which houses did you pref and which did you pick?

@liar - means their bottom 3 or 4 or 2 on each day of recruitment were the only houses they didn't see again the next day. It's very rare, but it did happen to one of my PNMs last year.

@My experience Glad you were amenable the wise guidance of your recruitment counselor and ended up in the house that was right for you.

Its no secret that in the tradition of recruitment ALL the sororities want you to LOVELOVELOVE them. They practice chatting-up pnms in their sleep. They naturally smile at lampposts, computer screens, their pets and babies to prevent a 'fake smile' look during recruitment. Due to these practices sorority women can come across as lovable and popular people while managing to break the hearts of the uninvited.

You mention good conversation experiences at dg and kkg, a rare post on this site that's dg/kkg bashing.

In August 2016's recruitment seven of the original thirty recruitment counselors were Aopis, and all seven Aopis had to leave their counselor positions just as recruitment began (when Aopi took away their chapter at Cal).

That fact combined with the unusually large number of girls going thru rush, which took an unexpected and unwelcome toll on recruitment management and procedures.

While that 'recruitment counselor removal' fiasco will not be repeated in Fall 2017, we still may see a larger-than-usual number of girls interested in joining sororities. When they do, recruitment will go more smoothly since manageable counselor numbers will be available AND there won't suddenly (as during Fall 2016) be one less chapter house to tour.

Were these Great Ladies dropped by all the houses, or did they self-drop?

If they self-dropped, what were their reasons?

Are these Great Ladies looking for a sisterhood none of the twelve sororities currently at Cal provide?

Would bringing a thirteenth, 'better' NPC sorority to Cal give your Great Ladies their chance to be in A Cool Sorority?

Did your Great Ladies have open minds which accepted any and all Fall 2016 invitations to sorority parties, or did they only want to be sorority members at The Cool Cal Houses?

Raising house cap is good, but if Great Ladies take themselves out of membership contention it's not panhellenic's fault.

Each of Cal's current sororities offer leadership and service situations, lifelong friendships, and unmatched learning environments for those who choose to make the most of what is offered.

To anchorsaway. I liked your post alot as I think it asked many questions that I think we as a community should understand more in order to plan next fall recruitment. I think there are many reasons people dropped. Some were fixed on a certain house but I think a number of people hung in until the end and then dropped after pref parties. This is just my sense but I'd be curious if someone can figure out a way to quantify the reasons for dropping. A number of the people I knew were legacies at houses and those houses dropped them after day 1 which was rough. So, some of these people certainly had a fixed idea of which house they wanted and so dropped after things didnt work out. I know we have a great and diverse community but I wonder why so many PNMs didn't seem to have an open mind about all the houses? I'm curious if people thing they did the best job possible 'marketing' their houses and making people feel welcomed? I'm not sure I have any answers myself but I think your questions are a good starting point to understanding why the fall situation was what it was. We have done alot of work on this topic at my house but I think we should look at it from a systemwide standpoint.

To circumstances. I liked your post! I wondered though about the fall counselor issue whether the non affiliated former aopi will be permitted to contribute counselors as I thought they were prohibited from having anything to do with recruitment even though they can still serve on panhel. So, if the former aopi people can't contribute counselors next fall do you think this means that the other houses will have contribute more counselors than has traditionally been the case? On another issue, I'm not certain that the lack of counselors was completely responsible for so many people dropping. I'm sure the lack of counselors might have contributed to the situation but it seems like so many other factors were in play last fall.

to maybe...Unless the (former) Aopis have formed a local sorority that panhelenic has added to its official roster, I don't forsee any (former) Aoiis acting as 2017 Fall Recruitment counselors or serving on the current 2017 panhel board. To their benefit, the (former) Aopis do have a house and their members are well-liked by most of the current Greeks.

As far as other houses having their members step into counselor positions, yes they will as Greek women understand servant leadership includes actions made toward panhellenic good. Greek women prepare and gather as informed recruitment counselors when the need arises. I expect Cal's Greek women will be more than willing to serve as Fall 2017 counselors as they have experienced Fall 2016 recruitment and wish to do an improved job of greek life promotion.

to anchorsaway...You ask why PNMs did not have open minds at Fall 2016 recruitment. I say teach the 2017 Fall PNMs that a PNM should enter rush knowing her dignity, skills, intelligence and talents will be of benefit to ANY house. To truly make a difference as Greek women, ask PNM's to seek friendship over feeling important wearing a top tier shirt or laying in the sun on a mid tier lawn.

@circumstances - False - no Recruitment Counselors were removed. AOPi's charter wasn't pulled until after recruitment was over. The chapter pulled themselves from FFR the Tuesday before recruitment began. The many many Rho Chis from AOPi were told they could remove themselves from FFR if they didn't feel comfortable participating in their role anymore, but all of them stayed. AOPi's charter was pulled a day or two after FFR was over and the Rho Chis had finished their duties.

We rushed at Cal. This page is about formal sorority recruitment for women at Cal Berkeley. All women pnms go to all the sorority houses during Formal Recruitment Open Party. Its not like frat rush where guys pick and choose which houses they want to rush (thus guys don't attend parties at all houses).

If you are asking about COB recruitment for women that's another story.

@circumstances. Interesting perspective you have on fall 2016. Not sure I agree though as you looked at the net yr on yr increase rather than how many people dropped. From the people I spoke with it was the dropped out number that was the issue and how many bad feelings resulted. Not sure how things will change if you approach the situation in the way you seem to be doing. Sure recruitment is challenging both as an insider and outsider. But to simply say wait until you are on the inside to see how tough things really are, frankly doesn't do much to help anything. Did you house review the fall experience? My house did and some of the feedback wasn't great. But you know I think these tough discussions we had helped our house and hopefully will help us next fall. We heard the comments about how people felt as PNMS and we vowed that it wouldn't be us. Was it you?

@nope I think you mean to ask 'will it be you'. One cannot change the past, and we are certainly looking to treat Fall 17 pnms better than they felt they were treated Fall 16.

@circumstances. To clarify, what I meant was that based on what you wrote I can only assume that it was your house that so many people commented upon following fall recruitment. You seem to have some kind of 'victim' mentality about the recruitment process to the tune of 'poor me, its so rough, so many people, how do we cope'. Frankly I find your view a complete cop out and completely lacking in humanity and empathy for people coming to your HOME. Sad. If someone can't be civil at a minimum then excuse them from recruitment. If there are no consequences for uncivil behavior in your house then I feel sorry for your sisterhood.

I do agree that your forward looking statement is a bit more hopeful in tone as it relates to next year. But, my comment related to those houses that have taken no responsibility for their treatment of PNMs during fall recruitment. So many people blamed the PNMs this year and honestly they were the victims of our collective fiasco.

@nope Posters here named the allegedly offending home(s). What good would it do for me to state whether our sorority did or did not do what some claim occurred? As to my house's culpability, perceptions differ. Our house deliberation on recruitment matters is, and always will be, private. Refusing to apologize on this site or any other public website does not make my house culpable nor do we lack the insight and courage to do better at recruiting in the future.

I agree pnms were victims, but some of it was self-made. They posted here on GR: there are just too many pnms so the best houses can't take enough of them; I was dropped by 50% for second party and it was all the good houses but they were SO MEAN but I still wanted those houses; I can't go to the two I have left they are different houses from my roommates how will I survive they are lower tier I'm dropping out. Then WAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!! Straight to posting on greekrank.

@circumstances, I have a feeling that I am beating a dead horse but I will try anyway. If you and/or your sisters believe that the fact that we had too many PNMs was the issue this past fall then I would suggest moving to ongoing COB in your house and decline to participate in fall recruitment. I find the fact that you seem unable or unwilling to take responsibility for how you treat people that are guests in your house totally baffling given that you are a social organization and a supposed sisterhood. Maybe I am missing what your point is in complaining about the PNMs. So, if you could clarify your position I would appreciate it as I feel like I'm missing something significant other than the fact that you feel somewhat victimized by the process of having to interact with people visiting your 'home'? Please explain as I am baffled!!

"although we shouldn't care about rankings, we still do"

I appreciate the honesty, but I wouldn't say that this reflects the decision process of the majority of PNMS (at least the ones I know), which is also evident from this thread. Personally the two houses I preff'ed were on opposite ends of the spectrum and I strongly preferred the lower house which is where I ended up. Glad it ended up still working out for you though.

Confused by this comment. At SDSU, Pi Phi has pretty much the same rank that it does at Cal (2nd or tied for 1st). UCSD it is considered mid. Nowhere in SD is it bottom.

Which SoCal schools are you talking about? The LA chapters of Pi Phi (USC and UCLA) are generally pretty strong. I'm confused as to where you think APhi is stronger than Pi Phi as generally across the country that isn't necessariy the case. Confused.

My sis goes to SDSU and alpha phi and axo are top!