2017 rush

@awkwards -- for those that are not well-off, are not smart, not good looking and not southern connected, idk what to say. This is the largest recruitment in the United States. It is Alabama. It is the SEC. It is the big league. Most girls who lack grades, money, looks and connections usually self select themselves right out of recruitment by not doing it. Seriously. It takes some game to even get involved and go through the process and make it till the end. Everyone that makes it into any of the houses has different strengths and usually some weaknesses, but all are strong in some way or another.

But to answer the question for @awkwards, I would say that the pnms you are describing usually end up at the lower new row houses. Just look at most any rank on here and you will see some form of a bottom three or so. That is where they go. DZ. AOII. GPB. Once they come on campus, Sigma Kappa. With that said, even these houses end up with pnms that could have gone elsewhere but chose those houses for whatever reason -- like, say, it was their favorite and they are not all caught up in this ranking BS.

Don't worry about it. Don't evaluate yourself by where you end up. Every house has excellent girls. But it cannot be denied that there is a little bit of a pecking order. \n\n\n\n\n

"It is the big league."

Oh please. We may have the largest recruitment, but let's not act like we have the most competitive or selective recruitment. Also, a lot of girls who go to Alabama (ESPECIALLY out of state girls) are not these perfect goddesses like you paint them. A lot of OOS girls came here because it was their safety school...we have pretty girls but we are not known for having the prettiest girls in the country, and our girls aren't THAT rich. If the OOS girls (and some in state girls) were really that rich, well-connected, and smart, they would not be here. Our recruitment is stressful, but it is not competitive in the sense that a ton of girls will end up without bids. It is competitive to get into a top house, but even then not AS competitive as it can be at some schools. You can pretty much kiss a top house goodbye at some other schools if you aren't from in state, and that's NOT how it is here. I am admittedly in an old row house and we have some pretty "average" girls, not that that's a bad thing, but let's not pretend like every PNM has to be god's gift to earth to get into a good house here.

i'm from mississippi and i know ole miss is VERY competitive. they dont have enough houses to fit all the girls that rush every year, so a LOT of girls end up getting dropped from rush all together. it's very hard to land a top house, even for the in state girls with connections. so many girls would leave the school after not getting bids, so they pushed back rush til after the date to drop your classes.

our greek system is nowhere near this competitive; if you rush and you "maximize your options," you're most likely gonna get a bid from somewhere (although it may not be from where you want). I do think our greek system is better than ole miss', but they're a lot more competitive.

IU Indiana University - One of the most competitive sorority recruitments. About 50% are offered bids. In 2015... 2,088 women registered. 1,104 received bids. Each sorority sets their own quota. Just because you go to pref does not mean you get a house.

Alabama - About 93% are offered bids

There are different levels to it. There is a "how hard is it to get a bid to a top house" competitive. At Alabama it is difficult, but not impossible to get a bid at a top house with no connections IF you come prepared, have a good resume to back you up, good personality, and dress well. At some schools you can be super model pretty, have a stellar reputation, be wealthy, graduate top of your class, etc. and a top house won't give you a second look because there are other girls who are all of those things but they also have connections. This is the level we're still most competitive on though.

The other level to competitiveness is how hard it is to end up with a bid at the end of recruitment. How much do you have to compete with other PNMs for spots in a house? For us, the answer is: not that much. We are able to accommodate the large majority (almost ALL) of PNMs, meaning mostly everyone gets a bid. It is NOT like this at many other schools. Schools with smaller Greek life are sometimes smaller because they literally can't accommodate any more girls. I have friends who go to schools where literally 50% of PNMs or less end up with a bid. They may have close to 2,000 girls rush, but if their pledge classes only consist of about 80 girls and they only have 12 houses, only half of those girls will get bids.

I don't know why some people even want to brag that we have the most "competitive" recruitment when that can actually be a negative thing.

Any reason why IU's recruitment has space for so few women? That % just seems ridiculous to me + detrimental to the growth of their whole Greek community.

Old sorority recruitment traditions are dying hard at IU. Yes, IU used to have bed rush. Yes, that limited to an extreme the number of bids available.

IU then added four sorority chapters over five years, and simultaneously IU's recruitment was changed to utilize a small form of regular quota but not the NPC RFM model. Those 4 newest IU chapters have been unhoused, and most will remain so as of Fall 2017.

Yet while understanding there is a need for those newest sororities, most IU women retain a distaste for joining the 4 unhoused groups (as read here on the IU greekrank pages).

The NPC for a few years now has prescribed, and most all campuses use, the new RFM formula for quota meaning attendance at pref party(s) and maximizing all party options meant getting a bid (unless you committed a near-murder during your pref parties).

But IU is still perfecting their NPC RFM usage. Last year it was strongly suggested each IU sorority bid at least 54 women, and only a few of the unhoused sororities slightly missed that mark then COBd for additional women.

No recruitment system works 100% perfectly. I will take a good guess that IU panhel will recommend each sorority bid at least 60-65 women this year, as their recruitment sign-up numbers will more than likely be that high.

doesn't one of PKT throw glitter on the PNMs during pref so the other chapters know those PNMs went there and back off? it's like they aren't even trying to be panhellenic.

UT didn't even have an open house round until nearly 30 years ago -- you entered rush with a certain number of invites. PNMs had to network over the summer and hope they got invited to various teas and such.

XO is the glitter house, although UT Panhellenic is trying to crack down on stuff like that and the Pi Phi "dance party."

UT Kappa likes to troll PNMs they don't want by having them stand in front of a huge floor fan that blows their hair around and by purposely calling them by the wrong names.

Theta used to give the girls they wanted piggyback rides out of the house, although they've reportedly cut it out.