UGA Recruitment Winds Down

[axoalum]

Soup, you are not fuzzy. I actually kept my print out cards from rush (seriously!) and looked at them today after we talked. It looks like we got the list of who asked us back before we made our selections. I am not 100% sure though because all I have are the computer cards for each round not my list as well.
I know ruch sucks in so many ways but I'm not sure how to make it any better. It is just a necessary evil (for both sides) in order to continue our great greek system that we all love.

[ree-Xi]

No matter the size of the PNM group, the number of chapters, quota, etc., there will always be a contingency of women who A. don't get their first choice, or B. don't get ANY bids.

In terms of getting one's "first choice" and lamenting that there wasn't enough time for the chapter to get to know your (the general your, not you particularly) fabulous daughter - think about it in the reverse.

What are the standards by which any PNM selects one or two chapters as "her top choices"? Surely there are superficial reasons or limited knowledge that goes into choosing their favorites. I am sure that the Members have just as difficult a decision making THEIR choices. Who one person may see as the perfect PNM, another (or many) may not have had the chance to experience the same. The same thing goes for a girl whom only one has met yet feels strongly about - what if the girl isn't really that chapter's material? Who knows if your daughter really did fit into her first choice? Other than her perceptions, were they really that much of a fit?

Not saying that your daughter does not measure up to the "most beautiful", popular, social group on campus - if that is what her her deam chapter is made of, but how much alike are they really? When it comes down to it, are they similar when it comes to the little things? In my experience, that's what counts!

Before freaking out that your daughter got the shaft by not getting her first choice - and we all agree that NO system is perfect - think about the promise of joy and sisterhood ahead of your daughter. Reality is mostly one's perception.

I hope that your daughter finds happiness in her new home, and that you can allow yourself to be happy that a group really wanted her so badly over maybe hundreds of other girls!

[axoalum]

So... where is UGAMomof4? And Greek Stress, would you tell us where your daughter went? We want to be excited for her! Really!

[GreekAlphaSoup]

But since this is a thread on winding down (hey, who started this - oh, yeah....me!) , and since, right this minute, we, moms and alums who either have daughters at rush or who worked at rush, are the ones winding down (face it - our girls are either getting a bid, missed a bid, are anxiously waiting to see who shows up to accept the bid, etc.), it is a suitable place to vent ALL!

Greek Stress - you have excellent opinions (and probably are expressing thoughts openly, and honestly, without pre-screening every letter you type, like some of us). Last year, we had UGADad's thread to vent - did anyone else notice how depressingly and astoundingly quiet it was regarding one of the largest recruitment processes in the entire collegiate world? Maybe if we let everyone let it out (like UGADad began for us last year), we'll feel better and not vent to the kids?

Just a thought....an opinion really....maybe just a whisper of an idea..seriously...so sorry....hmmmmmm......

[AOEforme]

Originally Posted by Greek Stress

There must be a better way?

For every application process there MUST be a better way. Take Medical School. The people who are accepted into Medical Schools aren't necessarily the people who will make the best doctors. The process doesn't test for compassion, charisma, and passion. It tests for people who look good on paper: smart, high grades, involved. Why? Surely on something as important as the future health care of the U.S. we'd find a way to test for all these?

Because, with millions of applicants each year, it simply isn't feasible. Yes, it sucks. But the way they currently have works reasonably well. Same thing with formal recruitment. It isn't the hypothetical best. But, it's the best practical form of recruitment with hundreds to thousands of girls going through each year.

Some girls miss out on some great chapters; some chapters miss out on some great girls. This happens even in Informal/COB where you theoretically have more time.

All you can do is make the best of the hand you were dealt. Greek Stress, for you this means to take a step back, be thankful your daughter got a bid at one of the most competitive recruitments in the country, and allow her to fall in love with her Sorority and her Chapter.

I promise you that complaining about how she didn't get her top WILL ruin her sorority experience for her. She'll never get to think about how lucky she is to be a XYZ: all she'll be doing is wishing for ABC. Allow her to enjoy her new sorority.

[MerryGPhiB]

Hey UGAMomof4

Any news yet???????????

[estherjb]

I actually kept my print out cards from rush (seriously!)

I heart you for that!!! I have mine too. Punch cards.

I'm waiting to hear about my neighbor and I'm dying. I don't want to call her or her mom but I'm about to pop.

[violetpretty]

I'll touch on what hasn't been explicitly said. In the past 10 years, it has become very popular, particularly on campuses with large numbers of PNMs and chapters to use the release figure method (RFM). The purpose of the release figure method is to place the maximum number of PNMs. Certain chapters ("popular" ones---ones that a high percentage of PNMs would opt to return to if invited) are forced by the College Panhellenic to cut a high percentage of PNMs after the first round. Other chapters will make the majority of their cuts at different points in recruitment.

I've read recruitment stories from before the RFM was used. It was fairly common for a PNM to be invited to every (or almost every) chapter after the first round. So, of course, the PNM has the power to cut whichever chapters she wants, and usually it's the "low-tier" chapters that get cut in such a situation. Meanwhile, the "popular" chapters are inviting back tons of PNMs that they have no real intention or ability to pledge. Not using RFM on a big campus will usually guarantee a big discrepancy in size among chapters (ie "low tier" chapters don't make quota), and a lot of PNMs who get cut out of options later in recruitment because they opted to cut chapters where they had a realistic shot at a bid (lots of unmatched PNMs). VERY often, women will return to chapters that they didn't like after one or two rounds (ie. would have cut them if allowed) and find that it is the place for them.

Now, about "popular" chapters and their cuts. I will never know how any other chapter does membership selection but my own (and that's in a limited time frame), but I can speculate that because they have to make the biggest cuts after the first round that there isn't always a "reason" or there is a silly reason that you talk yourself into feeling good about because Panhellenic is forcing you to make these drastic cuts. There can be legitimate connection between a PNM and an active, but the PNM is cut simply because they have to make a certain amount of cuts, and there were more PNMs that they liked better for one reason or another. This is a problem that "popular" chapters face: how to find what you are looking for after only one party. They can choose based on whatever criteria they want, but they still must make those cuts.

Also, about suiciding. Your daughter wasn't "forced" to suicide; in fact, she was probably encouraged to list all of her preference chapters. Some campuses also have a "guaranteed matching" policy--if they have at least one preference invite, and rank all preference chapters they attended, Panhellenic will guarantee they will be matched to one of those chapters. If a large number of PNMs suicide, there will be more unmatched women, so it is discouraged. Women who suicide can and do get bids often, but it makes the PNM question, "If it came down to my second or third choice, would I rather have them or not be Greek?"

Even if your daughter feels she would have been a better fit elsewhere, encourage her to try to like her group she is pledging. She won't have a chance to pledge anywhere else until next year anyway. She might just find that she couldn't imagine herself anywhere else.

[KSUViolet06]

Also keep in mind that this is UGA we're talking about. A PNMs best chance of getting a bid is as a first semester freshman. Your daughter might think she could just drop out and rush again next year, but her chance of getting a bid will decrease significantly next year (as a sophomore).

[aopinthesky]

Originally Posted by Greek Stress

You know as well as I do many of these girls are dismissed for brainless, rude reasons. These girls can be extremely wicked. I can only hope that next year and the years after that these PNM's remember how they were treated and how they felt and be a little kinder to others. Isn't that what a sorority should strive for?

Greek Stress,
I, too, am from greek life of 30 years ago. However I am still involved with AOII as a volunteer so perhaps that is why your daughter's story seems very positive to me when you seem to think her experience was so negative. Things are a LOT different than when we went through "rush" and I, for one, say bring it on. As time goes on and the new release figures take hold, I believe that we will see fewer chapters close due to numbers and more women placed during recruitments.
I disagree that girls are dropped from chapters for brainless, rude reasons. I have been to membership selection for many years and I can tell you that there is much more thought and care put into who is chosen than there ever was when I was a collegiate. The system is so much stronger and stands for so much more than it did in the 70's and 80's that most women from those years wouldn't recognize their own chapters. Moreover, I think they would be proud of what those chapters have become. I urge you to get involved in your own sorority or your daughter's and see for yourself how it is on "this side". It ain't easy. And I wish your daughter all the happiness in the world in her new home. I am sure she will blossom there.

[GreekAlphaSoup]

Very good points, AOPintheySky. Just from what I gathered this week as well, they are MUCH more thoughtful and kind than I remember from our days. Flashback....remember "cut sessions" - remember shouts of "top girl!" and "rush her hard!" or the dreaded, and only used in matters of dire necessity because it could blackball someone for life "Questionable Rep!". Cut sessions were brutal...fast forward 30 years and you could hear a pin drop on the upstairs floor when the girls were voting, or it you listened at the doorway of a dining room, not a sound was uttered. The girls are sincerely working hard to do the best job possible. And they take their responsibilities very seriously.

While I can agree with Greek Stress that girls can be "wicked", and brutal and unkind, that is certainly not unique to Greek girls....I learned it from years of working in the educational system....not to mention my teen years and those of my 3 daughters. Painful, true! So, while I am sure it happens, it is on the QT, not out in the open (I believe.)

I'm sure Panhel is trying to bring out the best in all our women.....us included!

[shadden]

Has anyone heard numbers from UGA? I have heard several different figures for quota.

[SIGKAP DAWG]

UGA Sigma Kappa has 61 great new girls. I have the list in my hands now!!!!!!!!!!

[agd4rie]

Alpha Gam has 63 new members!

[I.C. a Pi Phi]

Hi! I just got the Pi Phi list emailed to me. 62 beautiful new baby angels!

I heard quota was 58, and the rest are QA's.