PNM Registration -- How does it go at your school?

[Glitter650]

At my school... (and we only have about 120 going through)
Panhel gets Info forms (with very general info) filled out during open house... and gives copies (along with photos) to each of the chapters to use as they see fit.
So at open house (where there is 15 minute rotations) no one knows anything about anyone. but after the first party, they do.

[violetpretty]

Originally Posted by 33girl

Perhaps I came off a little bitchy, but when there's an implication in someone's post that everyone north of the Mason Dixon is an uncouth bumpkin who will never know how to run a proper rush, trust me, I ain't the only one thinking what I said.

A-Freakin'-Men. The OP might actually be at my alma mater, because that sounds like our recruitment.

[PeppyGPhiB]

Originally Posted by AnonAlumna

When we are talking about women trying to get to know someone in 15 minutes does it not help to perhaps have something to start talking about? Couldn't these help those ridiculous: What's your major? Where are you from? questions. Haven't we all been talking for years about making the process easier for everyone involved.

Call me crazy, but I don't see how asking all members to memorize information on PNMs, after matching them up carefully, "makes the process easier for everyone involved." If the only questions members think to ask are "What is your major?" and "Where are you from?" it seems they need some help in conversation. The best rushers are those that can have a conversation with anyone; AND it's one of those life-long skills we often brag that our members learn while in a sorority.

Actually, I would have been creeped out if every woman I talked to during rush was like me.

At my school (and when I was there), the sororities received the registration form and a photo supplied by the PNM. But, I know that the members of my chapter did not get to study that information prior to rush. Everything on each day (except preference) was a complete surprise, since the PNMs entered in random order and we often did not know who was returning to our chapter until the couple of minutes before each party.

[Benzgirl]

This year was the first time I helped with recruitment in 25 years, so I had a chance to view a large recruitment vs. a small recruitment.

When I was in school, all we got was a list of PNMs and their home town. If we were lucky enough to get a rec and a picture, that was gravy. Recs were not a big issue then, so we had no clue what other girls were coming through until we received the knock on the door. There was no alphabetized lists so we grabed the next girl coming through the door. First round was 1200 PNMs, and 20 parties at 15 minutes each. It was an organized chaos.

When I helped at another school this year, they had about 150 PNMs, 5 parties, of 30 minutes. They also didn't receive a list until the knock came. Again, they grabbed the first girl coming through. When I asked the advisor about recs pictures, she said, they always use Facebook.

Is it awkward? Maybe, maybe not. One observation of this method of madness: I noticed the excitement of one collegian pulling her PNM across the room to meet her sister that was from the same city across the country. Talk about a smooth bump! I don't think you could get that same excitement if recruitment was so orchestrated.

[fantASTic]

Originally Posted by AnonAlumna

I've recently become an advisor at a large northern school with a medium to large sized sorority system. I attended my first meeting and got to talk to some of the recruitment officers, and I found out something very surprising: they don't get anything but a name before parties start!

I couldn't believe it. At my school, we were given the registration form (which was pretty detailed) as well as a color picture of every girl. This allows the girls to pair with someone who might have a common interest for the first parties, and on down. It seems this system is wasting a lot of time by not giving these GLO's any information prior. The other advisor told me they only get details if the receive a sponsorship form for a PNM.

Also, girls enter the houses in a random order. (We had a list of the order they were coming in.) The chapter sizes are 3 times the size of what mine was, and I'm just trying to see how other schools do this. I want to go to the Panhell office to present some changes, but I want to see what you guys think.

It just seems to me that with so many girls (500+) going through recruitment they would make it easier for these GLO's and PNM's to find each other more easily. What do you think?

I'm definitely with 33girl here. Your attitude is totally uncalled for. We in the northern chapters DO have some idea of how to get quality women in our chapters, and if it was such a time waster, we would have changed it long ago. Unlike most southern schools [from what I've heard], being Greek is not the be-all end-all to the vast majority of schools here. I don't have time to memorize the personal information of 200 girls. It wouldn't help, either. If a PNM can't formulate enough sentences to tell me about herself, then why would we want her?

Personally, if I went through recruitment and the girl rushing me knew everything about me, I'd be totally creeped out.

Consider this, AnonAlumna: If a woman going through rush is so bland that you cannot remember who she is without a photograph and her life story, do you REALLY want her in your chapter?

[FSUZeta]

do your chapters not have a minimum grade requirement to give a girl a bid?

if you do have a minimum, how do you go about finding out and verifying their gpa?

what if you have 4 girls with the same name? we did this past recruitment. now they weren't from the same place, but you don't want to keep asking each one of them where they are from everytime they walk through your door.

what if its a new member rushing the pnm-the newbies don't always remember to make a mental note of how the girl spells her name or where she is from-things that can help the girls(and the alumnae assisting) know which sydney zelda zta just had as a rush guest. and they always don't get the last name of the girl.

this past recruitment we pledged 1 cydne, 1 sydni, 2 caitlins, 1 katelyn, 1 jordyn, 1 jordan and 2 brittany's. there were more brittany's and caitlins , one more jordan and a couple of lauras that we did not bid. without those forms, it would have been near impossible to tell them all apart.

[lauralaylin]

I think that it's very important that GPAs are given. Each school is different and while I like the idea of getting their registration forms, I can understand that this isn't what happens at some schools. But when I was first advising at URI, we got absolutely nothing. It was impossible to cut for grades, and that certainly didn't work for us. It took a few years of me politely asking for this to change.

Also, I think that for pref at least, the pnm's should be lined up in alphabetical order. It'd be nice for other parties too, but it's essential for pref.

[fantASTic]

Originally Posted by FSUZeta

do your chapters not have a minimum grade requirement to give a girl a bid?

Of course we do.

Originally Posted by FSUZeta

if you do have a minimum, how do you go about finding out and verifying their gpa?

Our campus has a higher required GPA than any of our individual chapters. [Actually, I think one of the chapters has a GPA equal to that, but whatever.] They are not permitted to register without the minimum GPA.

Originally Posted by FSUZeta

what if you have 4 girls with the same name? we did this past recruitment. now they weren't from the same place, but you don't want to keep asking each one of them where they are from everytime they walk through your door.

We make an effort to remember last names. Works like a charm

Originally Posted by FSUZeta

what if its a new member rushing the pnm-the newbies don't always remember to make a mental note of how the girl spells her name or where she is from-things that can help the girls(and the alumnae assisting) know which sydney zelda zta just had as a rush guest. and they always don't get the last name of the girl.

It's called a recruitment workshop. We do several. No newbies are so new that they have no idea what to ask. We let them know what they need to remember. The alumnae are seasoned veterans and don't need our help remembering. Certain aspects of membership selection are involved here as well, which I'm obviously not going to elaborate on.

Originally Posted by FSUZeta

this past recruitment we pledged 1 cydne, 1 sydni, 2 caitlins, 1 katelyn, 1 jordyn, 1 jordan and 2 brittany's. there were more brittany's and caitlins , one more jordan and a couple of lauras that we did not bid. without those forms, it would have been near impossible to tell them all apart.

What were their last names? Why couldn't you just say "Cydne with a C Smith"? Works for us, and we have 200+ girls going through every year.

Honestly, I really don't think you need to know all this stuff about potentials.

[NutBrnHair]

Originally Posted by fantASTic

Honestly, I really don't think you need to know all this stuff about potentials.

AST, sounds like you're in a small pond and what you do works for your chapter -- GREAT!

I can assure you FSUZeta and many of us know your "tricks" like Rush Workshop and remembering last names. Gee, what a concept.

[fantASTic]

Originally Posted by NutBrnHair

AST, sounds like you're in a small pond and what you do works for your chapter -- GREAT!

I can assure you FSUZeta and many of us know your "tricks" like Rush Workshop and remembering last names. Gee, what a concept.

I'm sure you do know these things. But she implied that there was no other way. And small? I wouldn't say we're tiny; we have between 200 and 300 girls go through rush every year.

[BabyPiNK_FL]

I say there's nothing wrong with providing more information. There's nothing wrong with the change as long as it's not hurting. The chapters at my school get tons of info in advance: GPAs, activities, legacy, etc. I usually don't see them do much with it but there are many girls that no one remembers and since they have access to that info they can look up these women and decide whether or not she's going on a list or a flex list or if she's not going to make a list at all. It can be helpful to have more info. I'm not so sure about the pictures though, that can come off a little superficial, but we NEVER pair up girls based on previous info. If someone has a common hobby/hometown/band, etc. as a sister it's discovered during conversation and they are introduced, but the extra info can really be a godsend. I say there's nothing wrong with trying something new if they like the concept.

[PhoenixAzul]

Otterbein has anywhere from 100-250 girls go through at a time, and the registration form is just Name, year, ID# (to account for campus food service), dorm, phone, e-mail and legacy. No pictures, no extracurriculars, nothing. That being said, we don't do the whole "bumping" strategy that lot of chapters do, plus we have deferred recruitment (january). It works well for us, but again, our system runs on its own time and its own rules, we're not bound to NPC practice (sometime a good thing, other times, not so much).

[kddani]

Originally Posted by NutBrnHair

AST, sounds like you're in a small pond and what you do works for your chapter -- GREAT!

I can assure you FSUZeta and many of us know your "tricks" like Rush Workshop and remembering last names. Gee, what a concept.

It's totally unnecessary to be so condescending and rude.

[FSUZeta]

Originally Posted by fantASTic

I'm sure you do know these things. But she implied that there was no other way. And small? I wouldn't say we're tiny; we have between 200 and 300 girls go through rush every year.

i don't feel that i implied that there was only one way to to find out pnm information. i asked no leading questions. i sincerely wanted to know if your campus or your chapter had requirements, because if there is a better way to do things, and it involves less paperwork, i am interested to hear about it.

maybe its a regional thing, but i felt that some of the answers from some of our northern sisters were rude, defensive and condescending. i think it all started with the first response to the op-maybe i missed it, but i did not see the op identify herself as having attended college in the south. did she say where she went to college? she could be from u of michigan, indiana or syracuse. none of us have come up with the perfect recruitment-but if we don't share ideas and compare notes and try to do better, we will never improve.

[SthrnZeta]

FSU, very diplomatic post. Props to you. As for pics - it's not about being superficial at all (though I can see how it may look that way). It's about putting a face to a name - it's just another tool to help actives remember the PNMs you talked to. I know in my chapter, we used the group Rho Chi photos in MS and it was very helpful. And when you have several hundred to over a thousand girls going through, those pictures become essential. No one can remember that many full names without other aides to jog your memory - you'll use whatever tricks you can come up with!