Indiana Recruitment
I was told that at IU, only 45% of girls who go through recruitment receive bids. IU starts recruitment at the beginning of December, and it's continued after winter break during January. Do you think this 45% of girls that receive bids are the 45% who go through recruitment all the way to pref night, or does it take into account the girls who drop because of grades, or just random reasons.
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Indiana has its own system of doing things based on "living in" the house...so this means less slots per house=less girls getting bids. Apparently there isn't any room to expand/build new houses. There are about a gazillion threads on this if you search for Indiana! Good luck.
ETA: There are 5 at the bottom of the screen right now :) THreads about Indiana, that is. |
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Also, if you're getting this info from sorority members (or even other PNMs) keep in mind that they don't always know the EXACT stats for their school. For example, the average placement rate at say, Bama (which is quite competitive) is in the 90% range. Yet, you'll hear a sorority member say something super off base like "recruitment was sooooo tough this year, only like 40% of the girls going through got bids!!!" That's just not true and many times that's just how they perceive it. Or they're trying to make their Greek system seem more exclusive than it is. I suggest reading a little bit more about IU on this site, as their recruitment (structure and method of setting quota) is different than many schools. |
I'm pretty sure that the 45% number takes into account all the PNMs who register for recruitment (which is about 1500-1600 each year I believe) and then subtracts those who end up dropping or being cut for grades in addition to those who don't match with a house at preference round. The actual number of PNMs who attend preference round but don't receive a bid isn't nearly as high. Still, IU recruitment is grueling (but well-worth it at the end). If you have any questions, feel free to ask because I went through last year. This will be my first year recruiting girls to join our chapter so I am in super recruitment geek-mode right now. :)
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And of course they have a new un-housed sorority on campus so presumably there will be greater opportunity to place girls, although maybe not in their first choice. I hope the girls will give them a chance.
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I thought that TPA wasn't participating in the whole of formal rush - that they were only doing 19 party and then dropping out. If that is the case, girls will not be "placed" there - they'll have to make a decision to leave formal rush.
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I don't know. I was thinking they're already established so they would function more or less normally, but I guess they are still a colony so they would have to function differently (voting and other details being different). I will look forward to learning more!
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^^^I'm thinking that next spring (spring 2013) will be their first full FR.
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Yes, that is correct. TPA will participate in the open house round in a few weeks but that is all. I have mixed feelings about this since I was on campus when other sororities did this years ago. To the OP, yes, the placement rate at Indiana looks low but it does take into account the women who attend open houses then are not eligible to return due to their GPA. If those women were not counted in that figure it would be quite a bit higher. Also, that counts the women who CHOOSE to drop out because they did not receive invitations back to the chapters they wanted. Indiana recruitment is not impossible, it definitely requires an open mind and careful ranking of chapters with the end in mind.
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Recruitment starts in 3 weeks! We haven't received our Rho Gammas yet but I am so excited to begin! :) I will be sure to update you all on my progress! :D
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I understand why TPA is choosing to drop out after 20 party, but I feel like it might be setting them up for disaster. We do have a pretty ingrained culture of sorority = living in the house, and I wonder how well the girls going through recruitment will take to that. Current TPA members are sophomores and up, and most of them went through recruitment at least once.
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^^^My understanding is NOT that the University isn't ALLOWING more Greek housing, it's just that the space isn't there.
All groups recently invited to colonize there have accepted the invitation on the terms of "you can colonize, but just know that there is no room for you to have housing." It's also a money issue. Even if there were plenty of lots, it would cost a ton of money to build the kind of facility needed to be competitive (google some of the Indiana sorority houses and you'll see.) |
I still contend there's room for an alternative to the housed sorority. A distinctly smaller chapter, but available nonetheless. If I were them I would be participating in formal rush, have very directed conversations about what they can actually offer (and not pipe dreams about housing some day) and hope to get 15 or 20 new members. If they could sustain 75 members over time, happy members, I think they could consider themselves a success. Maybe even 50. There are some real positives to be exploited there, but they have to take full advantage of every opportunity they have, and formal rush is the biggest.
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Not that either of our opinions matter, but what about a compromise? They could do the open house round that's coming up and the 1st round in January and THEN drop out. That will give the girls a second look but alleviate the negatives you've mentioned. I'm sure the IU Greek system is very interested in TPA's success. I'll be interested to hear how they're being promoted by the rho chis throughout the rush process.
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And you're right about the cost. It would take a couple of million dollars to build a chapter house to compete with the current structures. But, I really think a chapter could succeed if it built a smaller, but nice, house sleeping 50 or so. IU chapters still use bed quota for rush, but some chapters do allow live outs (I believe only 7). If a chapter allows live outs, builds a chapter house with large common areas but only sleeps 50ish, I really think it would appeal to the women who want to live in and to the ones who want to live more independently but yet still be Greek. |
Have any other sororities accepted invites to colonize yet? I'm curious how this housing situation will play out when (and if) the rest of the NPC groups do end up colonizing at IU.
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It is a stacked expansion with Theta Phi first, Tri Sigma the next year, and a 3rd whose name escapes me right now.
Of course everything is subject to change. |
TPA first, and ASA and SSS have accepted invites to come on first and second.
However accepting the invite in a stacked situation like this does not mean that they'll actually come when it's their time. |
I think that Tri-Sig would be much more successful than TPA will turn out to be, but I could be wrong. Numbers are a MAJOR issue at IU, both for the # of girls that each house can take, and the # of girls going through recruitment. My house used to struggle and now, we're at capacity + liveouts and still being pushed to take more. There really isn't an option anymore for girls who don't receive bids through formal other than TPA, and that's why I feel like they may be setting themselves up for failure. You may have a limited number of girls who like them for them (say, 25), but outside of that, they're going to be competing for girls who didn't get any other houses back. Sometimes that works out, sometimes it doesn't.
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^^^Question re: "no other options for girls who don't get bids":
Doesn't IU have informal on some level after FR? Or am I mistaken? Or are there options, but PNMs just aren't interested in those (after going into FR and falling in love with groups who cut them?) |
It's extremely limited. My chapter used to do informal on a more extensive basis when we were struggling, but we didn't take anyone last year. More chapters snap bid, but only to girls that preffed them or went deep into recruitment with them. It's much more of a 'Oh, you know Suzy and Sarah and Sandy and Amy and Becky and 16 other girls? We'll invite you to informal then" type of situation
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ETA: I am fairly certain the Nebraska Chapter is not Theta Phi Alpha's biggest chapter. |
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I think that IU competitive and say, Bama competitive are 2 different things. IU = competitive in the sense that there are more PNMs than spots available. Obvious competition there. You have x spots and y PNMs. SEC competitive = (and correct me if I'm wrong) differently competitive in the sense of many PNMs only wanting certain chapters and those certain groups only having a limited number of spots (per RFM.) Schools like Bama set quota like anyone else and have the same placement rates as other schools. The difference is that more of the PNMs are jockeying for spots at certain places and aren't very open to others. So while the system is set up for everyone who makes it to Pref to get a bid, many aren't going to get that far because their hearts are set on a select group of chapters. Those select few can't take everyone who wants them. There is also the "who you know" element that makes it competitive. Recs, connections from HS, legacies, etc. eat up the available invites pretty quickly. So an average PNM going into recruitment with the bare min of recs/preparation is going to face some competition. The numbers aspect of competition is there, but there are other things that factor in to make it competitive. And yeah, COR may be available at those schools, but at many schools like that, it involves one or more of the chapters that PNMs wouldn't have considered during FR. At some schools, PNMs with unsuccessful recruitments would sooner attempt FR again than pledge a chapter that wasn't a fave via COR. Wow. I ramble. I just got out of a mind numbing lecture so hopefully it makes sense. |
IUHoosiergirl - I think what you're thinking is that's the biggest school they're at. As far as ASA the biggest school we're at is Penn State but our James Madison chapter has more members.
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KSUViolet, that is an EXCELLENT explanation of competition. At schools were there are basically no grade cuts because college entry requirements are higher than typical sorority minimums, technically every single girl could get placed. And really, at a school like Bama, with 75% placement rates and a substantial number of those being dropouts or SIPs, the numbers lend themselves to really very few girls getting cut completely.
The "competition" aspect that most girls are thinking of really only applies to IU and Nebraska, but since nobody seems to complain about Nebraska, the number of girls interested must match desired chapter sizes. |
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So as an example, say 100 PNMs make it to preference and there were three chapters (just to make the math easy). ABC has 20 bed spots DEF has 17 bed spots XYZ has 33 bed spots 70 total bed spots between all three chapters. Using the formula above, this is how is should play out. 100 PNMs less 70 bed spots = 30 total PNM additions. 30 total PNM additions divided by 3 chapters = 10 additions per chapter. Thus ABC could pledge 30 (20 bed spots plus 10 additions) DEF could pledge 27 (17 bed spots plus 10 additions) XYZ could pledge 43 (33 bed spots plus 10 additions) ETA: I am not sure how this works, but Lincoln (where the University of Nebraska is located) women are (were) considered “free” PNMs. Meaning they didn’t count toward the bed total. I don’t know if Lincoln women were part of the additions or a separate number. By the way, UNL changed the way recruitment is conducted this year. So I don’t know if these quotas, additions and “free” Lincoln women still apply. |
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The theory (reason) being the chapter may not want "too large" of a freshman class “now” in case the overall PNM pool happens to be smaller down the line. If that were to happen (a smaller pool after a large number of members graduate), then it is possible that a chapter might have more “open beds” than PNMs. ETA: The "...unless their classes are relatively even" above, refers to bed spots. |
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