sorority rush

That simply isn't true. There has never in the history of mankind ever been a sorority recruitment that had anywhere near 5000 PNMs. Alabama is the largest in the US and just recently broke 2000.

I would suggest that if your not getting a bid from a sorority still hurts so much that you're trolling the internet almost three decades later, you could benefit from some serious therapy. Please stop upsetting these people living through it now with your ridiculous hyperbole.

Alabama may have 2000 but Indiana is not far behind. According to the website there were over 1600 girls going through the process. The difference between Alabama and Indiana is that Alabama sets a quota so that everyone potentially has the opportunity to get a bid. Indiana needs to make a change and look at the way Alabama does things.

Reading is fundamental. My post was a reply to the person above who stated that there were 5000 PNMs at Indiana in 1987.

I am very much aware of the way recruitment works at both IU and Alabama (and a host of other schools) as I have been extremely active in both NPC and my sorority affairs for decades. I'm not some disgruntled mom who takes to the internet because her precious princess didn't get a bid or refused to look at the newer unhoused sororities at IU.

Nothing will happen at Indiana unless the sorority members wish to make the change. They like the exclusivity. They like the live-in experience. It's the culture there. Even if they used the traditional Release Figures Management system, it wouldn't mean precious princesses would get their top picks. So many seem to think that changing the system would mean a flood of opportunities when in reality there would be just as many PNMs who would feel superior to many of their choices.

I guess the truth hurts. I think it's informative!

Who is this site for?

greekrank is clearly geared towards college actives, not middle aged women who probably never went to iu.

Definitely not for the bitter moms

Just curious when did you graduate? I would definitely say IU's recruitment is getting more difficult each year. Over 2000 women this year and about 1100 received bids. My chapter goes in with a wish list of PNMs at the beginning. We don't get all of them, but a good amount. You don't have to have known people forever or be a legacy (Legacies mean nothing at IU), but it helps a ton if you get to know sorority women (or fraternity guys who pair with them) the first semester before recruitment. It's a huge advantage if someone knows your name coming in.

Part of your post is a bit misleading. Yes, over 2000 women signed up for recruitment and around 1100 received bids, however many of those women who did not get bids chose to drop out of recruitment. They did not get dropped, they willingly withdrew from recruitment. In total, there were 512 women who withdrew. So, if you take out the 143 women who didn't make grades and the 512 who withdrew, the placement rate is higher than people want to believe. Also, of the approximately 150 who did not get bids originally, almost 70 of them took an informal bid somewhere.

How is it that 150 women who went through the whole process and were invited and attended pref did not receive a bid? Isn't it true that sororities don't invite PNMs to pref that they would not be willing to extend a bid to?

And why do so many women (512?) withdraw in process? Did they all withdraw or were some dropped in process? They obviously wanted it enough to come back to school early from break and withstand negative temps. That's a lot of women "dropping"

Good questions and I'll try to answer them the best I can. Actually, 130 women were invited to pref and not given a bid. Sororities list the PNMs in order to be entered into the computer. Let's say Mary attended three chapters for pref, she was near the end of all three lists. Yes, they liked her or they wouldn't have invited her, but she's near the bottom of all three lists. Each chapter took 50 (for math's sake). Chapter A fills its 50 girl quota at PNM number 76. They are closed and not able to take more women. Chapter B filled its quota at 86. Then Chapter C fills its quota at 112. Mary was 147 out of 150. All three chapters made quota before reaching Mary's number. If IU used quota total, then number of PMNs who attend pref are divided by 22 and the scenario above rarely happens and when it does Mary will most likely be added as a quota addition and be matched with one of the three chapters.

512 is an accurate number of withdrawals, that is the number that came from the Panhel recruitment report. There are some girls who are dropped by all chapters, a few, not many. However, 512 dropped for various reasons: the process is too long and they got tired of it or they did not receive invitations from chapters they wanted. Who knows?