in, one in 1981, another in 1982, one more in 1983.....Two of those three chapters are gone, and two more closed as well. The Panhellenic website still says, in capital letters, that recs are not needed. I think that at many schools, girls want to join those chapters perceived as "top," or nor join at all. Unfortunately, at too many schools, as another poster stated, it is the "look" that determines who is invited back.
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I think a lot of the releases could also be explained by the needs of the sorority in that particular year.
A smaller group who is trying to rebuild may want to focus on quality rather than quantity, and may be fine with not reaching quota if it means they get the type of woman they want. That type may be women with strong leadership qualities who are willing to step into those roles right away and are self-confident enough to want to be a part of rebuilding a group. So a group interested in a woman wanting to take a leadership role may pass over a woman who says she's really interested in the social part of a sorority, or one who is quiet or shy, because they don't think she wants to lead (even if she does!). Years later that same group could be doing exceedingly well, and may want a very broad range of girls - or maybe they want to avoid recruiting a lot of strong leadership types because they already have so many and they need other types of women to balance the group out. Maybe they want to expand their social activities on campus and are looking for really outgoing and social women? Or maybe they need some women with really strong academics that year because they lost some of their more academically inclined sisters to graduation. So I think a lot of the average girls who get cut just might not fit that needs of a particular group in that recruitment - and each group is going to have different needs, and she may not be strong enough in the areas they are seeking to stand out. It's no fault of the PNM, because they don't know what to emphasize about themselves if they do have the qualities that group is seeking. They may be really social and outgoing - once you get to know them. But if this isn't evident in the first or second round, a sorority looking for those types of girls might pass her over in favour of a girl who is more obviously social. This woman may have ended up being a stellar member, but with such a short amount of time, the sorority has to go with what they see and know from those short meetings (especially when a larger group has to cut a LOT of PNMs after the first round, because they are required to due to release figures). |
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I think our Panhel feels that having the basics like that on file satisfies the need for recs, and the rest is up to a girl to make a good impression and find her sorority. I've never seen recs mentioned in our national policy either. I dont know, maybe I am missing something...(like I said, I only know about it because of GC!) but we do great without recs, and we're doing better every year. |
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Having a rec is something that's just standard at some schools. It's nothing that guarantees you a bid or anything. It's similar to having a certain GPA. Girls know that in order to do well, you need it. It's just standard procedure (along with registration, grades, and everything else). Also, at many schools where recs are needed, there are close to 1,000 PNMs going through, and having recs helps to provide extra info about girls. Something you will figure out if you stick around here long enough is that every school is different. The way another school functions does not make it better or worse. |
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We definitely dont have even 500+ girls going through, so we dont need them, but who knows, if we ever grew enough, we might move into needing recs! |
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Coming from a "not top tier" chapter, you'd be amazed at how awful some rushees can be. I won't get into voting detail but there were some women that I just wanted to be able to vote infinity lower than I did because they were so rude. Then of course, if there are girls who didn't get bids and the lower-down chapters didn't take them, all of a sudden the sorority is full of total bitches. (It was OK for the top sorority to reject them, however.) May I also add, for every sorority (tiers notwithstanding) there are things that can make you a favorite at one chapter, and detested at another. And it's usually nothing you can even spell out. |
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I keep skipping back to how something like that is rare in the NPHC process and how it would be dealt with. :p |
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That being said, I do think you may be reading a bit much into Anna's post. I found her post to be well written, helpful, and even had a bit of sensitivity. Yes, after being cut by all houses there it can really hurt to read something like that, but I do feel that she presented it in a very considerate manner. She provided a very enlightened (perhaps a tad too enlightened for membership selection info) glimpse into what 18-22 year olds are noticing as they meet prospective members. I did not find anything tacky or mean-spirited about her post. Trust me, it could have been much, much worse. I also know many women in my organization with college-aged daughters who would have had the same thought as she did. Again, I am very sorry for your daughters experience. Really, I am. However, I think that some of your pain may have been misplaced on Anna. |
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