Thanks for encouragement and ideas on how to be there for my D during this process. She visited her 9 houses. Some went well, others didn't. She got double rushed at 4 of them and none of them went well (in her mind). She really does have an open mind about the different chapters. But what I'm realizing is that this process is highlighting some other things some other issues she's been having and bringing them to the surface. So we're working through all that. It doesn't help that she's in a group where all but about 4 of the women received full dance cards for round two. I keep telling her that's not the norm, but, you know, she's 19 so she knows more
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I did have some questions about terms if someone would mind answering/explaining?
What is an RFM, QA, bed quota?
RFM = Release Figures Methodology. This is the formulaic approach to recruitment which analyzes relative chapter strength and determines how many PNMs a chapter is allowed to invite for the next round of parties. In very simple terms, strong recruiting chapters cannot "string along" PNMs. The stronger the chapter, the heavier cuts they must make early on in the process, thus forcing PNMs to consider chapters where they are more likely to receive a bid. In the old days, popular chapters could invite rushees back only to drop them at the very end, after those rushees had cut more fitting chapters for them.
QA = quota additions. These are PNMs who are matched to a chapter (for a variety of reasons) after quota has already been matched.
Bed quota is an archaic recruitment strategy that did not utilize RFM or quota/total. Chapters pledged the number of PNMs needed to fill the beds in the chapter house.
Also, are the women given the opportunity to attend three chapters on preference night?
What does it mean to "maximize" your bids?
This means that a PNM attends the maximum number of parties each round of recruitment. If a PNM can attend 9 but doesn't like one and only attends 8, she has not maximized and therefore cannot be considered for a quota addition or guaranteed bid match. However, if the maximum is 9 and a PNM only has 7 invitations and attends them all, she has maximized her options.
Does IU still do "snap bidding" and informal/open rush after formal rush is over?
All campuses do these things. (They aren't the same.) A PNM shouldn't count on this however, as the number of spaces may be extremely limited, and many chapters will have no spaces at all. These slots often are offered to women already well-known to the chapter.
Thanks in advance. It's been awhile since I went through IU rush and it is a very, very different process. I didn't realize how much it had changed. When I went through, we (the PNMs) were given a list of chapters that had invited us back. If we were asked back to more than we could visit we cut them. Very different now.
This will be a very long week. I'm glad she at least has classes to focus on now instead of sitting in her room marinating in everything.
Thanks!
