UVA rush

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I saw on the parent fb page some parents are sending their daughters cookies and / or flowers. Is this a thing?

I assume parents were not present for Bid Day. I know of out of state moms showing up for Bid Day at Southern universities. Seems a bit much, in my view.

Kind of like when kids get accepted and there is a pic on insta of a kids bedroom with 100+ balloons, $1K of college merch and snack food that matches the school colors. Last year it seemed each post topped the prior one.

So, yeah, some parents are thrilled that their kids are now in the “top tier” of society and will send them presents that they will then hopefully post on social media so the moms can repost and brag.

Geez parents are happy their kid got into any sorority, not top tier. I sent my kid some themed cookies after initiation.

I heard that a lot of girls dropped out of rush this year, which is a real shame. Sounds like way more than usual and they started with a smaller group rushing to begin with. Looks like it will be a busy COB season.

If your kid got into the lowest tier that only got 3 girls as opposed to their usual full house would you have sent themed cookies? Maybe you would have - but I am seeing the usual tier hierarchy play out.

What I am seeing on social media is just so eye opening…and depressing. I feel so bad for the kids with everything so in your face on social media. And from what I am seeing the parents are the worst.

I am also seeing tons of posts from kids who were just accepted into college listing all of the sororities in their girls school begging for letters of recommendation. It’s January... 😳
And their kid is not yet in college.

You must be an alum from the pre-2006 era.
This “we only got 3 new members” thing literally doesn’t happen anymore.
NPC fixed the algorithm and now most if not all houses pledge quota unless they choose to under-invite at every round.

Oh it happened and it’s not even what is considered the “bottom” chapter. So many more folks dropped this year, I think the algorithm broke. theta even had to offer snap bids. My daughter is a pi chi and she said more than half of her dropped throughout the process.

Why did so many drop this year?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I saw on the parent fb page some parents are sending their daughters cookies and / or flowers. Is this a thing?

I assume parents were not present for Bid Day. I know of out of state moms showing up for Bid Day at Southern universities. Seems a bit much, in my view.

Kind of like when kids get accepted and there is a pic on insta of a kids bedroom with 100+ balloons, $1K of college merch and snack food that matches the school colors. Last year it seemed each post topped the prior one.

So, yeah, some parents are thrilled that their kids are now in the “top tier” of society and will send them presents that they will then hopefully post on social media so the moms can repost and brag.

Geez parents are happy their kid got into any sorority, not top tier. I sent my kid some themed cookies after initiation.

I heard that a lot of girls dropped out of rush this year, which is a real shame. Sounds like way more than usual and they started with a smaller group rushing to begin with. Looks like it will be a busy COB season.

If your kid got into the lowest tier that only got 3 girls as opposed to their usual full house would you have sent themed cookies? Maybe you would have - but I am seeing the usual tier hierarchy play out.

What I am seeing on social media is just so eye opening…and depressing. I feel so bad for the kids with everything so in your face on social media. And from what I am seeing the parents are the worst.

I am also seeing tons of posts from kids who were just accepted into college listing all of the sororities in their girls school begging for letters of recommendation. It’s January... 😳
And their kid is not yet in college.

You must be an alum from the pre-2006 era.
This “we only got 3 new members” thing literally doesn’t happen anymore.
NPC fixed the algorithm and now most if not all houses pledge quota unless they choose to under-invite at every round.

Oh it happened and it’s not even what is considered the “bottom” chapter. So many more folks dropped this year, I think the algorithm broke. theta even had to offer snap bids. My daughter is a pi chi and she said more than half of her dropped throughout the process.

Again, associating “snap bids” with bottom tier and being shocked that groups that are not bottom would do this is simply telling me that you are an alum from 25 years ago.
When every group must limit their invitations based on their prior three years of performance, there will be groups that miss quota by one or three on occasion. And when it happens to a group that is not lower tier (“even theta”) will utilize snap bidding to pretty easily and quickly fill those spots.
Yes, girls drop when they have their hearts set on certain houses and their expectations for what houses will invite them don’t align with what happens for them.
But when that happens, invitation numbers given to the houses by NPC is reduced, and quota is then adjusted each round to reflect the number still enrolled divided by the number of houses.
There are no NPC houses at UVA (or elsewhere) that are matching only three women on bid day.

why are you so high and mighty, do you work for the algorithm maker? I just TOLD YOU THAT IT DID HAPPEN. Tri Sig at UVA had exactly three people show up to bid day. You can ask anyone. The parents have posted in it on the FB pages, there are PICS of the three people on their insta. It happened, so stop being so stupid and condescending. Normally the bottom house is GPHI and they get maybe 8 on bid day. They did not participate in formal rush as they have too few members so now Tri Sig took their spot and the least popular. but THREE? Absolutely crazy. Everything went haywire this rush and WAY more people dropped out than usual.

I think PP’s point is that unless they under-invited, the algorithm would not have matched them with only three women on bid day.
So the only other way to explain only three women showing up on bid day, women who were matched to that sorority would have had to opt to drop out rather accept their bid and show up to that house.
And it sounds like you are saying that yes, that is what happened.
This is a system problem. It’s not just an [insert name of current “bottom” chapter] problem. And I hope the whole system recognizes that. Because if they don’t work together to help erase/combat the stigma they’ve created and reinforced that does NOT support “all our chapters are strong and full of amazing college women” then this result will be repeated until chapter “on the bottom” will continue to decline and fall off due to lack of membership, until suddenly there are only three groups left and that third group starts to wonder how they came to be known as “bottom tier!”

My unsolicited advice for any members of the very “top chapters” who are reading this is to use your position for good. Reach out and offer to support these groups for the good of your whole system. Hold partner philanthropy events with them, host small social events with your group and theirs plus two fraternities. Use your strong reputation to assist in combatting this issue and begin to build a culture across your Greek system that refuses to engage in tearing down other groups who only want what you want——a support system where they can find encouragement and friendship with other women.

No horse in this rush race but I read the thread with interest and the above post. I have heard of various experiences across schools. Is it that 25-50 percent of rushees land at 8 houses or so and the rest (hundreds) are herded toward 1 or 2 less popular houses knowing statistically many bail and hoping enough stick? That seems like a ruse and feeds a stigma problem which shouldnt exist in the first place. The girls wouldn’t be at the school if they weren’t compelling and worthy of knowing. However it is the perception of supply and demand.

So above poster has a point. The different houses should support each other to try to correct the problem.

How else can it be solved and shake it up so it has a chance of surviving? Out of box thinking, what if girls can opt to be assigned randomly if they want? 20 get assigned to each house via lottery as an additional layer to the traditional process, or whatever number the least popular needs? Each house gets that same number of lottery draws ie 30 traditional process, 20 draws.

Any other ideas out there? So many are left disenchanted and there must be a better way these days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I saw on the parent fb page some parents are sending their daughters cookies and / or flowers. Is this a thing?

I assume parents were not present for Bid Day. I know of out of state moms showing up for Bid Day at Southern universities. Seems a bit much, in my view.

Kind of like when kids get accepted and there is a pic on insta of a kids bedroom with 100+ balloons, $1K of college merch and snack food that matches the school colors. Last year it seemed each post topped the prior one.

So, yeah, some parents are thrilled that their kids are now in the “top tier” of society and will send them presents that they will then hopefully post on social media so the moms can repost and brag.

Geez parents are happy their kid got into any sorority, not top tier. I sent my kid some themed cookies after initiation.

I heard that a lot of girls dropped out of rush this year, which is a real shame. Sounds like way more than usual and they started with a smaller group rushing to begin with. Looks like it will be a busy COB season.

If your kid got into the lowest tier that only got 3 girls as opposed to their usual full house would you have sent themed cookies? Maybe you would have - but I am seeing the usual tier hierarchy play out.

What I am seeing on social media is just so eye opening…and depressing. I feel so bad for the kids with everything so in your face on social media. And from what I am seeing the parents are the worst.

I am also seeing tons of posts from kids who were just accepted into college listing all of the sororities in their girls school begging for letters of recommendation. It’s January... 😳
And their kid is not yet in college.

You must be an alum from the pre-2006 era.
This “we only got 3 new members” thing literally doesn’t happen anymore.
NPC fixed the algorithm and now most if not all houses pledge quota unless they choose to under-invite at every round.

Oh it happened and it’s not even what is considered the “bottom” chapter. So many more folks dropped this year, I think the algorithm broke. theta even had to offer snap bids. My daughter is a pi chi and she said more than half of her dropped throughout the process.

Why did so many drop this year?

What is average and how many this year?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:My kid just got dropped from her top two choices. I think it is House Tours day today. She is not thrilled. I told her to go through the motions. She might end up clicking with another house. Personally, I would have preferred she never rush, yet here I am still encouraging her to continue with the process. I guess this will be one of many growing experiences in life, and it won’t be the end of she does not end up joining a sorority.

Please tell her to continue. Looking back the houses that seemed the closest were not the top few. Sometimes things work out when you least expect.

Just curious. Why do you care whether or not PPs daughter joins a sorority?

I’m beginning to think the whole thing is a big money scam, with some of these groups desperate for any members that can pay.

Not PP, but 100% as membership-based organizations, sororities rely on membership (and dues from its members) to sustain operations and growth.
The US is full of thousands and thousands of adult women who are alumnae of these various sororities, and who benefitted from collegiate membership (some socially…which is the part that non-Greeks focus on; some academically—Greeks in average have 10-20% higher GPA than non-Greeks, so they tend to be a peer group that cares about academic success; some philanthropically—most groups have signature philanthropy events that are completely student organized and run, so it teaches about importance of lifelong giving and community impact; some leadership-oriented—serving as a sorority officer is a solid leadership experience with budgeting ($20K-$100K budgets), management of people and committees, conducting meetings, etc.)

So the PP who encouraged that daughter to stay and see if there is a group she would feel comfortable joining likely just recognizes the value that her own sorority membership brought to her life and wants to see that continue to impact other’s lives in that way.
And she probably knows sororities can only continue through dues-paying memberships.

Sure, you can get campus involvement, social connection, philanthropy activity, and leadership from joining any other club—but sororities are women supporting other women in all of the above…and for life.
Truly as silly as it seems, sharing all that plus the initiation ceremony (that is over 100 years old at this point, for nearly every sorority group) during those 3-4 formative years of growth is meaningful for many women.

Correction: it’s women supporting certain women. Definitely not all women.

well yes, generally speaking, it’s the kind with female genitalia. But some groups are even being flexible about that lately. (Looking at you, KKG)

Oh FFS keep your obsession about transgenderism away from this thread.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:This thread had me go down the rabbit hole of uva sorority IG pages. I went there in the late 90s. The pics make it look like it was exactly the same as it was then. Wasn’t my thing then and it really makes me wonder if it’s the place for DD.

Well, perhaps you can be a good parent, and tell your UVA student (like I did) about your concerns. I was President of my sorority back in the day. Huge. huge mistake. Both my kids know that. My UVA kid never pledged and never, ever went into one of the houses, which is easy because they are not on campus and only 30% participate.

Perhaps talk to your children and share your concerns instead of judging here. Lots of great students go to UVA and never participate - it's not like the big Greek houses in the south.

Meanwhile, my kid graduated UVA with highest honors and is overseas getting a doctorate. It can happen. Then law school. Imagine that.

There’s that adjective “only” again. 30% is a huge proportion. Your effort to be dismissive of its presence and influence is unconvincing… no, it’s not for everyone but the Greek system is omnipresent, influential, and mainstream. It’s probably the most popular activity on grounds — can you think of another activity that attracts 30% of the student population?

The activity of avoiding frats attracts 74 percent of the student population. So there’s your answer.

No, that’s it an answer. It sounds like some desperate attempt by you to downplay the significance of the Greek presence on grounds. So you obviously care a whole lot about the Greek system — you have this fantasy that it’s insignificant when the opposite is demonstrably true.

No one is downplaying anything. You aren't aware there are schools like Wash & Lee which is 86 percent greek. 30 percent is small. I don't even remember what my SLACs was but it was not a big deal on campus

DP. 30 percent can feel pretty huge when you’re a first year trying to find where you fit in, and 6 out of 18 girls on your hall suddenly have brand new groups of friends and tons of social opportunities. It really can feel pretty devastating for some, not necessarily because they desperately want to be in a particular sorority, but because they want to find a crowd, or because it disrupts relationships they’ve already formed. I really feel for these kids having to go through this with social media now, too.

Well they could’ve rushed and be at bid day today if they didn’t have some particular pre conceived notion of where they belonged.

Maybe they were not familiar with greek life (I wasn't when I was a freshman). I didn't really know what it was. I also didn't think, once i found out, I could afford it. There are lots of reasons people may not have rushed beyond the "preconceived notion" of the poor, oppressed sororities.

There was some very pointed bad mouthing of one sorority all week on social media. This is a healthy sorority that normally does fine, though they are “low tier”, they got three girls. They normally get a normal sized pledge class. So no I think it’s not innocent reasons, it’s badmouthing on social media which led to girls dropping rather than go to this house. Really awful, why anyone feels the need to put others down, especially those who are no threat to anyone, I have no idea.

Where are kids bad mouthing the houses? My ask is not to read behind but curious were people posting and reading it if it really influenced girls. I would not think people would want to put their name to speaking poorly of other houses?

Yik Yak

That is so mean. I don’t even know what yik yak is? So mean and sad they didn’t get more than 3 girls. Makes me sad.

I thought Yik Yak died more than 5 years ago b/c no one used? Guess not.

It did shut down b/c of “rampant bullying” in 2017. But it’s back.

Article from when relaunched in 2022:

“The Return of Yik Yak. The social media app that shut down in 2017 amid rampant bullying is back on campus with new “community guardrails” in place to prevent harassment. But some students say that’s not enough…. Now a whole new generation of college students is discovering the app. Some have no idea of its past history of cyberbullying and threats….”

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2022/03/07/yik-yak-re-emerges-after-shutdown

From before shut down, Wash Post describes it as “cauldron of hate speech”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2015/05/07/some-virginia-students-school-officials-struggle-with-anonymous-bullying-and-hate-speech-on-yik-yak-app/

Wow I had no idea, thanks for sharing. my DD told me this week, if YikYak had been a thing when she rushed in Jan 2022, she would’ve dropped from rush. Hateful hateful stuff being shared.

Sounds an awful app from everything hearing/reading.

+1
Which reinforces that the type of people sharing that information and making the hateful comments are the same people in Greek life. No thanks.
DP

You don’t know that, it’s open to everyone.

Oh, come on. People who aren't interested in Greek life are definitely not wasting time on some awful, catty, shallow website. People who are obsessed with Greek life ARE.

Every kid at UVA is on yikyak.

[Anonymous]

Girls drop mid week because the algorithm is set up to push girls into the unpopular houses to save the chapters. Girls aren’t falling for it. They want to rush all week and have a choice to make at the end. They’re told to find the right fit until they’re down to the one house the university is trying to save and then they’re told to just take what you get and don’t complain. Sounds like fun?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Girls drop mid week because the algorithm is set up to push girls into the unpopular houses to save the chapters. Girls aren’t falling for it. They want to rush all week and have a choice to make at the end. They’re told to find the right fit until they’re down to the one house the university is trying to save and then they’re told to just take what you get and don’t complain. Sounds like fun?

Well if girls would go to those sororities they’d all be big, active and healthy. Sounds fun right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Girls drop mid week because the algorithm is set up to push girls into the unpopular houses to save the chapters. Girls aren’t falling for it. They want to rush all week and have a choice to make at the end. They’re told to find the right fit until they’re down to the one house the university is trying to save and then they’re told to just take what you get and don’t complain. Sounds like fun?

Well if girls would go to those sororities they’d all be big, active and healthy. Sounds fun right?

In our 50 year old fantasy land, sure. Have you met an 18 year old?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Girls drop mid week because the algorithm is set up to push girls into the unpopular houses to save the chapters. Girls aren’t falling for it. They want to rush all week and have a choice to make at the end. They’re told to find the right fit until they’re down to the one house the university is trying to save and then they’re told to just take what you get and don’t complain. Sounds like fun?

Well if girls would go to those sororities they’d all be big, active and healthy. Sounds fun right?

In our 50 year old fantasy land, sure. Have you met an 18 year old?

seriously troll issue

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Girls drop mid week because the algorithm is set up to push girls into the unpopular houses to save the chapters. Girls aren’t falling for it. They want to rush all week and have a choice to make at the end. They’re told to find the right fit until they’re down to the one house the university is trying to save and then they’re told to just take what you get and don’t complain. Sounds like fun?

This is a really stupid statement,

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I saw on the parent fb page some parents are sending their daughters cookies and / or flowers. Is this a thing?

I assume parents were not present for Bid Day. I know of out of state moms showing up for Bid Day at Southern universities. Seems a bit much, in my view.

Kind of like when kids get accepted and there is a pic on insta of a kids bedroom with 100+ balloons, $1K of college merch and snack food that matches the school colors. Last year it seemed each post topped the prior one.

So, yeah, some parents are thrilled that their kids are now in the “top tier” of society and will send them presents that they will then hopefully post on social media so the moms can repost and brag.

Geez parents are happy their kid got into any sorority, not top tier. I sent my kid some themed cookies after initiation.

I heard that a lot of girls dropped out of rush this year, which is a real shame. Sounds like way more than usual and they started with a smaller group rushing to begin with. Looks like it will be a busy COB season.

If your kid got into the lowest tier that only got 3 girls as opposed to their usual full house would you have sent themed cookies? Maybe you would have - but I am seeing the usual tier hierarchy play out.

What I am seeing on social media is just so eye opening…and depressing. I feel so bad for the kids with everything so in your face on social media. And from what I am seeing the parents are the worst.

I am also seeing tons of posts from kids who were just accepted into college listing all of the sororities in their girls school begging for letters of recommendation. It’s January... 😳
And their kid is not yet in college.

You must be an alum from the pre-2006 era.
This “we only got 3 new members” thing literally doesn’t happen anymore.
NPC fixed the algorithm and now most if not all houses pledge quota unless they choose to under-invite at every round.

Oh it happened and it’s not even what is considered the “bottom” chapter. So many more folks dropped this year, I think the algorithm broke. theta even had to offer snap bids. My daughter is a pi chi and she said more than half of her dropped throughout the process.

Again, associating “snap bids” with bottom tier and being shocked that groups that are not bottom would do this is simply telling me that you are an alum from 25 years ago.
When every group must limit their invitations based on their prior three years of performance, there will be groups that miss quota by one or three on occasion. And when it happens to a group that is not lower tier (“even theta”) will utilize snap bidding to pretty easily and quickly fill those spots.
Yes, girls drop when they have their hearts set on certain houses and their expectations for what houses will invite them don’t align with what happens for them.
But when that happens, invitation numbers given to the houses by NPC is reduced, and quota is then adjusted each round to reflect the number still enrolled divided by the number of houses.
There are no NPC houses at UVA (or elsewhere) that are matching only three women on bid day.

why are you so high and mighty, do you work for the algorithm maker? I just TOLD YOU THAT IT DID HAPPEN. Tri Sig at UVA had exactly three people show up to bid day. You can ask anyone. The parents have posted in it on the FB pages, there are PICS of the three people on their insta. It happened, so stop being so stupid and condescending. Normally the bottom house is GPHI and they get maybe 8 on bid day. They did not participate in formal rush as they have too few members so now Tri Sig took their spot and the least popular. but THREE? Absolutely crazy. Everything went haywire this rush and WAY more people dropped out than usual.

I think PP’s point is that unless they under-invited, the algorithm would not have matched them with only three women on bid day.
So the only other way to explain only three women showing up on bid day, women who were matched to that sorority would have had to opt to drop out rather accept their bid and show up to that house.
And it sounds like you are saying that yes, that is what happened.
This is a system problem. It’s not just an [insert name of current “bottom” chapter] problem. And I hope the whole system recognizes that. Because if they don’t work together to help erase/combat the stigma they’ve created and reinforced that does NOT support “all our chapters are strong and full of amazing college women” then this result will be repeated until chapter “on the bottom” will continue to decline and fall off due to lack of membership, until suddenly there are only three groups left and that third group starts to wonder how they came to be known as “bottom tier!”

My unsolicited advice for any members of the very “top chapters” who are reading this is to use your position for good. Reach out and offer to support these groups for the good of your whole system. Hold partner philanthropy events with them, host small social events with your group and theirs plus two fraternities. Use your strong reputation to assist in combatting this issue and begin to build a culture across your Greek system that refuses to engage in tearing down other groups who only want what you want——a support system where they can find encouragement and friendship with other women.

No horse in this rush race but I read the thread with interest and the above post. I have heard of various experiences across schools. Is it that 25-50 percent of rushees land at 8 houses or so and the rest (hundreds) are herded toward 1 or 2 less popular houses knowing statistically many bail and hoping enough stick? That seems like a ruse and feeds a stigma problem which shouldnt exist in the first place. The girls wouldn’t be at the school if they weren’t compelling and worthy of knowing. However it is the perception of supply and demand.

So above poster has a point. The different houses should support each other to try to correct the problem.

How else can it be solved and shake it up so it has a chance of surviving? Out of box thinking, what if girls can opt to be assigned randomly if they want? 20 get assigned to each house via lottery as an additional layer to the traditional process, or whatever number the least popular needs? Each house gets that same number of lottery draws ie 30 traditional process, 20 draws.

Any other ideas out there? So many are left disenchanted and there must be a better way these days.

I like the enthusiasm for out of the box thinking but unfortunately no huge membership process decisions will be made at the local level. The 26 NPC member groups decide the rules together and it goes in a manual known as “the greenbook.”

A variation on this thought could be that Panhellenic could ask for volunteers among the top groups to co-host COB events with the lower groups and talk up being Greek. Like imagine a bowling party where the XYZs and the ABCs take a bunch of potential members out for a fun night of bowling. Sorority XYZ is the only one actually recruiting, but ABC sorority is there to support and add to the fun. They don’t need to disguise which group they are with or anything like that. It’s just sometimes it helps to reinforce that these stigmas aren’t real and everyone can have fun together.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Girls drop mid week because the algorithm is set up to push girls into the unpopular houses to save the chapters. Girls aren’t falling for it. They want to rush all week and have a choice to make at the end. They’re told to find the right fit until they’re down to the one house the university is trying to save and then they’re told to just take what you get and don’t complain. Sounds like fun?

This is a really stupid statement,

+1
It’s asinine.
What the PP (who thinks she has cracked the code) is missing is that prior to changing the algorithm to “push the girls” toward considering houses they may not have wanted prior to rush week, sororities used to be able to invite any number they wanted to each round. And so all the girls would think they were destined to be a DDD so they’d keep going back there and drop other groups so that they could go back every night. Then the last night, girls who were sure they were going to get a DDD bid were left without a bid at all.
The algorithm just introduces the ones who were never going to be members of DDD to that reality much sooner so that they can have time to adjust their expectations and find another group they like before the last night of rush.
There’s no great way to make everyone happy. But unlike PP’s fantasyland scenario, the reality is many girls never would have had that “end of week” choice. The math doesn’t math on that.
This is like thinking the star football player is going to ask you to the prom, so you turn down invitations from the nice valedictorian, the cool soccer goalie, and the hilarious drama dude when they ask you…only to find out the week of prom that star football player is going with head cheerleader and not you. Guess what? The truth is he was never going to ask you. He was always going with head cheerleader. And yeah, maybe it would have hurt a little if you had found that out three weeks ago, but wouldn’t you rather have understood that reality sooner so that you had considered those other options when you had the chance? But now it’s too late. You’re home crying on prom night.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is the issue that there are too many sororities at UVA? If they can’t fill pledge classes is it just that there’s less interest in the Greek system?

Another poster said it upthread.
It’s that being part of something that is desired is alluring. In fashion, a trend becomes popular when everyone wants it, it’s at its peak when not everyone can get it, and it’s over when everyone has it.

Who was the famous person who once said “I don’t want to belong to any club that would have me as a member?”
In a way, he was ok’ing fun at this phenomenon of the attractiveness of having something exclusive.

There aren’t too many sororities. There is too much emphasis on hierarchy and status.
It’s influencer culture on steroids. They aren’t in it for sisterhood, they are in it for status. The second they don’t get the status invite they are seeking, they drop out.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I saw on the parent fb page some parents are sending their daughters cookies and / or flowers. Is this a thing?

I assume parents were not present for Bid Day. I know of out of state moms showing up for Bid Day at Southern universities. Seems a bit much, in my view.

Kind of like when kids get accepted and there is a pic on insta of a kids bedroom with 100+ balloons, $1K of college merch and snack food that matches the school colors. Last year it seemed each post topped the prior one.

So, yeah, some parents are thrilled that their kids are now in the “top tier” of society and will send them presents that they will then hopefully post on social media so the moms can repost and brag.

Geez parents are happy their kid got into any sorority, not top tier. I sent my kid some themed cookies after initiation.

I heard that a lot of girls dropped out of rush this year, which is a real shame. Sounds like way more than usual and they started with a smaller group rushing to begin with. Looks like it will be a busy COB season.

If your kid got into the lowest tier that only got 3 girls as opposed to their usual full house would you have sent themed cookies? Maybe you would have - but I am seeing the usual tier hierarchy play out.

What I am seeing on social media is just so eye opening…and depressing. I feel so bad for the kids with everything so in your face on social media. And from what I am seeing the parents are the worst.

I am also seeing tons of posts from kids who were just accepted into college listing all of the sororities in their girls school begging for letters of recommendation. It’s January... 😳
And their kid is not yet in college.

You must be an alum from the pre-2006 era.
This “we only got 3 new members” thing literally doesn’t happen anymore.
NPC fixed the algorithm and now most if not all houses pledge quota unless they choose to under-invite at every round.

Oh it happened and it’s not even what is considered the “bottom” chapter. So many more folks dropped this year, I think the algorithm broke. theta even had to offer snap bids. My daughter is a pi chi and she said more than half of her dropped throughout the process.

Again, associating “snap bids” with bottom tier and being shocked that groups that are not bottom would do this is simply telling me that you are an alum from 25 years ago.
When every group must limit their invitations based on their prior three years of performance, there will be groups that miss quota by one or three on occasion. And when it happens to a group that is not lower tier (“even theta”) will utilize snap bidding to pretty easily and quickly fill those spots.
Yes, girls drop when they have their hearts set on certain houses and their expectations for what houses will invite them don’t align with what happens for them.
But when that happens, invitation numbers given to the houses by NPC is reduced, and quota is then adjusted each round to reflect the number still enrolled divided by the number of houses.
There are no NPC houses at UVA (or elsewhere) that are matching only three women on bid day.

why are you so high and mighty, do you work for the algorithm maker? I just TOLD YOU THAT IT DID HAPPEN. Tri Sig at UVA had exactly three people show up to bid day. You can ask anyone. The parents have posted in it on the FB pages, there are PICS of the three people on their insta. It happened, so stop being so stupid and condescending. Normally the bottom house is GPHI and they get maybe 8 on bid day. They did not participate in formal rush as they have too few members so now Tri Sig took their spot and the least popular. but THREE? Absolutely crazy. Everything went haywire this rush and WAY more people dropped out than usual.

I think PP’s point is that unless they under-invited, the algorithm would not have matched them with only three women on bid day.
So the only other way to explain only three women showing up on bid day, women who were matched to that sorority would have had to opt to drop out rather accept their bid and show up to that house.
And it sounds like you are saying that yes, that is what happened.
This is a system problem. It’s not just an [insert name of current “bottom” chapter] problem. And I hope the whole system recognizes that. Because if they don’t work together to help erase/combat the stigma they’ve created and reinforced that does NOT support “all our chapters are strong and full of amazing college women” then this result will be repeated until chapter “on the bottom” will continue to decline and fall off due to lack of membership, until suddenly there are only three groups left and that third group starts to wonder how they came to be known as “bottom tier!”

My unsolicited advice for any members of the very “top chapters” who are reading this is to use your position for good. Reach out and offer to support these groups for the good of your whole system. Hold partner philanthropy events with them, host small social events with your group and theirs plus two fraternities. Use your strong reputation to assist in combatting this issue and begin to build a culture across your Greek system that refuses to engage in tearing down other groups who only want what you want——a support system where they can find encouragement and friendship with other women.

No horse in this rush race but I read the thread with interest and the above post. I have heard of various experiences across schools. Is it that 25-50 percent of rushees land at 8 houses or so and the rest (hundreds) are herded toward 1 or 2 less popular houses knowing statistically many bail and hoping enough stick? That seems like a ruse and feeds a stigma problem which shouldnt exist in the first place. The girls wouldn’t be at the school if they weren’t compelling and worthy of knowing. However it is the perception of supply and demand.

So above poster has a point. The different houses should support each other to try to correct the problem.

How else can it be solved and shake it up so it has a chance of surviving? Out of box thinking, what if girls can opt to be assigned randomly if they want? 20 get assigned to each house via lottery as an additional layer to the traditional process, or whatever number the least popular needs? Each house gets that same number of lottery draws ie 30 traditional process, 20 draws.

Any other ideas out there? So many are left disenchanted and there must be a better way these days.

I like the enthusiasm for out of the box thinking but unfortunately no huge membership process decisions will be made at the local level. The 26 NPC member groups decide the rules together and it goes in a manual known as “the greenbook.”

A variation on this thought could be that Panhellenic could ask for volunteers among the top groups to co-host COB events with the lower groups and talk up being Greek. Like imagine a bowling party where the XYZs and the ABCs take a bunch of potential members out for a fun night of bowling. Sorority XYZ is the only one actually recruiting, but ABC sorority is there to support and add to the fun. They don’t need to disguise which group they are with or anything like that. It’s just sometimes it helps to reinforce that these stigmas aren’t real and everyone can have fun together.

Meanwhile maybe 30-40 girls who dropped could ban together and COB as a group to struggling house and help turn it around. Take one take all. Get organized and have some power and fun with it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Girls drop mid week because the algorithm is set up to push girls into the unpopular houses to save the chapters. Girls aren’t falling for it. They want to rush all week and have a choice to make at the end. They’re told to find the right fit until they’re down to the one house the university is trying to save and then they’re told to just take what you get and don’t complain. Sounds like fun?

This is a really stupid statement,

+1
It’s asinine.
What the PP (who thinks she has cracked the code) is missing is that prior to changing the algorithm to “push the girls” toward considering houses they may not have wanted prior to rush week, sororities used to be able to invite any number they wanted to each round. And so all the girls would think they were destined to be a DDD so they’d keep going back there and drop other groups so that they could go back every night. Then the last night, girls who were sure they were going to get a DDD bid were left without a bid at all.
The algorithm just introduces the ones who were never going to be members of DDD to that reality much sooner so that they can have time to adjust their expectations and find another group they like before the last night of rush.
There’s no great way to make everyone happy. But unlike PP’s fantasyland scenario, the reality is many girls never would have had that “end of week” choice. The math doesn’t math on that.
This is like thinking the star football player is going to ask you to the prom, so you turn down invitations from the nice valedictorian, the cool soccer goalie, and the hilarious drama dude when they ask you…only to find out the week of prom that star football player is going with head cheerleader and not you. Guess what? The truth is he was never going to ask you. He was always going with head cheerleader. And yeah, maybe it would have hurt a little if you had found that out three weeks ago, but wouldn’t you rather have understood that reality sooner so that you had considered those other options when you had the chance? But now it’s too late. You’re home crying on prom night.

+1 thank you for saying what I didn’t have the energy to! 100% correct