seeking insights

I do have concerns and I’d like to see the statistics from this years recruitment. Since this is a public university these stats I assume are accessible, does anyone know how to obtain?

Leadership skills, strong grades, poise and presence are the primary criteria these young women should be evaluated on. I do have questions on exactly how the criteria this computerized system works as I’m hearing there is a high number of girls that were essentially shut out after the first round giving them zero chances of getting a bid.

These young womem need to be given at least a fighting chance yet something about the recruitment process at UW Madison seems to be very broken. The UW Madison sorority recruitment process is not building young women’s confidence - it’s destroying it......

1. uw-madison uses the same method for releasing girls as nearly every single other university in the country. it’s standardized. you can google “release figure methodology” if you want to learn more. there are not more girls getting released here than anywhere else.

2. the information you’re asking for is not something panhel is going to release to you, although you can try if you want.

3. it’s harder to get into the uw from out of state, so the average OOS student is going to have better grades and leadership skills than the average in-state student. that’s how they got in. it’ll also give them an advantage during recruitment.

4. that said, the top tiers of the UW are not disproportionately “coastie,” they’re disproportionately midwestern (a lot of minnesota and illinois girls, but midwestern). there are houses where being from the coast will give you an advantage, but these are not the strongest groups on campus, and they’re not cutting heavily in the early rounds.

5. getting cut sucks and i feel for your daughter, but she has no idea why she got cut, and in all likelihood, it was for reasons other than where she was from. my sorority didn’t discuss where PNMs were from. not even a little bit. it just wasn’t a factor. and i’d guess this is true for most of the groups here.

quit being a helicopter parent. if a pnm has an issue, she should look into it, not her mommy. are you going to ask a potential employer why your daughter didn't get a job she applied for?

This can't be real.

As far as "exactly how the criteria this computerized system works," well here you go:

The NPC process of Release Figure Methodology benefits the pnms' and the houses. Each house must release a certain amount of pnm's based on their historical return rates. Houses who statistically have had higher percentages of pnm's wanting to return there, observed over a period of years, must release more pnm's earlier than houses that don't have as high return rates. Without RFM, pnm's used to be carried to further rounds in certain houses even though the houses already knew they were going to drop them anyway, and all the while those pnm's were dropping other houses off their schedules where they actually had a chance. When those pnm's were inevitably dropped, they were often left without any houses at all. This situation also left houses short of pnm's and forced them to take pnm's just for numbers and to snap and COB more often. RFM evens the playing field and allows pnm's more chances to find a home with higher quality new member classes across the board.

With that said, the houses do the choosing. Each chapter gives due consideration to each pnm and decides the pnm's they wish to invite back and the pnm's they have decided to release using the RFM numbers given to their chapter. A pnm ranks her houses after each round, but those ranks are only considered when a pnm would receive more invitations back than allowed for that round. Houses that she ranked highly will inevitably release her, so her lower ranked houses will show back up on her schedule in order to give her the best chance for a bid. The chapters' lists are sent to panhellenic and the computerized matching of these lists to the pnm's ranks generates the invitation lists and schedule for each pnm.

Finally, recruitment is not a sign up sheet where each pnm gets to pick her house; again, the sororities do the choosing. Sororities are private membership organizations. The university has no say in who is selected, nor does panhellenic. Each chapter issues invitations to pnm's by whatever criteria they choose for their sisterhood. Membership selection is up to the chapter membership and only up to the chapter membership. And just because a pnm was released doesn't mean the chapter didn't like her; they can only invite so many. Let it go.

And I will add that this is the way NPC recruitment is conducted nationally. This system is not unique to UW-Madison, it is not "very broken," and it is sometimes the first taste that girls who were successful in high school (and their parents) have of not getting exactly what they want. Tell your daughter you love her and stop running interference for her. Time to grow up and let go.

Why are you on this site?

You think rush is tough here...go look into Indiana university(statistically the 4 hardest school to get a bid through rush statistically) or go to a southern school. Then you will see how money and connections play into getting a bid. I am in what some would consider a top house-I dont drink-dont go out all the time-come from the Midwest-and come from an averaged incomed house. I think you are more concerned about your daughter's rush experience and you are making it more difficult for her. Rejection stinks, but we all have dealt with it at some point. The Greek life here is small-there are so many other places for her to get involved and to soar. She will be fine-if you don't keep telling her otherwise